Sailing Southampton Winter Series(Southampton, England)- The Royal Southampton YC started its Doyle Sails Frostbite Series on the 8th January. The first racing in the Solent of 2012 started early this year but with the warm dry weather continuing it felt more like a spring day . The wind was a gentle 5 knots from the west which caused consternation for the race management team just before the start by dying away to a little over 3 knots. Postpone or not to postpone that was the question. It did appear that the start line was in the light spot and the rest of the race area seemed solid so start they did.
There were 30 boats on the water out of an entry of 33 which was an excellent start to the series and perhaps an indication of how good the weather was. The class 1 IRC were 1st away and as always the start was competitive and there was an OCS who quickly restarted before the beat from Hover 1 across to the Hythe ship buoys, the course then running back to Hover 1 before a return to Hythe and then a short reach to the finish at Bird Pile. Class 2 IRC were up next and had a clean start before their beat to the same mark although the run was shorter to a laid mark to the west of Hover 1. Finally the J class for J92’s and J80 were away but they too were over enthusiastic and there was an OCS.
In Class 1, J-DREAM, David & Kirsty Apthorp’s new J/111 finished 2nd, just 27 sec behind the leader. Stuart Hawthorn's J/80 J'AI DEUX AMOURS won by 9 sec over JAMIN, John Cooper and Ian Townsend’s J/92. So it is close racing indeed.
With the wind slowly building to the low teens but steady in the West race 2 was quickly under way on the same course . This time they were all well behaved and clean starts were had by all. This time it was the J/111 J-DREAM who won Class 1 taking "all the chocolates". Currently, J-DREAM's 3-1-1 is leading the class for the series. Class 4 was won by BOJANGLES, Richard Sainsbury’s J/92s. However, Stuart Hawthorn's J/80 J'AI DEUX AMOURS is leading the series with a 1-2-1. For more Royal Southampton Frostbite Series sailing information
