Laser SB3 Grand Prix at Sea View

by Stevie White on 17 May 2006 Following a jaunt up (or is it down?) the Solent last year to the home of the Simonds clan, an armada of small ships again made the trek to the most Eastern point of The Solent on Friday evening. A total of 50 vessels took up moorings off the Sea View YC clubhouse along with a multitude of ribs overnight whilst teams prepared in customary SB3 fashion as the RORC offshore fleet drifted out the Solent on the flood tide.

The pre-race briefing was accompanied by the now familiar saber rattling by Dr C, outlining the new wardens system the fleet has adopted, and the threat of rule 69 for those caught ignoring hails of infringement. Perhaps the Terminator sunglasses and Mr. Angry attitude is finally bearing fruit.

Race 1 got away with a surprising lack of interest in the start line, with most of the fleet caught on the cautious side as the pressure faded and headed immediately prior to the gun. Russell Peters made his intentions known to all quickly getting to the head of the fleet, passing Jerry and Tommo in the process, with The Zeal Optics lads also overtaking the Touareg on the way to second place.

Race 2 - Talk about red rag to a bull! Following a general recall the black flag came out, but to no avail. Most of the fleet was half way to the weather mark before realising the committee had abandoned the race citing that only three boats could be clearly identified as behind the line! Not so sure about that one! As it turned out shortly after the abandonment a 40 degree shift came through (which we were sweetly digging into!) and the race would have become a soldiers course anyway.

All involved were quite glad it was mild and sunny as we waited a good hour plus before another attempt at race 2 was made. Russell Peters again got off to a solid start and needed to overtake Brother Timmy to complete a brace of victories. Sure enough, job done; two wins from two attempts! Timmy held on for second with The Touareg 3rd again whilst Geoff was steaming along to collect another fourth... what's missing here????

The trend was broken by the Zealots, surely they were supposed to complete this picture with another second? But where were they? It appears a large underwater object tarnished the perfect pairs at the top of the score sheet as Craig, Adam and DrC pulled off the course from last position. To be fair I've never seem so much surface weed and debris on a race course as last weekend. Is this another bi-product of global warming?

Race 3 - Not wanting to sound boring but Russell Peters did it again, not that your scribe was too disappointed, for a while I thought Duchess in Teenage Kicks might lead around the weather mark and we'd have to suffer it through the night. Alas his old boat was on fire again, storming away with the win, while Geoff came Steaming through the pack to take second.

Not to be outdone Steam Productions got on the podium in Ian May, of Charlie Fish ancestry, in his debut event, just ahead of the Aussie Ship in 4th. (Worth going off at a minor tangent here as places 2, 3 and 4 each had a member racing with each other at Pwllheli - 1st to guess who they were wins a Touareg to take to the moon for next years SB3 inter-galactic champs).

Time for a break, after 8 hours on the water for three races all and sundry retired to SVYC for the evening, plenty of tall tales exchanged, much discussion about the improvement in rules adherence and whether Russell Peters would win every race.

Race 4 - After a period where it looked like no racing would proceed, a South Easterly filled into Sea View of just about 7 knots, enough for a couple of races and give the fleet a chance to knock off Russell. Never mind, he took care of that himself, a victim of the Black Flag amongst a number of other Mr Peters stood aside while Colin Simonds showed the way around his home track. Zeal Optics got back onto the podium with a 2nd while the Aussie ship managed a third.

Race 5 - After a short spell of 10 knots between races the final heat got away in slightly softer air than the previous race with those who got right early on the first beat dominating. Raymond Simonds led around much of the course but had spinnaker dramas at the final mark, dropping to second and allowing Geoff to complete a fine series with a win. Colin finished third to seal a podium place for the series with a solid final day but nobody could dislodge RP from the head of the score sheet, although he only just piped Geoff and co in the end.

Thanks to Vin, Bird, Nick Glanville, SVYC, Jim Mitchells Race Team and the rib drivers and all others involved in arranging the event.

Final overall points positions:

1st Selden 3027 Russell Peters 10pts
2nd Small but Steamy 3053 Geoff Carveth 11
3rd Doolalli 3017 Colin Simonds 17
4th Zeal Optics 3200 Craig Burlton / Dave Cheyne 21
5th Team Touareg 3130 Jeremy Hill 23
6th Badger racing 3082 Paul Lovejoy 25
7th PWC 3072 Jono Shelley 26
8th Another Naked Blonde Aus 3169 Daniel Geoghegan 35
9th Rigging Gurus 3150 Mark Richards 35
10th Teenage Kicks 3038 Mike Riley 44
11th Team Netgear 3125 Neil Hardie 45
12th Team Maclaren 3031 Christina Summerhayes 46
13th On Vibrate 3117 Tony Kilby 49
14th Team Steam 3202 Ian May 56
15th Henri Lloyd 3032 Tim Peters 57
16th Saboteur 3016 Quintin O'Neil 60
17th Bacardi ITA 3121 Luca Bacci 65
18th Virtual Human resourses 3173 Danny Brooks 67
19th Boo 3062 Sam Temple / Charles Stobart-Hook 69
20th PB Racing 3149 Mark Gillet / Nick Jones 69
21st Complete Madness 3011 Chris Pugh 73
22nd Outkri 3183 Kit Glover 77
23rd Finitor 7 3060 Stewart Reed / John Mawdsley 78
24th Sybarite 3104 Dom Akers-Douglas 83
25th Sbee 3010 Raymond Simonds 84
26th Kelpie 3041 Matt Glasgow /Simon Hunter 87
27th Hooligan 3043 Christian Thompson 92
28th Bathstore.com 3146 James Ives 96
29th Woosterstock 3093 Luke Wooster 99
30th Hobgoblin 3079 Chris Harris 100
31st Eau No 3084 Mark Stokes 108
32nd Never say never 3036 Chris Cann 108
33rd Hooligan 3067 Nick Glanville 114
34th Wrecked 3014 David Duffin / Rick Otten 125
35th Rascal 3158 Ian Sullivan 126
36th ASBO 3207 Richard Purssell 128
37th Red Kite 3096 Roger Harford 128
38th Credo 3134 Charles Murray 132
39th Buddhas Folly 3086 Clive Bush 133
40th Mutts Nutts 3095 Nick Stuart 133
41st Squat Thrust 3152 James Struth 138
42nd It's Playtime 3131 Tony Kiddle 149
43rd SARDONYX V11 3102 William Edwards 150
44th Striptease Irl 3075 Venetia Wingfield 151
45th Three Steps Beyond 3153 David Clarke 156
46th Hot Pants 3177 Michael Wood 160
47th La Dolce Vita 3161 S Dyer 170
48th Slo-mo-shun 3136 Iain Chidgey 178
49th China Girl 3140 Derek Johnson 179
50th Betty Swallocks 3127 Joshua Warren 181

Next journey, to visit our fine French friends and perhaps a brisk Biscay breeze.