Hamble River SC Wednesday Night A Series Race 3
Published 22:00 on 21 May 2014
Wednesday night sailing at the Hamble River Sailing Club continues to expand at a rate of knots with 24 boats out last night with another pleasant evening . PRO Kathy Smalley and her team set up shop to the west of Bald Head in a south easterly breeze forecast to drop slightly and back. With high water just as racing started there was a variety of marks to choose from but the heavy container traffic in and out of Southampton water led the PRO to opt for windward leeward courses to the east with a longer initial beat and a shorter second beat. Now that the A series is well underway, regulars members are arriving in ever increasing numbers and it was good to see the likes of X96 Fantasy (Philip Almeida) and Whiskas (Ian Southworth) back out to play along with a Cornish Shrimper, Sonnet.
Racing ran on time for all classes with a surprising display of good behaviour from all the fleets . In Class 2 Whiskas with a rock star crew sailed sedately into the start line spot on the gun whilst Wight Hare (Derek and Chris Hand) reached across the fleet for an impressive start well in advance of their competitors in Class 1. The fleets other than Class 1 made good progress to their first windward marks and at the leeward mark Fantasy had established a good lead in the XOD fleet whilst Mischief (Wilson, Wilson and Neale) were battling it out for second place. Whiskas in Class 2 seemed to hold her lead throughout the race but Class 1 disappeared up to Royal Southern and seemed to slow down in a slightly different and dying breeze just beyond Calshot. The wind at the bottom end of the course dipped a little towards the end of the racing for about ten minutes as the leading XODs finished but backed and strengthened sufficiently to bring the fleets home with the exception of Class 1. As the XODs finished it was clear the Class 1 were only just
rounding their first leeward, Coronation and the Class, in accordance with the sailing instructions, came to mutual agreement to take their own times at the second windward mark.
In the XOD fleet Fantasy went straight into 1st place on her first appearance whilst Mischief had clearly continued at the front end of the fleet but match raced X124 Kathleen (MOS Fitzgerald) into third place on the very last tack. In Class 3 Cockleshell (Jonty Sherwill) took first pace from Forethought of Gosport (Mike James). Class 3 Sonnet, suffering in the wind ward leeward format with no spinnaker, opted to retire and the lure of the clubhouse enticed Allons-Y (Rich Thoroughgood) from Class 2 into motoring home. Whiskas cruised into a comfortable lead and 1st place with Mist (Undraa and Ross Elliston) taking 2nd from Needlework (Peter and Ann Smith) whilst in Class 1 La Nef (John Noe) was delighted to take first both on the water and on handicap with Wee Bear (Chudziak, Horner and Malas) tying on the water but taking 2nd from Light (Rob Denning et al) on handicap.
After last year’s introduction, the club is continuing the Three’s a Crowd this year. This double handed series consists in three Saturdays of racing and is open to XODs and keelboats. The first day will be on this Saturday 24th May with an already healthy entry list. Wednesday night racing is free and only available to members but all new boats are invited to come out and try a race for free and to join the fleet back in the Clubhouse for supper afterwards. Those looking to crew do contact the office and it has been great to see a number of new crew who recently have joined the Club . Full details on the Hamble River SC website so with the start of a new season come and break up the week with a dose of sea air each Wednesday evening until the clocks change.
Watch this space for details- BIG WEDNESDAY is coming soon!
Report Lis Robinson
Pictures Kathy Smalley:
20.31.59 The “A” team by the PRO
20.33.24 Xtract looking smart but casual
Last updated 10:20 on 9 April 2025
