Stanford Antigua Sailing Week

As tumbleweed drifted listlessly down the deserted streets of Ye Olde Hamble Town last week, racing-sailors and party goers from all around the world were doing their best for Queen, Country and Mountgay Rum at Stanford Antigua Sailing Week. There was a great showing from J Boat owners at the event and several podium finishers.

In the Racing V class, David Cullen’s aptly named J/109 Pocket Rocket, crewed by a team of longstanding friends, won both his class and also the fleet prize. Second in this class was the J/133 called Solnes III which is owned and raced by Herman Bergshaven.  Lost Horizon is a brand new J/122 which was delivered to owner and skipper James Dobbs in the spring. Having already had notable earlier successes on the  2008 Caribbean regatta circuit, Dobbs was able to add a win in the Performance Cruiser III class as well as on overall fleet victory at Antigua to his scoreline. In the Racing VI class, the J/120 Paulista also made the podium in second place. 

RORC Cervantes Trophy

Class and overall prize in the RORC race to Le Havre which took place at the weekend was won by Phillipe Delaporte’s J/122 Pen Azen by four seconds separating them from John Shepherd’s Ker 46 Fair Do’s VII. This is a fantastic start to the 2008 season for this formidable French racer who won his class in the 2007 and was second only to Chaz Ivill’s J/133 in the series overall. 

Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling were racing in IRC 2 with newly acquired J/105, Slingshot. Neither of these Irish gentlemen are strangers to J Boats, and both have round-the-cans and offshore racing wins under their belts in other models from the J Boats yard including the J/133. However, both will no doubt be delighted with their result at the weekend. Arriving home fourth in class, just behind Adrian Lower’s J/109 Jaguar of Burnham in third, this result was enough to secure Michael and Niall a win in the double-handed series.  

Around and About

In Plymouth, Nigel Passmore’s J/133 Apollo continues her winning streak and is currently leading IRC A in the Gill Akaster Series by one point and Nick Over’s J/92 S Jostix is leading IRC B by two points. It was a J Boats one-two in the Doombar Spring Series with the J/133 in first and the J/92 S in second place. In IRC B John McLaren’s J/80 Jimini took a well earned second place.  

At the Mailspeed Regatta at the weekend, Peter Chester sailed his J/80 Sportsboat Swan Song to victory in the mixed sportsboat class, despite having to count a DNF in his scoreline. Peter is one of the… well… ‘more mature’ racing sailors in the J/80 Class and clearly both his energy and his experience pays: Peter knows and understands how to get his boat around the race track faster than most.  

The J/109s head off to their first dedicated Class One-Design event of the season this weekend, the West Solent Regatta which is hosted by the Royal Solent Yacht Club at Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. A fleet on sixteen J/109s will race in this warm up for their 2008 UK National Championship which takes place as part of the 2008 J-Cup in two weeks time. In addition to the J/109 old-timers, the fleet this coming weekend will include David Jobson’s brand new beauty Audajious. 

Alan Hannon who owns bJaysus, a J/124 which is based in the Isle of Man and he is pictured here dodging the tide in the recent Round the Isle of Man Race. Alan said ‘bJaysus was leading overall until we fell into a hole (complete with fog!) for around three hours! That ended all our hopes of a win on handicap but we will collect the Ramsey Courier Cup, for the second year running, for line honours.’

It’s pretty fair to say that the race management team for the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series have had to cope with pretty much everything throughout the course of the series in relation to the weather.

On Sunday the combination of tide and wind left the race management team with no alternative but to shorten all classes and both the J/109 and J/105 classes got stuck in the central Solent, where the wind was least, and together with IRC4 had their races abandoned. Only four boats managed to complete the course and get a result in IRC1.

The J/80 Sportsboats who were racing on both Saturday and Sunday (for the second weekend of the Spring Championships and last two races of the overall series) managed to get their full quota of races away.

Stephen Chiverton Reports on the J/80s at the Spring Championships and the Series
Beautiful warm weather greeted competitors on the Saturday.  However there was quite a lot of cloud over the mainland initially.  While the breeze did swing from the South East to the South West sea breeze, it was comparatively weak, although at times during the day everyone was hiking on the rail.
 
