HYS Hamble Winter Series - Week 6
by Trevor Pountain 20 Nov 2019 08:58 PST
17 November 2019
Week 6 of the HYS Hamble Winter Series dawned with lovely winter sunshine bathing the Solent. As is now becoming the norm, the wind was forecast and indeed was from a northerly direction. The CV Condor made its way to East Knoll. With over half the spring flood completed and a NNE air flow there would be plenty of water to keep the fleet North of the Bramble Bank.
The only thing missing was enough puff to start as scheduled. So, the AP was displayed, if not flown, at 10.20 pm, in the 2 knots available at the time. The wind picked up enough for the Orange Attention to be displayed at 10.40 pm and the well-known firm of Robinson, Smalley and Bateson produced a course that would hopefully see a finish time of somewhere between 12.30 pm and 1.30 pm. Fingers and just about everything else were crossed until the boats approached the finish.
Not all positions in yacht racing are won on the water. Some are decided in the protest room, and so it was on the night before this start. A redress hearing was held to determine if anyone was put at a disadvantage when 8P, inflatable black mark, went on a little journey two weeks previously, before being swiftly replaced. The outcome was no change!
Also the night before was the HRSC Club prize giving, and Uproar, Andy Chapman, partied themselves into an 8th place performance in Class 4 on Sunday, only managing to keep another HRSC boat Imptish, Barnaby Smith behind them. "You needed to go the right way up the beats in the fluky conditions. We didn't!" commented Barney.
Another HRSC boat, Protis, sailed by Ian Southworth, won comfortably again at the top of Class 4. This is a boat that can party and win at the same time. Jeffrey Dakin, brought the Quarter Tonner Starflash, back to the podium for only the second time since Race 1, when they came second. Stan the Boat, Toby Gorman, came third with his big rival for second overall, Gr8 Banter, Ian Handley & Tim James slipping to a 5th place. With the second discard coming into play there was no position change between the two.
The tricky conditions clearly suited Captain Scarlet, J92, Guy Stansell, in Class 3. They took first place having never been near the top three all series. Second was David Greenhalgh in the J92, J'ronimo, no doubt wishing he could have his bigger jib back for the day. Peter Rutter and James Crew brought Quokka 9 home third with La Nef IV, John Noe, just behind them. The best start and finish in Class 3 was by a local club's well-branded J70. Sailed by an Olympic Gold medallist, it crossed the fleet on port and led all the way. If only they had an IRC rating and Cat IV kit, it would have been a stunning result.
In Class 2, Hot Rats, Robbie & Lis Robinson and Jiraffe, Simon Perry, were pinned "Almost head to wind" on the start line by Mojo risin, Rob Cotterill. This allowed Jongleur, Richard Cooper and Jago, Mike and Susie Yates to get away at the pin end. Jongleur was able to go on to finish third missing out to Tigris, Gavin Howe, in first and the fast finishing Jiraffe in second. Hot Rats fifth place lifted them above Sabriel jr, Dirk Van Beek in the overall placings, for now.
In Class 1, there were no reports of shabby spinnaker work this week on Peasus DekMarx, Malcolm Wootton. They picked their way round the course to finish second to Icy, Ian Atkins. Third was a J112e, Jangle, sailed by Will Ayliffe, out for the first time this week. Rupert Wolloshin, brought Thunderbird home in fourth. Chaz Ivill, who must have taken a more scenic route in Devanti Tyres, had a fifth place his was happy to discard, keeping him within one point of the Melges IC 37, Icy, overall.
Back in the club house, the HYS Hamble Winter Series day sponsor was NJO Sails of Shamrock quay. Nicky Octon herself presented some fabulous looking bag prizes. They should do a great job when Christmas shopping.
Next week the day sponsor will be Force 4.
More of Paul Wyeth's pictures: www.pwpictures.com
Full Results: www.hamblewinterseries.com/page/results-by-hals