(Hamble, England)- The famous Hamble Winter Series continued on the Solent and Southampton Water, hosted by the Hamble River Sailing Club. The classes include IRC handicap as well as a one-design fleet of J/88s. This past weekend marked the sixth weekend of sailing in challenging fall weather conditions...only one race was sailed due to a very light, shifty, and streaky northerly breeze blowing offshore.
The battle in IRC 1 Class continues. Falling off the pace a bit in the trying conditions was Chaz Ivill’s J/112E DAVANTI TYRES, posting a 5th place to fall one point back from first place after two discards were counted. A major tactical blunder sent them down the mineshaft quickly, never able to fully recover in the short 1.5-hour race.
The IRC 2 class looks to be a runaway for Simon Perry's J/109 JIRAFFE, having never finished worse than 3rd place in the entire series to date. Currently, the JIRAFFE team are throwing out an amazing 2-3 to count just 8 pts in eight races- e.g. all firsts! Ten points behind them is Gavin Howe's J/88 TIGRIS with 18 pts net; feeling better about winning the 10th race of the series in the light stuff. In fourth overall is Dirk van Beek's J/88 SABRIEL JR and in fifth place is Mike & Susie Yates' J/109 JAGO.
The famous Greenhalgh family boat, their J/92 J'RONIMO, is not likely to overcome their massive beginning of series deficit of three DNC's in a row to win IRC 3 Class like they have in the past. However, there is a reasonable mathematical chance they can, hopefully, hop on the podium in the bronze position as they are just 8 pts out of contention in a fleet that has proven to take nosedives on occasion.
Finally, in the J/88 class, Howe's TIGRIS is leading that grouping, followed by Van Beek's SABRIEL JR in second, and Richard Cooper's JONGLEUR in third place. Shaun Rosters pictures can be found here. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth/ PWPictures.com For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information
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