18ft Skiff Solent Grand Prix Series Round 3 at Calshot
by Tom Hill 25 Jul 2018 06:30 BST
21-22 July 2018
18ft Skiff Solent Grand Prix Series Round 3 at Calshot © Duncan Barr
After a busy week at the World Championship in Lake Garda, there was very little rest before the Solent Grand Prix Series fired up again. There were a couple of crews out of action so this was a key event to pick up some good results in the overall standings.
Day 1
Five races were sailed for the first day in some light but tight conditions. The fleet decided at the briefing that they wanted to practice more starts and slow speed manoeuvres, so the race committee set out to run as many 20 minute races as they could fit in the day. The wind direction was changeable leading to some brief pauses between races, but this was welcomed by the fleet who enjoyed to rest between the short and sharp sprint style races.
The first race was a good shakedown for new crews to get themselves settled in the boats. The Black Dog and The Time Genie we're dominant at the front but The Time Genie came out with their first bullet of many for the weekend.
For the second race, Union rose found pace to sail most of the race in third after forcing turns on ChameleonI. However, they couldn't hold them off for two laps when the wind swung round and slipped back.
The third race had a bit more breeze and an unfortunate capsize from Black Dog tacking up the short course took them out of contention. A big shift made making the gate tricky, causing a very late drop for Union Rose on both laps.
The course was reset for the final two laps and a dialled in fleet made for much closer results, but The Time Genie managed to square away five bullets from five.
Day 2
The second day of racing was a little more exciting with a slowly building sea breeze through the afternoon.
The uncertain forecast led to a split rig fleet. Once launched, The Black Dog decided better of their big rig decision and head back in to save their kit and missed the day's racing. That would surely leave the scoreboard open for The Time Genie to clean up?
The first race was in the least breeze of the day, but The Time Genie were still very powered up on their big rig. The race was close throughout and a late layline call on the last downwind leg meant The Time Genie were overstood and had to drop. This gave ChameleonI a lane in to the finish, but just managed to bury a rack in the final stages. It looked like The Time Genie would take back the win, but a big gust forced them to dial up to stay upright and handed the win to ChameleonI - a bullet that has been long time coming this season.
The second race was another tough start. Union Rose got aggressive and were OCS, but behaved and went back around the ends. The breeze began to freshen, making the manoeuvres tricky, but The Time Genie held out in front, taming their big rig beast!
The final race was exciting before it began. The Time Genie capsized with a minute to go and ChameleonI were back off the line. This gave the lead to Union Rose from the outset. They held onto the lead all the way round the two laps until the last gybe where they called it late and the monster rig of The Time Genie powered over the top of them only metres from the line.
Summary
So The Time Genie had another successful day, but had to fight for it. The end result was an impressive scoresheet and another Solent Grand Prix Series win. It was another great weekend at the fleet's new home and brilliant to welcome more new boats out of the world container and new faces to the fleet.
A special mention goes to the two fresh crew on Union Rose. Cameron Barr and Toby Heather only came together with their helm Alex Lewin on Saturday morning and amongst getting the boat around the course all weekend with only a single capsize, they were really giving the front runners some issues. A pair to watch when they find themselves in a skiff again.
The next Solent Grand Prix Series event is 11th/12th August where the fleet will reconvene for another exciting weekend on the water. Thanks as always to our sponsors Gold Sails, TeamO and AC Rigging and Coaching for making these events possible.
Solent Grand Prix Series Standings
With half of the events raced so far, the standings are hotting up!
1st The Time Genie 4pts
2nd ChameleonI 8pts
3rd Union Rose 9pts
4th Rutland 15pts
5th The Green Skiff 16pts
6th The Black Dog 18pts
Overall Results:
| Pos | Team | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | The Time Genie | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑2 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | ChameleonI | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | ‑3 | 17 |
| 3 | The Black Dog | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | ‑5 | 23 |
| 4 | Union Rose | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | ‑4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 23 |