The first race had Savage Sailing (Liz Savage) get out in front, but the race was really close with Jugular Vein (John Fowler and Warwick Samuel) doing really well holding onto second place throughout a nail biting sail, with Jin Palace (James and Pippa Sullivan ) also up there finishing just behind Boats.com (Ian Atkins) who was third.
 
The second race saw Boats.com sail off in front of the fleet with Just Chilling (Stephen Chiverton) finishing in second but with Ian finding himself OCS the race went to Just Chilling with Savage Sailing in second and Jugular Vein in third.  Neil Martin with the Quantum Sails that he had bought for his trip to Key West Race Week, showed that the new Jenga IV will be another fast boat in the J-UK stable as they came up into fourth place. 
 
The third race similarly saw Boats.com get ahead with Jugular Vein showing exceedingly well to finish second with Jenga IV third.  
 
The fourth race saw the sea breeze start to drop off.  Just Chilling got round the first mark in front but Boats.com came through on the run and took the race but not without the wind dropping completely. The final beat turned into a run after the leading two boats had drifted down-tide over the tide with Just Chilling finishing just a few seconds behind a becalmed Boats.com.  Savage Sailing was third and Just Do It (Terry Palmer) made good gains with the wind shift to finish fourth.
 
Once the boats got out to the race course on the Sunday a huge thunderstorm over the central Solent appeared, making everybody rather anxious.  After the clouds had gone over, the wind took an age to settle down and although the Race Officer made a number of valiant attempts to get the fleet away. It wasn’t until eventually the wind went round to the SE, that he managed to start a race in a light breeze.   Jevan (Rob and Jonathan Fox), Mosquito (Michelle and Duncan Johnston), and Boats.com went hard left and came out at the first mark on top.  The downwind leg turned into a tight reach and Mosquito lost out at the downwind mark to Jevan incurring a penalty, allowing Just Savage and Just Chilling to come through.  At the finish Boats.com won from Jevan and Savage Sailing.
 
The second race got under way after the Race Officer quickly reset the course as the wind had gone round to the SW.  After a close first beat, Just Do It rounded the windward mark in front of Just Chilling.  Down the run Boats.com went left and came into the leeward mark faster on starboard and rounded ahead.  Just Chilling got inside Just Do It and that is how the race finished after it was shortened at the windward mark; the Committee Boat only just getting to the windward mark before Boats.com!
 
Overall the Spring Championship was won by Boats.com ably sailed by Ian Atkins despite counting an OCS, although the margin to Liz Savage’s Savage Sailing was only one point! Just Chilling was third. In the Sunday series, Boats.com again took first place from Savage Sailing with Jevan in third.

When asked about the series and the J/80 Class, the ‘moustached maestro’ Ian Atkins of Boats.com said

‘Another epic Warsash Spring Series. 30 knots on the first week-end, two races lost to heavy snow! And the last day in thunderstorms, breeze under 5 knots and 60 degree shifts. With 20 boats entered in the Spring Series, the Solent J80 fleet is enjoying real growth and there is definitely plenty of competition at the front of the fleet. We had a great tussle with Savage Sailing throughout the Series and it all came down to the last race. Stephen Chiverton (Just Chilling), Rob Fox (Jevan), John Fowler (Jugular Vein) and The Johnstons (Mosquito) also posted race wins. Charles Somerset (Loudwater) and Just Do It (Terry Palmer and Caroline Cooper) were usually there or thereabouts too. Now looking forward to the J-Cup and hopefully doing battle with the J80 gang from Cardiff and Plymouth.’

