Sunny, balmy evenings seemed a thing of the past when the second race of the Twilight Series took place. Instead, winds gusting up to 30+ knots and driving rain were the elements with which the racers had to contend. Fond memories of sitting on a boat with a glass of wine in your hand and the sun warming your face were definitely a thing of the past!

The Race Committee, however, decided that the race should go ahead as the wind was mainly 20+ knots, but the flag ‘yankee’ was flown indicating that life-jackets must be worn.

The reduced fleet of Class 1 boats were clear across the line and headed off for the windward mark on the Fawley shore before turning downwind, down Southampton Water. Not all boats in class decided to risk flying their kites, but of those that did, Njos possibly regretted their decision as they came back with their skipper offering pieces of it for bunting or tee-shirts!

Paul Heyes’ J124 ‘Java Mocha’ led from the start and took both line honours and top spot on corrected time, 1 minute ahead of ‘Starspray’ with Njos just 8 seconds behind.

Class 2 was also considerably reduced in number (I wonder why?!) but of the 5 boats who started, Ian Townend and John Cooper’s Hunter 707 ‘Tigerfeet’ continued their winning way by romping home taking both line honours and first place on corrected time by 32 seconds from Jim Hood’s Contessa 26 ‘Mariabronn’. Glass Onion, consistent as ever, came in third.

The Multihull Class had only 2 starters but they provided entertainment for all with Ben Goodland pausing to pick up his cap from the water causing him to be somewhat late for the start. George Burn and ‘Force X’ obviously wanted to watch the antics as he crossed the line equally late! True to style though, Ben’s Raider 30, ‘Team Eberspacher’ picked up her heels and sped around the course achieving a maximum of 21,5 knots! What a sight to see this boat at top speed with spray coming off the windward hull. Ben took first place by 7 minutes on corrected time.

The increasing driving rain, hazy visibility and gusty conditions made for a difficult night for both the racers and the Race Committee but the general consensus of opinion was that it had been a worthwhile experience.

The next race is on Thursday May 17th.

For further information on RSYC racing contact Cathy Crawley, Sailing Secretary, RSYC, Tel: 023 80 223352 or email racing@rsyc.org.uk

The turnouts for the double handed racing keeps improving race on race. The start line for leg 1 was laid at Royal Thames in the Solent just west of Calshot Spit with 49 of the 57 yachts entered milling around making plans for the down wind start. Five classes were run, 2 IRC, 2 Club handicap and the multihulls. The wind at the start was slightly better than forecast with a North-easterly 8 knots filling the spinnakers as the boats crossed the line. All starts were clear with the competitors being slightly cautious with some nine hours of racing ahead and no one wanting to be caught OCS. The tide was against the fleet that split as some stuck close to the Island and the rest opted for the sheltered route going west along the mainland shore. Some tucked in a bit too close but managed to get off the mud by doing a U turn. One boat, which shall remain nameless, kept crews amused as the skipper shouted trimming instructions to his sweating crew from the top of the mast as they sailed down the Solent while he freed a jammed spinnaker halyard.

As the fleet approached the Needles the tide changed in their favour but the wind petered away only to reappear as a south westerly, a 180 degree wind shift!

The fleet split at the Needles, with the shingles bank providing the divide. A number of small races ensued with the 49 boats all having someone in close quarters to race against. It turned out to be a typical Weymouth race - as the yachts got to within ten miles of the finish the wind shift to the west ensured that everyone would have to continually tack and retack to reach the finish.

About five miles from the finish ‘Tosara Blue’ came across a rib manned by a lone frantic individual, trying to attract attention. They reduced sail and made their way to the rib, to find that it was unable to make way and was without communications and had lost its three divers. They radioed the coast guard and recovered the person from the rib. The coast guard helicopter arrived and located the divers. ‘Tosara Blue’ took the rib in tow and then recovered the missing divers who were unaware of the fuss, and arrived at the finish line with six crew, instead of the regulation two. Redress was given in the results.

