Southampton Water Sailing Association Evening Series

by Chris Waddington 21 Sep 2011 07:48 BST

Seasoned hands secure SWSA success

With the evenings drawing in, Southampton Water Sailing Association’s 2011 keelboat evening series recently closed. This year saw a record entry with 25 boats from 8 local clubs enjoying close competition. Staged within Southampton Water the 10 race series is held at fortnightly intervals with starts around high water. Hence ensuring a large navigable race area to the east of the shipping channel and little current to hinder progress in the often light evening breezes.

Particularly well represented this year were Hythe sailing club with an 8 boat entry. Most Hythe boats were new to the series but performed exceptionally well with Simon Walley’s Beneteau 260 and Roger Lockett’s Ballad finishing 2nd and 3rd in class 1 respectively. Similarly in class 2, Brian Allen’s sunfast 20 lost out on first place by a wafer thin half point and Mike Thomas also of Hythe SC claimed 3rd.

Despite the good performances of Hythe’s newcomers the seasoned hands of the Glass Onion crew from the University of Southampton Staff Sailing Club hung on to win class 1 for the 2nd year running. A past winner of the round the island race this distinctive green hulled boat is a well known feature of the local keelboat racing scene. Again in class 2, Graham Harrison from Fawley power station repeated his success of 2010 to secure 1st place in his Trapper 500 Auriole.

A notable feature of this series has been the complete lack of protest hearings within its 4 year history. An indicator perhaps of the friendly spirt of the series and the enduring good sportsmanship and seamanship of its competitors.

Further details of SWSA’s racing events may be found at www.swsa.org.uk

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat Name	Boat Type	Skipper	Club
Class 1
1st	Glass Onion	Evolution 22	Costa Corbari	SUSSC
2nd	Hullabaloo Too	Beneteau 260 Spirit	Simon Walley	Hythe S.C.
3rd	Blueprint	Ballad	Roger Lockett	Hythe S.C.
4th	Erik the Red	Mustang 30	Bernard Fyans	Warsash S.C.
5th	Dream Weaver	One Off	Trevor Tennison	Hythe S.C.
6th	Eau de Vie	Limbo 6.6	Andrew Bell	Warsash S.C./Hythe S.C.
7th	Calypso	Limbo 6.6	Peter Hairsnape	Southampton S.C.
8th	Symphony	First 305	Alex Bell	Warsash S.C.
9th	Close Encounter	UFO27	Chris Waddington	Southampton S.C.
10th	Firefly	Bavaria 30	Chris Glanton	RAFYC
11th	Arty Miss	Hunter Channel 31	Stephen Booy	RAFYC
12th	Presto	Limbo 6.6 mod	Toby Momford	RYA
13th	Jade	Bavaria 32	Mike Worth	Warsash S.C.
Class 2
1st	Auriole	Trapper 500	Graham Harrison	Fawley PSSC
2nd	Izzie Too	Sunfast 20	Brian Allen	Hythe S.C.
3rd	Caroden II	Dolphin 31	Michael Thomas	Hythe S.C.
4th	Bianca	Dufour 1800	Ricky Yardley	Southampton S.C.
5th	Kajsa	Shipman 28	Roger Hayward	Hythe S.C.
6th	Ex-Tip	Limbo 21	Cuan Marsh	RSYC
7th	First Impulse	First 285	Malcolm Kirk	Southampton S.C.
8th	Gwennol	Westerley Griffon	Jon Cote	Marchwood Y.C.
9th	Rocinante	Horizon 30	Chris Johnson	Hythe S.C.
10th	Tranquillity	Achilles 9M	Andrew Valentine	Southampton S.C.
11th	Squaw	Tomahawk 25	Roland Liddell	Hythe S.C.
12th	Sea Treasure	Sadler 26	Tim Sullivan	Warsash S.C.