Mothers meeting

Mumm 30s get their gloves off in the first major tussle in the run up to the Europeans

This weekend saw the gloves come off properly for the Mumm 30s, with the European Championship just three weeks away.

Several boats ventured out onto the Solent on Saturday for some practise and were rewarded with an exhilarating sail in 20 plus knots of breeze, with the speedo sitting on 14 knots for the downhill blast.

On Sunday the wind had dropped to a light 6-10 knots, providing more challenging tactical conditions for the first multi race day. Organised by the class association, and efficiently run by Bill Oakley and his team from Condor Racing, five short races were completed including three practise starts.

Mark Heeley, steering Bent Dietrich’s Rainbow, successfully opened Rainbow’s account by port tacking the fleet off the first start. But it was Ian Gill’s Offbeat that rounded the windward mark first as a result of staying in more consistent pressure to the left as the rest of the fleet headed for the shore and the anticipated, but not delivered, benefit from the foul tide. Rainbow took the gun after a neater leeward mark rounding put Offbeat under pressure.

Louis Browne’s Asterix, finishing second in the first race then went on to four consecutive race victories to win the day by a margin of six points. Asterix showed what a well practised team they are, having sailed together for several seasons, by gaining the advantage off the start line, taking some good shifts and displaying impeccable crew work.

Third place went to the best looking yacht on the water, Robert Barr’s new Kanati, with a smart blue paint job and fresh UK sails.

A very civilised break for lunch, after four races had been sailed, was followed by three practise starts. The tide was now pushing the fleet over the line, and on one start only two boats managed to stay the right side. The final race saw David Eddowes in Panther round the windward mark first only to gybe off into oblivion, with a couple of others, as the breeze clocked left allowing the remaining boats to lay the bottom marks in one.

It was a successful day, providing plenty of variety for the crews. Next up for the Mumms is the Royal Southern Spring Regatta this coming weekend, followed by some more multi race days before the Royal Southern Yacht Club host the Europeans in the first week of June.

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	Owner / Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	Asterix	3093R	Louis Browne	2	1	1	1	1	6
2	Rainbow	4640	Mark Heeley	1	2	3	4	2	12
3	Kanati	1430R	Robert Barr	3	4	2	3	3	15
4	Media Network	50590	Clayson/Gimson	6	3	4	2	7	22
5	Offbeat	7530R	Ian Gill	5	7	9	5	4	30
5	Alfa Laval	18399	Antoine Cardin	4	8	5	6	7	30
7	Tigger	8730R	Chris Thorne	7	5	6	8	9	35
8	Panther	7930R	David Eddowes	9	6	7	OCS	6	39
9	Moonshine	1530R	Jack Kelly	10	9	10	9	5	43
10	White Shark	30R	Geof Gibbons	8	DNF	8	7	DNF	45