Warsash Spring Series Act IV
Race Officer Peter Knight summed up day four of the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series as "a testing day for competitors and committee boats alike!" It was set to be a challenging day on the Solent; a sunny spring day, but with a forecast of 5-10 knots of breeze dropping towards lunchtime and tides at about 95% of full springs. Black Group classes started near East Knoll, with the wind initially about 10 knots NNE and dropping to 5 or 6 knots by midday. Courses set were a beat to Coronation, followed by round the cans courses shortened at East Bramble as the wind faded. IRC1 and IRC2 did about 12 miles on their shortened course. As the breeze dropped, cross-tide runs and spinnaker reaches taxed tacticians as the puffs and lulls made calculating lay lines difficult, and noticeably at East Knoll some boats had a slog to get back to the mark against the flood tide, after getting too far east. The course for the IRC1 and IRC2 classes was put at risk when a laid inflatable Spring Series mark was removed by "a third party," as Peter Bateson, Series Chairman politely explained. "Fortunately, the Race Committee discovered this in the nick of time and substituted a rib with an ‘M22’ flag. The five leading boats had to sail a few extra yards, but it appears that the order of results was fortunately unaffected." In IRC1, KESTREL (J/111 - Simon Bamford) had her first win of the series, after a string of thirds, with JAGERBOMB (J/111 - Paul Griffiths) second. As a result, KESTREL is biting at the heels of the leader and lies in a close second. For more HELLY HANSEN Warsash Spring Series information, visit http://warsashspringseries.org.uk/2017/index.htm.
J/Fest San Francisco
J/Fest San Francisco was held at St. Francis Yacht Club on April 1-2 with four J/111s on the starting line. After five races, Roland Vandermeer and Peter Wagner’s Big Blast tallied four bullets to lead them to victory over Nesrin Basoz’s Swift Ness (11 points), Dick Swanson’s Bad Dog and Gorkem Ozcelebi’s Double Digit (both with 16 points). For complete event information click here.
Warsash Springs- Act III
For many, it was "chilled champagne" sailing on day three of the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series. The series is at its midpoint, and the overall results are beginning to take shape as the front-runners and riders start to become apparent. The third Sunday of the Series was more like a classic Spring Series day; cold with sunshine and reasonable winds from the east. The Black Group start line was near E Knoll with the first beat set to a removable buoy on the mainland shore. True wind was around 18 knots, varying from 14 to 21, but with relatively flat water. On the combined IRC1 and 2 starts, eagerness prevailed as boats clustered up on the committee boat end of the line, and the individual recall flag was displayed - boats peeled off and restarted. In IRC 1 class, Cornel Riklin’s J/111 JITTERBUG took second and Simon Bamford’s J/111 KESTREL placed third, which puts them in the same order in the overall placings. For more HELLY HANSEN Warsash Spring Series information, visit http://warsashspringseries.org.uk/2017/index.htm.
Double Handed Farallones Race
The J/111 Aeolus finished in the top three (second after time correction) of 80 boats in the Double Handed Farallones Race. USA101 Swiftness also competed. Visit http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/content.php?7189-A-Four-Course-Fiasco for the recap.
Miami to Havana Cuba Race
The second Miami to Havana Race fleet started on March 15 off Miami, Florida. Hosted by the Coral Reef Yacht Club and Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba, along with SORC as Race Committee, it was a pretty fast race overall. In PHRF 2 Class, Gary Weisberg’s crew from Marblehead, MA sailed their J/111 HEAT WAVE fast, finishing in a corrected time of 1:06:23:55 to take second in class and fourth overall. For more Miami to Havana Race information, visit http://www.havanarace.org/.
Warsash Spring Series Start
Last year, the first race of the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series took place in unseasonably glorious sunshine, but this year on March 12, entrants were faced with drizzle, mist and light winds. With light fair tide beats and foul tide runs, the latter were always going to a challenge, and both the White and Black Groups boats found that avoiding holes downwind was the main priority of the day. It was a challenging day also for line and course setting for the committee boats. The winds reported on Bramblenet were 7-10 knots Southwest, but Dock Heads was reporting 7-10 knots Northwest. In the end, Northwest predominated, but 10 knots was rarely if ever seen. On the White Group, Race 2 had to be abandoned when the wind switched through 90 degrees or more and dropped below 3 knots. However, another two races were completed, and as Race Officer Peter Knight noted, the same boats were up at the front. IRC1 was won by JITTERBUG (J/111 - Cornel Riklin), with KESTREL (J/111 - Simon Bamford) third. For more HELLY HANSEN Warsash Spring Series information, visit http://warsashspringseries.org.uk/2017/index.htm.
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