Racing abandoned on last day of Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series

by Louise Nicholls on 25 Apr 2017 After five fantastic weeks of racing in the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series, the final day's races (Sunday 23 April) had to be abandoned due to a lack of wind.

Competitors headed out for their start lines in fog with very little wind and little visibility, less than 1/2 mile. The White and Black Group Committees announced a half hour postponement and whilst the fog slowly lifted, revealing a beautiful sunny spring morning, the wind remained elusive. This proved to be the first of several postponements.

With less than four knots of wind, both committees and all the competing yachts waited for breeze through the morning, some using the time to potter around, do light maintenance jobs, talk to old friends, or just lay back and soak up the sun; at one point Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody could be heard drifting over the water.

Midday saw the prospects for a sea breeze filling start to look promising, with cloud bubbling up over the Isle of Wight and on the mainland. White Group Race Officer Peter Knight moved the committee boat further inshore in the hopes of picking up some temperature increased airs, but it was not to be, and eventually both committees abandoned racing and sent the fleets in at around 13:00.

This was a disappointment to those boats hoping to improve their final positions, and a frustrating finish to a good Spring Series, but of course the weather is beyond the control of even the highly-respected Series Race Officers!

Peter Bateson, Spring Series Chairman “Congratulations to all the class winners and thank you to all the boats and crew that have competed in this year’s Series – we hope you have enjoyed the racing. Thank you also to our title sponsor, Helly Hansen, for their continued support”.

The prize draw winners this week were J-Dream for the Helly Hansen Roll Top Sail Bag and Jagerbomb for the Crewsaver Crewfit 180N Pro lifejacket.

The final overall positions for the 2017 Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series are as follows:

IRC1:

1. Night Owl II – MAT12 - Julie Fawcett
2. Kestrel - J/111 - Simon Mamford
3. Simples – X P 44 - Demian Smith

IRC2:

1. Sailplane – Beneteau First 40 - Rob Bottomley
2. Dusty P – Beneteau First 40 - Richard Patrick
3. Assassin – Prima 38 - Mark Brown and Justin Leese

IRC3:

1. Quokka – Half Tonner - James Crew and Peter Rutter
2. Scarlett Jester – SJ320 - Jamie Muir
3. J'ronimo – J92 - David Greenhalgh

IRC4:

1. Silver Shamrock – Shamrock Prototype - Stuart Greenfield
2. Erik the Red - Mustang 30 Mk 2 - Bernard Fyans
3. Challenger - Rogers J24 - Jim Anderson

J/88:

1. J-Dream – David and Kirsty Apthorp
2. Tigris – Gavin Howe
3. Sabriel Jr – Dirk and Dianne Van Beek

J/109:

1. Jiraffe – Simon Perry
2. Jynnan Tonnyx – Owain Franks
3. Jago – Mike and Susie Yates

J/70:

1. Offbeat – David McLeman
2. Cosmic – Patrick Liardet
3. Soak Racing – Marshall King and Ian Wilson

J/80:

1. Betty – Jonathan Powell
2. Jester – Mike Lewis
3. Aqua-J – Terenve O'Neill

SB20:

1. Trouble and Strife Radley College – George Barker
2. Dark and Stormy – Andrew Bell
3. Wavelength – John Cornish

Combined White Group:

1. Betty – J80 - Jonathan Powell
2. Jester – J80 - Mike Lewis
3. Cosmic – J70 - Patrick Liardet

For the full results go to the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series website.