Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit - Overall
by Robin Milledge 20 Nov 2018 14:33 GMT
18 November 2018
Jin Tonic and Jelly Baby on the final day of the 2018 LTSC Solent Circuit © Robin Milledge
The final weekend of the Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit, sponsored by Pennyfarthing Homes, saw sunny conditions out on the Solent, with a solid north easterly breeze gusting up to twenty-five knots.
With the tide ebbing, conditions were still manageable, and the race committee were able to set a simple windward leeward course close to the mainland shore and run two races for all classes, to make up for the lost race the previous weekend.
In Class One, for IRC boats, Jin Tonic and Jelly Baby, the two J105's of Andy Roberts and William Newton enjoyed a close battle to finish the series in first and second place over all respectively. Bob and John Bakers J97, Jaywalker was third overall.
The J80 fleet continued their series with the now familiar sight of Chris and Hannah Neve's blue spinnaker first to hoist at the windward mark. They sailed a consistent series and once race discards were taken into account, finished with six firsts to take the overall series title and the Marlow Ropes trophy for most outstanding performance across the fleet. Liam Willis and crew, sailing Dark n Stormy II were second overall and Toby Collier's Traffic Jam was third.
Michael Carrington's Sweden 45 revelled in the breezy conditions to take first place in both races in Class 2 for boats racing under the Lymington Adjusted Handicap system. Stuart Duffins Flying Boat took second overall for the series with a third and fifth place on the day, followed by Allan Hills Colleen finishing third overall for the series.
In Class three, for the smaller LAH yachts, consistency proved the key for Pat Stables and her crew on board Google-eye, taking the overall series win, despite a sixth place in the final race. A late charge from Robert Young's OK Yah, saw them take first place in the final race and sneak in to second overall for the series ahead of John Turner's Dynamic.
In the Folkboat class it was a three way battle for the overall placings, with Chris Hills Padfoot prevailing over Simon Flack's Strelende to take the overall win, but not before the top three yachts were disqualified from the final race for a rule's infringement. John and Claire Sowry sneaked in to third overall ahead of John Cooper and Becci Wigley, who took the Dicoll Trophy for the best performing boat outside the top three in its class. Full results for the series can be seen at www.ltsc.co.uk/solentcircuit.
LTSC would like to thank all the volunteers, competitors and event sponsors for their support of the Solent Circuit 2018, including Pennyfarthing Homes, Caldwells Estate Agents, Grabau International Yacht Brokers, Ringwood Brewery, Lymington Yacht Haven, Harken and Sanders sails.