(Hamble, England)- This past weekend, the premier winter sailing event
in the UK, the Garmin Hamble Winter Series got off to a good start for
all fleets sailing on the Solent. The event provides challenging racing
and close competition across eight Sundays from 5th October to 30th
November. The GHWS is organized and run by Hamble River Sailing Club and
every Sunday after racing, the HRSC Clubhouse offers a warm welcome,
hot food and competitively priced beer! Then, if that wasn’t enough,
the teams carry on to the infamous “Bugle Pub” on the High Street in
Hamble before closing out their weekend.“Good things come to those who wait,” commented HRSC PRO Kathy Smalley at the prize-giving of day one. That was certainly the case out on the water. Despite a two hour postponement to await the breeze, the race team remained confident that enough wind would fill in, despite the evidence from a nearby scrap metal yard fire, from which the smoke rose in a perfectly straight column. But sure enough, at 1230 hrs a gentle 6-8 knots from the SE ghosted in, allowing all classes to fit in a race in blazing sunshine. Combined starts got the fleet away in double-time to make the most of the fickle breeze.
Racing
is provided to both IRC-rated boats as well as for one-design fleets of
J/70s, J/80s, J/109s and J/111s. Starting with the IRC boats, in IRC 0
the J/111s sailed a challenging course with Chris Body’s ICARUS just
losing out the overall handicap win by one second to Niklas Zenstrom’s
Farr 45 Kolga. In fact, the J/111s took the next two spots, with Martin
Dent’s JELVIS taking third and Louise Makin & Chris Jones’
JOURNEYMAKER II in 4th.The J/88s are beginning to get used to sailing in IRC 2 class, having had enough time to figure out the balance of a good rating and excellent overall speed. Paul Ward’s EAT SLEEP J REPEAT took 2nd, followed by Ivan Trotman’s JOJO in 4th and Dirk van Beek’s SABRIEL JR in 7th.
IRC 3 continues to see the remarkable J/97 continue to eviscerate the class, as it has for the past three years running. Andy Howe’s BLACKJACK II took class honors followed in 2nd by Charles Ivill’s ETB TYRES/ JUST LIKE THAT in 3rd.
The
weekend also hosted the first of two Doyle Sails Hamble One Design
Championships weekends, with racing for J/70 and J/80 classes, as well
as J/109s. As on Sunday, Saturday’s start was postponed – but this time
due to too much wind. Once the front had blown through and the cold rain
had stopped falling, all classes had a storming sail, fitting in 3
races in the sunshine.For the One-Design Championship in J/109s, we find their fleet firing in four quick races with Iain MacKinnon’s TIGH SOLIUS II taking a narrow lead by virtue of their 2-2-1-2 scores for 7 pts. Second is Tony Dickin’s JUBILEE with a 1-3-3-1 for 8 pts and in 3rd is Roger Phillips’ DESIGNSTAR with a 3-1-2-3 for 9 pts. Quite neat how that all worked out for the top three boats, eh?? They all hogged the top three spots in every race to turn the ODC quite rapidly into a three-way horse race!
The J/80 ODC again sees some familiar faces on the top of their leaderboard. Phil Taylor’s J.A.T. is leading with a 1-1-1, go figure! Second is currently a tie-breaker between Doug Struth’s DSP with a 5-3-2 and Jon Powell’s BETTY posting a 3-2-5, go figure that one! Scary numerology in this fleet! Currently lying 4th is Patrick Liardet’s AQUAS-J and 5th is Mike Lewis’ JESTER.
After the recent J/70 Worlds and J/70 Europeans taking place over a fortnight on the international schedule, the fleet on the Solent is back at it again getting ready for next year’s 2015 Worlds in La Rochelle, France. Leading the charge after three races is Dave Atkinson’s JAWBREAKER with a 1-1-3. He’s followed by Paul Molesworth’s JUST NOW in 2nd with a 3-4-2, then Ed Simonds’ NOT SURE in 3rd with a 7-3-1, Mike Holmes’ JIKA in 4th with a 2-5-5 and Simon Cavey’s JUST4PLAY in 5th with a 4-2-9.
There wasn’t enough wind on the White Fleet race area on Sunday to fit in any racing, so competitors await the second Doyle Sails Hamble One Design championships weekend in a fortnight’s time to determine the final results for the 2014 event.
Day Sponsor was Hudson Wight, who provided £50 off vouchers to class winners, and a pair of gloves to second placed boats at a packed prize-giving in the HRSC clubhouse, where plentiful supplies of hot food and a packed bar were available.
Next weekend sees the first of two MDL Hamble Big Boat Series weekends, as well as the second Garmin Hamble Winter Series race day, where the day sponsor is the Bugle pub. See you all on the water – and if you haven’t yet entered, it’s not too late to come along – just contact the club office!
Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing information
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