J/122 JOOPSTER Dominates IRC 1 Again
(Warsash, Southampton Water, England)- At last, on the fourth week of the Warsash Spring Series, there was an opportunity for crew to sit on the windward rail whilst spray whipped across the foredeck. After three quiet weeks, on Sunday 3rd April the breeze blew steadily from the south-west. Competitors and race officers alike enjoyed the livelier conditions.
The situation did not look favourable when the Black Group committee boat first anchored near Hamble Yacht Services buoy, in poor visibility with no discernible breeze. Then the mist slowly lifted, the wind filled in through the Needles Channel and by late morning the sun was shining. With this constant breeze and a midday high tide, Chief Race Officer Peter Bateson proclaimed it "a most glorious day" and was able to set a range of courses with an initial windward mark at RORC buoy and a common finishing mark at East Knoll. For the first time this year, all classes were taken west of the Brambles Bank, to Williams Shipping buoy. As the morning progressed, there was a clearly defined racing channel established, with all classes using the same strip of water. However, with some of the smaller classes using shorter legs and rounding marks to starboard, crews in the faster designs needed to keep a sharp look out for converging boats.
IRC1 was boosted by a growing contingent of J's, all preparing for the “Big Boat” Spring Championship which starts next weekend. This brought 15 entries to the line at 1000. Going around the track, the smaller boats in class were making good time against their handicap ratings against leading-edge teams like Nick Zenstroms' Swan 45 RAN, Neil Kipling’s J/122 JOOPSTER won the class for the second week running on handicap and moved to fourth in the overall standings, just three points up on the J/111 ARABELLA. Second for the day was Ian Matthews J/122 JINJA.
IRC1-B saw Niall Dowling's J/111 ARABELLA lying second overall with a very consistent 2-3-4-4 score. For IRC Overall, ARABELLA is now lying in fifth just five points outside of third-- one good race would change all the standings!
At 30-strong, IRC3 is the largest of the handicap classes. Jamie and Mike Holmes J/97 JIKA-JIKA continues to lie second with a 4-3-13-4 record for 24 pts. Lying sixth is Andy Howe's J/92 BLACKJACK that also counts a bad race for a 7-8-5-14 record for 34 points-- ouch! Bill Blain's J/97 BATFISH IV is slowly ascending the standings after a very slow start, now counting a 19-4-11-7 for 41 pts, only ten points from third overall.
The
J/109 fleet continued to enjoy close racing during the fourth weekend
of the Warsash Spring Series. This week the fleet was joined by a couple
of charterers – Jonathan Calascione who is from an experienced JBoat
family in Malta on YEOMAN OF WIGHT and Philip Pascall on JAZZY
JELLYFISH, and other regulars were back now that they have finished
their ski holidays!DESIGNSTAR (Roger Phillips) and SHIVA (Matt Boyle) had a great start and led the fleet across the plateau towards RORC. Meanwhile JEEZ LOUISE (Jamie Arnell) and JAGERBOMB (Paul Griffiths) had unknowingly pushed the line and failed to return, whilst JET (Alan Neilson) who was closest to the Committee Boat returned to restart and play catch-up.
The windward mark with a spreader caught out some of the fleet as they managed to lay the first mark but then had to tack up to lay the spreader, South Bramble. JUST SO (David & Mary McGough) judged it perfectly and led the fleet whilst working hard to hold off JAGERBOMB and SHIVA. A poor sail choice by J-DREAM (David & Kirsty Apthorp) saw them round RORC in 12th but by the spreader had moved into 6th place behind OUTRAJEOUS (Richard & Valerie Griffith) and JAHMALI (Mike & Sarah Wallis).
A long run back towards Lee-on-Solent saw JAGERBOMB gybe early which did not pay by the end of the run and saw them get swallowed up by the pack. Meanwhile JYNAN TONNYX (Owain Franks), DESIGNSTAR, YEOMAN (Jonathan Calascione) and ME JULIE (Dom Monkhouse) were in pursuit of the middle pack. A short second beat (by comparison) saw ME JULIE (Dom Monkhouse) tussle with J2EAU (Steve & Jody Maine) and OFFBEAT (David McLeman) whilst OUTRAJEOUS moved into 3rd place in front of SHIVA. Another long run back to the shore saw J-DREAM and SHIVA held up by a 40.7, which slowed their progress to catch the leaders. On the penultimate beat, JAHMALI moved into second place but was closely followed by OUTRAJEOUS and J-DREAM. A long run saw these three boats round the leeward mark together, with exemplary rule observance. The final beat back to East Knoll saw J-DREAM and SHIVA both overtake OUTRAJEOUS to finish 18 seconds apart. JUST SO won while JAHMALI took second and J-DREAM took 3rd place to JAHMALI by 13 seconds.
Off the Meon shore, things were less hectic but equally challenging. CRO Peter Knight used a trapezoidal course to separate the J/80s and the other boats. The J/80s were the first away with only Dan Brown’s HENRI LLOYD SHOCKWAVE starting prematurely, which was a shame since they went on to lead the fleet from start to finish. Patrick Liardet'S AQUA-J held off the attentions of ELLE S'APPELLE (Thor Askelund) to take a 9 second win, with the rest of the class tightly grouped astern. The middle race saw a clean start for the J/80s and Patrick Liardet's AQUA-J took a second win.
It was good to see Ian Atkins (ex J/80 Boats.com) working hard in the cockpit of another J/80-- HENRI LLOYD SHOCKWAVE. They got their just reward in the final race of the day when taking the gun ahead of JUICY (Cressida Robson and Allan Higgs) and the RAF’s Team SPITFIRE. The form book was slightly disturbed when AQUA-J could only finish fifth, cutting Patrick Liardet’s overall point lead to four after 12 races.
The final two weekends (9th/10th and 16th/17th April), see additional racing on Saturdays for the Spring Championship. The Warsash Spring Series continues on 10th April 2011. For more Warsash Spring Series sailing results. Sailing Photo credits- Eddie Mays