Class 1 – Leg 1 – ‘Jammy Dodger’ the J133 with Neil Martin & Philip Barnes took line honours some 16 minutes ahead of the next boat of the 16 boats in the class. ‘Oojah’ the J-110 ably sailed by Peter Tanner & Carl Wilcox took the class win 8 seconds ahead of second placed ‘Malice’, Mike Hoxley’s HOD 35 with his crew Huw Philips. Third place went to Simon & Nikki Curwen on ‘Voador’ the J-105.

Class 2 – leg 1 – The finish was quite tight with the first three finishers all crossing within a minute of each other after nearly nine hours of racing. Andy & Peter Pickett brought ‘Moondog’ the Laser 28 over the line to take line honours, but the ever present ‘Google-Eye’ the Trapper 300 with Pat Sables & Nigel Hunt took the class win, pushing ‘Moondog’ into second place. ‘Firefly’ the Contessa 32 raced by Simon Pritchard & Homme Zwagstra took third.

Class 3 – leg 1 – ‘QII’ Mary Falk’s one off short-handed special with Mike Jones took line honours and the class win. ‘Asante’ Andy and Sara Horwood’s Maxi 1100 took second place ahead of the rescuing Maxi 1100 ‘Tosara Blue’ whose owner Martyn Hindley and crew John Enderby were given redress and special praise for their diver rescue.

Class 4 – leg 1 – had a wide spread in finishing times with ‘Lucent’ the Sigma 33 of Simon Worsfold and Chuck Danbridge taking both line honours and the class win, 14 minutes ahead of second placed ‘Pavo’ the Wauquiez Pretorien sailed by David and Mary Greenway. Jon Woolgar and Richard Davison brought ‘Green Kestrel’ the Westerly GK29 home in third place.

Multihull – leg 1 – ‘Force X’ the D920 Extreme piloted by George Burn and Mark Griffiths enjoyed the lighter conditions took line honours and the class win, finishing a full 44 minutes ahead of second place Tim Wilson and Richard Haynes on ‘Cold Fusion’ the Dragonfly 920. David Hyland and Neil Owen brought ‘Marmalade’ the Dragonfly 800 home to take third place.

The Royal Dorset Yacht Club kindly played host to the competitors with 49 boats rafted up in 4 trots outside the club, all flying the McGuigan Wines racing flags. Our sponsor McGuigan wines was represented by Patrick Nelson of Waverley TSB who presented the prizes.

Everyone was able to enjoy a lazy start to the Sunday morning with the first return start scheduled at 1510.

When the boats lined up for the return start outside Weymouth harbour the wind had built to WSW force 6. Playing it safe was the name of the day with only one kite showing it colours in the first three starts but class 1 was more adventurous as the colours popped just before the start gun. As the boats got further offshore the seas built and with 20’ waves surfing was the game to play.

‘QII’ the winner of class 3 in leg 1 ran into problems just past St Albans Head with a broken mast, but ‘Debanessa’, ‘Little Spirit’ and ‘Malice’ rallied to her aid and stood by while the rig was made safe. ‘Debanessa’ escorted her while she motored to Lymington. Everyone else had a quick passage to the finish at ‘Coronation’ at the top of Southampton water.

Class 1 – leg 2- Paul Peggs and Chris Leamon surfed ‘Audacious’ the water ballasted JOD 35 to take line honours and the class win as the first monohull to cross the finish line only being beaten by one multihull. Second place was taken by the J-92 ‘Solan Goose’ raced by Peter Olden and Christian Lippiatt and third was the J133 ‘Jammy Dodger’ crewed by Neil Martin and Philip Barnes.

