"This week should have seen the culmination of the Hamble One-Design Championships, with racing on both Saturday and Sunday. However, the Weather Gods, or Storm Barbara as they were called last week, had other ideas. It was clear for several days in advance, that Saturday would be a complete non-starter. So, competitors were given an early cancellation on Friday lunchtime. With a well-known and respected online weather predictor giving 17-23 knots average, but gusts of 28-33 knots for the Sunday, the Race Team gave another early cancellation on the Saturday to prevent teams travelling and boats being launched.
The Forecast was not bad enough to trouble the IRC Classes, so Peter Bateson took the fleet to the vicinity of "Hamblewinterseries.com buoy" for a probable start area. The wind was moving between WSW and W, but was otherwise as expected. By 1000 hours it had gone south and dropped to 2-4 knots. There was much head scratching on the committee boat, and the competitors who had braved thunder and hail stones on the way to the start area, began to frantically adjust their rig settings and look for lighter headsails. With Windycator v2 showing 25 knots from the SW everywhere but the Bramble plateau the PRO decided to wait.
After half an hour, the wind was still light and from the south, so Peter Bateson decide it was better for the fleet to do something rather than sit around waiting. New courses were quickly designed to deal with the southerly starting breeze, but with the later legs ready for the expected southwesterly.
IRC 1 Class and IRC 2 Class got away at 1110 hrs and 1120 hrs, still in shifty, very light airs from the south. IRC 3 Class departed at 1130 hrs, with a building breeze of 10 knots.
IRC 1 Class were near the third mark at West Knoll when the "proper" breeze returned (10-15 knots) from the SW. IRC 2 yachts were half way from the first mark (East Knoll) to the second, with spinnakers up, when the wind switched from very little from the S (coming from Cowes) to 15+ knots from the NW (direct from Southampton) and several boats had a minute or two bearing off in the direction of Portsmouth before they could drop their kites and get onto the beat, which the leg had become. IRC 3 started on a beat which turned into a fetch, but at least the second leg became another beat! The rest of the race was more-or-less beats and spinnaker runs, as intended!
Big wind shifts nearly always have a snakes and ladders effect on the positions, and so it was in IRC 2 Class. Simon Perry's J/019 JIRAFFE got caught up in the pin end melee, leaving Mike & Susie Yates J/109 JAGO in clear air mid-line, alongside Gavin Howe's J/88 TIGRIS and Rob Cotterill J/109 MOJO RISIN.
In the end, it was the Yates' JAGO taking line honors and extending their lead for the series with a cumulative 2-1-1 tally for 4 pts and a near-unassailable lead on the fleet. However, "no one is counting their chickens before they hatch", so to speak. Perry's JIRAFFE team got smoked and ended up taking a 6th place to drop off their "death match" with the JAGO team...now posting 11 pts. Sailing the most consistently is Gavin Howe's J/88 TIGRIS, hanging onto third overall with the series with a 4th place, for a total of 11 pts. Yet another J/crew sits on fourth for the series, Mark Stevens' J/105 JACANA with a 4-2-7 tally for 13 pts.
In IRC 3, the amazing Greenhalgh family continues to hang in there. Though they had a disappointing 6th place this past weekend, their series tally of 6-1-6 for 13 pts keeps them in the hunt at the top of the leaderboard. While currently sitting in third place, no one doubts they have the talent and the desire to jump to the top of the class.
The Key Yachting Prosecco and Chocolates were enjoyed by all the winners, not just Susie Yates.
Next week is the mid series break, and when the fleet returns on November 8th for the real winter bit of the series. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth For more Hamble Winter Series sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.
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