Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit - Day 6

The penultimate round of the Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit took place on Sunday morning, as crews in the competition's four fleets battled for crucial results before this weekend's finale. The gentle northerly breeze and bright sunshine gave near perfect conditions.

With a strong spring tide running most of the courses were set to beat into the Hampshire shore and then use this to reach up tide before venturing out into the deeper water to get a second beat. All fleets did two laps.

The exception was the J80 fleet who had 5 laps of a short windward leeward course near to the committee boat.

Racing got underway promptly. In the IRC class Gravity (Hunter 707), used the long line to start on port, clear the fleet and hold their lead to the first mark in front of Jelly Baby, (J105) and Jay walker (J97). On the long reaches Jelly Baby pulled out a substantial lead to win by 4 minutes on handicap from Gravity and Jay Walker.

The win for Jelly Baby keeps them just five points behind the leaders with a race to go while second place was also a crucial result for Gravity, who move themselves within three points of the leaders. Jay Walker's third place on the water gives them top spot for the last race.

Interestingly, both fourth placed Colleen and fifth placed Boomerang both still have a chance, sitting just 7 points behind going into next Sunday's finale.

Meanwhile, in the Lymington Adjusted Handicap Fleet, Unity (Westerly Konsort) knew that a good result was required to fend off the in-form Dynamic (Dehler 29). They were both in a nice little battle, Unity tucked in behind Spike (707R) to begin with, as Dynamic, Late Again (Beneteau 32s5), OK Yah (Dehler 28) and Google Eye (Trapper) hugged closer to the shore. OK Yah made the most of the conditions to take the win from Unity and Spike.

OK Yah moved into second overall with the victory in race 6 with Unity taking second to make sure they have a one point lead at the top for next weekend. Third place went to Spike, meaning they are mathematically still in with a chance, while Google Eye remain in third overall, with Dynamic and Red Kite (SB20) also in with a chance of winning, the top six separated by just nine points.

The J80 start produced bunching as all the competitors opted for the port end. No regrets had to re-round and started well behind. Hush led at the first mark but with 5 laps and significant wind shifts in the offshore breeze was unable to hold off the challenge of Checkmate. Checkmate took a crucial race victory with third place going to Fiducial, keeping them in with a very slim chance of winning the series. No Regrets battled up into fourth place, and with the discards now taking effect, they go into the final race with a four point lead over Checkmate.

In the lighter conditions the Folkboats became more stretched out than in the previous races in the series, Stralende leading by a clear margin as they passed through the gate, with Padfoot about a minute behind in second. Stralende took a relatively comfortable win, keeping them in second place overall. Second on the water went to Padfoot, giving them a three point advantage at the summit going into the final day but there is very little to separate third from fourth, Faoileag just beating Pilgrim across the line.

Thank you to our sponsors; Caldwells Estate Agents, Lymington Yacht Haven, Harken and Ringwood Brewery.

The final race of the series is scheduled to take place next Sunday and it could be a very exciting day's racing.

Day 6 Results:

IRC
1, William Newton, Jelly Baby
2, Ronan Grealish, Gravity
3, Bob Baker, Jaywalker

LAH
1, Robert Young, OK Yah
2, Richard Truscott, Unity
3, Andrew Pearson, Spike

Folkboat
1, Simon Flack, Stralende
2, Chris Hills, Padfoot
3, Jonathon Proctor,Faoileag

J80
1, Ray Mitchell, Checkmate
2, Nigel Brooke, Hush
3, Andrew Hurst, Fiducial