Whilst there is no doubt at all that the whole J family will be celebrating together at the official prize-giving on Friday 16th of May, here is a brief glimpse of the celebrities who got to the podium:

IRC Big Boats                                                                                                                                                                                     3rd Neil Martin -  Jammy Dodger (J/133)

J/109 Class                                                                                                                                                                                   1st Ben Richards & Michael Ewart-Smith - Zelda
2nd Matthew Boyle - Shiva
3rd Mike and Sarah Wallis - Jahmali

J/105 Class                                                                                                                                                                                           1st  Paul Griffiths - Fay-J
2nd  Simon Curwen - Voador
3rd Rob Dornton-Duff - Java

J/80 Class                                                                                                                                                                                            1st  Ian Atkins - Boats.com
2nd Liz Savage - Savage Sailing Team
3rd  Rob & Jonathan Fox - Jevan

Spring Championship                                                                                                                                                                 3rd Ian Atkins - Boats.com
2nd Liz Savage - Savage Sailing Team
3rd Just Chilling - Stephen Chiverton

J Boats in RIOW Solo

6am on Saturday morning saw 35 yachts line up off Cowes for the 4th edition of the increasingly popular Petit Bateau’s Round the Isle of Wight Solo, including 2007 Class 2 winner Simon Curwen in Voador and fastest rated monohull of the fleet, Rob Craigie’s beautiful new J/122 Jbellino.  The forecast of light winds and sunshine promised ideal conditions for kicking off the solo calendar, and for relieving many skippers of their hangovers induced by the obligatory Petit Bateau wine, dining and hospitality in the Island Sailing Club on the previous evening.

2 hours of favourable tide had a tightly packed fleet down to the Needles, where some elected for the “inside” route and others less adventurously (or perhaps still hungover) taking a wider line.  With conditions becoming lighter on the South of the Island, by St Catherine’s most found themselves relying on the tide to make any progress.  Those venturing offshore for wind were disappointed when a light but steady breeze filled in first along the shore, spreading the fleet significantly.  Light and flukey conditions presented a few more obstacles on the mostly downwind final leg to the finish at Prince Consort, with many slower boats getting shut out by the tide and retiring.

Split into 3 open classes based on LOA, Peter Olden’s J/92S Solan Goose claimed line and IRC honours as the only Class 3 boat to finish, and an impressive 4th in the overall fleet on IRC.  In Class 2, Rob Dornton-Duff led in the 4 J/105s in Java closely followed by Oscar Mead in Juneau.  Amongst the Class 1 fleet, Jbellino took 3rd place on the line and Peter Tanner in Oojah beat sister J/110 Shades of Blue (Ed Holton) by less than a minute.  All of our hats went off to Keith Richards’ arrival in Mini Transat 6.50 Rattle & Hum, just in time for the 10pm prizegiving!

There are already eighteen J/80 Sportsboats entered for the 2008 JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race which takes place on 28th of June.  The race is organised and run by the Island Sailing Club.

This week, in recognition of the fact that the J/80s have dominated the mixed sportsboat class for the race in terms of numbers for a number of years now, the Island Sailing Club have made two significant announcements which will only serve to add to the enthusiasm for this epic race amongst J/80 owners and which will thereby further increase the number of J/80s taking part.

For the 2008 race the Island Sailing Club have agreed that the J/80s will have their results separated out from the rest of mixed sportsboats, giving them not only a ‘position in class’ but also a list of results solely for the competing J/80s. The ISC have also stated that they are hopeful that for the 2009 event the J/80s will indeed have their own Class. This is news that will delight the J/80 owners and Class Association.

Finally, and perhaps the most exciting development of all for competing J/80 owners, is that the Island Sailing Club have announced that the ‘Nautica Watches Challenge Trophy’ will be presented to the fastest J/80 around the island on June 28th this year. In addition to the trophy itself, each crew-member in the winning J/80 will also be presented with their own Nautica Watch at the official event prize-giving which will take place at 12 noon on June 29th.

When informed of these exciting developments Chris Savage, who helmed the fastest J/80 around the island in 2007, Savage Sailing, said ‘It is fantastic news that the J/80 Class’ support for this race has been recognised. This news will encourage even more owners to enter and that is just great; not only for the development of the J/80 Class as whole but also for the event sponsors and the race management team at the ISC. The J/80 Class would specifically like to thank the Island sailing Club for their flexibility and progressive thinking and of course Nautica Watches for their generosity’.

Entries for the 2008 JP Morgan Asset Management are open online at www.roundtheisland.org.uk. You can find out more about the J/80 sportsboat at www.j-80.co.uk and if you doubt your chances fancy your chances in the race but would quite like to bag yourself a Nautica Watch you should take a look at www.nauticawatches.com

There are a good few Js racing in Cardiff Bay (J/80s, J/92s, J/109s) and the strongest fleet in terms of numbers is the J/80.

Two more J80s have arrived this season: Chilli Jam which is owned and raced by Ashley Barker, and Mojo which has been bought by Jo Mower & John Griffiths.

In the Early Bird Series, run out of Cardiff Bay Yacht Club, the IRC fleet was won by the J/80 Red Sky which is under charter by Australian ‘ringer’ James Dwyer. The J/109 Jackhammer owned by John Ballinger was second.

Steve Cooper (Cardiff Bay Yacht Club Commodore, J/80 Class Chairman, a Cardiff boyo & local dignatory) slipped from the podium in his J/80 Junior High as his results were, it seems, materially affected by having to carry a DNC due to excessive celebration after Wales won the rugby grand slam. Suggestions that the Aussie Rules Football fan and series victor Dwyer had an unfair advantage have so far been refuted…

At the CBYC Spring Starter Regatta the Sportsboat division was won by Simon Thomas and Scott Cole in the J/80 Blue Thunder from the 1720 G&T (Roger Dunstan/Nick Sawyer) and Junior High.

Currently there are five J/80s entered for the sportsboats division of the Spring Series and a number of these will take part in the Cardiff to Padstow race (yes, Padstwo in Cornwall!) which takes place over the May Bank Holiday weekend.
 
Also Red Sky went to Spi Ouest and got a 40th overall carrying a DNF. The 8th and 15th places were the highlight of the regatta - Not bad for a first ever J/80 regatta for the Red Sky team. Well done!
 
There should be good presence from Cardiff at the both the J/80 and 1720 Nationals. Two J/80s plan to travel to Kiel for the worlds.

It’s not always all about the Hamble you know…?! 

I do try to keep up with what is going on around the UK so that I can put it all down in these reports but as our J family continues to grow in number it does become increasingly difficult. Thank-you to all of you for your news and emails. You know how I hate to miss out on the gossip.  

Ireland                                                                                                                                                                                                        There is a fleet of J/109s racing in Dun Laoghaire now and the Class there is running training weekend alongside North Sails this coming weekend. There will be eleven J/109s involved in the training - quite something when you consider it. The Class have a big social planned too so it won’t just be hard work I’m sure.

Plymouth                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Port of Plymouth has a growing IRC fleet and has had resident J/80 and J/24 classes for some time now. At the moment there are two major series for the IRC fleets, one racing on Wednesday evenings and one on Saturday afternoons. Whilst many people look to the Js for one-design racing, the fact remains that they are clearly superb IRC boats too; J owners are doing both of the series and, it’s fair to say, are dominating the results. 

The Doombar Series is run by the Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club. In IRC A, Nigel Passmore’s J/133 Apollo is leading the series on nine points and Nick Over’s J/92 S Jostix is snapping at his heels in second place just one point behind. 

The Royal Western Yacht Club runs a Wednesday night series and once again, Apollo is leading the class at the moment. Elsewhere in IRC B, John McLaren’s J/80 Jimini is top of the class and four out of the top five boats racing here are all Js of varying sizes.  

Lymington                                                                                                                                                                                   There is great J racing to be had in Lymington now too, as William Newton of the J/105 Jelly Baby reports on Race Five and Six of his series in IRC 1: 

‘A perfect course with a shy spinnaker reach resulted in a first and second place respectively for Jelly Baby and another J/105 Flawless J. Perhaps the most notable fact is that as usual Flawless J sailed two up, humbling the Jelly Babies with their seven crew!

Race Six (and with a less charitable Race Officer!) saw the symmetrical guys lead us home but the two 105s managed and third and fourth. A great days racing in the sun in the Western Solent.’ 

