Liverpool Yacht Club Spring Series I Race report

by Richard Baldwin on 28 Mar 2007 Liverpool Yacht Club held the first race of the Fareastsails.com sponsored Spring Series on Sunday 25 March.

This was the first race that had been held since early February as the three previous Renard Systems Brass Monkey races all had to be postponed because of unsuitable weather. One because of neither wind nor visibility and two by gale force winds.

For the start of the Spring Series weather conditions were ideal with blue skies a steady force 4 Easterly and 12oC enticing 16 yachts onto the Mersey. Race Officer Nigel Waterhouse set similar courses for the three class that saw them crossing the river from the Garston to Eastham channels several times. After setting the courses the wind shifted such that several of the spinnaker legs became fine reaches

The IRC class 1 fleet included 2 boats racing on the Mersey for the first time. Glyn Sheffield was racing his Prima 38 Dynamite Tee for the first time and came second behind Neil Thomas’s Prima 38 Mighty Max 2.

Graham Wilkinson was racing Outlandish his JOD 35 WB, which he intends to enter the Fastnet race two-handed and later in the year the OSTAR, for the first time with LYC with just his son as crew. Unfortunately they were delayed getting to the start, because of problems with the marina lock; nevertheless they gained on the rest of the fleet despite having problems with their water ballast system.

Francis Taylor who has not raced her Dufour 34, Namaste, for a couple years came in a creditable 4th. Third in class 1 was Jim Cartwright in his Beneteau First 34.7 Daydream Believer.

Class 2 was won by past Commodore Steve Harrison followed by his successor and current Commodore John D’Henin with Stuart Lofthouse third. In Class 3 Tango threw away a dominant lead when they tried to fly their spinnaker on a leg and subsequently had to claw their way back to a mark against a foul tide eventually taking third place behind class winner John Myerscough followed by TSC Commodore Tudor Goodman.

Fareastsails.com Spring Series 1 Race Results:

Class 1 IRC (TCF > 0.936)
1st. Neil Thomas’s Prima 38 Might Max 2
2nd. Glyn Sheffield’s Prima 38 Dynamite Tee
3rd Jim Cartwright’s Beneteau First 34.7 Daydream Believer.

Class 2 IRC (TCF 0.871 – 0.935)
1st. Steve Harrison’s Sigma 33 Quattro
2nd. John D’Henin’s Starlight 30 Quilla
3rd. Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala OOD Skukusa

Class 3 IRC (TCF < 0.871)
1st. John Myerscough’s Sadler 32 Catch 32.
2nd. Tudor Goodman’s Superseal Nightflyer.
3rd. Richard Baldwin’s Superseal Tango