HYS Hamble Winter Series 2018 - Overall
by Trevor Pountain 19 Dec 2018 14:27 PST
The 37th Hamble Winter Series, sponsored by Hamble Yacht Services, was characterised by close competition and a big entry list. There was always wind, even when the high pressure took hold and it came from the North. Indeed, at times there was almost too much wind, but not one day was lost to the weather. Fortunately, in sailing, rain does not stop play and the hardy competitors just pull up their hoods and carry on.
The series began with the RORC Autumn IRC Championship, sailed over two days on the 6th and 7th October. The first day was very wet and windy but day two had beautiful sailing conditions. 53 teams sailed over the two days, a big increase in numbers from the inaugural RORC Autumn IRC Championships the year before.
In the 17 strong Class 1, Ian Schenkel's Ker 39, Rumbleflurg, won, with Nifty, King 40, Emily Bowden-Eyre in second and Cobra, King 40, Stevie Becket third. The Performance 40 Class was using the event as the last outing of their 2018 series. With double points at stake it was Cobra who took the overall Performance 40 prize with Nifty in second and Rob Bottomley's First 40, Sailplane in third. In Class 2, a three way tie on 14 points was decided on count back, with Jumping Jellyfish, J109, David Richards, leading the "new" Elaine, JPK 1010, Edward Mockridge and Design Star 2, J109, Roger Phillips on the podium.
Class 3 saw Nightjar, J92, Joe Banks, in first, with Vitesse, Sigma 38, Jon England, second and Scarlet Jester, SJ320, Jamie Muir in third. Class 4 was won by the Corby 25, M'enfin!?, Sophie Chudziak and Betrand Malas from Flashheart, Jeffrey Dakin and Stan the Boat, Sigma 33, Toby Gorman. The HP30 Class had their own start in the IRC Championship and Pegasus DekMarx,Far 30 evo, Malcolm Wooton took first from Pandemonium, Farr 280, Jamie Rankin and MOFO,Farr 280, Joe Hall.
The Hamble One Design Championship, scheduled for weeks two and three, ended up with only the first weekend results to count; for, try as they might, the Race Team could not find enough breeze to run either day of the second weekend. Darcy, Clive Bush won in the 28 strong J70 Class from Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat, Paul Ward and J'Elvis, Martin Dent. In the SB20 Class, Breaking Bod, Charles Whelan came first with Reach Around, Christian Sutherland, second and PB 11, Paul Hind, third.
The main HYS Hamble Winter Series used the first Sunday 7th October and continued for seven Sundays after that with a break on the first week end of November. There were two races in the first four Sundays and only one as the light disappeared in November/December.
Stan the Boat came through unscathed to take Class 4 from M'enfin!? second and Gr8 Banter, Mustang 30, Ian Handley third. With Alacrity, Sigma 38, Chris and Vanessa Choules won Class 3 with a low score of 12 points from Scarlet Jester and J'ronimo, J92, David Greenhalgh. The battle of the J109's went to Jiraffe, Simon Perry in Class 2. Jago, Mike and Susie Yates had to make do with second and Malice, HOD 35, Mike Moxley with third place. Davanti Tyres, J112e, Chaz Ivill and Paul Heys kept Rob Bottomley, Sailplane, off the top spot in Class 1 with Pegasus DekMarx in third spot.
Yacht of the Series went to Jiraffe, Simon Perry, with a magical score of 11 points in a very competitive class.
Next Year's HYS Hamble Winter Series, the 38th, will run from the 5th and 6th of October to the 1st of December 2019, in what is the Hamble River Sailing Clubs Centenary year.
www.hamblewinterseries.com