Class 2 – leg 2 – Steve Flick and Peter Spreadborough brought ‘Blue Moviez’ over the line 7 minutes ahead of ‘Moondog’ to take line honours, but Andy and Peter Pickett’s Laser 28 ‘Moondog’ took the class win making it a good weekend for them with a 2, 1 result. Kathy and Rupert Smalley with white sails enjoyed the return trip with a second place for ‘The Flying Fish’ their Laser 28. Third place went to the leg 1 winner ‘Google-Eye’ the Trapper 300 surfed by Pat Stables and Nigel Hunt.

Class 3 – leg 2 - Carol Sear having persevered with the upwind sailing on leg one got her rewards with a return trip that was made for her Mini Transat ‘Rattle & Hum’. With her crew Keith Willis it gave her the drive to fly her headsail and asymmetric to surf home a full 16 minutes ahead of the next boat in class 3 to take line honours and the class win. Andrew and Linda Campbell on ‘Faze 3’ their Bavaria 44 having enjoyed a close race all the way back with the commodore on ‘Ear to Eternity’ finished second. Third place was secured by ‘Piccolo’ the Dufour 44 of Andy Yates and Paul Eaton.

Class 4 – leg 2 - ‘Little Spirit’ and ‘Debanessa’ having made good progress before they tended to QII’s problems, were awarded redress that reflected there positions at the incident. The end result was ‘Little Spirit’ the Beneteau First 375 raced by Brian Cooper and Steve Home was awarded line honours and second place on handicap but ‘Debanessa’ the Beneteau Oceanis 381 ably raced by Maggie and Ricky Chalmers took the class win. Third place went to Ian Ward and Nick Burchell aboard ‘Bedouin’ the Moody 29.

Multihull class – leg 2 – All change from leg 1 with line honours and the class win going to the first boat home ‘Cold Fusion’, Tim Wilson’s Dragonfly 920 crewed by Richard Haynes. Second place went to David Hyland and Neil Owen on ‘Marmalade’ the Dragonfly 800 with George Burn and Mark Griffiths bringing ‘Force X’ home in third place.

The RSYC Double Handed Series continues in 2 weeks time with the Cherbourg Double on Friday 25th May.

For further information on RSYC racing contact Cathy Crawley, Sailing Secretary, RSYC, Tel: 023 80 223352 or email racing@rsyc.org.uk

A mist made the shores of Southampton Water hazy as competitors gathered at the start line for the fourth race in the RSYC Spring Series. The mid week windy forecasts were again proven to be spurious with 8 to 10 knot SE breezes coming through for the starts. The funnelling effects of Southampton Water were kind to the racers, who at least got some racing in, unlike a number of clubs in the Solent who had to abandon racing for the second week running. The race committee did their best to second guess the projected wind shift in setting the courses. Unfortunately life isn’t so easy and the wind holes and 90° wind shifts as the boats closed in on the Hythe shores called for clever tactics. All the competitors made it to the finish line this week after an enjoyable 2 hours racing.

The multihull start was quite tight with ‘Team Eberspacher’ being boxed into the committee boat and having to duck down behind the others and not making his usual clockwork start. Simon Forbes on ‘Scooby III’ came across the line on port from the ODM and managed to hold his line to get clear air. Ben soon took the lead again but unfortunately sailed the wrong course. ‘Marmalade’ followed Ben and both retired after the finish. ‘Scooby III’ took line honours a minute ahead of Tim Wilson on his Dragonfly 920 ‘Cold Fusion’, but Tim got the win for the second time in the series, which gave him the series win. ‘Team Eberspacher’ finished second in the series with Simon Forbes’ ‘Scooby III’ third.

