Royal Southampton Yacht Club Winter Series - Race 8
by Andrew Campbell 1 Dec 2008 20:17 GMT
30 November 2008
Wind and great courses for the last race in the series
The last race in the RSYC winter series was blessed with a Northerly Force 5 breeze which although great for the race, made it a cold morning under the grey skies as 29 boats gathered for the start, off the Fawley shore. The multihulls and the IRC classes were given the same course which was good for the IRC class leaders as there was always a boat ahead to chase.
The multihulls were first away and Phil Cotton on Buzz taking the lead and maintaining a great pace with Ben’s ‘Team Eberspacher’ in hot pursuit. Luckily Ben listened to his navigator and didn’t follow Buzz around the wrong mark and so took the class win. Ian Loffhagen on ‘Chimera’ finished second but his consistency throughout the seven races gave him the series win. ‘Team Eberspacher’ placed second and ‘Zoum’ third.
At last ‘Hooligan VI’ got the champagne, after weeks of taking line honours Ed Broadway took the class win for the first time. Ed finished 10 minutes ahead of the next boat. Steve Dyke on his Sunfast 32 ‘Ingwe’ took second, two minutes ahead of third placed ‘Blue Moviez’. ‘Njos’, having secured the series win last week was off promoting the RSYC Frostbite Series to the Hamble River racers. ‘Blue Moviez’ takes second place in the series with ‘Ingwe’ third.
No false starts for ‘Jammin’ this week, as her three skippers took advantage of the brief wind shift and port line bias on the class 2 IRC start. Closely pursued by the other J92 ‘J arrow’ and the Swan 37 ‘White Heather’, ‘Jammin’ led all the way to take line honours. The lead wasn’t quite enough though and Lionel Miller’s ‘White Heather’ having finished the race in one piece this week took the class win on handicap. Jammin’s second place finish was enough to secure the series win with ‘Glass Onion’ second. Third place in the series was hotly contested with three boats tying on 25 points in the end. ‘J arrow’ took third on count backs from ‘White Heather’ and ‘Clewless’.
Club class 3 and 4 had shorter courses which worked well, allowing all the monohulls to finish roughly at the same time.
In club class 3 Chris & Sue Broadbent on ‘Maybee 4’ took an early lead again in class 3 as they have managed to do in all the races this series. Their Sunfast 35 wasn’t quite fast enough to take the class win but they did get line honours. ‘Tigerfeet’ the Hunter 707 with Ian Townend & John Cooper was close enough behind on the water to take the class win with Maybee 4 second and ‘Ellie’ doing well again in third. ‘Maybee’ 4 won the series resoundingly with ‘Ellie’ second and ‘Asante’ third.
The Contessa 26 ‘Topaz’ was again enjoying the good winds and slight seas as Jim Barham kept close enough to the rest of the fleet to take the class win from ‘Escapade’ who had a good lead on the water and had taken line honours. With ‘Escapade’ second ‘Grace’ followed up to place third. ‘Topaz’ stamped her win on the series but the second place finish today was enough to pull ‘Escapade’ into second place in the series just ahead of ‘Fusion III’ third.
For further information on RSYC racing contact Cathy Crawley, Sailing Secretary, RSYC, Tel: 023 80 223352 or email 
