Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit - Day 2
by Robin Milledge 16 Oct 2018 15:36 BST
14 October 2018
J/80s Dark and Stormy II and Traffic Jam in a tight finish on day 2 of the LTSC Solent Circuit © Robin Milledge
Conditions could not have been more different from the first race of the series as driving rain and thirty knot gusts from the north greeted competitors as they came to the start of race two of the Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit sponsored by Pennyfarthing Homes.
With some crews making the difficult choice to stay in bed, twenty-eight boats came to the start area. Demonstrating extreme dedication, Simon Flack and his crew on board Folkboat Stralende, left Poole at four thirty in the morning to make it to the start in good time. With the wind directly off the mainland shore the race committee set a short beat to the moveable windward mark for all classes.
The IRC and LAH Classes sailed a series of windward leeward legs across the Solent, with a final beat back across from Mark 4 to the finish. Andy Roberts' J/105 Jin Tonic took line honours in IRC, but could not hold off Peter Schofield and crew, sailing Richard Down's Elan 333 Islay, who took first place on corrected time. Bob and Jon Bakers J97 Jaywalkers was third.
In LAH 1 Stuart Duffin's Grand Surprise Flying Boat was first to finish but lost out to Michael Carringtons Sweden 45 Susimi II on corrected time. Allan Hills J30 Colleen was third. In LAH 2 George Smith sailed his classic Contessa 26 Brizo to first place on corrected time, ahead of John Tuners Dehler 29 Dynamic and Pat Stables Trapper 300 Google-Eye.
The J80 fleet resumed their close battle around a short course with multiple rounds. With different boats leading at almost every mark rounding and one or two spicy moments on the downwind legs, Chris and Hannah Neve's No Regrets prevailed to take the win ahead of Team Willis and star guests on Dark n Stormy II and Toby Colliers Traffic Jam.
The Folkboats sailed the same course as the J80's, Chris Hill's Padfoot bagged first place from Simon Flacks Stralende with John Cooper and Becky Wiggley taking third place sailing Jen.
Racing continues on Sunday 21st October, when a steady south westerly and glorious weather are anticipated. Full results and details of how to enter the racing can be viewed at www.ltsc.co.uk/solent-circuit. LTSC would like to thank all the event sponsors for their support including Pennyfarthing Homes, Caldwells Estate Agents, Grabau International Yacht Brokers, Ringwood Brewery, Lymington Yacht Haven, Harken and Sanders sails.