The class 1 start was interesting to watch, and when the one minute gun went, last weeks winner ‘Big Boys Toys II’ looked as though he had already started being way upwind of the line. The Smalley’s ‘Flying Fish’ fitted out with the latest Tacktick start line instruments sailed the line to cross near the ODM at the gun but Paul King’s Prima 38 ‘Serendip’ using number one eyeball judged it just right and hit the line fully powered up to take an early lead extending it on every leg. Andrew Percival got his mind back on the job and by mark two ‘Big Boys Toys II’ was second but as the race progressed ‘Portia’ the First 40.7 got by. Paul claimed line honours and the class win for the third time in the series giving him the series win. ‘Big Boys Toys II’ had to settle for second place this week with Andrew Lyer’s First 40.7 ‘Portia’ third. ‘The Flying Fish’ Kathy & Rupert Smalley’s Laser 28 took second place in the series and Jacob Mackenzie’s crew on the Evolution 22 ‘Glass Onion’ who were consistent throughout the series took third.

In class 3, ‘Green Kestrel’ had a cracking start crossing the line fully powered up at the committee boat on the gun. The wind strength really suited them and they managed to out point the rest of the class throughout the race. ‘Hoolinkazan’, ‘Green Kestrel’ and ‘Faze 3’ kept crossing paths and exchanging positions for the first two legs before Steve Sault (Hoolinkazan), on the morning after his stag night, started to pull away. Jon Woolgar kept ‘Green Kestrel’ pointing like a witch and pulled away from ‘Faze 3’. Steve took line honours but ‘Green Kestrel’ took the class win leaving ‘Hoolinkazan’ second and ‘Faze 3’ third. ‘Hoolinkazan’ finishing with two firsts and two seconds took the series win. ‘Green Kestrel’ and ‘Faze 3’ finished the series on equal points but today’s win gave them the edge to take second place.

The Twilight Series starts next week on Thursday May 3rd, get your entries in soon !

For details contact Cathy Crawley, Sailing Secretary, RSYC, Tel: 023 80 223352 or email racing@rsyc.org.uk

Blue skies, flat water, seabirds calling, church bells ringing, sun shining, no wind! That was the start of Race 3 for the RSYC Spring Series. What an idyllic morning for anything other than racing! The crews of all the entries were ready for a morning of lying on the leeward side of the boat! Unfortunately for the racers, other people realised that it would be a good day to go out on the water and the early peace was broken Jetskis, RIBs and sports boats.

The Race Committee gave a windward mark (windward was basically northerly but fluctuating!), with an optimistic course up and down Southampton Water. The wind, however, had other thoughts, but after a short postponement, the Multihulls set off followed in order by Classes 1 and 3.

The shifts in the wind and the holes in the wind proved problematic for all classes but Andrew Percival’s ‘Big Boys Toys’ relished the light airs and even though they finished 1.5 minutes behind Paul King’s ‘Serandip’, they took the top slot on corrected time. Blue Moviez were 3rd, in spite of sharp intakes of breath when their competitors noticed how far inshore they were going on the Fawley shore!

Team Eberspacher showed that he could sail in any conditions by finishing first, 5 minutes ahead of Orion on the water and 15 minutes ahead on corrected time with ‘Cold Fusion’ in 3rd place.

Class 2 was dominated by Steve Sault’s J-80, Hoolinkazan who took both line honours and top place on corrected time, with Jon Woolgar’s ‘Green Kestrel’ in 2nd place and the other J-80, Mike Livingstone’s ‘Jokers Wild’ in 3rd place.

Because of the lack of wind, the Race Committee decided to shorten course at Dean’s Lake, having taken the times of all boats that had already passed this mark.

In all, a frustrating race, with light shifting winds and water turbulence from other water users creating a testing time for all racers.

The last race of the series is next Sunday, April 22nd.

For details contact Cathy Crawley, Sailing Secretary, RSYC, Tel: 023 80 223352 or email racing@rsyc.org.uk

The second race in the RSYC Spring Series was treated to a sunny morning with a blustery N to NE wind that varied from F3 to F6 throughout the race making sail choices interesting. The turnout was disappointingly low with only 13 boats appearing at the start. Lets hope the warming weather will lure more boats to the start line. The race committee set good varied 2 hour courses ensuring an enjoyable mornings racing.

