Most of the 250 yachts and sportsboats entered in the Garmin Hamble Winter Series took part in the second weekend’s racing on 15-16 October. A good mainly easterly breeze enabled the Black Fleet Committee boat to lay a start line just north of the Brambles Post and all the classes used East Brambles as their first turning mark.

With large numbers of boats in the first three classes the start line had to be long enough to accommodate them all. However, this did lead to bunching at the ODM end of the line as boats tried to get out of the adverse tidal stream and head towards the north shore. BothMagnum 2in IRC 1 andJ Spotin the Bowsprit class were adjudged OCS. For the rest of the starts the line was shortened and had less port-end bias. This resulted in a more even spread along the start line, and cleaner starts. At the X-332 start Jonathon Butler’sPeanutlost her foresail but recovered well during the course of the race to finish third behind Ian Dawson (Glide-X) and Robert Peters (Reckless Rat).

Line honours in IRC 1 went to Stewart Hawthorn’s J/133Jump. On the final leg from Hill Head to the finish at Marinetrack.com the wind was varying enough to make significant differences in pointing angles.Jumpwas able to hold her port tack most of the way to the finish but behind her Jack Pringle’sMankiewas headed quite badly on starboard and undoubtedly lost time. The J/133 took the class on corrected time. Old ‘rivalries’ were renewed in IRC 2 where this week it was Jim McGregor’s Elan 40Flair IVwho took both the line and class win from Peter Rutter’s Elan 37Quokka. There were also wins for Neville Hodkin’s Sigma 362Extra Djinnin IRC3 and past class winners the Meakins Family (Sigma 38) and Richard and Valerie Griffith (Sigma 33).

The Sportsboat Committee boat had set up station off the Meon shore and the first sequence of starts went smoothly. With no Mumm 30s racing in the White Group the first class away was the 1720s and Mark Greenway (La Licorne) set the pattern for the day by winning both races, both times from Damien and Georgie Baker (Mad Cow). It was a similar story in the 27 strong Hunter 707 class where Mark Gillett’sPocket Battleshiptook the gun twice and there was another double winner in the general Sportsboats where Paul and Marie-Claude Heys sailed their 1720 to victory. In the first race, after a very close race, David Rowen’s Melges 24 took line honours by 10 secs but finished second on handicap.

The Laser SB3s is the largest class with 50 entries so far. With many good teams competing it is impossible to anticipate who might come out as winner. The first race was full of incident with boats changing places on a regular basis. The RAF entrySynchrowas unfortunate to lose her rig at the top mark on the second lap in a clash with another boat. On the third lap a windshift caused the beat to become very one-sided, even though the race team had moved the bottom mark to try and compensate for the change.

Colin Simonds (Doolalli) hung onto to a small lead from the halfway mark but he had incurred a penalty on the way round and this, added to his elapsed time, dropped him to fifth. The afternoon race was as exciting especially as all classes used the same windward mark and spreader buoy but the Sportsboats and Hunter 707s had a shorter downwind leg. Their bottom mark was placed about 200 yards upwind of the faster classes bottom mark. By the middle of the race the action at this part of the course led to the very confused seas and many sail handling errors. Mike Budd (Gul) and David Cheyne (Team Harken) were the individual race winners. This win in the afternoon race also gaveTeam Harkenthe Autumn Championship.

Martin Cowell, Sales Manager for Lewmar – this week’s Day Sponsors, presented the weekly prizes at a packed Hamble River clubhouse later in the afternoon.

Next weekend has racing on both days with the Hamble Big Boat Series concluding as well as the normal series racing on Sunday.

Results

Keelboats

IRC 1 J/133 Jump Stewart Hawthorn

IRC 2 Elan 40 Flair VI Jim McGregor

IRC 3 X-362 Extra Djinn Neville Hodkin

IRC 4 MG 335 Tangent minus 1 Paul and Julia Aisher

Bowsprit J/105 Zelda Ben Richards and Mike Ewart-Smith

X-332 Glide-x Ian Dawson

Sigma 38 festina lente The Meakins Family

Sigma 33 Cerefe Richard and Valerie Griffith

Sportsboats

1720 Race 1 La Licorne Mark Greenway

1720 Race 2 La Licorne Mark Greenway

Laser SB3 Race 1 Gul Mike Budd

Laser SB3 Race 2 Team Harken David Cheyne

J/80 Race 1 Jeuan Robert and Jonathon Fox

J/80 Race 2 Jura Robert Napier and Helen Foster

Sportsboats Race 1 1720 Key Yachting Paul and Marie-Claude Heys

Sportsboats Race 2 1720 Key Yachting Paul and Marie-Claude Heys

Hunter 707 Race 1 Pocket Battleship Mark Gillett

Hunter 707 Race 2 Pocket Battleship Mark Gillett