Champagne Charlie June Regatta at Royal Southern Yacht Club - Overall
by Louay Habib 14 Jun 2021 12:36 BST
12-13 June 2021
JPK 1080 Yes - Champagne Charlie June Regatta © Paul Wyeth / RSrnYC
The Royal Southern Yacht Club Champagne Charlie June Regatta lived up to its name with spectacular racing for 87 boats in the Solent. 2021 will be remembered as a vintage year for the regatta, generously supported by Charles Heidsieck Champagne and North Sails.
The final day produced slightly lighter conditions than the first. However, the sailors returned to the dock grinning from ear to ear. When the Solent delivers sublime sea breeze conditions, it is a very special place to go boat racing.
Royal Southern YC, Rear Commodore Sailing Paul Ward commented: "This is the largest June Regatta for a number of years. A big thank you to our race teams lead by Tanya Robinson, Cathy Smalley and Charlie Stowe. Our Club professional teams have done a great job looking after all of the sailors, Emily Robertson in the Sailing Office, Stuart Barbeary, Becky Marsh and Zoe McLean in the Clubhouse. We enjoyed some great champagne from our sponsors Charles Heidseick after racing on Saturday. North Sails powered us around the race course and looked after all of our sail repairs."
Congratulations to the eight class winners at the 2021 Royal Southern Yacht Club Champagne Charlie June Regatta: Blair and Beckett's King 40 Cobra, Adam Gosling's JPK 1080 Yes!, Handley and James' Mustang 30 Gr8 Banter, Jonathan Powell's Farr 280 Peggy, Jonty Sherwill's classic Cockleshell, Paul Ward's J/70 Eat Sleep J Repeat, John Pollard's SB20 Xcellent, and Peter Baines XOD Felix.
Black Group - CRO Cathy Smalley
IRC One
Blair and Beckett's King 40 Cobra scored a 3-2-1 on the final day to win a highly competitive big boat class of 17 teams. Russell Peters' Cape31 Squirt looked invincible after scoring straight bullets on the first day, but failed to keep up the performance, dropping to second. James Howell's Corby 36 Gelert won a close battle for third, just a point ahead of Cornel Riklin's Jitterbug. However, the Jitterbug team will be very happy to have finished as top J/111 for the regatta.
IRC Two
Adam Gosling's JPK 1080 Yes! scored four race wins and two second places to dominate the class. Team Knight Build on J/112E Happy Daize put in a solid performance to move up to second ahead of Mike Bridges' JPK 10.10 Elaine Again.
IRC Three
Handley and James' Mustang 30 Gr8 Banter held on to win the class by a single point from John Allen's x-302 Antix. David Greenhalgh's J/92 J'ronimo was third.
"We bought Gr8 Banter together to sail with our children and their friends," explained co-owner Tim James. "At least 20 young sailors have been part of the team, so it really is a sort of academy. As one of the smallest boats in our class, it was really tough racing today, as it was a very busy racecourse, but we held on, and we are very happy to have won."
HP30 Class
Jonathan Powell's Farr 280 Peggy had a stellar final day to win the HP30 Class by three points from Glyn Locke's Farr 280 Toucan. Lucian Stone's Far East 28 Vendetta had a cracking day, scoring a bullet and two second place finishes to place third, just half a point behind Toucan. Overnight leader, Hill & Faulkner's Moral Compass, was unable to race today, having sustained rig damage.
White Group - CRO Charlie Stowe
SB20 Class
John Pollard's Xcellent was unbeaten winning SB20 Southern Area Championships, scoring eight straight bullets. Mark Gillett PoorBuoy PBII was runner up, and Charles Whelan's Breaking Bod was third.
J/70 Class
J/70 World Champion, Paul Ward's Eat Sleep J Repeat, won the 23-strong J/70 Class after nine highly competitive races in the J/70 UK Class Sprint Series. Martin Dent's Jelvis had a great final day to move up to second, whilst Peters & Calascione's Calypso put in a strong last three races to hold onto third.
"It has been super-close racing everyone seems to really enjoy the short sharp Sprint Series format," commented Paul Ward. "Our race team of Tanya Robinson and Charlie Stowe did a fantastic job of turning around the races really quick in just perfect conditions. The standard of the J/70 fleet is just going up and up, and more people are attracted to the fleet by the fast and close racing."
XOD Class
Peter Baines Felix won the XOD Class, scoring four race wins. Andrew Bates' Iona scored consistently to finish runner up for the regatta, just two points ahead of Andrew Pimm's Muse. Gary Rossall's Little X was missing from the XOD line-up on the first day, but scored two race wins to finish the regatta in fourth place.
The next major regatta hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club will be the Landsail Tyres J-Cup, 24-26 June. The Southern has a long history with the J Boats family, and as always the Clubhouse staff and Sailing Office is looking forward to the regatta. The Royal Southern YC Summer Series continues July 10-11, with the Salcombe Gin July Regatta.
See cumulative results here
More information at www.royal-southern.co.uk