(Hamble, So'ton, England)- Back after an Easter break, the Warsash Spring Series continued on April 11 with the entries topping 200. There were challenging conditions for Week 4 with the wind ranging between 9-14 knots. The general mean direction was from the northeast, but local conditions prevailed on the three separate race tracks. Jon Spencer, in charge of the White Group J/80s was closest inshore and reported the wind moving to the east each time it faded. In the middle of the Solent at ‘Flying Fish’ buoy, Black Group CRO David Greenway found the wind sufficiently stable to set the same basic course for all the keelboat classes, with only a minor adjustment for the smaller boats. The only interruption to a smooth start sequence came between the J/109 and IRC3 starts, when a second outer distance mark was laid to achieve a square line. IRC1 got away on time and JINJA, Ian Matthews’ J/122, took a flyer from the pin end of the line and established a winning lead within the first 10 minutes of the race. JINJA is the fourth different winner in IRC 1 so the class is wide open with two races to go. Another J/122 JOLLY JELLYFISH has sailed consistently well to remain second overall in the series standings.
Unusually, the highly competitive J/109 class was slightly reluctant at the start. This gave David McCleman helming OFFBEAT, who had perhaps been watching the earlier starts, the golden opportunity to grab the favoured position at the pin end. He achieved an immediate lead. David Apthorp on J/DREAM gained on the first beat and, although never far away, could not get close enough to cause danger. The seventeen J/109s saw Kirsty and David Apthorp's J-DREAM continue to separate themselves from the pack with a 1-2 this past weekend to be ahead by ten points. David Mcleman's OFFBEAT has jumped into second ahead of James Arnell's JEEZ-LOUISE.
IRC3 and the combined J/105 and J/92 starts were subject to individual recalls. As the wind lightened towards the Island shore, rounding Prince Consort buoy against the tide caused a few problems and the fleet became very spread out. JIKA-JIKA, the fast J/97, took second place on handicap. Charles Wittam’s Juno has now won three of the four races and holds a good lead in the class. At the back of the fleet Domaine and Gambit ran out of time but benefited from the “out of time” provision in the Sailing Instructions.
The combined J/105 and J/92 starts were subject to individual recalls. As the wind lightened towards the Island shore, rounding Prince Consort buoy against the tide caused a few problems and the fleet became very spread out. The J class was finished early at the last windward mark. Rob Dornton-Duff in his J/105 JAVA ended a run of third places with the J/105 win. Things are extremely tight at the top of the leader board. Anyone who can put together two more good results over the remaining two weeks could change things dramatically. For J/105s, there is still what amounts to a three-way tie for first place. And, they're still only separated by a point! Chris Jones JOURNEYMAKER 5 is now third in a tie for second with Paul Griffith's FAY-J and Rob Dornton-Duff's JAVA that was in third is now first! The battle continues, more news next week...hold on to those keyboards!
On the same course, the J/92s continue to have very tight class racing amongst the top competitors. Leaping into the overall series lead after a slow start is Bill Howard's WIZARD. Yes, it did take some mastery of Hamble/ Solent wizardry to win two races in a row against this hard fought class. The trio of Andrew, Matt and Peter Campbell sailing JAMMIN are now down to fourth. Dominic Horner's JEKYLL in second and Rory and Cathy Staunton on JAYA are third. Anyone who can put together two more good results over the remaining two weeks could change things dramatically.
The J/80s are also having some great one-design racing in a wide variety of conditions. Not sailing this weekend was Terri Palmer on JUST DO IT dropping to third in the standings after a dominating performance the previous weekends. The fly-boys on TEAM SPITFIRE are now in first after some good sailing, just leading John Cooper's OI! John Cooper in Oi! took the first race but the RAF TEAM SPITFIRE made the best start of the second race. They managed to stay ahead of both OI! and Charles Somerset’s LOUDWATER down the run but a poor spinnaker drop let both the others through. At the same time, Katie, working foredeck on Jannine Stoodley’s WAIRUA thought of having a quick swim but after testing the water temperature decided against it and stayed on board. At the end of the third beat, JAVA NANO had made up a large deficit to round the mark in the lead but a poor tactical decision on the final run put her back in the pack. In the end, LOUDWATER took the gun a few boat lengths ahead of OI! TEAM SPITFIRE had their revenge in the final race establishing a small lead to the finish. LOUDWATER and OI! finished virtually level, only two seconds separating them. Full sailing results on the Warsash Website Sailing Photos by Eddie Mays