Doyle Sails Frostbite Series at Royal Southampton Yacht Club
by Cathy Crawley 27 Mar 2014 14:21 GMT
12 January - 15 March 2014
The Royal Southampton Yacht Club saw the 2014 Doyle Sails Frostbite Series finish on Saturday 15th March after some of the toughest conditions in over a decade.
The first two races of 2014 in the Solent Area were held by the RSYC in Southampton Water on Sunday the 12 January.
With the wind blowing 25knots from the SE with forecast gust 35 knots it was an anxious race team who were hoping they could get the first races underway if the weather eased a little especially with a record entry for this series sponsored not only by Doyle Sails but also by IRC who in conjunction with RSYC are providing a rebate to the renewal fee of 60%!
They were in luck. The wind eased, the rain stayed away and racing got underway on schedule with class 1 IRC eager to start on a windward leeward course up and down Southampton water. Closely followed by classes 3 & 4.
If only the pattern had remained the same but the wettest windiest weather on record resulted in the next 3 Sundays being abandoned.With gradient winds in excess of 28 knots and a 50% gust ratio there was never any doubt about staying at home in front of the fire.
At last after 3 lost weekends due to appalling weather on Sunday 9th March we had a perfect spring day, SE breeze of circa 10 knots and wall to wall sunshine. So a great chance to get the rust off and dry out a little after the wet – very wet winter.
The 3 classes got away on time with class 1 as usual right on the line as the gun went off. It was a long beat to Hamble Cliff and a run back to the ODM just off Netley Abbey then the return to Hamble Cliff before a reach to Hover 1 and the finish.
Talking of rusty, many crews were rusty and the leeward mark rounding left a little to be desired lots of kites came down late and as many found out it is difficult to sail to windward with the kite up and for those who got it right lots of places were made as the shouting and yelling at the struggling crews to get the kites down and genoas set only seemed to make matters worse. NJOS had to retire as there kite failed to come down at all.All good spectator sport for the race management team.
It was a good hour's race for all and with the wind holding steady. It was more of the same for race 10 with the finish back at the ODM. The tide by then was flooding, adding to the decisions to be made on both legs especially as the downwind leg was splitting the fleets as they gybed on the shifts and tried to find the tide.
The weather remained glorious for the last 2 races of the series held on Saturday 15th March, with a very light NNW breeze. It was a beat up to the buoys off Hythe yacht repair yard and a run back to the ODM adjacent to After Barn twice round but the reducing wind resulted in shortening after 1 lap which saved the race. It was an anxious wait for the wind to return and after an hour of calm while everyone basked in the warm spring sunshine it returned and built from the same direction enabling the last race to quickly get under way. The prize giving followed where Doyle Sails' manager Nicky Octon presented the prizes for the day and the series.
2014 Doyle Sails Series Results:
Class 1 (IRC) was won by IndulJence a J97 owned by Nick Munday 2nd was Cornil Riklin's Jitterbug on count back from Kirsty & David Apthorp's J Dream both J 111s
Class 2 (IRC) winner was Love in a Mist, Eric Williams Waarschip 7.25 winning all but 1 race, 2nd David Greenalgh's J92 J'ronimo and 3rd Colin Woodfuff's Laser 28 Blazer
Class 3 (RSYC) was won by Serendip 4 Paul King's Hanse 370 with runner up Faze 3 Andrew Campbell's Bavaria 44 and in 3rd Forethought of Gosport Michael James GK 24