J/105’s at the Garmin Hamble Winter Series

by PR on 26 Oct 2007
Garmin Hamble Winter Series – J105 - Race 2

The forecast of no wind did not deter the fleet of eleven J/105s. The race officer too was undeterred and held his nerve for a couple of hours to be rewarded with a steady light breeze around lunch time. The wait was not all bad, as it allowed some to try to overcome the aftermath of the night before and gave opportunity for crew member Dan from Dream On to show off his (lack of) skill at fender swinging or should that be swimming!

Once racing began on the two lap windward-leeward, diablo-j (Nick Martin) showed everyone how it should be done, with a clean start and she led to finish with a strong lead. For the rest of the fleet, the race could have been considered frustrating. Shifty conditions and light winds whilst starting with the J/109 fleet made finding clean wind difficult and on the first beat many of the fleet misjudged the strong tide at the windward mark, a rounding which Diablo-j judged to perfection.

Dream On, the former J-Dream and now owned by Vernon Bradley, rounded in third behind Fay-J (Paul Griffiths) and gybe hoisted and by the leeward mark had gained 2nd place with BoJangles (Derek Copeman) having a better kite drop than Fay-J to take 3rd place on the start of the final beat. BoJangles took a well calculated decision to head north as the wind had swung round and gained a shift which moved her into 2nd place which she held until the finish.

Dream On had been caught by Juneau (Mike West) and Joleyn (Geoff Payne) by the windward mark, but out manouevred them, a quick hoist and a run to the finish saw her achieve a very credible 3rd place for the first outing.

1st – Diablo-J (Nick Martin)
2nd – BoJangles (Derek Copeman)
3rd – Dream On (Vernon Bradley)

Garmin Hamble Winter Series – J 105 - Race 3 - Sunday 21 October 2007

Nine J105’s were on the start line for the third weekend of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series. There should have been 10, but Only Just’s crew had been overwhelmed by the events in the rugby the night before. The title, Winter Series, is a bit of a misnomer since the weather was distinctly summery with a very light, shifty 6 -10 knot easterly breeze which did not fill in properly until about 11 o’clock. The racing which ensued was worth the wait.

The start was hotly contested as Voador (Simon Curwen) pushed Dream On (Vernon Bradley) and herself over the line and both incurred 20% penalties. The course was a series of windward, leeward legs going progressively right to take into account the expected veer in the wind, which did indeed occur, but earlier than the race officer had expected.

Dream On recovered from her poor start and overtook BoJangles (Derek Copeman) on the first beat. A luffing match between Diablo-J (Nick Martin) and Dream On saw diablo-J gain the lead to lose it to Fay-J (Paul Griffiths). Fay-J with their new North Sails were hopeful of achieving their first win of the series, to see Joleyn (Geoff Payne) appear from nowhere and pip them for 1st place by 28 seconds. Third was Diablo-J only 8 seconds adrift, followed closely by Dream On and Bojangles, Bojangles taking fourth due to Dream On’s starting penalty.

More great tactical J/105 racing is keenly anticipated on Sunday 28 October, with rather more wind forecast.

1st – Joleyn (Geoff Payne)
2nd – Fay J (Paul Griffiths)
3rd – Diablo-J (Nick Martin)