Hamble Winter Series 2025 Race Week 8 and Overall
by Trevor Pountain 2 Dec 08:45 PST
29-30 November 2025
The forecast, for the last Sunday of the 2025 Hamble Winter Series, turned out to be spot on. A wonderfully sunny day, but with a chilly, 9-11 knots, westerly. Vice Commodore, James Lutley, provided the CV, Pufferfish and the Race Team headed out and set up SE of mark (4S) Royal Southern.
Kathryn Clark was once again in charge. The courses would be round-the-cans with IRC 1 having 10.5 miles, IRC 2, 9.3 miles and IRC 3, 8.2 miles. Originally, Kathryn had planned for slightly longer courses, but when the breeze dropped to 7-9 knots, during the pre-start period, she allowed PRO Peter Bateson to cut a mile or two off.
The forecast breeze returned just before the start, "But we stuck with the slightly shorter courses in case it didn't hold," said Peter. All courses had an initial beat to (4J) hamblewinterseries.com, then a series of reaches, beats and runs including a trip along the south edge of the Bramble Bank to (4N) Ben F Wood. The finish, was of course, at 4J again. The first boats were home in a little over 1 half hours and the last in 2? hours, which was probably about right on a lovely bright but chilly sailing day.
"We were delighted to spot the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales on the horizon, as she returned to Portsmouth after her 40,000-mile deployment in the Far East." said Peter, "She was, like us, finishing early for Christmas."
This week, of course, was all about who finished where in the overall results. In IRC 3, Protis, Team Hamble, was already guaranteed first spot with Banter, Ian Handley and Tim James in second. Banter's skipper Ian was away in Goa! So, it was younger daughter Alice who brought Banter home to another second place. Alice did admit in the bar that unless the weather was "Peachy" they would have gone to the pub instead. Anyway, "Peachy" it was and I won't tell Ian. Quokka 9, Half Ton, James Crew, came third overall.
IRC 2 also had a runaway leader in With Alacrity, the Sigma 38 of Chris and Vanessa Choules. Their score of 12 points meant that the interesting stuff was going on behind them. Robbie and Lis Robinson in the First 35, Hot Rats, put in a very solid series to finish in second overall. Rob Cotterril, in the J109, Mojo Risin', needed to put some extra points between himself and Chris Burleigh in the J109, Jybe Talkin', just in case the protest from week 7 didn't go his way. It didn't go his way, but the extra 4 points kept him well clear in third overall.
Tigress, Sunfast 3600, Gavin Howe, was also afforded a lap of honour on Sunday with nobody able to catch them in the series. Cool Runnings, Open 7.5, Ross Bowdler, did manage to pip them on the water on Sunday by 2 seconds but "We needed another 5 knots of wind cause some damage to the results," bemoaned Ross. Ross admitted to playing too much golf this autumn but promised to do more sailing next year. Mad Dash, the Elan 410 of Sam Tregelles came second overall in IRC 1, with Cougar, the Reflex 38 of James Bathhurst in third.
Back in the HRSC clubhouse, mulled wine and mince pies were the order of the day. As well as the day prizes and the overall prizes, there were three special prizes to present. First, was the prize for the best Xmas dressed yacht. This was hotly contested, with one team sending in a picture of their elf, to try and influence the judges. In the end, the With Alacrity Elf was to no avail, as the winner, judged by the race team, was Jybe talkin' with their lit Christmas Tree and Father Christmas. Mad Dash clearly didn't get the memo as two of their crew dressed up as Superheroes. Super Woman was very well received in the bar.
The Paul Heys Trophy, for the best performance by a J-boat was won by Mojo Risin, J109, Rob Cotterill, despite a number of visits to the Protest Room. Perhaps a Rule book in Rob's Christmas stocking might help?
Finally, the Yacht of The Series was awarded. This was a difficult decision this year, as three yachts were in contention right through to the last day. Protis, With Alacrity and Tigress were all in with a shout. In the end it took some tricky calculations by our PRO, Peter Bateson, to separate them. With Alacrity, Sigma 38, Chris and Vanessa Choules was presented with the trophy.
The 2026 Hamble Winter Series will start on the 4th of October 2026.
www.hamblewinterseries.com