(Warsash, England)- The Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series reached
the midpoint on Sunday 30th March this past weekend. Following last
week’s heavy conditions, again there was a change back to bright
sunshine accompanied by a light south-easterly. In fact, for some hardy
sailors it got warm enough for honest-to-goodness “shorts & shades”
weather!The Black Group committee boat set up station at East Knoll, giving an initial windward leg for all classes to Fastnet Insurance buoy south of Lee-on-the-Solent. Courses were tight – IRC1 having 13 marks over 15 miles and the course setters mixed in plenty of starboard roundings to ring the changes. All the starts went remarkably well. The breeze, while fairly constant in direction, occasionally dropped from 11 knots down to 8 kts. Tacticians were fully occupied trading less tide for more wind. Given several marks in common to all classes, rounding could be tricky with many and varied designs in one place at the same time. The strong ebb tide on the windward legs caught some boats out judging the layline incorrectly, causing them to make several attempts to round, short tacking close to the buoy.
In IRC 1 class, the J/111s are having close racing around the dozen plus marks set out each weekend. JITTERBUG continues to lead the class now by only one pt. Their 1-2-3
score for 6 pts just nips David & Kirsty Apthorp’s J-DREAM with a
4-1-2 for 7 pts. Tied for third on 14 pts apiece are Will Naylor’s crew
on BRITISH SOLDIER and Simon Boadle’s MUNKENBECK. Revving up their
engines this past weekend with a solid race was Charles Ivill’s ETB
TYRES, taking a first in class and also 2nd in IRC overall!Competitors made brief visits to Warsash Sailing Club after racing, probably anxious to fulfill their Mothering Sunday responsibilities. A couple of class winners even missed collecting their weekly champagne prizes presented by Lisa Vincent from Brooks Macdonald. With so many class leaders close on points, there is everything to play for going into the second half of the Series next Sunday 6th April. Thanks for contribution from Louay Habib. For more Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series sailing information
