(Hamble, England)- The famous Hamble Winter Series has started on the Solent and Southampton Water, hosted by the Hamble Sailing Club. The classes include IRC handicap as well as one-design fleets of J/70s in southern United Kingdom. This past weekend marked the second weekend of sailing in somewhat exciting, epic sailing conditions.
The forecast for Sunday the 13th October did not look great on Saturday night, but PRO Kathy Smalley, decided to go out and have a look on Sunday morning. As the start time approached, a strong squall swept through the area. Many competitors decided to call it a day and retire to the local pubs for an extended Sunday brunch/ lunch.
Of the 28 teams that decided to venture out, 16 sailed the course, two retired and 10 were DNS. The PRO set a beat to Delloit Buoy, followed by a reach to keep the early starters away from those still beating. One-sided beats to maintain separation were also the call of the day, along with short downwind legs and a short fetch to the finish. The smaller boats did a short leg to QXI while big boats went over to Prince Consort.
Some boats go particularly well downwind when there is a bit breeze around. The J/88 is such a beast. Even IRC 3 Class leader, Simon Perry’s J/109 JIRAFFE, had to concede the following. "We were quicker upwind,” said Simon. “But, the J/88 TIGRIS just shot past us downwind!" Bar-talk later confirmed that 21 knots had been seen on the J/88 TIGRIS’ speedometer. JIRAFFE managed to hang on to second, but the next two were the J/88's, Richard Cooper’s JONGLEUR and Dirk van Beek’s SABRIEL JR. As a result, Perry’s JIRAFFE leads with a 1-1-2 for 4 pts, followed by Howe’s TIGRIS with a 6-3-1 for 10 pts. Sitting in third is Mike & Susie Yates’ J/109 JAGO with a 4-2-DNC for 19 pts.
Next week sees race weekend 3 of the HYS Hamble Winter Series, Week 2 of the Hamble Big Boat Championship and the final weekend of the Hamble One-Design Championships. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth/PwPictures.com. For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information. Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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