'Chilled' champagne sailing on Day 3 of H.H Warsash Spring Series

by Louise Nicholls on 28 Mar 2017 Sunday, 26 March’s racing sees us at midpoint of the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series and the overall results are beginning to take shape as the front runners and riders start to become apparent.

The third Sunday of the Series was more like a classic Spring Series day; cold with sunshine and reasonable winds from the East. A brave crew member was spotted in IRC2 with bare red legs dangling below very short shorts on the start line - what a hero!

In the combined White Group, three races were held, and although the wind moved right for the third race, by judicious moving of marks the committee managed to avoid having to stop and re-run the race. The J/70s appeared to pull away from the J/80s due to downwind speed. Series Race Officer Peter Knight said, 'it looked like a day of sun fun and spray for the competitors'.

The leaders of the combined White Group Jeepster (J/70 Graham Clapp) had a good day with a first, first, and fifth to lead from Betty (J/80 Jon Powell), in second overall, who had nearly as good a day with a fifth, second and first. Third overall place is held by Jester (J/80 Mike Lewis). Sadly Soak Racing (J/70 Marshall King and Ian Wilson), who had made the running to date with three firsts, didn’t make it out this Sunday and have now dropped three races.

Jeepster leads the overall J/70 fleet with Injunction (Steve Venables) second and Offbeat (David Mleman) in third. Betty (Jon Powell) leads overall the J/80 fleet with Jester (Mike Lewis) and Aqua-J (Terence O'Neill) equal second.

Dark and Stormy (SB20) commented on Sunday’s racing saying that “last week was sheer excitement, we were hitting planing bursts of speed in the teens, this week was more sedate and tactical”. Trouble and Strife (George Barker) leads the SB20 fleet with Dark and Stormy (Andrew Bell) chasing in second and Bluejay (John Reekie) in third place.

Jon Powell’s (J/80) tip of the day was 'don’t expect to get a good start if you use the apparent wind angle instead of the countdown timer'.

The Black Group start line was near E Knoll with the first beat set to a removable buoy on the mainland shore.

True wind was around 18 knots, varying from 14 to 21, but with relatively flat water, which led to some debate amongst the J/109s as to the correct headsail to use.

Favouring the committee boat end the J/109s had a clean start with some boats opting for No. 3 headsails and others for No. 2s; in the end the No 2 proved to be the best option as the breeze faded on the third beat.

On the first beat it seemed to pay to go left and pick up the shifts on the mainland shore - Jirraffe and Jaygo were first round the windward mark followed by Jynnan Tonnyx. On the next two downwind legs Jynnan Tonnyx went through Jaygo, then took Jiraffe on the next beat, where it payed to go up the middle, using the tail of Bramble Bank to reduce tide effect.

Ultimately Jynnan Tonnyx (Owain Franks) held the lead to win from Jirraffe (Simon Perry) with Jaygo (Mike and Susie Yates) third place. Jynnan Tonnyx now leads the series in the J/109 class with Jaygo in second and Jirraffe in third.

On the combined IRC1 and 2 start, eagerness prevailed as boats clustered up on the committee boat end of the line, and the individual recall flag was displayed - boats peeled off and restarted, which didn’t seem to slow down Sailplane (Beneteau First 40 - Rob Bottomley) - they were OCS returned, restarted, and sailed three good beats to win the class again.

Sailplane (Rob Bottomley) now leads IRC2 with Dusty P (Beneteau First 40 - Richard Patrick) in second place and Malice (Mike Moxley) in third.

Night OwlII ((MAT12-Julie Fawcett) was first again in IRC1, with Jitterbug (J/111 - Cornel Riklin) second and Kestrel (J/111 - Simon Banford) in third, which puts them in the same order in the overall placings.

IRC3 was won by Scarlet Jester (SJ320 - Jamie Muir) with Xcitable (X-362 Sport - Peter and Sarah Hodgkinson) second and Quokka (Half Tonner - James Crew and Peter Rutter) following in third place. Scarlet Jester now leads the class, with Quokka in second and Jumblesail2 (J/97 - Rachel and Robert Hunt) third.

The J/88s, having watched the IRC1/2 start, seemed more reluctant to push the line on the gun and held back to complete a clean start, and enjoyed close racing round the course. J-Dream (David and Kirsty Apthorp) won by 11 seconds from Tigris (Gavin Howe) with Sabriel Jr (Dirk and Dianne van Beek) in third place. This puts Tigris (Gavin Howe) in the first overall placing, with J-Dream (David and Kirsty Apthorp) second overall and Jongleur (Richard Cooper) in third.

IRC4 also had a clean start with a first beat to a laid orange mark. Erik the Red (Mustang 30 Mk2 - Bernard Fyans) started with a No3 but changed to a No1 on the downwind leg. They had good solid second and third beats to win from Silver Shamrock (Shamrock Prototype - Stuart Greenfield) and Prospero of Hamble (Sigma 33 - Allan Fraser), these positions also reflect the overall placings. After the race, Erik’s crew commented “again we had an interesting round the cans course, and enjoyed not just having windward leeward legs'.

The sunny weather saw crews clustered on the Warsash Sailing Clubs lawn post-racing for the prizegiving. Dark and Stormy won the Helly Hansen Roll Top Sail Bag and Jester won the Crewsaver Crewfit 180N Pro lifejacket in the prize draw.

Leading the Series by class:

• IRC1 Night Owl II – Julie Fawcett
• IRC2 Sailplane - Rob Bottomley
• IRC3 Scarlet Jester – Jamie Muir
• IRC4 Erik the Red - Bernard Fyans
• J/109 Jynnan Tonnyx - Owain Franks
• J/88 Tigris – Gavin Howe
• Combined White Group Jeepster 0
• J/70 Jeepster – Gavin Howe
• J/80 Betty -Jon Powell
• SB20 Trouble and Strife – George Barker