The Hunter 707 fleet spent two hours waiting in glorious sunshine for the breeze to fill in on the first day of their national championship being sailed out of the Royal Southern YC, Hamble.

Having avidly followed the wind report on the Bramples post website the fleet of 29 boats set out for their three scheduled races. Conditions on arriving in the Solent were light and variable and the Race Officer sensibly set the shortest course and got the eager fleet away first time, even with the tide underneath them.

The fleet were spread evenly across the width of the first beat with Censored looking good on the right. With new wind coming in from the left it was the boats on that side that took the top spots round the windward mark – Cacciatore, Code Z and Beaver Hunter, all of whom are visitors to the South Coast.

Running into a strong tidal stream fortunes varied considerably. Betty coming from the back end of the fleet sailed round those on the left to sneak into the top five. Generally the boats on the right came out better having plugged the tide early in stronger breeze.

The race officer made a brave decision to shorten the course at the downwind gate with Beaver Hunter crossing the line first, in front of Code Z and Black Sheep. Whilst two thirds of the fleet finished in failing winds, ten sat tantalisingly close until the time limit expired.

Further racing was postponed, leaving two additional races to be sailed on another day.

Results (day 1)

1st Beaver Hunter

2nd Code Z

3rd Black Sheep

4th Cacciatore

5th Betty