Hadron H2 Open at Warsash Sailing Club

Hadron H2s at Warsash © Close Hauled Photography

For the second year the Hadrons held an open at Warsash in conjunction with the Blazes and Buzzes on 7th and 8th July. We managed four races on Saturday with a building sea breeze through the afternoon.

The first race was held in 5 knots with Richard leading to the windward mark but soon being overtaken by both class whippets Alistair and Ian with close racing around a trapezoid course through to the finish. In the second race the increasing breeze introduced a decent chop and Alistair's experience of racing in similar conditions was evident as he kept his boat powered up and moving well to take the lead and Richard was able to find a way past Ian to take second.

Hadron H2s at Warsash - photo © Close Hauled Photography

With a good breeze developing the race officer decided to keep racing late into the afternoon with the third and fourth races sailed in force 3 to 4 providing Richard with an advantage upwind and he took wins in both races. Alistair put up a good fight to keep in contention in the breeze finding that the ability to rake his rig gave him the ability to depower but at the cost of pointing which Richard was able to exploit on the increasingly one sided upwind leg as the tide strengthened. Alistair continued to be a force downwind coming a convincing second with Ian in third for the third race but running out of steam in the fourth race for which Adrian came home third. We all enjoyed a great reach back to Warsash Sailing Club for cake and a few beers with the Blaze and Buzz crews.

Hadron H2s at Warsash - photo © Close Hauled Photography

Sunday morning started early and we headed out to the race area to spend many hours waiting to see if the sea breeze would overcome the Northerly, unfortunately it did not. We did manage to get a fifth race in but in very light wind of less than 5 knots there was an inevitable sense of lottery. Richard spotted a patch of breeze over to the right of the beat and reached the top mark first followed by Adrian, Alistair and Ian. Downwind Alistair managed to use his weight advantage and tactics to slip past Adrian at the gybe mark and set off to close down Richard who was nervously looking over his shoulder. The course was shortened at the bottom leaving a short beat to the finish with Richard taking a third win in the series followed by Alistair and Adrian yards apart on the finish line. Despite the valiant efforts of the OOD it was not possible to get a sixth race leaving us all with a long beat back to the club against the tide; but at least the sun was shining!

It would be great to get more of the 35 Hadrons to the event next year as it was a brilliant event; however, a variety of local town regattas and a Football World Cup kept our numbers lower than we had hoped this year. Thanks to Warsash SC, Kayospruce (free drinks) and Vantage Sailing (free tea and cakes) and the Blaze and Buzz Fleets for making it a very enjoyable weekend.

Overall Results: