Garmin Hamble Winter Series - Success at Last

by Peter Danby on 15 Oct 2007
Once again, the huge number of Winter Series competitors assembled at the committee boats of the Black Fleet (large yachts) and White Fleet (not so large), but this time with an awful feeling of deja vu. At the appointed start time of 10.00 there was no wind - or, to be more accurate, just a very little.

Up went the APs, and everyone settled in for a long wait, hoping that racing would not have to canned, as it was on the previous Sunday.

The wait was indeed long - about two hours in fact, but the race officers held their nerve, and the sailors were patient (simply because they had to be). Eventually, much to everyone's immense relief things came right.. The new breeze, just south of east, came in at a satisfactory six knots and built to a most acceptable ten. There was even sunshine to brighten things up.

As is the customary way of doing things at the Winter Series, the smaller boats sailed two races on courses laid on the mainland side of the Solent, where the Laser SB3s were led home in the first race by Paul Lovejoy in 'Badger Racing' who went on to finish third in the next, to share the lead on 4 points with David Wilkinson's 'Powder Monkey'. Craig Burlton in 'Team Touareg' and Mark Gillet's 'Pam Bere' both have 10 points.

In the J/80s Ian Atkins in 'Boats.Com' and Stephen Chiverton in 'Just Chilling' have 4 points apiece, followed by Liz Savage's 'Savage Racing Team' just one point behind.

Paul Curtis leads the Hunter 707s with two bullets, followed by the Gorman, Williams, Breslin and Simmonds team in 'Censored'. In the absence of Tim Newton, on duty for the Williams Formula 1 team for next weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix, 'A Grand Day Out' was competently steered into third place by his understudy, along with John Cooper's 'Tiger Feet'.

The Black Fleet, comprising IRC classes 0 to 4, J/105s, J/109s and Sigma 38s, sail longer courses using all the usual racing Solent marks, announced by radio shortly before their starts. On this occasion, Class 0 was joined by some amazing machinery involved in the Garmin Hamble Big Boat Series (see separate report) and the winner of the IRC 0 part of the race was the J/109 'Jellina' of Mark Lloyd, followed by Kristin Pagano's 'KoKo Kai'.

Dominic Hurndall's 'White Knuckles' came out top in IRC 1, ahead of Andrew Webster's 'Circus' and Lucy Macgregor's 'Premier Flair', while in IRC 2 Neville Hodkin took the race in 'Extra Djinn' followed by Mike Moxley in 'Malice' and Mike Brough in 'Steady Barker'.

The J/92S of Paul Heys and Kevin Sproul won IRC 3, with Nick Payne in 'Shades of Blue' second and John Noe in 'La Nef IV'. Alexander Christie's 'ASAP' took IRC 4, ahead of Paul & Julia Aisher who did so well last year in 'Tangent Minus 1', and Michael Fawcett in 'Hobby Horse'.

The fiercely contested J/105 class was won on this occasion by Nick Martin's 'Diablo-J' from Derek Copeman in 'BoJangles' and Vernon Bradley in 'Dream On'. The J/109s once again have mustered a large entry, and it was Nigel & Suzie Brooke's 'Jalapeno' that led them home ahead of David McLeman's 'Offbeat' and the Guy Knight/Five Star Sailing 'Beth'.

Best of the Sigma 38s was Derek Matthews' 'Pandanova 2' followed by Jon England in 'Vitesse' and John Dunnett's 'Beefeater'.

All in all, it was an excellent day once the breeze made up its mind to come along, and we were spared the frustration of another abandonment.

The Garmin Hamble Winter Series continues until the 2 December. For complete results and much more information go to: www.garminhamblewinterseries.co.uk

Results:

Garmin Hamble Winter Series, Day 2, White Fleet Race Winners:

Laser SB3
Race 1, 'Badger Racing' Paul Lovejoy
Race 2, 'Team Touareg' Craig Burlton

J/80
Race 1, 'Savage Sailing Team' Liz Savage
Race 2, 'Boats.Com' Ian Atkins

Hunter 707 Races 1 & 2, 'Sparkle' Paul Curtis

Garmin Hamble Winter Series, Day 2, Black Fleet Race Winners:

IRC 0, 'Jellina' Mark Lloyd
IRC 1, 'White Knuckles' Dominic Hurndall
IRC 2, ' Extra Djinn' Neville Hodkin
IRC 3, 'Joostup' Paul Heys and Kevin Sproul
IRC 4, 'ASAP' Alexander Christie
J/105 'Diablo-J' Nick Martin
J/109 'Jalapeno' Nigel & Suzie Brooke
Sigma 38 'Pandanove 2' Derek Matthews