Over the weekend of June the 12th & 13th the Royal Southern Y.C. held the second of its monthly regattas. With the flags of several nations flying at the clubhouse the weekend had a truly international feel to it. As well as the normal weekend’s racing for the IRC & Sportsboat classes the J-109s held the first of their Saturday series, the Contessa 32s raced as part of their Summer series and on Saturday the IRC fleets included competitors racing in the IRC Solent series.
Tony Lovell on board ‘Bonnie’ had charge of the J-109s and the Sportsboat classes whilst Philip Gage with ‘Knight’s Challenge’ was further out in the Solent with the Keelboats. On Saturday the wind started at 15 – 18 kts out of the NNW but faded during the day and became quite erratic at times with 30 – 35o shifts, particularly near the mainland shore. Overnight the breeze steadily veered from Easterly to West southwest by the time racing was due to start at 10:30 on Sunday morning. With a mid-day high tide this gave plenty of water in the Central Solent but as the wind built to 18 – 20 kts and the west going tide gathered pace the sea conditions were much rougher than the day before.
J-109 Class
Having held a very successful National Championships at the club the previous weekend, the fleet enjoyed close racing throughout the day. The first race was a simple windward / leeward configuration using laid marks. ‘Jahmali’ (Mike Wallis) led ‘Instinct’ (Malcolm Glaister) & ‘Outrajeous’ (Richard Griffith) by a couple of boat’s lengths at the first turn. Over the next couple of legs ‘Outrajeous’ managed to work her way passed ‘Instinct’ and close the gap on ’Jahmali’ so that she was just a boat’s length behind rounding the bottom mark for the last time but ‘Jahmali’ held on for the gun. For the 2nd race the fleet was given a more complicated course that included a good genniker reach from Hill Head to Royal London. After the beat and run the fleet arrived at Hill Head at the same time as the SB3s and the two classes were intermingled for the rest of the race. Again it was a head to head between ‘Jahmali’ and ‘Outrajeous’ with the honours this time going to ‘Outrajeous’ with ‘High Tension’ again 3rd. This set up the final race with the two boats level on points. Another change of course kept the navigators on their toes but after a close race it was ‘Jahmali’ who edged it and took the overall win.
IRC Classes
This weekend saw a very even split in numbers across the three main IRC classes. In IRC1 Paul Turner’s Grand Soleil 43 ‘Artemis’ was joined by her sisterships ‘Quokka 8’ (Peter Rutter) & Dominic Hurnall’s ‘Jua Kali’, whilst Dirk & Diane van Beek’s Match 42 ‘Sabriel’ was another welcome newcomer.
Race 1 saw the familiar sight of Michael Bartholomew’s ‘Tokoloshe’ take the gun a minute ahead of ‘Jinja’ (Rupert Matthew’s J-122) and ‘Quokka 8’. ‘Jinja’ recouped her time difference on handicap to take the win. In the afternoon these three boats again broke away from the pack and as the wind died and the tide built the gap between the front and the back of the class widened. Solent veteran Peter Rutter used his knowledge well to take both line and class honours ahead of ‘Jinja’ and ‘Tokoloshe’.
When racing resumed on Sunday morning the new wind direction presented new challenges for the tacticians. The first six boats all finished close together but whilst ‘Tokoloshe’ took the gun it was Rupert Matthews on ‘Jinja’ that had his 2nd win of the weekend. Further back in the fleet Stuart Hemingway helming ‘Beam’ had a bad spinney drop at the final mark, tore the foot of his foresail as they hardened up for the final full & by leg to the finish line and then successfully managed to keep ahead of the higher rated Comet 415 ‘Biela’ (Richard Barnes). In the final race things were even tighter. ‘Quokka 8’ established a narrow lead over ‘Tokoloshe’ on the water and that was enough to give him the gun, class win and 2nd place overall, equal on points with ‘Jinja’ but losing out on the countback.
The first race for IRC2 had proved to be a benefit event for John Howell on his Dehler 36 ‘Alaris’. They opened up a very impressive seven minute lead by the finish and well deserved their win. However they couldn’t repeat the trick in the afternoon and, in particular, on the long broad reach across from the mainland to the Prince Consort buoy both ‘Stiletto’ (John Barratt & Paul Woodward) and ‘No Retreat!’ (David & Jackie Riley) managed to get away from the rest as the wind faded and the tide built. Having got the hang of winning ‘Stiletto’ went on to win both of Sunday’s races and take the class overall. The final race proved to be a very tense affair with the J/105 ‘JOS of Hamble’ (Roger Williams), ‘Xtra Djinn’ (Neville Hodkin) & Barbara Harmer’sArchibeau’ finishing within 15 secs of each other.
The IRC3 class was predominantly a collection of various J boat designs but it was very good to see that David Glasgow brought out his beautiful 8 Metre ‘Athena’ to play. This was the only class where the winner, Mike Flood helming his J-97 ‘Induljence’, had a clean sweep of victories. Behind him the minor places went to another J-97, Bill Blain’s ‘Batfish IV’, and Lis Robinson’s ‘Hotrats’. In IRC 4 three boats ended on 11 points but the class win went to Bernard Fyan’s Mustang 30 ‘Erik the Red’ who won on countback from the X95 ‘Crakajax’ (Richard Hollis & Ursula Bagnall) by virtue of his win in the last race that they both competed in.
Overall Results:
IRC 1 J-122 Jinja Rupert Matthews
IRC 2 First 35 Stiletto John Barratt & Paul Woodward
IRC 3 J-97 Induljence Mike Flood
IRC 4 Mustang 30 Erik the Red Bernard Fyans
J-80 Juicy 734 Allan Higgs
J-109 Summer Saturday Series:
1st Jahmali Michael Wallis
2nd Outrajeous Richard Griffith
3rd High Tension Andrew Given
