ISO Open at Calshot Sailing Club

Heavy rain during the ISO open at Calshot © Sarah Curtis

The weather was not looking good for the weekend, with heavy wind and rain forecast. We rolled up to see 13 ISO’s preparing for the days event (which is a record this year so far) and a F3 blowing. Oh yeah, it was raining as well. A decision was made to run two races, stop for a rest, then run another two.

Race 1 - This kicked off with Farter & Chunder and Concept Sails getting a good start. Farter & Chunder reached the top buoy first followed by Concept Sails, with Barry panicking and dropping every rope he possibly could resulting in them being 4th by the spreader mark with no sign of the Cousin Trestec boat! (There you go, you got a mention and you weren’t even there).

With the front 3 boats closely battling it out for 1st place, Richard & Matt came in first, Lloyd & Graham second and Jonny & Bugsy coming home third. Barry & Rob crossed the line fourth in their Concept Sails boat.

Race 2 - By this time, the winds had increased slightly, although it was STILL raining……! Another good start was had by Concept Sails, but again, they were overhauled by the Hyde sails equipped boats (that’s our excuse anyway) i.e. Richard & Matt, Jonny & Bugsy and Lloyd & Graham, as they fought it out for first place. Concept Sails settled into fourth place with the rest of the fleet following closely behind.

At tea break, (very civilized) the race committee decided we should race a further two races due to the strong wind forecast for Sunday. The best idea anyone ever had!!

Race 3 - This started in the rain with the fleet packed really closely together at the approach to the first mark, with Steve & Al in Yellow Peril on PORT having a good go at taking Richard & Matt out, who were on STARBOARD and doing a fine job at it too!! I know that, because Rob & I in the Concept Sails boat, were right behind Yellow Peril and had to avoid both of them. Oh! The look on Richard’s face!

Lloyd & Graham and Jonny & Bugsy disappeared into the distance with the Concept Sails boat (thinking they had a third) behind them, being chased by Colin & James in Serenity and a local crew of David & Rachel. Out of nowhere, we had third place stolen from us by Richard & Matt in Farter & Chunder! Thanks Guys!

Final results of Lloyd & Graham taking first place, Jonny & Bugsy in second, third went to Richard & Matt, followed by Barry & Rob in fourth place in their Concept Sails boat.

Race 4 - Funnily enough it was still raining by the start of this race with the winds nearly reaching a F5, with a nice wind against tide swell building.

The fleet got off to another close start, with Jonny & Bugsy starting a bit too early and getting penalized for it, but not realizing! The usual front three battled it out for first place, with Richard & Matt taking their third 1st place of the day and winning the event. (Would have been four 1st if hadn’t been for Yellow Peril……!). Lloyd & Graham came second overall, with Jonny & Bugsy taking overall third.

The battle for 3rd, 4th and 5th was raging! With close racing between Barry & Rob in their Concept Sails boat, Colin & James in Serenity and David & Rachel. There was a lot of place swapping with the local crew having an advantage down wind in the wavy conditions.

At the start of the last lap, Colin & James retired with a broken boat which left David & Rachel just in front of Barry & Rob, taking third and them taking their fourth, 4th place.

Many thanks to Calshot Sailing Club for holding a good event and well done to Richard & Matt for winning the event.

Finally, thanks to Rich at Concept Sails for his support!

Overall Results: