2024 YachtsandYachting.com Racing Series - Round 3

YachtsandYachting.com Race Series © Richard Willetts

Five Sunsail 41 yachts entered Round 3 of the YachtsandYachting.com Race Series organised by Prometheus Sailing over the weekend of May 4/5th in the Eastern Solent with seven races sailed, a mixture of windward/leeward and round the cans courses.

On Day 1 on the wind was fairly stable from the South East at around F2/3.

Race 1 - the initial windward leg of the windward/leeward course was into a fairly strong tide which caught out some of the boats. Hyde Sails (Kaan Konukcu) rounded the windward mark first with a comfortable lead but chose not to fly a spinnaker on the downwind leg allowing chasing boats to close. At the finish, after 2 laps they just managed to stay ahead of a fast closing Sunsail Zephyr (Conrad Wooding) with Sunsail Helios (Bill Taylor) taking third.

Race 2 course repeated Race 1 with the same 3 boats at the front but finishing Sunsail Helios followed by Hyde Sails and Sunsail Zephyr.

Race 3 course was set as a triangle /sausage course still using the same windward mark but now with less tide. Southampton Sailing Week (Petr Denisenko) emerged as the winner followed by Sunsail Helios.

Race 4 was the final race on Day 1 and was again a triangle/sausage course but shortened with Southampton Sailing Week apparently liking these courses, winning again from Sunsail Helios and Sunsail Zephyr. After a good days racing, the overnight leader was a consistent scoring Sunsail Helios (8pts) with Sunsail Zephyr, Hyde Sails and Southampton Sailing Week all on 11pts.

On Day 2 weather started almost as a repeat of the previous day, except that the tide was now running stronger. This made the initial beat of Race 5 into something of a marathon. Hyde Sails again found the right way to the windward mark and rounded with a good lead. However not flying a spinnaker downwind allowed Sunsail Helios and Southampton Sailing Week to close. A shortened course saw Hyde take the gun. Unfortunately for 2 boats the time limit expired before they could reach the finish.

To try to get out of the tide the start area was moved and Race 6 was a short windward/leeward course which had the fleet bunched. At the first leeward mark Sunsail Helios and Southampton Sailing Week rounded close to each other followed shortly by Hyde Sails. The breeze which had been steady at south easterly clocked right, favouring Hyde Sails with a generous lift. They rounded the windward mark in the lead and held that position to the finish followed by Sunsail Helios and Southampton Sailing Week.

Race 7 was the final race of the weekend and a triangular course was set as the wind shifted to south westerly. At the start the breeze was up to 16 knots but as the fleet reached the windward mark it died to almost nothing. Hyde Sails again rounded first and slowly drifted down tide to the wing mark followed by the rest of the fleet. The breeze softened even more and a park up was inevitable. Mermaid Spirit arriving at the wing mark under spinnaker found a massive gap on the inside and gybed into first place albeit just about stemming the tide. The Race Officer was about to abandon when a light breeze filled in from the East and all boats had spinnakers set for the run to the finish of the shortened course. Mermaid Spirit (Mark Bowers) and Sunsail Helios chose to go high on the run with Southampton Sailing Week taking a more direct course. Mermaid Spirt held on to take the gun with Southampton Sailing Week in second just ahead of Sunsail Helios.

Sunsail Helios' consistent scoring allowed them to take the win by one point from Hyde Sails with both teams qualifying for Novembers final.

Round 4 of the Series is scheduled for July13/14th. If you are interested in chartering and joining in some fantastic one design yacht racing, please email Terry Hunt at or for further details on the YachtsandYachting.com Racing Series, general charters or events, please visit the Prometheus Sailing website.

Overall Results: