Warsash Sailing Club was a busy place over the weekend of 24th/25th April when the Warsash Spring Series and Spring Championship reached their final stages. Conditions in the Solent were ideal and provided some of the best racing so far this season. Each year some 120 Club members volunteer to run the event and over the final two days, 42 separate races were completed on three separate sailing areas. Competitors and race officers can now relax and look forward to the prize giving on Friday 14th May.
Warsash Spring Championship – Second weekend (24th/25th April 2010)
The J/80s completed 12 races over the course of the Spring Championship, each of between 40 and 60 minutes. Again there was a distinct winner in John Cooper’s Oi! which had never dropped below fifth place. Terry Palmer’s Just Do It and Steve Chappell’s Jango Fett were only five points apart coming second and third.
Triallists for the Rolex Commodore’s Cup joined the Black Group section of the Spring Championship over the final weekend. Cracklin Rosie (Corby 40), Artemis (Grand Soleil 43) and La Reponse (Beneteau First 40) raced with the Big Boat class and the 10 boats trialling for Class 3 of the Commodore’s Cup raced alongside the First 40.7s. Six races were completed over the weekend.
On Saturday with the wind east-south-east in the 10/12 knot range, the committee boat set up station between Universal Marina and East Bramble buoys. The windward/leeward courses used a mixture of laid and fixed marks. Farr 45s and the Big Boat classes were the first two away using a six mile course. Remaining classes’ courses were slightly shorter and the tide had turned halfway through the scheduled programme.
Fraxious and Rebel shared the Farr 45 honours, both winning two races by the end of the day. Guy Prest sailed consistently well in the 40.7s posting four wins in Tarka. Johnny Vincent’s TP52 Pace only dropped one win in the Big Boats and that was to RORC Commodore Andrew McIrvine’s new La Reponse. The separate Commodore’s Cup Trials class saw Jim Macgregor on top form with his Elan 410 Premier Flair.
Sunday’s breeze was stronger, with gusts to 18 knots. The Spring Championship competitors enjoyed two races sailing in their relevant IRC class. IRC1 saw a burst of over enthusiasm causing a general recall and a start delayed until IRC2 were underway. This added zest to the procedure as the two classes became amalgamated with a wall of spinnakers chasing their way from South Bramble to a laid mark between Hamble Yacht Services and Fastnet Insurance buoys. Although Fraxious was again on good form in the Farr 45s, scoring a first and third, this was not enough to beat Jerry Otter’s Werewolf which had performed better over the first weekend of the Spring Championship.
Jackie and Robert Dobson’s J/133 JeRonimo Looks for a Gap! Photo by Eddie Mays – www.eddiemays.com
In the Big Boats, Pace again pulled out all the stops ending the Championship on a high with two further wins and 34 points ahead of her nearest rival Dark and Steamy (Nick and Annie Haigh). Tarka was taken to task by Portia (Andrew Iyer) and Encore (Steven Anderson/Jane Curwen) but nonetheless had secured a five point lead in the Championship. Jim Macgregor and Premier Flair had an enviable scoreline of five wins from six races and topped the Commodore’s Cup Trials Class 3.
Seven J/109s competed. Although J/Dream (Kirsty and David Apthorp) counted six first places, Adam Wright in Velvet Elvis had not dropped below second place and took the Championship trophy by two points.
Provisional results – Warsash Spring Championship
Farr 45 Werewolf Gerry Otter
Big Boats Pace Johnny Vincent
First 40.7 Tarka Guy Prest
J/109 Velvet Elvis Adam Wright
CC3 Premier Flair Jim Macgregor
J/80 Oi! John Cooper
Warsash Spring Series – Sixth Day (25th April 2010)
At 0830 when the committee boats left the Warsash Sailing Club pontoon for the final day of racing in the Warsash Spring Series the day was grey and drizzly, with poor visibility. It seemed very unlikely that the superb conditions of the Spring Championship the day before would be repeated but slowly, as the first start time approached, the rain died and by 1000 the south-westerly breeze was starting to fill. By midday the Solent was basking in sunshine and the breeze was up to 15 knots – a perfect way to finish the country’s premier early season racing event.
The Black Group race team had a particularly complex day’s racing. Not only was there the normal schedule for the Spring Series, but the Spring Championship, including the Rolex Commodore’s Cup triallists, was also to be concluded which meant two races for Spring Championship entries in IRC1 and IRC2. The steady wind direction made course setting reasonably straightforward and all classes could share the initial legs on a beat to South Bramble with the tide followed by a gybe at Flying Fish and run to a laid mark. Finishing was also at a common mark and the overall length of course was adjusted as appropriate to the time scale. Going into the final day, only a few classes, including IRC2, IRC4 and the J/109s, were a foregone conclusion and even then final places further down were still in contention.
IRC1’s first start was subject to a general recall and postponed until after IRC2 whilst other classes got away cleanly. The Farr 45s proved to be the fastest boats round the course in IRC1. In the morning race Jack Pringle’s Fraxious took line honours but behind him there was little to separate the other 45 footers. However, it was Michael Bartholomew’s King 40 Tokoloshe that won on handicap, repeating this success in the afternoon. The overall series winner was Commodore’s Cup triallist Paul Turner in the GS43 Artemis over Ian Matthews’ J/122 Jinja.
