Warsash Spring Series - Day 3
by Peter Bateson 28 Mar 2023 15:33 BST
26 March 2023
Quokka leading IRC 3 on 2023 Warsash Spring Series Day 3 © Peter Bateson
At the halfway point of the Series, after six races on three Sundays, some form is starting to show.
IRC3 is led by Quokka (Peter Rutter/James Crew, Half-Tonner) by 3 points over Jon Powell's latest Betty, an SJ320. In IRC2, Rob Cotterill's J/109 Mojo Risin' heads sistership Jybe Talkin' by one point, with the Arcona 38 Triarchy of Ollie Reynolds and faith Burns one further point adrift. Charlie Whelan's The Bodfather (Cape 31) leads the small IRC1 class.
Race 3 was grey, slightly damp, and with a fluky 4 knot breeze off the mainland shore, rising slowly to 8 knots by the end of the day's racing. Boats that had been out the previous day in the JOG Nab Tower race experiencing 30 knots may have appreciated the respite although a "happy medium" would have been more satisfying.
The first race was a tight 'windward-leeward' of 6 legs totalling 4.2 miles for IRC class 1 and 4 legs (2.8 miles) for IRC classes 2 and 3.. The start was near to Hill Head buoy buoy in 10 knots of breeze, with 'HambleWinterSeries.com' used as the windward mark. Jiraffe (Cape 31, Simon Perry) led IRC1 home by 23 seconds over Khumbu (Christian Hamilton). In IRC 2, Mojo Risin' (J/109, Rob Cotterill) managed the difficult light conditions best and took the win by 39 seconds on corrected time over Jybe Talkin' with J/99 Jump 2 It (Kevin Taylor) third, just another 12 seconds behind. In Class 3, Quokka continued her winning streak with a 16 second win over Betty; David Greenhalgh's J/92 J'ronimo was 3rd albeit some 3 half minutes adrift on corrected time.
With the breeze still fluky but averaging a right shift, the second race started around mid-day. It was set 'around the cans' and a bit longer, at 6 half miles and 4 half miles for the different classes, using a "triangle-sausage" course with Royal Southern buoy to windward and East Knoll and Paul Heys buoys to leeward. In the end, the course proved rather short as a shift back to the left turned the second beat into a very one-sided affair and the breeze puffed up a bit to around 8 knots and occasionally more.
In IRC class 1, Jiraffe again held the lead, with The Bodfather second this time, ahead of Khumbu. IRC 2 saw the same first two places, Mojo Risin' ahead of Jybe Talkin', with Triarchy in 3rd place. Quokka again headed IRC3,, this time by over 2 half minutes on corrected time, followed (as usual?) by Betty with Memory Maker (First 31.7, Don Forster) coming through into 3rd place just under a minute further behind.
The series continues on three more Sundays through to the end of April, with a break for Easter. The Spring Championship with multiple races for IRC, Cape 31s, J/70s and SB20s is over the two weekends of 15-16th and 22nd-23rd April.
www.warsashsc.org.uk/spring-series