William goes on to say that ‘Thursday 24th of April sees the start of evening racing in Lymington with two J/105s, two J/92s and a number of J/80s amongst the 50 plus boats that seem to be able to make a 6pm start .Great racing and après sailing at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club - to be recommended to any J Boat in the area on a Thursday evening.’

So from J/105s in Lymington, I now have a nice link back to Hamble:

Mike Hemsptead, mainsheet man on the J/105 Jolene, reports for the fleet                                                    Race Five for the J/105s started and finished in a variable and very shifty North Easterly breeze on a developing spring tide ebb.   

Starting near Air Canada, Voador (Simon Curwen), Fay-J (Paul Griffiths), Jolene (Jeff Payne) and Java (Rob Dornton-Duff) lead a port tack search for wind shifts that resulted in the same order at RYA Yachtmaster.   

Downwind past the Bramble Bank and round Prince Consort the leaders closed up. Jolene then took the lead in the shifting breeze up to Marinetrack and extended it down wind by sailing unbelievably deep with her new Dolphin kite however at Norris the wind dropped and in the slop of the upwind leg Voador did better and Fay-J did best, reclaiming the lead and pulling away very impressively.  

Fay-J made no mistakes in the tricky cross tide beat up to Burgess Salmon finishing 1.24 minutes ahead of Voador with Jolene 1.26 more behind. Journeymaker (Chris Jones) had a good last leg ahead of Java, Juliette (Rod Knowles) and Only Just (Andy Hill).   

And last but by no means least, the J/109s                                                                                                                    Surprisingly the top boats of the series, Zelda (Michael Ewart-Smith), Shiva (Matt Boyle) and Jahmali (Mike Wallis) were caught out by the conditions and were all OCS, with only Jahmali returning to restart.  Zelda and Shiva scored OCS and frustratingly only found out when they arrived to enjoy the hospitality of Warsash Sailing Club.   

The first leg was a beat to RYA Yachtmaster in nine knots of breeze which saw Firestorm (Jon Perry) take an early lead from the remainder of the fleet.  A slick spinnaker hoist from Jahmali gave them the advantage over J-Dream (David & Kirsty Apthorp).  Just So (David McGough) was unfortunate with the timing at the gybe mark, East Knoll, and rounded the leeward mark, Prince Consort on the outside of the fleet losing the distance which they had gained on the run.    

By the time of the second beat, the tide was slack in the channel north of Ryde Bank and J-Dream and Red Arrow (RAFSA) took this advantage enabling them to close the distance to the Firestorm who was leading from Jahmali.  A spinnaker run back to Norris was misjudged by many in the increasing tide which again gave Red Arrow and J-Dream the opportunity to close the distance on Jahmali who had by now passed Firestorm. 

The beat from Norris to Mackley Construction saw many changes of places with Designstar 2 (Roger Phillips) and Newton’s Wonder (Simon Boadle) coming out better than the majority of the fleet.  Meanwhile Jahmali and Firestorm continued to trade places on the final beat to the finish at Burges Salmon with Firestorm crossing the line one second ahead.  The remainder of the fleet had seen Just So, Designstar 2, and Joyride (Michael Jones) tack to the mainland shore where they benefited from the wind shift, finishing third, fourth and fifth respectively. 

The final race of the series takes place on Sunday 27th April and there is still room to change places on the podium, whilst fourth to ninth is only separated by seven points. 

An excellent course which enabled the J/109s to enjoy close tactical racing, for which it is famous was complimented by a very pleasant afternoon in the sunshine at Warsash Sailing Club.

The first weekend of the Raymarine Warsash Spring Championship saw two days that were as alike as chalk and cheese.  Saturday was forecast to be wet and breezy and did not fail to live up to its billing. Twelve boats braved the weather and the first race was held in a breezy twenty knot North Easterly with rain adding to the chill.

A port biased line for the first race had most heading towards the shore in the West going tide.  Rose and Thistle (Marcus Stone) was one of those making a good start with Bjorn Slippy (Julian Bates) showing well at the windward mark.  Boats.com (Ian Atkins) carved out a good lead which was to be a feature of the races on the Saturday.  Unfortunately Bjorn Slippy’s great upwind speed was not matched by their down wind ability not keeping the boat under the rig costing them dearly.  Not timing a spinnaker drop with the gusts cost Just Chilling (Stephen Chiverton) a second place with Liz Savage helming Savage Sailing took a good second with Just Chilling third,  only just pipping Jamari (Simon Read) by dint of a starboard tack approach to the line.

