Royal Southern YC Champagne Joseph Perrier July Regatta overall

by Phil Riley on 6 Jul 2015 Champagne Joseph Perrier July Regatta – The Royal Southern Yacht Club’s deserved reputation for top-flight race organisation has spread far from The Solent, so it is no surprise that the regatta attracted racers from beyond the club’s Hamble River base.

For John Barrett, however, the distance involved in returning to his Ramsgate home meant he had to forego the pleasure of collecting his liquid Joseph Perrier reward for winning IRC2 with Stiletto. Instead crew Prue Nash did the honours at a packed clubhouse prize-giving.

‘We were the lowest rated boat in the class and were really chuffed to do so well – it was champagne sailing, literally in this case,’ said Prue, adding: ‘It was a fantastic regatta and really well organised.’

The east coast based First 35 responded well to mixed conditions in The Solent, which saw solid breeze on Saturday topping out at over 20-knots give way to light airs early Sunday before the sea breeze restored ideal racing conditions for the concluding race.

Stiletto posted a 1-2-4-1 scoreline to finish ahead of Roger Bowden’s Dufour 40 Nifty Drifter and Robbie and Lis Robinson’s First 35 Hot Rats.

‘We had our worst result in the light but when it got up to 15 knots we were really in our element in just the right range for our sails,’ said Prue. ‘She was just going really, really well. We had Mike Relling at the back doing a lot of the trim, a bit of the great and the good, but this team have been together for a long time now and this is our fifth season so we have got her going really well. We have been together through three quarter-tonners, X332s, X99s and more recently the Dehler 34 and now the First 35, it’s just working really well for us.’

It also worked well for Adam Gosling’s Cowes-based Corby 36 Yes!, whose involvement with the club across the Solent was rewarded with four bullets which saw them clear winners in IRC1 in front of the J/111 challengers of Tony Mack’s McFly and Chris Body and Andrew Christie’s Icarus.

In IRC3 Andy Howe also felt the trip – his from Harrow on the Hill in London – was worth it with victory in IRC3 on Black Jack II. The J/97 is the reigning national class champion, but despite a strong opening did not have it all its own way.

‘We had lots of breeze on Saturday which really suits us, so we had a really good start with a couple of wins which really sets you up,’ said Andy.
Sunday’s light airs race, however, saw David Greenhalgh’s J/92 J’ronimo – whose crew included his daughter Libby just returned from Volvo Ocean Race duty – pull off a precision pin end port tack start to take the race by the scruff of the neck.

‘We knew David was going to be a handful, and he was, winning the race. He had a great start and I think was in the lead all the way round. We’ve had lots of races with David – we used to have a ’92 – and he’s just really good.’

J’ronimo took third in class, pipped by Peter Bromley’s A31 Aneet Djinn which won the final race of the regatta.

The Royal Southern is also showing its mettle, along with its unrivalled facilities, in running national events alongside its core programme, this weekend also hosting the Open British six Metre Championship.

Victory went close to home, going to sailing committee member Andy Short’s Nancy, just ahead of Fenton Burgin’s Sioma and Tom Richardson’s Thistle.
‘I am on the sailing committee of the Royal Southern but I have to say this weekend was excellent with great courses and more boats to compete against,’ said Andy.

Another club member having a successful weekend was Annabel Vose, who helmed Johnny Goodwin and Jonathan Calascione’s Harlequin to six straight wins in the J/70 class.

‘I’ve done a bit with the J/70s over the Winter Series but this was my first weekend helming and I loved it,’ said Annabel. ‘It was a perfect weekend and they are such great boats. Downwind they are so fast – they plane so quickly and they are just off. All the boats were so close as well so it was great fun.’
Also completing a clean sweep was Robert Bottomley’s First 40 Sailplane, which took the Cruiser Class ahead of Nicky and Bill Blain’s Batfish V and Graham Nixon’s Magic.