Hunter 707 Southerns at the Island Sailing Club

by Editor 13 Jun 2002 19:25 BST

8th/9th June 2002

Photo © Janey Devine

With Ocean World sponsoring the main prizes of crew gear and a chance to show who was on form for this year’s Championships during Cork Week, there was a lot to play for. The Island Sailing Club in Cowes provided first class racing and thankfully some pre-weekend notices regarding start-line tendencies managed to hit the right note to the extent that there was only one general recall during the regatta.

Race 1 was a light wind drift until the wind filled in from the right enabling most boats to put their spinnakers up on the first leg of the windward-leeward course. The second leg proved a bit of a nonsense so the race committee took the welcome decision (except for Derek Blancke’s Censored who were leading at the time, strangely reminiscent of a race at the 2000 Nationals) to abandon the race and start on what was the wind direction to last for the day. Some of us were used to these conditions having raced in Tarbert the previous weekend, but that didn’t seem to help with results! When it finally got underway Impulse showed the fleet home with an impressive lead by the end, at least followed by Censored. The wind was never more than a force 2 still.

The second completed race of the day saw Mark Gillett’s Pocket Battleship climb to the front ahead of new boat Chilli Chaser owned by Ian Southworth who by all accounts has succeeded in many previous classes. The wind varied in strength if not massively in wind direction with the fleet tucked up under the brambles bank. The first race’s winners had slipped down the fleet slightly in this no discard series. The last race of the day saw yet another winner, proving how close this fleet really is. This was Chilli Chaser who were rapidly learning a thing or two about 707 sailing and were followed by Charles Wheelan’s The Sweeney.

The afternoon / evening was spent initially in the welcome sun at the ISC and carried on well into the night. The ISC played their usual perfect hosts and we almost got a third class engagement in as many regattas. Clearly the class is almost as close off as well as on the water. Cork Week should be interesting!

The fleet woke up on Sunday to quite a challenging wind strength compared to the previous day’s jolly. It was soon to blow the hangover’s away and the race officer stuck to his plan and sent us round the cans for a change instead of the standard W-Ls. He gave us some tremendous reaching legs where skill counted enormously in the fresh conditions. The first race saw the lead switch several times both up and down hill. A tight finish was inevitable and it could have gone to any of 4 boats who all rounded the last leeward mark within touching distance of each other. It was Andrew Aldwinckle and Tom Davidson’s Doh! who sneaked in to take line honours with second to Pocket Battleship, thereby continuing to extend their overall lead at the top.

The next race was James Ross’ turn in Black Sheep for line honours making 5 different winners in 5 races. They almost gave it away with some very dubious navigating in the early stages and then got into a tacking duel with Chilli Chaser on the final beat but held on with the chasers continuing to do just that. Jonathan Powell’s Betty (Spring Series winners) and John Lewis’ Baby Beluga both recorded consistent results for the day.

Overall by a fair margin the regatta was won by Pocket Battleship on 17 points, second to Chilli Chaser on 26 and third to Betty on 38. Other top ten places went to Censored (39), Michael Wilson’s Shotgunn (40), Doh! (42), Black Sheep (43), Baby Beluga (45), Peter Sonksen’s Impromtu-Too (51) and Paul Gray’s Beaver Hunter (52).

Thanks should be given to Slam, Beken, Marine Pool, Spinlock and Pig Bags for prizes and to Ocean World once again for kitting out the top two boats with crew gear.

Overall Results: (5 races, no discard)

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	7105	POCKET BATTLESHIP	MARK GILLETT	5	1	3	2	6	17
2	7098	CHILLI CHASER	IAN SOUTHWORTH	15	2	1	6	2	26
3	7091	BETTY	J POWELL	4	13	11	3	7	38
4	7103	CENSORED	DEREK BLANCKE	2	5	9	10	13	39
5	7013	SHOTGUN	MICHAEL WILSON	9	12	6	8	5	40
6	7024	DOH!	A S ALDWINCKLE	16	7	15	1	3	42
7	7038	BLACK SHEEP	JAMES ROSS	17	4	16	5	1	43
8	7033	BABY BELUGA	JOHN LEWIS	6	18	13	4	4	45
9	7053	IMPROMPTU-TOO	P H SONKSEN	12	10	8	13	8	51
10	7046	BEAVER HUNTER	PAUL GRAY	8	9	19	7	9	52
11	7119	TEQUILLA HUNTER	P MCcARTHY	3	21	10	14	15	63
12	7075	PANIC V	BORGE LETH	19	6	17	12	12	66
13	7077	IMPULSE	JOHN CRAIG	1	11	4	42	10	68
14	7006	SPARKLE	P G CURTIS	21	20	5	9	19	74
15	7068	BANGERS & MASH	ELIZABETH ROBINSON	10	8	20	22	20	80
18	7003	WINDJOB	J BRECH	13	23	12	20	14	82
17	7116	STAR-BORNE 3	PETER DICKSON	11	16	21	11	24	83
16	7106	THE ALLOTMENT		7	19	23	16	18	83
19	7067	THREE LITTLE PIGS	FRASER ELMS	27	3	7	15	42	94
20	7054	MR BENN	NEIL DAVISON	28	17	18	18	25	106
21	7041	THE SWEENEY	CHARLES WHELAN	42	14	2	42	11	111
22	7069	SWALLOW	G S CRAIGEN	23	30	25	17	17	112
23	7122	MUTTLEY	PHILIP STIMSON	18	24	26	19	26	113
24	7117	DOUBLE TROUBLE	HOWARD MORRIS	14	15	42	24	22	117
25	7093	GIRAFFE	SIMON PERRY	20	22	29	42	16	129
26	7062	SHARKIN MAD	E HIPKIN &	25	27	22	28	28	130
27	7048	BASHER	C D BUCH	26	32	27	25	23	133
28	7107	CEZANNE	C J EDDY	29	33	28	26	21	137
29	7004	MARLIN	DUNCAN SURRIDGE/BILL MILES	22	31	24	21	42	140
30	7115	CACCIATORE	PETER JONES	31	29	30	23	27	140
31	7015	DOUBLE PLUSH	ALEX DIEZ	34	25	14	42	30	145
32	7042	POUSSIN	ALEX DIEZ	32	32	33	29	29	155
33	7118	DARKNESS	PAT MILES	30	26	32	27	42	157
34	7049	TOUCHDOWN	TIM BOOTH	36	28	34	31	42	171
35	7110	BRAVEHEART	JAKE POWRIE	35	34	31	32	42	174
36	7104	MATISSE	M WOLFENDEN	33	36	35	33	42	179
37	7052	BROKENWIND	P NEVILLE	37	37	36	30	42	182
38	7025	SCORCHER	ANDY BAKER	42	42	42	42	42	210
38	7026	LOLA	STEVEN DEWEY	42	42	42	42	42	210
38	7092	FEELING TOUCHY	JOSH BOTTOMLEY	42	42	42	42	42	210
38	7114	FLYING LOW	J MAHONY	42	42	42	42	42	210