Autumn Solent Double at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club

Victory for Addiction, The Flying Fish, Blue Pearl, Green Kestrel and Scooby 111

The day of the last race of the RSYC McGuigan Wines Double Handed Series, the Autumn Solent Double, started in a similar fashion to the last Double Handed race (the Nab Tower Double), with very little wind initially, shifting wind when it did finally come in and frustration for both racers and the Race Committee. 63 boats swilled around or anchored waiting for this elusive breeze which materialised eventually, late in the morning, with enough strength for the race Committee to set a line to send the racers to the eastern Solent. Unfortunately though, this wind proved not to be steady enough for the starting sequence to go ahead and the AP flag was hoisted once more. This uncertain south-easterly shifted from 140 degrees to 110 degrees and back again but it eventually settled round about 130-140 degrees sufficiently to enable the race to start. The start line was moved to reflect this and 2 hours after the initially proposed start, all classes got away to the beat mark, East Bramble buoy.

The wind continued to shift during the race which meant that legs that were beats for some boats became more of a fetch for others following behind, but it was appreciated by all competitors that a race had at least taken place. Eventually a more consistent 6-10 knot south-easterly appeared and the majority of competitors completed the course that had been shortened by the Race Committee at 'Flying Fish' buoy, after 2-3 hours of racing.

In Class 1, Paul Jenkins'Beneteau 40.7 'Addiction' took both class line honours and first on corrected time from Nigel Powell and Clifford Skinner's Prima 38 ' Kylidh' shortly followed by Mark Lloyd and Deb Fish in their J133 'Jellina'.

Steve Flick and Pete Spreadborough in the X332 'Blue Moviez' took line honours for both Class2 and the whole race, but this was not good enough to beat Kathy and Rupert Smalley in their Laser 28 'The Flying Fish' who took top place on corrected time. 3rd place, 22 seconds later, was awarded to Peter Cover and Joe Johnson in their Mustang 30 'Mestengo'.

Class 3 was won by Simon Tucker and Bruce Godfrey and 'Blue Pearl' (Oyster Lightwave 395) with Alan Baker and Nigel Holt in 'Alma' (Westerley GK33)in second place. The RSYC Commodore, Peter Whatley, and his son William were 3rd in their Sun Odyssey 45, 'Ear to Eternity'.

Class 4 was taken by Jon Woolgar and Pete Sprake in 'Green Kestrel' (Westerley GK29) followed by John and Liz Baily in their Elan 34 'Neraid' with Will Sayer and Matt Glasgow and their Sigma 33C 'Elmareen' 3rd.

Only 2 Multihulls presented themselves at the start line, Simon Forbes and Sarah Thelwall and 'Scooby 111' (Dragonfly 800) and Tim Wilson and Richard Haynes 'Cold Fusion' (Dragonfly 920). After initially being behind 'Cold Fusion', 'Scooby' managed to take both line honours and top slot on corrected time.

The presentation of bottles of McGuigan wine to the top 3 boats in each class took place at the RSYC Clubhouse, along with the keeper glasses for both the inshore series and overall points for the series which were:

Inshore Series:

Class 1
1 No Doubt, First 34.7, Chris & Hannah Neve
2 Solan Goose, J 92, Peter Olden & Christian Lippiatt
3 Voador, J105, Simon & Nikki Curwen

Class 2
1 Google Eye, Trapper 300, Pat Stables & Nigel Hunter
2 Glass Onion, Evolution 22, Jacob Mackenzie & James Gates
3 Black Jack, First 31.7, Phillipe Rigollet & Sylvia Beck

Class 3
1 Scorpio, Hanse 342, Ed Essery & Judith Eastwood
2 Piccolo, Dufour 44, Andrew Yates & Paul Eaton
3 Faze 3, Bavaria 44, Andrew & Linda Campbell

Class 4
1 Green Kestrel, Westerly GK29, Jon Woolgar & Pete Sprake
2 Pavo, Wauquiez Pretorien, David & Mary Greenway
3 Sohar, Bavaria 34, Jim & Dave Stott

Multihull
1 Scooby 111, Dragonfly 800, Simon Forbes & Sarah Thelwall
2 Force X, D920 Extreme, George Burn & Mark Griffiths
3 Tinkerbell, Farrier F27, Roderick Walker & Caroline Robertson

Overall Points

Class 1
1 Solan Goose, J92, Peter Olden & Christian Lippiatt
2 Malice, HOD 35, Mike Moxley & Huw Phillips
3 Voador, J105, Simon & Nikki Curwen

Class 2
1 Google Eye, Trapper 300, Pat Stables and Nigel Hunter
2 The Flying Fish, Laser 28, Kathy & Rupert Smalley
3 Pyxis, X332, Kirsteen Donaldson & Flic Gabbay

Class 3
1 Rattle & Hum, Mini Transat, Carol Sear & Pierre Bagot
2 Scorpio, Hanse 342, Ed Essery & Judith Eastwood
3 Faze 3, Bavaria 44, Andrew & Linda Campbell

Class 4
1 Green Kestrel, Westerly GK 29, Jon Woolgar & Pete Sprake
2 Pavo, Wauquiez Pretorien, David & Mary Greenway
3 Elmareen, Sigma 33C, Will Sayer & Matt Glasgow

Multihull
1 Cold Fusion, Dragonfly 900, Tim Wilson & Richard Haynes
2 Force X, D920 Extreme, George Burn & Mark Griffiths
3 Scooby 111, Dragonfly 800, Simon Forbes & Sarah Thelwall