The second race was held in slightly less wind and was notable for Jamari’s speed downwind without a kite which combined with some blistering upwind speed saw them take a good third place behind Boats.com and Savage Sailing.
The third race was held again in still lighter breeze and although the first two places were the same Jevan (Rob and Jonathon Fox) this time coming through to take third but not without a tussle with Just Do It (Terry Palmer) and Bjorn Slippy.

The fourth race I think found everybody pleased that it was the final race of the day although it had at least stopped raining.  Boats.com and Savage Sailing both got away but very close racing with Jokers Wild (Mike Livingstone) and Strumpet (Andy Phelps) both showing until Just Chilling managed to get into third by the finish.  Getting the mark rounding right allowed some boats to make gains, though failure meant big losses when everyone was so close.

The wind holding steady helped the race committee but to get four good length races in by 2.30 (ish) was a great achievement and there was remarkably little hanging around between races.

Sunday saw some fresh faces and some absentees from the day before but thirteen boats was a good turnout.  The weather was much kinder with sun! The downside was that the conditions were much more difficult with big shifts and changes in wind strength.  The first race was aborted just before the start with a huge shift not that the fleet noted everybody having set off and it was not until boats had gone round a new windward mark that the penny dropped!
At the second attempt a port biased line saw an individual recall but the fleet away, Savage Sailing with Chris Savage back on the stick got a good lead but with Loudwater (Charles Somerset) showing strongly to finish strongly with Boats.com not having the second day all their own way in third.

The JOG Series has always been popular with J Boat owners both for the fully crewed classes and also the Double Handed classes to which the Js are particularly well suited.

With the first race of the series blown off at the end of March, J boat owners were obviously raring to go for the Nab Tower race which took place in blustery conditions on Saturday. In addition to the report from Andy Phelps about his J/80 JOG debut in Strumpet (which is featured below) I’ve had a number of emails from J owners who enjoyed their Solent sojourn.

Racing in Class 4 Andy Hills of the J/105 Only Just said:

Saturday’s JOG race to the Nab Tower was cold and breezy, ideal conditions for the J/105 Only Just. She shot off down the Solent towards No Mans Land Fort hotly pursued by the J/109s J Dream (owned by Dvaid and Kirsty Apthorp and racing double handed) and J’nickit (Jamie Arnell & Jeremy Christy) and then No Doubt. These three broke clear of the fleet and continued to build on the lead on the beat back. As the leaders approached the finish the wind built eventually reaching 37 knots, but J Dream managed to hold on to third whilst only two up, following closely behind J’nickit with Only Just taking the bullet.

Richard Palmer of J/109 Jangada Too who was racing double-handed was a little frustrated:

The double handed trophy in the JOG Nab Tower race eluded us by a mere 85 seconds on Saturday!  However, I’m pleased to say that honour went to another J109 J Dream. We had them covered all the way to the Tower and back to the Forts.  At which point our depth gauge went on the blink just as we started short tacking against the tide along Ryde Sands.  J Dream slipped past us on the inside…

All in all it was a great day out for the Js. Full results can be found at www.jog.org.uk

The race management team of Warsash Sailing Club were kept busy on Sunday 13th April, running over 20 races in one day for the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series. Last Sunday’s unseasonable Solent snowstorm forced the cancellation of all racing but this week IRC1, the two J-Boat classes and the sportsboats were brought up to schedule with an extra race each.

With such a heavy programme, getting everyone off on time was important. The Black Group committee boat set up station near Universal Marina buoy. In a constantly varying breeze, no fewer than four ODMs were set up to ensure no bias on the start line.

