Laser SB3 Grand Prix at Sea View Yacht Club

Action from the SB3 Grand Prix at Sea View © Eddie Mays

Action from the SB3 Grand Prix at Sea View © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

Action from the SB3 Grand Prix at Sea View © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

Following a jaunt up (or is it down?) the Solent last year to the home of the Simonds clan, an armada of small ships again made the trek to the most Eastern point of the Solent on Friday evening. A total of 50 vessels took up moorings off the SVYC clubhouse along with a multitude of ribs overnight whilst teams prepared in customary SB3 fashion as the RORC offshore fleet drifted out the Solent on the flood tide.

The pre-race briefing was accompanied by the now familiar saber rattling by Dr C, outlining the new wardens system the fleet has adopted, and the threat of rule 69 for those caught ignoring hails of infringement. Perhaps the Terminator sunglasses and Mr. Angry attitude is finally bearing fruit…

Race 1 got away with a surprising lack of interest in the start line, with most of the fleet caught on the cautious side as the pressure faded and headed immediately prior to the gun. Russell Peters made his intentions known to all quickly getting to the head of the fleet, passing Jerry and Tommo in the process, with The Zeal Optics lads also overtaking the Touareg on the way to 2nd place.

Race 2 - Talk about red rag to a bull! Following a general recall the black flag came out, but to no avail. Most of the fleet was half way to the weather mark before realising the committee had abandoned the race citing that only three boats could be clearly identified as behind the line! Not so sure about that one! As it turned out shortly after the abandonment a 40 degree shift came through (which we were sweetly digging into!) and the race would have become a soldiers course anyway.

All involved were quite glad it was mild and sunny as we waited a good hour plus before another attempt at race 2 was made. Russell Peters again got off to a solid start and needed to overtake Brother Timmy to complete a brace of victories. Sure enough, job done; two wins from two attempts! Timmy held on for 2nd with The Touareg 3rd again whilst Geoff was steaming along to collect another 4th… what's missing here?

The trend was broken by the Zealots, surely they were supposed to complete this picture with another 2nd? But where were they? It appears a large underwater object tarnished the perfect pairs at the top of the score sheet as Craig, Adam and DrC pulled off the course from last position. To be fair I've never seem so much surface weed and debris on a race course as last weekend. Is this another bi-product of global warming?

Race 3 - Not wanting to sound boring but Russell Peters did it again, not that your scribe was too disappointed, for a while I thought Duchess in Teenage Kicks might lead around the weather mark and we'd have to suffer it through the night. Alas his old boat was on fire again, storming away with the win, while Geoff came Steaming through the pack to take 2nd. Not to be outdone Steam Productions got on the podium in Ian May, of Charlie Fish ancestry, in his debut event, just ahead of the Aussie Ship in 4th. (Worth going off at a minor tangent here as places 2, 3 and 4 each had a member racing with each other at Pwllheli - first to guess who they were wins a Touareg to take to the moon for next years SB3 inter-galactic champs).

Time for a break, after 8 hours on the water for 3 races all and sundry retired to SVYC for the evening, plenty of tall tales exchanged, much discussion about the improvement in rules adherence and whether Russell Peters would win every race…

Race 4 - After a period where it looked like no racing would proceed, a South Easterly filled into Sea View of just about 7 knots, enough for a couple of races and give the fleet a chance to knock off Russell. Never mind, he took care of that himself, a victim of the Black Flag amongst a number of other Mr Peters stood aside while Colin Simonds showed the way around his home track. Zeal Optics got back onto the podium with a 2nd while the Aussie ship managed a 3rd.

Race 5 - After a short spell of 10 knots between races the final heat got away in slightly softer air than the previous race with those who got right early on the first beat dominating. Raymond Simonds led around much of the course but had spinnaker dramas at the final mark, dropping to 2nd and allowing Geoff to complete a fine series with a win. Colin finished 3rd to seal a podium place for the series with a solid final day but nobody could dislodge RP from the head of the score sheet, although he only just piped Geoff and co in the end.

Thanks to Vin, Bird, Nick Glanville, SVYC, Jim Mitchell's Race Team and the rib drivers and all others involved in arranging the event.

Next journey, to visit our fine French friends and perhaps a brisk Biscay breeze.

Overall Results: