Raymarine Warsash Spring Series - Week 4

Peter Rutter's Elan 37 Quokka could only manage 4th place in IRC 3 on week 4 of the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series © Eddie Mays

Mark Gillett's 707 Pocket Battleship broaches violently on week 4 of the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series © Eddie Mays

Jerry Hill's Laser SB3 3 Sad Old Blokes at speed off the Meon shore on week 4 of the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series © Eddie Mays

A day of thrills and spills

Week 4 of the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series brought testing conditions for boats, equipment and crew. White-capped waves filled the Solent in a south-westerly breeze which started around 20 knots, gradually building during the race period to Force 6-7 until several competitors reported gusts of 40-42 knots in the latter stages. The work of the Black Group race committee was not without incident when the outer distance boat needed a second anchor and two buoys also went adrift.

Class IRC1 was augmented by yachts entered in the “Big Boat Series” which got underway the day before. In the tough conditions, these were an awesome sight as they powered their way downwind with kites flying. The race itself became a Farr 45 benefit, with “Exabyte 4”, the RYA’s “John Merricks” and “Audacious” filling the first three spots. Stewart Hawthorn’s J-133 “Jump” finished ninth but her much lower handicap moved her into fourth place in the race and second overall.

In the lower divisions the Swan designed boats came into their own in the heavy weather. John Dean took his Swan 46 “Lowly Worm” to both line and class honours in IRC2, whilst a lower rated sistership, “Marinero” (Michael Stevens) finished ahead of Jim MacGregor’s Elan 40 “Flair IV” in IRC3. This now leaves Peter Rutter’s “Quokka” tied with “Flair IV” on 8 points. With identical scorelines they have just two Sundays left to decide the overall winner. There was an upset in IRC4 when Ian Dawson’s “Glide-X” lost a perfect set of first places to yet another Swan, this time Steve Liebmann’s “Breakout”. By the time the later classes were completing the course, there were very few spinnakers to be seen, most boats sailing under reefed main and smaller headsail. However, in a day which saw many broaches and Chinese gybes, there were no major incidents though one boat in IRC4 lost its rig.

The tide made conditions very difficult on the Sportboat course, when a wicked chop caused the downwind legs to be particularly spectacular. The 1720s mustered ten boats this week and Charles Swingland established an early lead in “Dark Side”. As many boats lost time during broaches at or around the gybe point of the downwind leg, this lead was extended to 4 minutes by the finish with the final boat crossing the line 20 minutes later.

Of the 20 Laser SB3s that started “Monex” made the best of the first beat to round the mark five lengths ahead of the pursuing pack. After the spreader mark, the run was chaotic, with boats at all angles. Mark Stokes in ”Eau No!” also lost a mast and even with help from a support RIB struggled to stay off the lee shore. Out of the mayhem emerged Geoff Carveth, helming “Small but Steamy” and he was followed home by “Kelpie”. With the first race safely in the bag and the sea state getting worse, the Race Officers wisely decided that enough was enough and sent all those left standing back into the relative calm of the river.

The Raymarine Warsash Spring Series continues on 9th April with the Spring Championships for sportboats also getting underway on Saturday 8th April.

Provisional Week 4 Results:

More Information:

• Warsash Sailing Club website
• Raymarine website