Two handed to Weymouth and back

Andrew Campbell reports on this weekend's Royal Southampton YC racing

The second race of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club’s increasingly popular Double Handed series was held on Friday 30 April and saw the record fleet of 45 venture out in soft breezes of the Solent evening.

The yachts that stuck to the north shore made good use of the northwesterly 5 knot breeze, leaving those mid channel, to catch up. The winds picked up to 14 knots as St Albans Head was rounded and spinnakers were held on the fast reach into Weymouth.

Pavo tried out new race techniques by hoisting their crew to the mast top just before the Needles Channel to spot for wind. On reaching Weymouth, Ellie put on a display of berthing skills by manoeuvring to rafting up with a rescued boat tied along side her.

Class 1 IRC saw Ben Richards and Michael Ewart-Smith on the J/109 Zelda take both line honours and corrected time victory, by ten minutes from Simon and Jane Curwen on their J/105 Voador. Third place went to Andrew Bird and Phil Ryan on the J/105 Jambalaya.

Class 2 IRC saw Patrick Marshall and Gary Bettesworth on the Aphrodite 101 Mantra take line honours and overall victory by four minutes. Olivia Anne VI the L’ll Scampi sailed by Chris and Sue Flewitt took second place. Third place went to Google-Eye the Trapper 300 sailed by Pat Stables and Nigel Hunter.

The Class 3 Club handicap line honours by 38 minutes went to Peter and Kerri Sanders on their Dehler 41 Kraken but first place on corrected time by 3 minutes went to The Fox, the Warrior 35 sailed by Alex Johnstone and Denise Dellow. Kraken ended up second, two minutes ahead of the third placed Pavo, the Wauquiez Pretorien sailed by David and Mary Greenway.

In the Multihull Class George Burn and Martin Leigh sailed Smokey Bear the Farrier F27 home in 6 hours 15 minutes to take line honours and class victory from Ben Goodland and Mike Yates aboard the Strider 24 Tigger who finished second.

And the return...

The third race of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club’s Double Handed series was held on Sunday 2 May.

The fleet of 41 drifted out into the still airs and bright sunshine outside Weymouth harbour. The start was postponed for half an hour which allowed the winds to build to a light southwesterly 3-4 knots.

The yachts that took the traditional inshore course along the coast found that the wind petered out half way to St Albans Head, leaving some to kedge against the tide. Those that stayed offshore kept the wind which started to increase outside St Albans Head.

Some of the becalmed yachts ended up retiring, but others like Maggie Chalmers and Ginny Bennett of Debanessa hung in to the bitter end finishing four hours behind the leaders. Jambalaya was the one to try the crew up the mast wind spotting trick on this leg (stuck main they said!). The light winds and adverse tides convinced the Race Team to shorten the course and finish at Sony Vaio much to the delight of many.

Class 1 IRC saw Simon and Jane Curwen on Voador the J/105 take both line honours and corrected time victory, by eight minutes from Paul Rowlinson and Jim LePelley sailing the Swan 40 Bastet. Third place went to Ed Holton and Pete Cammack on the J/110 Shades of Blue.

Class 2 IRC saw Giovanni Belgrano and Valerio Corniani on their 1939 Giles 11.8m one off Whooper take line honours by nine minutes and third place on corrected time. First place on corrected time went to Olivia Anne VI the Scampi sailed by Chris and Sue Flewitt. Second place to Google-Eye the Trapper 300 sailed by Pat Stables and Nigel Hunter.

Class 3 Club handicap line honours went to Andrew and Linda Campbell on Faze 3 the Bavaria 44 but first place on corrected time by 6 minutes went to ‘Pavo’, the Wauquiez Pretorien sailed by David and Mary Greenway. Indiana Jones II the Robber IIIE sailed by Jon Woolgar and Richard Davison took second place, 53 minutes ahead of the third placed Alma the Westerly GK33 sailed by Alan Baker and Nigel Holt.

In the Multihull Class George Burn and Martin Leigh sailed Smokey Bear the Farrier F27 to victory again to take line honours and class victory from Ben Goodland and Mike Yates aboard the Strider 24 Tigger who finished second.