News

SATURDAY 8th June George Cup 5
Course: 5 – 8 –7 –19 –8 –18
Wind: NE 2-3 3 starters

The strong winds of the morning looked off-putting but the forecast proved accurate and sailing conditions that afternoon were really ideal under a cloudless sky. Sadly the turnout was very small with just Gleam, Silhouette and Spray at the line. The first leg was a beat into the tide up to 5 and Spray found herself rather outclassed against the two Premier League skippers, James Meaning and Tom Vernon. These fast boats sparred together for much of the course with Silhouette dominating for most of the time until Tom’s lack of knowledge of the location of the dinghy marks got the better of him and he mistook 11 for 19. In correcting the error Silhouette misjudged the rounding of 19 and had to take a penalty turn that enabled Gleam to take over the lead.

1st Gleam 2nd Silhouette 3rd Spray

SUNDAY 9th JUNE Hayles Cup 6
Course: 15 – 7 – 9 – 18 – 8 – □ – #
Wind: NE 2-3 5 XOD + 2 YOD starters

Another day of excellent sailing conditions that set the competitors off on a down tide beat to the Bouldnor inshore dinghy mark and then out to 7 that was an unfamiliar mark to many. Silhouette established a quick lead that was never challenged. Amongst the rest there was some close competition between Spray and Rosalita, and between Sans Souci and Whisky Johnny with positions changing when any skipper misjudged the tidal influences, or over-stood a mark. In the final legs a couple of the boats experienced some mishaps with the spinnaker halyard whizzing up the mast of Spray without any sail attached, and the gooseneck breaking on Sans Souci thereby forcing retirement.

1st Silhouette 2nd Spray 3rd Rosalita

XOD YARMOUTH DIVISION RACE REPORT

SATURDAY 25th MAY Vernon Vase Race
Course: Shingles Elbow – Line
Wind: Eventually Westerly 2 4 starters

Very light airs at the start kept three of the competitors well up-tide of the line so there were no quick starts, although unfortunately Gleam was caught significantly the wrong side when the wind died away and took 25 minutes to fight the tide to the line and get started. In the meantime Spray led the drift past Black Rock but once the Hurst narrows were reached the sea breeze had filled in from the west and the three boats in contention started making decent speed beating out to Shingles Elbow. Just short of this turning mark, Foxy got through Spray. Thereafter the order on the run back did not change although Rosalita came close to Spray when passing Fort Victoria. Gleam was very valiant to sail the course despite such a late start and ended only ten minutes behind the leader.

1st Foxy 2nd Spray 3rd Rosalita

SUNDAY 26th MAY Windward/Leeward
Wind: Westerly 2 3 starters

Three short races of two rounds each held in Bouldnor Bay. Spray did not start well on the first two races and appeared hampered by rather less experienced crew than the other two boats. For the first two races there was close competition between Rosalita and Foxy (sailed by Freddie and Charlie Davies) with Foxy tending to gain the leading edge.

1st Foxy 2nd Rosalita 3rd Spray

MONDAY 27th MAY Navigation Cup
Wind: SW 2 4 starters

This brilliant race concept that leaves each crew to decide in which order to round the course marks in the shortest time lived up to its usual expectations with plenty of tension in superb sailing conditions. Each boat made different choices and if the wind had held with its original south-westerly direction, the course chosen by Spray might have been the winner. But in mid-Solent when Rosalita, Spray and Foxy were beating back to the Island shore, the wind shifted to the south and this gave the course choice of tacticians (Dugald Henderson + Katie Davies) aboard Foxy the edge. Spray finished a close second whilst Rosalita found their course choice rather longer, and Gleam retired. George and Corinne Alford hosted the prize-giving lunch after the race in their lovely garden for which everyone was immensely appreciative.

1st Foxy 2nd Spray 3rd Rosalita

YARMOUTH XOD RACE REPORT

Saturday, 11 May George Cup 3
Course: 3 1 2 4 line 1 8
Wind: Force 5 SW
Tide: Flood
Starters: X125 – X147 – X156

Race start was sensibly moved to the morning as forecast conditions were considered to be too severe for an afternoon start. But this eliminated those a couple of crews who could not get to the Island in time for the Saturday morning start. Foxy sailed four-up that proved beneficial in the conditions. Tom Vernon helmed Arrow whilst Gleam was under James’ usual management.

There was an unfortunate accident between Arrow and Gleam before the start but nevertheless Gleam led for the initial stages before being overtaken by Foxy who led thereafter. In the second round Arrow and Gleam were in close contention.

1st Foxy 2nd Gleam 3rd Arrow

Sunday, 12 May Hayles Cup 3
Course: 1 2 # 8
Wind: Force 3 SW
Tide: Flood
Starters: X102 – X49

To have James Meaning aboard at any time is probably beneficial and so it proved for Whiskey Johnny in this two boat race against Rosalita despite James having suffered a broken rib whilst kite surfing the previous afternoon.

1st Whiskey Johnny 2nd Rosalita

6 XOD on Moorings, 4 start on Saturday in 20 knots of westerly ,one gust recorded at 34 knots and Lymington not racing, and 2 finish. 3 start in 5 knots of westerly on Sunday. Moorings invisible through thick fog and no wind on Monday at start time. It must be early May in the West Wight.

Although the Saturday result was the same as last week, 1 Gleam 2 Arrow , this understates the race where Gleam led throughout but Foxy showed considerable speed from the combination of the Commodore and his daughter with the Sailing Secretary who made up for a shortage of kilos with an advantage in skill. But every time she seemed to close on the leader something broke, finally the main sheet tackle. Spray took on more water than it advises in the manual and struggled home heavy and so we had two retirements.

On Sunday the situation reversed. James went to Cowes. Foxy flew away on a running start and Spray outpaced Arrow to take second. Result 1 Foxy, 2 Spray 3 Arrow.

On Monday thanks to the patience of the Race Officers we got a building westerly for the Seabird, and another running start. Gleam started fast pursued by Foxy but it took Puffin a little time to squeeze between Arrow and Y 2. Upwind the two leaders took different routes to the inshore mark whilst Arrow sporting her fourth helm in as many races climbed to third.

Downwind again and Puffin and Gleam joined battle out into the tide. Eventually Gleam came back in to cover Arrow, and in doing so managed to escape enough tide to retake the lead. Foxy was the big mover downwind diving inshore and closing on the leaders. Result on the water 1 Gleam 2 Puffin 3 Foxy.

Rosalita had a good first outing holding off one Y and closing on another despite the smaller X spinnaker in a downwind race. There is discussion in the XOD about having a larger spinnaker which might enable them to add more downwind power over the tide to their upwind strength.

On Monday afternoon the sixth X Whiskey Johnny was observed sailing about so we hope to see her racing soon.