Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series - Day 5
by Louise Nicholls 24 Apr 2018 11:23 BST
22 April 2018
With the best weather so far in the series arriving on Sunday 22nd April, we also saw some of the best racing on the water.
The White Group had a light shifty SW breeze of 5 to 6 knots which eventually settled into 13 knots.The U flag (no boats in the start line windward mark triangle in the last minute of start sequence) was used for the three J/70 starts which all got away cleanly with most competitors within half a boat length of the start.
The number of J/70 entries was boosted by those boats in the Crewsaver Warsash Spring Championship which runs over the two weekends 21/22 and 28/29 April, and the quality of racing was excellent. The J/70 fleet leader in the series is DSP (Douglas Struth) with Jeepster (Graham Clapp) in second position and Peggy (Jon Powell) in third.
The small quarter ton fleet also displayed good starting and close racing, as did the SB20 fleet. Dark and Stormy (Andrew Bell) leads the SB20s in the series with Trouble and Strife (George Barker) in second place.
Black Group had two races on Sunday with mainly windward leeward course using fixed and laid marks.
The wind was generally about 240 to 250 degrees and between 7 and 9 knots, but it did drop to 2 to 4 knots for a while during the first race, which meant the bigger deeper draft yachts who couldn't do as much tide dodging, came to a near standstill for a while. Tidal tactics were vital as the beats were quite long against the tide on the southern edge of the Brambles plateau and the breeze was unreliable.
The second race was a short and sharp one as the breeze picked up and the race course was busy and lively.
The first race for IRC4 took them from Darling Buoy to West Knoll after an initial short windward leg and spinnaker reach, then down to join the rest of Black Group racing up and down the southern edge of the plateau.
Erik the Red (Mustang 30 MKII - Bernard Fyans) proved that being first over the start line isn't always important. Despite having to loop the committee boat and restarting last, she managed to overhaul the fleet and lead for some time before hitting the bottom near West Knoll – yes, some bits of the Bramble Bank may be getting shallower. She eventually finished the race second to Stan the Boat (Sigma 33 - Toby Gorman). The second race was won by Prospero of Hamble (Sigma 33 - Allan Fraser) with Pipedream II (Beneteau First 31.7 - Jason Newell) coming second. Stan the Boat leads the class overall with a 3-point advantage.
In IRC1 race 4 La Réponse (Beneteau First 40 - Andrew Mcirvine) was a new winner with Juno (J/122 - Christopher Daniel) second – in race 5 Sailplane (Beneteau First 40 - Rob Bottomley) posted another win with Journeymaker II (J/111 - Chris Jones) second. Sailplane has a comfortable lead in the class and will be hard to beat on the final day of racing next Sunday.
IRC2 is led overall by Davanti Tyres (J/112e - Chaz Ivill) with a first and third on Sunday, while Redshift Reloaded (Sunfast 3600 - Ed Fishwick) lies in a close second overall, with a fourth and a first.
In IRC3 Xcitable ((X-362 - Peter and Sarah Hodgekinson) scored a first and a third, while Elaine (élan 37 - Mike Bridges) scored a third and a first. Xcitable has a slim lead in IRC3 overall with Scarlett Jester hot on her heels.
The J/109 fleet saw Jiraffe (Simon Perry) go over the line in the first race and was another boat that, after restarting last, was able to overtake the boats ahead - spotting the fleet ahead in a slow down in a wind hole and then sailing round it in breeze. She held on to win.
Diamond Jem (Robert Stiles) won race 5. Jiraffe leads the J/109 class overall.
In the J88 fleet, J-Dream (David and Kirsty Apthorp) had a dominant day with two wins. Tigris (Gavin Howe) leads the class overall.
Peter Bateson, Series Chairman "Good luck to everyone for next Sunday 29th April, the final day of racing in this year's Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series".
The prize draw was presented by Tom Milne from Doyle Sails and the lucky winners were Erik the Red who won a Helly Hansen Duffel Bag, Carnage who a won the Crewsaver Wet/Dry 75lt Holdall each, and JDream who won the Doyle Sails holdall. All those class winners present at the Warsash Sailing Club after racing received a bottle of champagne from Doyle Sails.
For full race results please go to the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series website.
Follow the news on Twitter @WarsashSS and the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series Facebook page. Don't forget that to pick up any day prizes you do need to have a crew representative in the Warsash Sailing club at the prize giving, after the days racing.
The Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series is The Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series is sponsored by Helly Hansen @HellyHansen #feelalive and organised and run by the Warsash Sailing Club. It is supported by race partners Crewsaver and Doyle Sails.