Mixed fortunes for Competitors June Regatta Report
Report and Images: Eddie Mays
Entries for the Royal Southern's popular Mid-summer regatta were being received up to the late on Friday evening.
Besides the main regatta the weekend's racing including both the Hunter 707 Southern Area Championships and the first of the J-109 Saturday series.
Saturday's weather did not reflect the fact that it was mid-summer's eve. The sky was overcast and the wind drifted from Southwest to Southerly during the day and it was only during the final set of races that it became reasonably stable. |
Hot rats kept her spinney going |
| Peter Bateson took over from David Arnold as P.R.O. of the Keelboat classes. Class Zero, the big boats, managed to complete four windward / leeward races and Eamonn O'Nolan's Farr 45 'Freddie Freeloader' had the best set of results. Having come 3rd in the first two races he then took the gun in the next two and held a small points lead over the Royal Southern's Shaun Frohlich on board 'Exabyte 4' overnight. The other handicap classes had two races around the cans in the central Solent. Another Royal Southern member, Andrew Webster, helmed 'Circus' to a win and a 3rd place in Class 1 but he was hard pressed by David Wadsworth & Neil Lamont's 'Audacious' who took the line honours in both races. |
| Andrew Given (R.Srn) decided to race his J-109 'High Tension' in Class 2 rather than in the separate J-109 class and he proved that the design is equally at home under handicap rules. Having come 3rd in Race 1 he then gained a good lead in the 2nd race to take both line and handicap wins ahead of the first race winner Mike Bridges' 'Elaine'. Neville Hodkin helming his X-362 'Extra Djinn' took the minor places in both races. In Class 3 the finishing places were the same in both races. The Sigma 33 'Shadowfax' (Andy Johns & David Rolfe) won both ahead of David Rider's 'Catch 22' and the Smalley's 'Flying Fish'. |
| The J-109s have proved to be a very closely matched fleet this season and their new series of racing on selected Saturdays is likely to prove a great success. 12 boats entered and there was more success for Matthew Boyle's 'Shiva'. Matthew (R.Srn.Y.C.) was Mr Consistency on the day as he recorded 2nd place in all three races. National Champion Bruce Jubb could only manage 5th place in the first race but he got up to speed in the next two to take the gun in both. Another R.Srn.Y.C. member, Mike Wallis, took 3rd place in 'Jahmali'. |
Over on the Sportsboat course P.R.O. Tony Lovell had four classes to look after and he successfully completed three races for all classes, quite an achievement with the wind proving unstable in the shadow of Calshot Spit. The 39 strong Laser SB3 showed good starting behaviour and set the tone for the day. Tim Fells sailing 'Shaun Beaver' took the first race ahead of Craig Burlton's 'monkeyoffice.co.uk'.
The positions were reversed in the next race but in the final race Craig again took the gun whilst Tim fell back to 5th. Chris Jennings ('Selden Masts') was 3rd in all three races. Bob Hewson helming his J-80 'JimBob' made it a clean sweep in the small J-80 fleet. Most of regular boats were down in Plymouth contesting their Nationals. The 707s used the weekend for their Southern area championships. First success went to Paul Gray and he followed this by taking 2nd place in the other two races but newcomer P. Bennett helming 'Doddle' is getting the hang of his new boat and won both races to sit one point behind overnight. |
| The sailors returned to the clubhouse to find that it had been transformed into a Caribbean setting for the Mardi gras ball. Resounding to the music of the Bob Marley tribute band and sponsored by Berkeley Homes the club's mid-summer ball was the perfect way to end the day's activities. |
Perhaps it was the influence of the previous night's Caribbean setting that encouraged the sun to shine from early on Sunday morning. What was not so welcome was the wind that came with it.
