Portmore Spring Series at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Day 3

Portmore Spring Series at Royal Lymington © RLymYC

Once again for the Portmore Spring Series supported by Dancing Cow Brewery the wind was below forecast with just 8 knots of breeze but the crews were greeted with warm sunny conditions for races 5 & 6.

In IRC race 1 was an interesting contest with a long beat from the start, the fleet had to work hard against the flood tide in the light south westerly winds to gain best position as they headed to windward mark. After rounding, the fleet could set kites and use the tide for a long run down wind before a short beat back to the committee boat and finish line. Race honours taken by Jelly Baby (William Newton) followed by Aventurera (David Gough) and Jaywalker (Bob Baker). For race 2, the race team had set a shorter course comprising of 2 circuits. Again, an upwind beat along the shore against the tide, the fleet were able to enjoy the strengthening winds. The lead boats quickly pulled ahead to be split by only a minute. After rating corrections, finishing first was Jaywalker (Bob Baker) ahead of Jelly Baby (William Newton) followed by Boomerang (Ray Crouch).After 4 races a tightly contested series is in progress with just 4 points to separate the overall leaders, Jaywalker (Bob Baker) leads Jelly Baby (William Newton) followed by Boomerang (Ray Crouch).

For the J80's there was a shift in the last few minutes before the start which left the pin end biased enough for Dark & Stormy 2 (Keith Willis) to take a port tack approach and clear the fleet with the rest flopping over to port just after the gun. This gave him a good advantage for the first half of the beat but as Traffic Jam (Toby Collyer) took advantage of less tide inshore they just crossed Dark & Stormy 2 to gain the advantage on the way to mark D. They led away from this mark to a commanding lead on this one lap course No Regrets (C&H Neve) got inside Dark & Stormy 2 on the run and held them out until the gybe for the leeward mark. Wild Cat 3 (Andy Ashvie) had a great last leg which was a fetch to the finish and pipped Dark & Stormy to the post. 1st Traffic Jam 2nd No Regrets 3rd Wild Cat 3.

For the second race of the day which was a 2 lap windward/leeward the wind had picked up to 12-14knts, No Regrets got the perfect start at the committee boat end, tacked over onto port and led the fleet inshore and around the top mark. Hush (Peter Lister) was having a far better 2nd race and was battling with Wild Cat 3 down the final run when Traffic Jam who was following saw better breeze to the left and gybed away coming back into the leeward mark in 2nd place. 1st No Regrets 2nd Traffic Jam 3rd Wild Cat 3. With just 2 races left and the discard already in play No Regrets leads the series with Wild Cat 3 and Hush tied on points just behind.

For all competitors, this series has been an ideal warm-up after the winter lull and preparation of the Royal Lymington Thursday Night series starting on the 26th April.

Full results can be found here.