Royal Southampton Yacht Club Double Handed series - Race 7
by Andrew Campbell 9 Sep 2006 00:14 BST
2 September 2006
The seventh race of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club Double Handed series had a 0800 start from the Squadron line off Cowes, which meant an early start for everyone. The day began overcast with a strong force 4-5 South-Westerly, wind over tide. The wind was forecast to increase to force 7. The race committee took the sensible decision to change the course and not risk potential problems by sending the fleet off to the Southern side of the island. A special course was set within the Solent instead, covering the area from Lee-on-Solent to Lymington. Out of the 172 entries for the race, 91 lined up for the start. The course was heavy going in the strong winds, particularly for the smaller boats leading to a number of retirements.
Jump, Stewart Hawthorn’s J133, took line honours and the class 1 win on handicap, finishing 3 minutes ahead of second placed Java Mocha, the J124 sailed by Paul and Marie-Claude Heys. David Munro and Rudge Bowen brought their J133 Jacana home in third place.
Class 2 had an incredibly tight finish on handicap. After 7 hours of racing, John White and Steve Johnson on Mactoo, a Nicholson 35, took line hours and on handicap tied for second place with David Aldridge and Phil Pafford on Infinite Jest, an Elizabethan 30. Edward Donald battled the conditions sailing Madelaine (a Folkboat) over the line to take the class win.
In class 3 Mark Breton on Blush (Lightwave 395) sailed a tight race to beat Hecuba (First 47.7), raced by Ralph and Piers Denne, over the line. Hecuba took the win on handicap but has a protest lodged against him which may yet change the results. Faze 3 (Bavaria 44) raced by Ian and Andrew Campbell took third in the class.
Paul Dunstan and Jonathan Price underlined that Folkboats can do well in any conditions by sailing Mandarin over the line to take the class 4 win. The Contessa 32s seemed to delight in the conditions with Simon Pritchard and Homme Zwagstra romping home to take line honours and second place on handicap, just ahead of third placed Cantata the second Contessa 32 sailed by Robin Wills and Nick Humphreys.
Tim Wilson and Richard Haynes on Blue Minnell II (Dragonfly 920) showed that they were made of stern stuff and won the multihull class. Unfortunately the weather took its toll on the other multihulls and the rest of the starters retired.
The last race in the RSYC Double Handed series takes place on Saturday 14th October.