Challenging conditions

Eddie Mays reports on the Royal Southern YC's May Regatta

The Royal Southern YC began the first of its monthly regattas on a weekend when the sailing conditions could politely be called challenging.

On Saturday conditions were too much for the two Sportsboat classes and they were kept ashore while the keelboats were taken across the Solent to the lee of the Island shore where the Committee Boat set the start line in the lee of Osborne Bay. All four classes were given a short beat to the Daks buoy before cascading across the central Solent. The length of the cascading legs was varied for the benefit of the smaller boats. Once round the top mark the two large Js, Batfish III (Bill Blain) and Jinja (Robert Matthews) set their genies for the run across to East Bramble. Both of them experienced difficulty in keeping the boat under its sails but they persevered and made large gains. Others were less lucky and a series of minor failures caused a few boats to retire, to the bar. Of the four boats that finished in IRC 1 Batfish III took line honours but Jinja saved her time on handicap for the win.

IRC 2 & 3 had a combined start. Peter Morton’s Salvo just beat Richard Watney’s J-105 Jeopardy to the top mark first in IRC 2 but he then lost time fighting the boat to stop a broach in a vicious gust. Jeopardy caught the same gust but with her asymmetric spinnaker managed to use the gust to better effect and pulled away to take the gun by nearly four minutes. Mike Bridges helming his Elan 37 Elaine home in second place but was relegated to third on handicap behind Salvo, which had recovered well.

Robbie & Lis Robinson sailing Hot Rats in IRC 3 kept up with the larger boats until their courses diverged. She then went on to take both line & class honours ahead of Mike Cooper’s Java Lite, with these two the only finishers in the class. IRC 4 was a straight battle between the Mustang 30s, Hobby Horse of Michael Fawcett and Bernard Fyans' Eric the Red, with Fawcett achieving a solid win in difficult conditions.

The prospects for racing on Sunday morning were, if anything, less likely. At 0900 a squall descended on the Hamble. Visibility shut down in the driving rain that was blown horizontal by the wind and the decision was made to postpone racing until things settled down. By 0945 the committee boats were leaving the pontoon in bright sunshine and 5 knots of westerly breeze. By the time racing started at 11:30 the wind had started to build again and it was a race against time to get another race completed before conditions worsened.

The sportsboat course was set from a start line near the Royal Southern racing mark with the East Knoll as the windward mark. The weekend was incorporating the J/80 class Southern Area championships and so they were the first class away. Andrew Ashworth’s Jammy Dodger was forced out at the ODM and by the time he did start the others were clear away. He opted to go to the right and, although the leaders came from the left hand side of the beat, he made up enough ground to round the top mark at the back of the leading group. Rob Larke & Victoria Gregory sailing Joystick had recently won the prestigious Raymarine Trophy at the Warsash Spring Series when they had dominated the class. By working hard on the first beat they had established a narrow lead over Terry Palmer helming Just Do It. These two then pulled away from the rest of the fleet. The class then managed to complete a second race and again it was Joystick which took the gun ahead of Jammy Dodger to confirm their place as the top boat in the Solent, at present.

Although few in number the Laser SB3s again managed to provide the most excitement in their single race. A tight first beat saw Roger Hudson, sailing the South African Spirit of Cape Town, in the lead going round the top mark. However problems with the bowsprit meant that they were forced to sail the first run without a genniker. They were immediately passed by WooHoo!, The Rat Pack and Gill Race Team. The gybe halfway down the leg caused more changes in the running order. Sailing deeper Hudson had a safer ride and lost less time than he might have otherwise done and he was still in touch at the bottom mark. The second beat condensed the fleet and on the way back downwind Hudson flew his genniker without using the pole and, with WooHoo! losing a crew member overboard, this gave Hudson the edge at the final mark which he kept to the finish line. WooHoo’s crew was picked up by Andrew Oddie's In your Pocket and returned to the safety of her own boat after the finish. It would be interesting to find out whether class rules allow both flying a spinnaker without a pole and finishing a race with less crew than you started it. (As the old Aussie 18’ Skiffs did in the 1950s). But that is being rather pedantic and not within the spirit of the day’s racing. With everyone finished the fleet voted with its feet and set course for the clubhouse.

Further out off the Lee-on-Solent shore the keelboats were set a longer beat for the day’s only race. The conditions continued build to Saturday’s level and again whilst there were some minor gear failures more boats managed to finish their race. With so few races completed IRC 1, 2 were both decided on countback, the result of the last race sailed being the winning factor.

The next event on the club’s calendar is the Beneteau 40.7 Nationals next weekend, when it is hoped there is slightly less wind and last year’s very successful event can be repeated.

Overall Winners:
IRC 1: Jinja - Robert Matthews (Royal Southern)
IRC 2: Salvo - Peter Morton (Royal Corinthian)
IRC 3: Hot Rats - Robbie & Lis Robinson (Royal Southern)
IRC 4: Hobby Horse - Michael Fawcett (Warsash)

Laser SB3: Spirit of Cape Town - Roger Hudson (Royal Southern)

J-80 Southern Area Championship
1st: Joystick - Victoria Gregory (Royal Southern)
2nd: Just Do It - Terry Palmer (Upper Thames)
3rd: Jammy Dodger - Andrew Ashworth (West Lancs)

More photos on page 2...