(Warsash, England)- Last weekend saw the deciding races in the Brooks
Macdonald Warsash Spring Series and the Brooks Macdonald Crewsaver
Spring Championship. The boats were sailing in a force 3-4
southwesterly on Saturday, which veered close to due west for a time but
backed once again during race three so the course did become biased for
a couple of the classes but was re-aligned to the new wind direction
for the remaining two.JITTERBUG in the J/111s (Cornel Riklin) never dropped a podium place throughout the Brooks Macdonald Crewsaver Spring Championship and deservedly won their class. Staying in contention the entire series was Chris Body & Andrew Christie’s ICARUS just two points back after 12 races. After missing a number of the initial races, Louise Makin and Chris Jones’ JOURNEYMAKER II closed fast to grab third for the series.
Paul Ward’s EAT SLEEP J REPEAT just nipped their compatriots in the J/88 class by 1 pt with their steady scoreline throughout the series. It was Stew Hawthorn & Paul Heys’ JI FI, the early class leaders after rattling off four 1sts and three 2nds in the first seven races that looked unassailable. Nevertheless, persistence and consistency counts. After learning the ropes on the J/88, Ivan Trotman’s JOJO closed with a 2-1-1 to secure third overall in class.
Relative
class newcomer Ivan Burden sailed their J/109 JACOBI to victory in one
of the Solent’s toughest classes by simply staying out of trouble and
not having too many deep scores “down the mineshaft.” Hanging close for
most of the series and nearly pulling off a win was David Mcgough’s
JUST SO, closing the series with a 3-3 for 47 pts. The balance of the
top five was in a near three-way tie for third. As it turned out, Paul
Griffiths’ JAGERBOMB nearly lost their advantage with a closing 1-7-12
to Robert Stiles DIAMOND JEM that closed with a 4-2-9. On the tiebreak,
JAGERBOMB prevailed for the series. Taking fifth just one point back
was Francis Edwards SARDONYX IX.Ian Atkins’ BOATS.COM swept to victory once again in the J/70 class winning the class overall with just 31.5 pts total. Class newcomer and ultra-fast learner has to be Russell Peters, former Commodore of the West Kirby Sailing Club, uber I-14 competitor and expert team racer. Peters managed to win, place or show in six of 14 races to snag second place with 59 pts. Taking third was Jamie Arnell’s LITTLE LOUISE with 65 pts. Fourth was Simon Ling’s TEAM RAF BENEVOLENT FUND SPITFIRE and fifth was Ian Wilson’s GILL RACE TEAM.
J/80
BETTY (Jon Powell) also maintained her first place position to win with
nine 1sts in their 14-race record for an aggregate score of 20.5 pts.
Winning races but not able to match BETTY’s blistering pace was Mike
Lewis’s JESTER in second with 34.5 pts. Third was top woman’s skipper,
Ali Hall’s BOYSTEROUS only 5 pts back.The Black Group racing series was based near Champagne Pol Roger buoy off Lee Point in order to fully utilize the southwest breeze. Windward-leeward courses were laid using inflatable marks in the deep water to the north of the Ryde Middle bank. The White Group was racing in its usual spot on the Meon shore.
Peter Bateson, Series Chairman “The racing has been cracking not only this weekend but through the whole Spring Series and Spring Championship. We have had more boats competing this year and it has been a pleasure to see so many regular competitors return and to welcome the numerous newcomers.”
Whilst the Sunday (26 April) was overcast, quite chilly and the wind was back to the north/north easterly direction that has prevailed through most of the series, the competitors remained undeterred. Black Group’s first race, Class 4 started from near Wight Vodka and went up to William buoy before running all the way down to Cowes, then a couple of windward-leeward legs before the finish at a laid mark between Flying Fish and Artemis.
The other four classes started near South Ryde Middle and beat up towards Lee-on-Solent to a laid mark between Hamble Yachts Services and Fastnet Insurance; then a series of windward-leeward legs back to Ryde Middle and the Island shore and finish in the same place as IRC4.
White Group moved onto the Bramble Bank in an effort to avoid the large shifts associated with offshore breeze close to the shore and to take advantage of the neap tide.
The
conclusion of the Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series saw LITTLE
LOUISE (Nigel Evans) storm home to a conclusive victory in the J/70
class. 20 pts in arrears was David Mitchell’s crew on JUMANJI and in
third was Dave Mcleman’s OFFBEAT. Rounding out the top five was Patrick
Liardet’s COSMIC and Simon Cavey’s JUST4PLAY, taking 4th and 5th,
respectively.The J/80s had a repeat winner in the form of Powell’s BETTY. But, in this case it was Ali Hall’s BOYSTEROUS that snagged the 2nd spot while Mike Lewis’ JESTER crew secured 3rd.
Elsewhere the final battle was more closely fought with the J/109 JAGERBOMB (Paul Griffiths) slipping in with a series win just two points ahead of JUST SO (David Mcgough). That result was not without its anxieties as the JAGERBOMB crew nearly “bombed” their spring series with a closing set of “non-podium” finishes- a 4-7-13 that ultimately became their throwouts. Third was Joe Henry’s JOLLY JACK TAR with 16 pts.
Of significance in the Black Group IRC results was that the J/88 JI-FI took fourth overall for the series in IRC 2 and in IRC 3 Andy Howe’s J/97 BLACKJACK II sailed consistently to secure 4th overall.
The Sunday afternoon saw a packed Warsash Sailing Club with the last of the weekly champagne prizes presented, with a total of 22 bottles on offer. The prizes were presented by top racing coach Jim Saltonstall. For more Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series sailing information
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