Victory in the first race, ahead of Stuart Hawthorn in the J/133 Jump, gave the DK46 Dark & Steamy three straight firsts. Things went very differently for the second race in the afternoon. Most of the fleet decided to start at the pin end. A few got away, but in the ensuing melee Dark and Steamy snagged the pin, got held up and penalised. Even so, they managed to climb back to third on the water and 12th on handicap. This leaves the boat holding on to the top series place but by just one point from Jump which took line and handicap honours in Race 2. With four boats separated by four points in IRC1, good start line discipline could prove vital.

The asymmetric J/109s and J/105s had a good reaching leg across from their windward mark to the turning mark at South Ryde Middle. Matthew Boyle on Shiva set the pace in the bigger class but Ben Richards helming Zelda chased hard and finished a handful of seconds behind at the line. Clever race course management on the first race meant there was little hanging around for the boats between races. Again in the afternoon, careful use of differing beat lengths meant the three classes finished at more or less the same time. Zelda reasserted her superiority in the J/109s whilst Rob Dornton-Doff brought Java home in the J/105s ahead of Paul Griffiths’ Fay-J, the current series leader.

The J/80s have been enjoying very good turnouts for their racing and this week the competition was as close as ever. John Fowler (Jugular Vain) started the day well by just winning the first race from Savage Sailing Team but then Liz Savage went from strength to strength taking the next two races and climbing the overall table to third. Ian Atkins (Boats.com) kept a grip on the series lead with a 4-3-3 scoreline.

Saturday 19th April sees the start of the sportsboat section of the Spring Championship as well as the second weekend of the ‘Big Boat’ racing. The regular Raymarine Warsash Spring Series continues on Sunday 20th April. Warsash Sailing Club’s team will certainly be having another busy time.

Rob Dornton-Duff of Java Reports on Race Three for the J/105 Fleet
With a fair forecast and two races scheduled to make up for the previous weekend’s racing lost to snow, seven J/105s set off in eager anticipation which was soon doused by a good soaking on the way to the start! 

A 40 degree windshift and short postponement later, the first race got away with a closely fought start at the committee boat end and Jeff Payne’s Jolene, Paul Griffith’s Fay-J and Voador (Simon Curwen) dominating.  With the fleet fairly split on the first beat, the left seemed to pay in the building tide though wind buffeting over the Island made for tricky windward laylines near the Island shore all day.
 
Sun shining and wind strengthening to nearly 20 knots at times bought perfect J/105 conditions and close racing for the one-design fleets.  Jolene’s early lead was lost to a navigational embarrassment at the second mark, allowing Fay-J and then Voador to slip through.  Several position changes in mid-fleet saw the order at the line being Fay-J first, Voador second, and Java (Rob Dornton-Duff) third.

And Mike Hempsteadm Mainsheet Trimmer on J/105 Jolene Tells us about Race Four

The short extra race Race No 4 followed promptly with a good pin end port tack start by an orange jib’d J/105 (sorry cant remember which it is) and Fay J nicely clear of Jolene who was a bit late on starboard.

Up the first beat In the shifting breeze the right side boats lost out big time.  Jolene stayed left with super speed and rounded Norris first followed by Java and Fay J who then both managed to break the downwind procession by getting inside at the leaward mark thanks to a nasty baulk on Jolene from a Class 1 boat.

Cross tide downwind tactics varied in the shifting breeze and the north side approach to Burges Salmon was best for Java who finally finished 27 seconds ahead despite suffering a baulk from the same black Class 1 boat (what is her name?) as she approached the finish and Fay J squeezed into second place,  just four seconds ahead of Jolene who did not spot the line bias in time. One minute later Juliette followed by Voador and then Journeymaker 5.

Many thanks Warsash. Two races in one day made the trip from Essex really worthwhile. Next week watch-out guys, we will have our new Dolphin sails (no pressure skip).   

Rob Fox of Jevan Reveals All for the J/80s
Beautiful sunshine and a decent breeze greeted the fifteen J/80’s for 3 races off the Lee on Solent Shore.

An even start in the first race saw JimBob (Bob Hewson and James Heath) and Jugular Vein (John Fowler & Warwick Samuel) hit the right hand corner of the course and reach the top mark in fine fettle. Jugular Vein held their nerve for the remaining legs to record a great win, but Savage Sailing (Liz Savage) were breathing down their necks and came second by just 2 seconds and Loudwater driven by Charles Somerset who is very new to the class sailed a great race and claimed a great third place.