In the multihull class, the extremely low turn out must have left Tim Wilson on his Dragonfly 920 trying to decide who was going to win today’s race, me, myself or I. Good practice for the crew in the blustery conditions.

Class 1 saw Paul King’s Prima 38 ‘Serendip’ take an early lead extending it on every leg. His closest rival on the water finished 14 minutes behind him. This lead ensured Paul the line victory and class win. ‘The Flying Fish’ Kathy & Rupert Smalley’s Laser 28 had some close racing on the water with third placed ‘Blue Moviez’, Steve & Wendy Flick’s X-332. The competition was tight but The Flying Fish cross the line ahead of Blue Moviez to take second place.

In class 3, the crew of ‘Faze 3’ took the Bavaria 44 into the lead from the start and held it to the finish. Try as they did, they couldn’t extend the lead enough to beat the chasing J-80’s on handicap, so having taken line honours they only managed third on handicap. Meanwhile the close fought J-80 battle had Steve Sault’s ‘Hoolinkazan’ and Michael Livingstone’s ‘Joker Wild’ exchanging places throughout the race with Steve taking the win just 21 seconds ahead of Michael in second.

The Spring Series continues in 2 weeks time on Sunday April 15th. The first of the Double Handed Series starts on Saturday April 14th, everyone is welcome, get your entries in soon !

For details contact Cathy Crawley, Sailing Secretary, RSYC, Tel: 023 80 223352 or email racing@rsyc.org.uk

The first race of the RSYC Spring Series took place under grey skies which eventually gave way to a beautiful sunny morning with the cold north easterly wind gusting between 9 and 20+ knots. This wind was particularly variable on the Netley shore which led to some testing decisions having to be made on when to tack for the marks.

The Race Committee set a course which challenged both new and not-so-new crews as the comparatively short legs meant some smart crew-work, particularly on the bow, was required. The cogs may have have been slow to turn initially, but they got well oiled during the course of the race! Kite work on some of the reaching legs was difficult for some boats, with spinnakers proving to have a mind of their own!

The Multihull class went off first with only 3 starters out of 5 entries (was that because of the unpromising weather or the fact that the hour had changed??!). Team Eberspacher made an uncharacteristic mistake on the start line, caused by main sheet problems, threatening to hit Simon Forbes’ ‘Scooby’ but the helm of Scooby played the ‘good guy’ and took avoiding action. All their efforts were to no avail, however, as Ben Goodland still took both line honours and won on corrected time by over 23 minutes! Tim Wilson and ‘Cold Fusion’ came second with Simon Forbes and ‘Scooby’ third.

Class 1 was a class of very different boats varying from Jacob Mackenzie’s Evolution 22 ‘Glass Onion’ to Paul King’s Prima 38 ‘Serandip’. The class, therefore, became spread out as the race progressed with the bigger heavier boats revelling in the gusty NE winds. The results have still to be finalised because of the lack of some IRC ratings at the time of writing, but at the moment, Paul King and ‘Serandip’ took both line and place honours just under 3 minutes ahead of Kathy and Rupert Smalley’s Laser 28 ‘The Flying Fish’ with Andrew Maunder’s X372 ‘Xtrovert’ six minutes behind in 3rd place.

In Class 3 the top 3 boats all finished within just over 2 minutes of one another on corrected time. The heavier winds suited Andrew Campbell’s Bavaria 44 ‘Faze 3’ but a ‘day of things going wrong’ meant that they had to take 3rd place. Steve Sault’s J-80 ‘Hoolinkazan’ was only 3 seconds ahead in 2nd place (where could you have found those 3 seconds, Andrew??) with Willaim Bridge’s Gibsea 284 ‘Fusion 111’ taking the top spot 2 minutes ahead.

The second race is to be held next Sunday, April 1st.

For details contact Cathy Crawley, Sailing Secretary, RSYC, Tel: 023 80 223352 or email racing@rsyc.org.uk