Warsash Spring Series- Weekend IV Report

(Warsash, England)- The fourth weekend is now on the books for the Warsash Sailing Club’s famous HELLY HANSEN Warsash Spring Series. The fleet was blessed, again, with good enough conditions to get in one more race for the IRC handicap fleets and three more for the J/70s.

Race Report- Black Group
IRC 4 Class was started off Meon Shore on time at 1000 hrs from the White Group line in a very light easterly breeze. As on the previous Sunday, the main Black Group start was set up near QXI International buoy on the south edge of the East Knoll bank.

With the forecast of 6-8 knots starting off in the ENE and swinging to the SE during the racing period, but then dying away to nothing by late afternoon, the race team was considering the difficult question of timing the moving orientation for course setting when the breeze died away almost completely. With more hope than expectation about any return of a sailing breeze, a postponement was announced and the boats and the race team sat and waited.

Happily by about 1030 hrs a light breeze of 4-5 knots arrived from the SE and with suitable courses quickly set, the start sequence got all classes away between 1050 and 1110 on a series of beats, runs and reaches between the Ryde Middle bank and the East Knoll area, with courses of 8-10 miles. Light sunshine and the gentle breeze made for enjoyable racing and testing tactics over the spring tide.

In IRC 1 Class, it was the first outing for Chris Jones & Louise Makin’s J/111 JOURNEYMAKER II, showing they had not lost their edge by winning their class in convincing fashion.

In IRC 2 Class, Simon Perry’s J/109 JIRAFFE had a disappointing 9th place on Sunday which she’ll hope to discard when enough races have taken place next Sunday; but even so she held onto second place overall. Sitting in third continues to be Chris Burleigh’s JYBE TALKIN.  It was good to see Royal Yachting Association Chairman Christopher Preston out racing with the J/109 JUBILEE, his crew included Cowes Week regatta director Laurence Mead; they scored a creditable 5th place in this 21-strong class. In addition, Charles Ivill’s J/112E DAVANTI TYRES team is beginning to get themselves up to speed in the series, posting a 1-3 in their last two races to be sitting in 5th overall, easily within striking distance of the podium.  Everyone was also glad to see the new J/99 JENGA 99 competing for the first time, raced by Mark Richmond and his team and finishing a few seconds behind the J/109 JUBILEE.

With four races under their collective belts in the J/88 Class, Gavin Howe’s TIGRIS continues to dominate with all bullets for 4 pts. However, the top five has jumbled a bit since a few boats had “no show DNC’s” posted in their scorelines.  Currently, sitting in second is Dianne & Dirk Van Beek’s SABRIEL JR with 31 pts, third is Richard Cooper’s JONGLEUR with 33 pts, fourth is Kirsty & David Apthorp’s J-DREAM with 36 pts, and fifth is Tim Tolcher’s RAGING BULL with 38 pts.

The J/109s also have four races on the books.  Winning the fourth race quite handily was John Smart’s JUKEBOX, an amazing performance for their first day on the water this season!  Meanwhile, Simon Perry’s JIRAFFE continues to lead with 7 pts.  They are followed by Chris Burleigh’s JYBE TALKIN in second with 12 pts, third is Rob Cotterill’s MOJO RISIN with 33 pts.  The balance of the top five is Bill Stock’s JENGU in 4th and Chris Preston’s JUBILEE in 5th position.

The J-sprit class continues to be dominated by the J/88s and by Gavin Howe’s TIGRIS, in particular, as she took her fourth win in four weekends! The next two spots have flip-flopped.  Sitting in 2nd is now Dirk & Dianne Van Beek’s J/88 SABRIEL JR with 31 pts, following in 3rd by Kirsty & David Apthorp’s J/88 J-DREAM with 33 pts. This class will see a significant shake-up on the leaderboard once the toss race comes into effect after race six, as several teams have “no show 25’s” counting in their scorelines.

Race Report- White Group
The forecast for the day was not exciting, E to SE, 4-7 knots. This eventually turned out to ENE to S and the back to ESE, with 3-5 knots for most of the day and reaching nearly 8 knots for the last half of the last race of the day.

IRC 4, as is normal, got away on time at 1000 hrs for their round-the-Solent cans course, but the swing to the right started immediately, and the start of the combined sportsboat fleet was postponed. After an hour, during which the wind went right round to S before settling at SSE, the fleet finally got away. In the second race, it was a relatively stable breeze.  Then, for the third race the wind was back to its old tricks, which needed the course shifted left before the start, and 25 degrees further left during the race. The ongoing shift shook things up somewhat on the race track.

The hotly contested fleet of J/70s have now sailed twelve races. Continuing to lead the class is Paul Ward’s EAT SLEEP J REPEAT with mostly 1sts and 2nds for 15 pts net. Jumping up to second place is Phil Chandler’s BLACKJAX with 50 pts net. Dropping into third place was Graham Clapp’s JEEPSTER with 66 pts. The rest of the top five includes Terry O’Neill’s AQUA J in 4th and Doug Struth’s DSP in 5th place.   Sailing photo credits- Andrew Adams/ CloseHauled Photography    Follow the Warsash Spring Series on Facebook here   For more HELLY HANSEN Warsash Spring Series sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.


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