Race Two saw a great tussle between five boats for the top three places, and was a real yo-yo affair.

Savage Sailing got their noses in front early and were able to maintain a comfortable lead to take the win. The remaining places were a hard fought affair between Jevan (Rob & John Fox), Boats.com being driven by Mark Greenaway this week, Just Do it, the RYA Keelboat entry (Hester Robertson) and Loudwater. Eventually Jevan (Rob & Jon Fox) got ahead of Boats.com to take the second place.

The final race again saw Savage Sailing Team out in front taking a comfortable win to take home the champagne for the day. The RYA Keelboat came good and finished a good second with Boats.com breathing down their neck in third.

The standard in the fleet is increasing week by week, and the closeness of the racing is fantastic. A special mention for two new comers to the fleet: Charles Somerset of Loudwater and Damian Samuel-Camps of Jango Fett who both really found their speed this week. There are now 19 boats entered for the series, so numbers are growing fast.

Next weekend is the first of the double header weekends…..all to play for!

Our first JOG race in the new boat and time to see how we fared up against our chums in Class 5.

Having the joys of an outboard engine to contend with we elected to sail to the start and even managed to sail correctly through the identify gate - this had been a concern as JOG starts always seem to be down tide and we would usually spend every possibly second motoring up tide away from the line - not really an option when you have to stow the outboard!
 
The wind out in the Solent was a lot more than forecast and our decision to spin the rig off and use the #3 was looking somewhat dubious - still it was forecast to drop all day so we would be fine - Yeah Right! Caution did get the better of us however and we put the reef in the main before the start just in case it was lumpy past the forts - we would come to be thankful for this decision later.
 
The decision to use the extended line was greatly received and we set up for our perfect gybe angle down to Prince Consort and then started conservatively as we didn’t have a transit for the extended line.  The boat speed looked good and had pulled into the lead by Prince Consort but then seemed to sail into a wind hole.  A slow gybe out for more wind was somewhat w and painful as we watched the rest of the fleet
sail past us. 
 
Having got out into more wind we then gybed back and pointed at the forts- the boat jumped alive in the 20 knot breeze and we were then consistently humming at 11 knots and surfing up to 14 knots in the gusts - what a ride!.
 
By the time we reached the forts our faces were aching from the grins and the rest of the fleet was a mere speck on the horizon.
 
We couldn’t head any higher at the forts due to the wind strength and so had to switch to whites - recovering quickly from dropping the spinnaker into the water and sailing over it, we then reached out to the Nab Tower and seemed to be holding our lead with the sea was getting rougher all the time.
 
By the time we reached the Nab it was reasonable lumpy - we gave the Tower a wide berth and then started the upwind slog.  With the weather threatening but the chop gradually easing off we reached the forts with our lead intact but with the fleet catching us all the time. 
 
Rounding into the Solent we immediately tacked inshore to get out of the tide and proceeded to battle our way back to the finish and started to watch the heavier boats sail past us relishing the conditions with the crew casually looking at us.  As I found out in the bar later, the comments were along the lines of “That’s looks wet!” - and they were right - time to switch from a jacket to a smock.
 
With the wind increasing, the leg back to Egypt Point turned into a bit of an epic sail with hail and gusts up to 34 knots - the poor main was ragging for most of the beat and at times we were sat right on our ear. But Strumpet battled on and taking every opportunity to get some relief from wind, waves and tide by heading inshore we eventually made Norris.
 
With all the downwind humming and the upwind battering the rudder bolts had worked loose and the rudder was jerking somewhat - given our history of breaking the rudder in the Nab tower race a few years back we were somewhat jumpy for the last push and were very relieved to finish in one piece and free off towards home to pump the bilges, tighten the bolts and dry everything out.
 
What a race - Watch out if it is windy and down hill all the way!
 
By the way I can confirm that exfoliation by hailstones leaves your skin lovely and soft.