IRC2 was augmented by the Class 3 Commodore’s Cup boats and one of these, Poole-based Jim Macgregor, returned to the Solent showing he had lost none of his touch for sailing in these waters. He made a perfect pin end start in Premier Flair in the morning, was first to the windward mark and had a lead of five minutes at the finish line. Four boats – two First 40.7s and two Reflex 38s – had been at the head of the class all series. Andrew Iyer’s Portia had established a winning lead but there was a fair amount of rivalry between Sailing Logic’s two Reflex 38s. These two kept close company for most of the race and it was not until they split gybes on the penultimate run that Phillippe Falle’s Visit Malta managed to draw ahead of Jaguar Logic, with Tim Thubron helming. Visit Malta’s third place in this race was enough to guarantee runner up in the series, two points ahead of Encore (Steve Anderson/Jane Curwen).
It was a topsy-turvy day in IRC3. The only leading contender to record a decent finish was the new First 35 Stiletto (John Barrett/Paul Woodward) in fourth place. The race was won by Mike Bridges in the Elan 37 Elaine and this result pulled him up to fourth overall in the series. The pre-race leaders Juno (Charles Wittam) and the J/97 Jika-Jika (Mike and Jamie Holmes) finished well down the fleet but were able to retain first and second places overall. Stiletto was unlucky to finish on the same points as Jika-Jika only to lose out on countback.
The perfect final score went to Warsash Sailing Club members Derek Morland and Tim Rees in Menace counting four wins in IRC4. Due to the delay at the start for IRC1, the smaller boats in IRC4 rounded South Bramble at the same time and the combined fleets made a spectacular sight running back east. The chasing pack of Hobby Horse and the two Sigma 33s Prospero of Hamble and Sigress finished in the same order they had started that day for the more minor placings.
In the J-Boat one design classes, J-Dream had already secured the series win going into the day but she had a real tussle with Velvet Elvis (Adam Wright) for the first half of the race before pulling out a four minute lead at the line. Offbeat managed to overtake Velvet Elvis for second place. The first three boats in the J/105 class had been separated by a single point so Rob Dornton Duff’s second consecutive win in Java ahead of Journeymaker 5 (Chris Jones) was sufficient to take the series win. Paul Griffiths’ Fay-J did not compete on the final day but finished third overall.
Paul Chapman and Team Portmore on J/92 Jaya
Jammin won the last J/92 race but a second place for Paul Chapman and Team Portmore on J/92 Jaya secured them the series title. Paul is new to boat ownership and to racing. Here’s what he had to say about the series:
After a hotly contested last race in the Warsash Spring Series, Portmore’s yacht ‘Jaya’ went two points clear of the fleet and have won the series. The one class fleet has been extremely tight for the whole 6 race series with often only seconds apart over the finish line. The crew were in a jubilant mood yesterday afternoon at the finish of the race waiting to hear if we had clinched the first place or were going to have to settle for second depending on corrected scores (handicap). Late last night the final results were in and team Portmore scored a well earned win.
This is only the second race series that the Portmore team have entered and out of the eight regular crew, six only started sailing in September when we bought the boat with no previous experience in sailing. The core crew have trained hard and earlier in the year sought some professional training which has paid off.
We are now looking to do the RSYC twilight and summer series which, incidentally we are sponsoring and even more exciting will be the upcoming J-cup which we are all looking forward to.
A Well Deserved Win on Sunday for Patrick Liardet and Team on J/80 Aqua J – Photo by Eddie Mays – www.eddiemays.com
On the White Group starts things went straightforwardly with course setting in the steady wind. In the J/80 class, competition has been very close. This weekend saw Ian Atkins back in action sailing in a borrowed boat. Atkins and team proved not to have lost their touch through the winte, winning two races out of three for the Sunday and 5 out of seven over the course of the weekend. In the overall series John Cooper had a purple patch of four wins on the trot in Oi! and that was just enough for him to finish ahead of the RAF boat Team Spitfire and Terry Palmer’s Just Do It.
Provisional results – Warsash Spring Series Final Day – 25th April 2010
IRC 1 – Races 7 & 8 Tokoloshe Michael Bartholomew
IRC 2 – Race 6 Premier Flair Jim McGregor
IRC 3 – Race 6 Elaine Mike Bridges
IRC 4 – Race 6 Purple Haze Tony Dodd
J-109 – Race 6 J-Dream David & Kirsty Apthorp
J-105 – Race 6 Java Rob Thornton
J-92 – Race 6 Jammin Andrew Campbell
J/80 – Race 16 Aqua-J Patrick Liardet
J/80 – Races 17 & 18 ONBIP Ian Atkins
Provisional Results – Warsash Spring Series 2010 overall points
IRC 1 Artemis Paul Turner
IRC 2 Portia Andrew Iyer
IRC 3 Juno Charles Whittam
IRC 4 Menace III Derek Morland & Tim Rees
J/109 J-Dream David & Kirsty Apthorp
J/105 Java Rob Dornton-Duff
J/92 Jaya Paul Chapman and Rory Staunton
J/80 Oi! John Cooper