The Committee boats went out to the race area but it was soon obvious that there was too much wind for the sportsboat classes and with the tide about to change conditions would soon deteriorate even further. So all their racing was cancelled but the weather was so splendid that a number of boats stayed out to enjoy the blast. |
The Laser SB3s enjoyed the blast on Sunday
|
The keelboats were taken over to the shelter of the Island and from a line set near Mackley Construction each class managed to complete a single race before the rising wind conditions, gusts of over 35 kts were seen, made it prudent to return to the river. The number of starters in each class were reduced, as some competitors decided on the way out that it was not for them. In Class Zero 'Rebel' (Stewart Whitehead) rounded the top mark first but had problems setting their spinnaker and this allowed Shaun Frohlich on 'Exabyte 4' to take a lead that he kept to the line. However Eamonn O'Nolan's 2nd place was enough to give him the overall class win.
In Class 1 overnight leader Andrew Webster was unable to compete and this left the way open for Peter Newlands, 'Anticipation', to win his 2nd race of the weekend ahead of overall winner Steve Bromley's 'Athena'. Amongst the smaller boats everyone had at least one reef in their mainsail and not too many risked hoisting spinnakers on the downwind legs.
The seas under the Island shore were very flat but as the boats left this shelter the seas became very confused and those that did fly their kites had a job keeping the hull under the sail. One boat that did manage to keep their kite going was Class 2 boat 'Hot Rats' (Robbie & Lis Robinson - R.Srn.Y.C.). They took line honours by a handful of seconds from Elliot Wishlade's J-109 'Jumunu' but Andrew Given's better results on Saturday gave him the overall victory. In Class 3 only two boats came under starter's orders and they started with Class 2. Long standing owner Michael Fawcett sailed his Mustang 30 'Hobby Horse' to a good win over the larger Sigma 33 'Shadowfax' but as he had not sailed in Saturday's races he finished well down the fleet. |
The next events that are scheduled in the racing calendar are the Hanse Yacht regatta and then the July regatta before the club's race team are involved in the Skandia Cowes Week regatta.
|
| Overall Results: |
Class Zero
1st Freddie Freeloader Eamonn O'Nolan
2nd Exabyte 4 Shaun Frohlich Royal Southern
3rd Rebel Stewart Whitehead |
Club Class
1st Wishful Thinking Brian Mead Royal Southern
2nd Rin Jinn Maggie Widdop Royal Southern
3rd Feeling Frisky Serena Alexander Royal Southern |
Class One
1st Athena Steve Bromley
2nd Cajou Mark Chatfield
3rd Panacea John & Jill Paterson Royal Southern |
J-109 Class
1st Shiva Matthew Boyle Royal Southern
2nd Johnny Blue II Bruce Jubb
3rd Jahmali Mike Wallis Royal Southern |
Class Two
1st High Tension Andrew Given Royal Southern
2nd Hot Rats Robbie & Lis Robinson Royal Southern
3rd Who's to No Richard Sparrow |
Laser SB3
1st monkeyoffice.co.uk Craig Burlton
2nd Shaun Beaver Tim Fells
3rd Selden Masts Chris Jennings |
Class Three
1st Shadowfax Andy Johns & David Rolfe
2nd Catch 22 David Rider
3rd Flying Fish Rupert & Kathy Smalley |
J-80 Class
1st JimBob Bob Henson
2nd Just Smyle Dominic Margetson
3rd BjornSlippy Julian Bates Royal Southern |
Hunter 707 Southern Area Championships
1st Beaver Hunter Paul Gray
2nd Doddle P. Bennett
3rd Cacciatore Richard Barnes & Mark Dell |
Sportsboats
1st Zombie Ian Wilson
2nd Irascibull Fergus Jack |
|
Paul Grey winner of the 707 Southern Area Championships with the crew of Beaver Hunter, our commodore and me (secretary of the 707 class).
|
All Images below: www.eddiemays.com
Anticipation leads Class 2
|
Class 1 Interceptor powers upwind
|
Close racing between the 45 footers
|
Exabyte 4 won Sundays race
|