Hamble River Sailing Club Centenary Regatta
by Jonty Sherwill 12 Jun 2019 09:46 BST
7-9 June 2019
Over three days of contrasting weather Hamble River Sailing Club continued its Centenary celebrations with its first June Regatta for many years, welcoming all sectors of its membership and a few visitors too.
With its proud history of Olympic sailing and championship successes it was clear this same spirit continues as older and younger members braved marginal conditions to race on Friday and Saturday before sunshine and a building southwesterly breeze delivered perfect racing conditions for Sunday's IRC, Club Handicap and XOD regatta day.
Friday's 50+ Regatta was intended for anyone aged 50 years and over sailing in yachts and dinghies under PY handicap but the weather got in the way for all bar five hardy Foxer sailors. Under the watchful eye of John Duff and Andy Chapman four races were completed with Paul Lovejoy snatching overall victory and Chris 'Sparky' Hamel delivering the only capsize of the day! With the racing over it was no surprise that numbers were swelled at the aprés sail rum party where club luminaries including Patrick Pym (1972 Olympics - Finn class) joined in the fun with club members past and present.
Saturday's Junior Regatta day saw even worse weather but HRSC's cadet leader Richard Foulkes decided it was good to go and even though a few mastheads got planted firmly in the Hamble mud it was smiles all round and with some valuable experience gained by the youngsters in the demanding conditions. "With nearly every boat capsizing it was decided to only do the one race, but there were winners in the silver and gold fleet while in the bronze fleet (adult and child) all retired early but everyone had lots of fun and enjoyed themselves", said Alice Ryan.
Sunday morning brought a complete contrast in weather and in the warm sunshine and light southerly breeze the non-engined boats were grateful for a tow out to the start area near William buoy, as were newly-weds Olly and Sam Love plus their wedding guests for the postponed 1100 start time! With PRO Mike Foster and event organiser Aiden Barr in charge the wide ranging yacht fleet (21 - 40 foot) was set three long but well-judged courses, with Race 2 going all the way to the Royal Thames buoy on the Lepe shore.
With such a range of boat speeds the fleet was soon spread out across the Solent with Rupert Wolloshin's Farr 40 'Thunderbird' leading the fleet from eventual winners Mike and Susie Yates J/109 'Jago' with a 1,2,3 scoreline, while the diminutive classic dayboat 'Cockleshell' managed to get round the course each time, arriving at the finish line in Race 2 just 30 seconds before the final race warning signal at the 1330 deadline.
In the five-strong XOD class sailing on a shorter course closer inshore Gary Rossall sailing 'Little X' scored 1,1,2 to win the class from Peter Baines' 'Whimbrel' sailed by Nick Brebner ahead of Hamish and Diana Wilson in 'Mischief', Andy Hamlett in 'SATU' and Steve Green in 'Pepper'.
At the early evening prize giving (which included another rum party!) HRSC Commodore Steph Merry thanked all volunteers for their invaluable support in running the three events before handing engraved glassware to the class winners. The results are available at www.hrsc.org.uk/hrsc-results/open-results
The next HRSC Centenary event is the Cruise in Company 12-14th July followed by the Founders Day Sail Past on Tuesday 6th August for which all yacht owners are invited to take part - please contact the HRSC club office for more details on 02380 452070.