Bracing day for Garmin Hamble Winter Series

by Eddie Mays on 29 Nov 2005 Whilst many parts of the UK endured the tail end of the recent cold spell the many competitors who took part in the penultimate set of races of the GARMIN Hamble Winter Series enjoyed a bracing 12 - 15 knot North-Westerly breeze with its attendant gusts and shifts.

Black Fleet The start line was set off the shore at Lee-on-Solent and all classes were given a beat to Royal Southern as their first leg. Despite warnings from the Committee Boat of a strong weather going tide and a last minute commentary from the Line Officer a few boats started prematurely. Some returned but three were excluded from the results. Probably the unluckiest of the returnees was Mike Ewart-Smith and Ben Richards' J-109 Zelda. They heard a partial sail number read out on the radio, returned to make sure they weren't OCS and then set off after the pack. By this time Nigel and Suzie Brooke on their J-109 Jalapeno had established a lead that they were to keep to the finish at Deck. Zelda made up good ground to finish a minute behind in second. They now go into the last race with a healthy seven-point lead over the rest of the class.

Earlier, in a clean start, the main contenders for IRC 1 had all elected to start at the pin end of the line. By they reached Clipper, the second windward mark, Stewart Hawthorn's Jump rounded inside of Rob Goddard's Farr 40, Cadhire Farrfaline. These two continued their battle to the finish line at Air Canada. Jump recorded her second win of the series to move to one point behind class leader Exabyte 2 (Gerry Otter's IMX-40)

The start of IRC 2 was a more frantic affair. Jim McGregor, Flair IV, shot the line at the pin end and managed to get clear air. Just above him a group of several boats squabbled over their rights and after things had settled down one boat took a penalty call. By the windward mark Sailing Logic Racing's Reflex 38 Puma Logic rounded just ahead of Paul McNamara and Tony Lowe's Beneteau 40.7 Incognito with Flair IV close behind. Series leader Quokka (Peter Rutter) was towards the back of the fleet but over the rest of the course she made steady progress to finish fifth over the line and third on corrected time behind Flair IV' and Incognito. Flair IV now leads the class by one point from Quokka and this is another class that will be decided next week.

Elsewhere the Meakins family won their third race in four outings in the Sigma 38 class and are one of five boats in with a chance of winning the class. In the Sigma 33 class Richard and Valerie Griffith, Cerefe won their fourth race in the series and have now edged ahead of Michael Birmingham sailing Oxygen. If my mathematics are correct then the only boat to have an unreachable lead is Ian Dawson in the X-322 class, where he won he fifth race to have a scoreline of five points.

White Fleet In the combined start for 1720s, J-80s and General Sportsboats David Greenhalgh (G & T), Liz Savage (Just Savage) and Shane Hughes (Key Yachting) respectively won both their races. David has missed three of the weekends and although he moved up to fourth overall Darren and Georgie Baker finished second behind him in both races and now have a good lead overall. Shane has won the General Sportsboat class with a near perfect score; only his OCS in Race 10 spoils the record. The J-80 class is not yet decided. Jonathon and Robert Fox took a penalty in the afternoon race but still hold a healthy seven-point lead.

The main interest is in the other two classes. In the Hunter 707 class Mark Gillett's recent run of wins came to an end when the Royal Thames team sailing Gravity won the morning race and then came second behind Messrs Gorman, Williams, Breslin and Simmonds on board Censored after lunch. Gravity now lies in third place overall two points behind Simon Law and Chris Eddy's Sword. This boat had a poor day, having an OCS recorded against them in the morning and then getting their worst result so far with an 11 in the afternoon.

During the morning race there was a lull in the wind and when it filled in there was with a 15 degree shift to the left that made the last beat a very one sided leg. It was only the SB3s and the 707s that were affected by this. Simon Meadowcroft had the best result of his series with a win in the morning. Remain Nameless, Monex and Chav My Ride followed him home in close order.

By the time that the second race started the tide was ebbing strongly out of Southampton Water. Mike Budd sailing Gul made a very good pin end start on port tack and crossed the fleet on a long tack in towards the Meon shore. By the top mark Nick Haigh and Geoff Carveth, Small but Steamy, had a small lead ahead of Gul. They maintained this until a later run when Gul stayed outside in the stronger tide and took the lead back with a better downwind angle. This leaves the class nicely poised with four boats; Chav My Ride a few points ahead of Remain Nameless, WKD Vodka Red & Small, but Steamy.

Russell Hodgson, from the Day Sponsors Dehler Yachts, presented the prizes at the Hamble River clubhouse after racing. Next week sees the conclusion of the Series and with most of the classes still to be decided the club is expecting a large turnout of boats for these final races. The full results and overall standings can be found on www. hamblewinterseries. com

Provisional Results:

Keelboats IRC
1 J-133 Jump Stewart Hawthorn IRC
2 Elan 40 Flair IV Jim McGregor IRC
3 Swan 42 Breakout Steve Liebmann IRC
4 Oyster 37 Prime Cut Peter Parker

Bowsprit J-109 JalapenoNigel & Suzie Brooke

X-332 Glide-X Ian Dawson
Sigma 38 festina lente The Meakins Family
Sigma 33 Cerefe Richard & Valerie Griffith

Sportsboats
1720 Race 1 G & T David Grennhalgh
1720 Race 2 G & T David Grennhalgh
Laser SB3 Race 1 Jiggery Pokery Simon Meadowcroft
Laser SB3 Race 2 Gul Mike Budd
J-80 Race 1 Just Savage Liz Savage
J-80 Race 2 Just Savage Liz Savage
Sportsboats Race 1 1720 Club Key Yachting Shane Hughes
Sportsboats Race 2 1720 Club Key Yachting Shane Hughes
Hunter 707 Race 1 Gravity Royal Thames YC
Hunter 707 Race 2 Censored! Messrs Gorman, Williams, Breslin & Simmonds

Event website: - http://www.hamblewinterseries.com/