Double Victory for J-Dream at Warsash

by Kirsty Apthorp on 27 Mar 2007 After the gales of the previous weekend, Sunday 25 March proved to be a classic day for racing. With two races scheduled to make up for the cancelled race, eight J/105s were out to play.

Some sunshine with a solid north easterly of 12 to 15 knots greeted the fleet, as they gathered at the start on the west edge of Ryde Middle. The courses set for both races comprised windward/leeward legs up to the mainland shore and back to Ryde Middle. With a building tide, many boats misjudged the laylines for mark roundings, and in the second race the start line.

In the first race of the day and race 2 of the Series, a hotly contested first beat saw Juliette (Rod Knowles) misjudge the tide and get caught amongst the fleet as they all converged at the windward mark. J-Dream (David & Kirsty Apthorp) and Juneau (Mike West) called the layline right and enjoyed the first spinnaker run, hotly pursued by Fay J (Paul Griffiths).

Another windward/leeward leg and the positions still held. Juneau had a last attempt to close the lead of J-Dream on the final reach before the short beat to the finish.

After a short break for lunch whilst the fleet watched the chaotic starts of IRC 1 and the J/109s, the second race began. Unfortunately the fleet had not learnt lessons from the earlier starts and it was a shambles!

A strong east going tide took half the fleet over the line, with only J-Dream turning back to restart. Just Aquaholix (Hall, Hayes, Finn) were first at the windward mark, but unfortunately were OCS. Juneau and J-Dream gybed off, having rounded the windward mark second last and last respectively. This paid, as they rounded the leeward mark in time to watch the rest of the fleet all arrive together – exciting to watch, never mind participate!

The boathandling skills of Fay-J were superior and they escaped the fleet to pursue the leaders. A repeat of race one saw J-Dream, Juneau then Fay-J take the podium positions.

Race 2
1st J-Dream (David & Kirsty Apthorp)
2nd Juneau (Mike West)
3rd Fay-J (Paul Griffiths)

Race 3
1st J-Dream (David & Kirsty Apthorp)
2nd Juneau (Mike West)
3rd Fay-J (Paul Griffiths)

Our thanks to Raymarine for their support of the event and to Warsash Sailing Club for another most enjoyable Sunday.