Blustery weekend

As 2008 Garmin Hamble Big Boat Series gets going

The first three races of the 2008 Hamble Big Boat Series were sailed on Saturday 4 October in blustery conditions. A planned further two races on Sunday 5 October, to be run in conjunction with the Garmin Hamble Winter Series, were abandoned due to a forecast of strong winds and low visibility.

The Big Boat Series consists of three classes, IRC (Class 0), Level racing 45 (Farr 45s and DK46s) and the new Super-Sport Challenge for larger sportsboats that do not fit either the existing SBR class or IRC.

18 boats took to the water for day 1 of the Big Boat series. Werewolf (Jerry Otter) dominated the Level racing 45 fleet recording three straight wins. Rebel (Stewart Whitehead) was the best of the rest with two seconds and a third. Three different boats won races in the IRC fleet. Cutting Edge (Robert Lutener and Martin Ellwood) taking race 1, Yeoman XXXII (David Aisher) winning race 2 and Jammy Dodger (Neil Martin) taking the honours in race 3. Cutting Edge leads overall having added two seconds to their first race win. All entries in the Super-Sport Challenge have chosen to concentrate on the second of the two weekend event - 18/19 October, a fortunate decision considering the 32 knot gusts being recorded on the committee boat.

The remaining five races of the Hamble Big Boat Series will take place on the weekend of the 18/19 October.

Full results here