Volkswagen Touareg Laser SB3 Grand Prix

by Eddie Mays on 22 May 2007
All those taking part in this event will remember it for the weather, the exhilaration and fear of Saturday's wonderful Southwesterly blow and then the frustration of Sunday's fickle Southerly.

Only two races were completed on Saturday but within those few hours there was a near sinking, three dismastings and enough broaches to fill the display window of a Bond Street Jeweller. The day started quietly. Random safety inspections had found a few minor transgressions amongst the boats and these were penalised by having a place penalty on their finishing positions in each race.

Once afloat a good stiff Southwesterly breeze and a typical short Solent chop greeted the competitors. With a forecast of increasing winds during the day P.R.O. Tony Lovell set a starting line off the Hill Head shore. Most of the fleet coped well with the conditions, the beats were bearable, the reaches furious and the gybes frenetic. It was on the last second downwind leg that the first dismasting occurred. At the front of the fleet Volvo CEO Glenn Bourke helming 'Musto' had established a solid lead from Simon Blake on 'Sworded Fish' and Geoff Carveth with 'Palava'.

A collision during the starting sequence of the second race caused a further postponement. Ian Hunt's 'Ship 4 Brains' suffered major structural damage and with the help of the support boats and the RNLI was put ashore at Lee-on-Solent and returned to Hamble by road.

By the time the race did start the wind was starting to build and with the tide turned the waves were becoming distinctly unfriendly. Glenn Bourke again seemed impervious to the conditions and quickly gained a commanding lead. Behind him the next few boats, including Russell Peters, Craig Burlton, Jerry Hill, Daniel Geoghegan and Geoff Carveth, were also enjoying the ride.

For many of the others each gybe seemed to be a trip into the unknown, very few managed it without a broach of some sort and a third of the fleet decided to seek the comfort of the clubhouse. With gusts of 30 kts being recorded on the Committee boat it was time to call it a day and hope that more moderate conditions on Sunday would allow extra races to be sailed.

Overnight the weather pattern changed completely and Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny with clear blue skies, and no wind. By 11:45 Tony Lovell had found enough Southerly breeze off the Meon shore to set a course and the fleet started cleanly.

By the top mark Russell Peters held a small lead over the rest of the front-runners. The main priority on the run back was to keep clean air and sail the angles correctly. Peters went to the starboard hand gate buoy and everyone followed him. The resultant bunching left many boats at a distinct disadvantage starting the beat back. Duncan Pryde sailing '3-some' spotted the problem and went to the port hand gate, got clean air and a lee-bow tide and went from the 30s to 15th at the top mark.

On the 2nd lap the wind, such as it was started to fade, and, as always, those in front extended their lead. Overnight leader, Glenn Bourke, chipped away at those in front and finished fifth but some distance behind Peters. Very frustratingly many boats did not manage to beat the time limit as they struggled to find any movement at all.

At 13:10 with no sign of any breeze anywhere in the central Solent all racing was abandoned for the day. Glenn Bourke's fifth place was enough to secure him the overall win ahead of Russell Peters.

Images from the event here: http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=33900

Laser SB3, Leading results:

1 3312 Glenn Bourke RSrnYC 1 1 5 7
2 3037 Russell Peters RSrnYC 7 2 1 10
3 3130 Jerry Hill RSrnYC 11 4 2 17
4 AUS 3269 Daniel Geoghegan RSrnYC 5 5 8 18
5 3200 Craig Burlton 10 3 7 20
6 3053 Geoff Carveth HISC 4 6 10 20
7 3173 Danny Brooks ECA 14 8 3 25
8 3082 Paul Lovejoy RSrnYC RDG(5) RDG(9) 14 28
9 3032 David Cummins 25 10 4 39
10 3062 Sam Temple Seaview 19 12 13 44
11 3183 Rupert Matthews 16 13 17 46
12 3041 Matthew Glasgow RSrnYC 18 9 24 51
13 3017 Colin Simonds RSrnYC 21 15 16 52
14 3060 Stewart Reed & John Mawdsley Bosham SC 22 16 18 56
15 3108 Tom Vernon 28 30 6 64
16 3201 Charles Whelan RSrnYC 20 28 21 69
17 3132 Edward Wheldon RYYC 29 22 20 71
17 3302 Ian Sullivan SCYC 15 31 25 71
19 3157 Chris Gillard RSrnYC 36 19 28 83
20 3126 Simon Hume 33 32 19 84

The full results can be found on the club's website, www.royal-southern.co.uk

The next round of the Touareg Grand Prix series is at Seaview on the Isle of Wight in a fortnight's time.