44th Hamble Winter Series Report- Weekend V

(Hamble, England)- The 44th running of the Hamble Winter Series is now in its sixth weekend of sailing on the infamous, capricious Solent Water between Southampton and the Isle of Wight. Yet again, J/teams across the board are enjoying a wide range of conditions from wet & wild to sunny and benign.

The CV SEA ANGEL set up at 4J (hamblewinterseries.com) for Race Week 5 of the Hamble Winter Series, which was sponsored by Pharmacy Consulting Ltd. The plan, according to PRO Peter Bateson, was “for a challenging variety of legs up, down and across the wind and across the tide, ending after 2-2½ hours back at hamblewinterseries.com.”

Wellies had been compulsory on the Hamble foreshore mid-week, which meant that some big spring tides were still prevalent in the Solent. 10-15 kts of breeze with a lot of South in it (185-200 degrees) meant there would be even more “opportunities” for cross-tide sailing than usual.

With the series entering its last four weeks, one longer race is the order of the day, allowing boats to return to their berths in daylight. IRC 1&2 were sent on a 13-mile course which had two legs across the Ryde Middle Bank. IRC 3 was dispatched on a 10.9-mile course, which went to Royal Thames (4F) and then to Ben Wood (4N) on the southern edge of the East Knoll Bank.

The aforementioned Spring cross-tide came into play at the start of IRC 1 & 2, as Chris Burleigh’s J/109 JYBE TALKIN, who last week was photographed very close to a mark, went one better this week, when they got tangled up on the pin! In maneuvering off, they came together with the Sigma 38, which led to a protest. However, having witnessed some turns by JYBE TALKIN that would have graced the dance floor, the Sigma 38 withdrew the protest.

The winner for the day was the J/109 JUKEBOX with two bullets, then third on the day was the J/109 MOJO RISIN with a 3-4.

After ten races in the Winter Series, MOJO RISIN still sits in third place, with JYBE TALKING sitting in fourth place.

In the J/111s, Chris Jones & Louise Makin’s JOURNEYMAKER II continues to lead their series with two more bullets over the weekend. Second is Paul Griffiths’s JAGERBOMB, and third is Ella Wollmann’s FREQUENT FLYER.

Next week sees The Bugle, a famous pub in the Hamble, as the day sponsor!! With three races to go and another discard in play, things could get very close.

Thanks for this report, contributions from Trevor Pountain.

For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information
https://www.hamblewinterseries.com