(Warsash, England)- It’s that time of year again on the wild &
woolly Solent! Time to remove the winter warps, dust off the old
stallion, bend on the sails and take another spin around the cans. Who
has the Solent mark chart? Anyone, anyone?? God Forbid anyone forgets
that single most important bit of kit for navigating the zillion
sponsored marker buoys deployed around the Solent. For sure, veteran
sailors of this local body of water are usually some of the world’s
better sailors— damn hard to find all the marks for starters, but then
one has to factor in massive currents, whirlpools, enormous 40 kt
container ships bigger than skyscrapers zipping around the channels and
sand banks like a “dodge’em ball competition” and the capricious winds
& weather that are never, ever what was forecast. While the UK MET
Office is pretty good at weather forecasting most times, somehow that
little river of water that flows between the Needles, across the Ryde
Sands and past the Forts between the mainland and Isle of Wight often
confounds even the savviest of meteorologists.The Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series starts this weekend and runs all spring from March 16th to April 27th. The Warsash Sailing Club has a 50-strong race management team that is second to none, taking great pride in conducting fun, often challenging, races over the course of the series. After all, it is Great Britain’s premiere season-opening event and nothing is spared to ensure the sailors go home happy with grins plastered on their faces (some might say that may have been induced by “Guinness”?).
The regatta attracts passionate sailors from across the UK. Over 100 entries are registered with good one-design fleets of J/70s, J/80s, J/109s and J/111s. Also sailing are J/92s, J/97s and J/105s!
Seven J/111s will be vying for class bragging rights within IRC-1, for both handicap and one-design honours. The regatta promises to give all 111 teams great training for the upcoming J/111 World Championship being held at the Royal Yacht Squadron on Cowes, Isle of Wight in August. Will Duncan Mcdonald’s SHMOKIN JOE team get back on form and finish “in the chocolates”? Are David & Kirsty Apthorp leading their J/DREAM team to the ultimate dream- winning the inaugural J/111 Worlds? Or, are veteran crews like Simon Boadle’s slippery silver MUNKENBECK, Will Naylor’s BRITISH SOLDIER or Cornell Riklin’s JITTERBUG capable of upsetting their apple cart? All these boats are welcoming new J/111 teams like James Arnell’s JEEZ LOUISE (past J/109 winning crew) and Chris Jones & Louie Makin’s new JOURNEYMAKER II (former top J/105 winning offshore crew). Watch this space, it promises to be a fun series.
In IRC-2, the lone J/109 YEOMAN OF WIGHT is being sailed by David Aisher. IRC-3 has four J/Teams participating, including two champion J/97s, Nick & Adam Munday’s INDULJENCE, Charles Ivill’s ETB TYRES/ JUST LIKE THAT. Joining them are Jim Bedford’s J/92s BOJANGLES and Natalie Jobling’s J/105 MOSTLY HARMLESS. Sailing IRC-4 is past winner J’RONIMO, David Greenhalgh’s J/92.
As anticipated, the J/109 fleet is showing up with an excellent group of seven boats. Amongst the leading contingent should be familiar names like JAGERBOMB (Paul Griffiths), JUST SO (David Mcgough), JYNNAN TONNYX (Owain & Jean Franks) and OFFBEAT (David Mcleman). The Royal Air Force crew on RED ARROW will be led by Marcus Wilson.
The J/80s have a dozen good crews lined up to sail this spring, including a French team. Like their 109 colleagues, there are both new and familiar faces in the crowd. Patrick Liardet’s AQUA-J, Jon Powell’s BETTY, Mike Lewis’s JESTER, Allan Higgs’s JUICY, Nicholas Allen’s NINJA have been consistent performers near the top of the fleet. Frenchman Yannig Loyer has brought J/OUT-OF-THE-BOX over to train themselves with good competition in the spring.
The half-dozen J/70s have several new teams joining the fray. In addition to Marie-Claude & Paul Heys on BRAVO JENNY JONES and Malcolm & Tristan Jaques on DJANGO, the class welcomes new Warsash entries like Colin Simonds’s DOOLALLI, Mike Flood’s J7T, Ian Wilson’s JOYRIDE and Simon Cavey’s JUST4PLAY.
As well as six Spring Series Sundays, the Spring Championship is being held over the final two weekends of 12th/13th and 26th/27th April. Warsash Sailing Club extends a warm welcome to all competitors at Shore House. A selection of hot and cold food is available each Sunday as well as two barrels of FREE BEER! Weekly class winners are also presented with a bottle of champagne by title sponsors Brooks Macdonald. A free water taxi is in operation on Sundays before and after racing to and from berths up river as far as Port Hamble. As was mentioned above, it’s just darn hard to beat such great regatta organization! Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright/ Photoaction.com. For more Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series sailing information
