Hamble River SC Wednesday Night A Series Race 4
Published 22:00 on 28 May 2014
The Hamble River Sailing Club committee boat motored out and for some time wondered if it would be solely an XOD start as various of that fleet appeared through the mizzle but no one else. The wind seemed fairly settled with a north westerly breeze down Southampton Waters and an incoming tide to speed up the beats. In view of the weather conditions PRO Kathy Smalley considerately opted for slightly shorter courses given the long evening last week and a running start to sharpen up competitors. The smaller boats were sent on a lap of Cutter to bald head and Cutter again before finishing at Hamble Point whilst classes 2 and 1 were sent downwind, past Stormforce Coaching and onto William with a second lap before beating back to the finish.
The Caribbean sunshine failed to appear but at least the rain ceased which enticed a steady trickle of boats out of Hamble until nearly 30 boats were out to play, (and certainly kept the committee boat team a lot happier). For a second week running all classes started clear although Whiskers (Ian Southworth) in Class 2 just missed an early start and the sudden disappearance of four or five of the Impala fleet for last night may have improved start manners. Both the XOD fleet and Class 3, as expected, tucked into the north shore to keep out of the tide on the run but both Classes 2 and 1 aimed straight for the first mark. Those competitors primed and ready with their kites on or before the start benefited whilst others, such as Firebird (Tristan Kemp), clearly out of practise on her first appearance for the year, took some time to get the wraps off, or indeed out, of their kites. Other such as Sunbow (Andrew Quickie) had to endure good natured flak from their crew mate taking his turn on committee boat duty as they crossed the start line double handed.
This week the wind held throughout racing although appeared to veer a little towards the Calshot end of the course and a lot of Classes and 2 boats seemed to whitesail reach from Stormforce to William on the second lap. In the XOD fleet Mischief (Wilson, Wilson and Neale) decided to take a flyer on the north shore downwind which definitely did not subsequently pay against the rest of their fleet. Triarchy (Dr Colin Kennedy) in Class 1 and Whiskers in Class appeared to lead round the course and most of the fleets seemed to spread out a little with the longer beats given everyone a chance to test their boat tuning.
In the XOD fleet Shri (Ben McGrane) won the Early Bird series but has seemed to struggle a little once the older members of the fleet returned. However he fought Swallow (Simon Russell) right up to the finish line and although Simon carried his secret weapon ,his daughter, Shri took 1st place by 15 seconds with Satu (Andy Hamlett) in 3rd place. In Class 3 Cockleshell (Jonty Sherwill) had to settle for 2nd with Svenja (Mike Stoner) serenely gliding to line honours and first place. Mike was ably crewed by his uncle, Malcolm Donald better known to many as our Honorary Sailing Secretary. Forethought of Gosport (Mike James) managed to hold off Starfall (Adrian Hull) to take 3rd. However the most exciting finish had to go to Triarchy, Whiskers, Xtract (Dudley Stock) and Mischief all of whom came piling into the finish together to challenge the recorders skills. Triarchy took line honours in Class 1 though had to settle for 2nd on handicap to Wee Bear (Chudziak , Horner and Malas) with La Nef (John Noe) in 3rd place. Whiskers just managed to take Xtract on the finish line by 5 seconds and held her first on handicap with Mist (Unraas and Ross Elliston) and Cheeky Monkey (Aidan Barr) tying on handicap for 3rd place. Special mention should be made of X124 Kathleen (MOS Fitzgerald) who carried the youngest trimmer with the biggest grin and wave to the committee boat on the finish of the entire fleet!
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 clock changes.
Watch this space for details- BIG WEDNESDAY is coming soon!
Report Lis Robinson
Pictures Kathy Smalley and Bertrand Malas
IMG 0284 – Fleet downwind
2014_05_28 – Youngest trimmer with the biggest grin
Last updated 10:20 on 9 April 2025
