Breeze fades on final weekend of Crewsaver Warsash Spring Championship

by Louise Nicholls on 27 Apr 2017 The forecast never promised a lot of wind in the Solent for the final weekend of the Crewsaver Warsash Spring Championship (22/23 April) and indeed by Sunday it gave up the ghost causing racing to be abandoned.

Conditions on the Saturday were light with the wind shifting 60 to 90 degrees around North through much of the day. The White Group fleet of competitors managed two races before the wind dropped to less than five knots and the final race was abandoned.
On the Sunday, after several postponements, racing was abandoned at lunchtime.

Peter Bateson, Spring Championship Chairman 'It was very disappointing to lose the final day of racing; we hung on in the hope that a sea breeze would develop but it wasn't to be. Nevertheless it has been a great Championship, with a strong fleet of competitors and good racing across the classes. Thanks go to our sponsor Crewsaver for their support of the Championship, to the competitors, and to the team of volunteers running the racing'.

Whilst it had looked like there was still everything to play for in many of the classes at the close of the first weekend of the Championship in the end, there was little was change in the final podium positions.
 
Nifty in IRC1 (King 40 – Roger Bowden), Sailplane in IRC2 (Rob Bottomley), Jumblesail II in IRC3 (J/97 Rachel and Robert Hunt), and the beautifully restored Silver Shamrock in IRC4 held onto their established leads to take first place overall in their respective classes.
 
J-Dream was, as expected, unbeatable in the J/88 class and Jukebox (John Smart) also held onto her lead in the J/109 class. Sam Laidlaw’s Quarter Tonner Aguila knocked Louise Morton’s Bullitt off first place but with just three points between them.

 
Team Spitfire and Soak Racing dominated the 30 strong and sometimes unruly J/70 fleet – a general recall had the U flag raised on Saturday - with a whopping 28 points between second and third place. In the end, it was skipper Simon Ling and his crew of serving and former RAF personnel who bought Team Spitfire to victory with Soak Racing in second.
 
It was great to see the students from Radley College, racing the SB20 Trouble and Strife, finish the Championship with a podium place coming in third just behind Sweaty Betty (Nick Haigh) and PB2 (Paul Hine) who won overall.

 
Last, but by no means least, Jon Powell sailing the J/80 Betty took first place overall in the J/80 class and in the Combined White Group.
 
The Crewsaver Warsash Spring Championship Prize Giving will take place at the Warsash Sailing Club on Friday 19th May.

2017 Crewsaver Warsash Spring Championship

IRC1
1.            Nifty – King 40 Roger Bowden
2.            Lady Mariposa Racing – Ker 46 Dan Hardy
3.            Jagerbomb – J/111 Paul Griffiths

IRC2
1.            No Retreat! – Corby 33 David and Jackie Riley
2.            Dusty P – Beneteau First 40 Richard Patrick
3.            Assasin – Prima 38 Mark Brown and Justin Leese

IRC3
1.            Jumblesail 2 – J/97 Rachel and Robert Hunt
2.            Blackjack II – J/97 Andy Howe
3.            Machismo II – Sigma 38 Tim Levett         

IRC4
1.            Silver Shamrock – Shamrock Prototype Stuart Greenfield
2.            Whooper – Laurent Giles One-Off Giovanni Belgrano
3.            Spectrum – Hunter Impala (mod) Joe Simmons

J/88
1.            J-Dream – David and Kirsty Apthorp
2.            Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat – Paul Ward
3.            Rajing Bull – Tim Tolcher              

J/109
1.            Jukebox – John Smart
2.            Jiraffe – Simon Perry
3.            Just So – David McGough

Quarter Tonner
1.            Aguila – Sam Laidlaw
2.            Bullit – Louise Morton
3.            Tiger – Tom Daniel

J/70
1.            Team Spitfire – Simon Ling
2.            Soak Racing – Marshall King and Ian Wilson
3.            Yeti – Jack Davies

J/80
1.            Betty – Jonathan Powell
2.            Jester – Mike Lewis  
3.            Slightly Steamy – Nick Haigh       

SB20
1.            PB2 – Paul Hine
2.            Sweaty Betty – David Atkinson
3.            Trouble and Strife – Radley College