Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit - Day 2
by Alex Barnes, Chris Hughes & Rob Martin 17 Oct 2016 22:31 BST
16 October 2016
This weekend saw Lymington Town Sailing Club host the second race of their annual Solent Circuit on a very windy Sunday morning. The race will be well remembered for many years to come and was one of the most entertaining races in the competition's recent history.
Wind speeds actually dropped from the very high speeds in the early hours of the morning, but there was still a very strong breeze out in the Solent as the 9.30am start time approached.
Only a small number of crews had elected to roll over in bed instead of head out onto the water. Race officer Nick Hopwood knew he had a challenging morning ahead of himself and his team.
There was quite a shock at the start of the Folkboat race, Stralende misjudging the space near the committee boat, T-boning the safety boat Falcon tied to the back of Tringa. Nobody was injured but the safety boat had to make its way home.
The courses took all the classes to a windward mark on the island shore. Next, for all except the J80s, was a reach before returning to the leeward mark on the Hampshire shore. The Folkboats were shortened after 1 lap.
The tide changed for the second lap which was again a beat to the Island shore but then a run back to the leeward mark. With the wind gusting 27 knots against tide the sea picked up giving planing and surfing for some and wipeouts for others.
The closest race was for the win in the J80 fleet, Chris Reeve in No Regrets just beating Andy Ash-Vie in Wildcat 3 in one of the series' closest ever finishes. Third placed Checkmate wasn't too far behind either, Ray Mitchell rounding off the podium places.
Folkboat:
1, Chris Hills, Padfoot
2, James Hoare, Samphire
3, Richard Martin, Second Wind
IRC class:
1, Allan Hill, Colleen
2, William Newton, Jelly Baby
3, Bob Baker, Jaywalker
LAH class:
1, Robert Young, OK Yah
2, Richard Truscott, Unity
3, Pat Stables, Google Eye
J80:
1, Chris Reeves, No Regrets
2, Andy Ash-Vie, Wildcat 3
3, Ray Mitchell Checkmate