Home / News / Hamble River SC - Early Bird Race Report 4, 22nd April 2015.

Hamble River SC - Early Bird Race Report 4, 22nd April 2015.

Published 09:54 on 24 Apr 2015

Race Report 4

Gusty NNE winds meant the Race Officer last night was asked by several competitors whether racing was going ahead. As the tide ebbed to a chart datum of 0.9m towards the end of racing and wind against tide built, an early call was made for lifejackets for all competitors. Despite this all classes went ahead including two XODs. RO Mike Dellar gave the fleet a trip out to HambleWinterseries.com past Stormforce Coaching with varying types of laps up to Royal Southern and a peaceful finish on the Club line. Boats spotted on their first outings for the year included the lovely Fritha (Bob Allan) together with Starfall (Adrian Hull), Kathleen (Moss Fitzgerald) and Sunbow (Andrew Quicke) and in fact Class 3 which included the XODs was only one boat less than Class 2 in numbers.

Surprisingly, with the tide ebbing , there were no OCS yachts in any of the fleets although, a certain XOD could not have been any closer to the line on the gun without being recalled! Sunbow made a sterling effort at the start of Class 2 and now holds the distindtion of being the latest starter record clearing the line just as the preparatory was removed for the start of Class 1. The committee boat team were grateful for the Club finish which did allow the team to up anchor once the classes were away and head for the relative warmth of the Club platform to finish the fleet. There was considerable relief that Polly ( Meakins & Cudmore) in Class 2 found their way to the finish after a couple of queries from Polly as to whether the Club finish was near the Club.......

In class 3 Kathleen (Moss Fitzgerald) and Mischief( Wilson, Wilson & Neale) took 1st and 2nd respectively well in the lead of the rest of the class under both Club class and NHC and in both series Forethought of Gosport ( Mike James ) held off Applejack (Craig Cossar & Natalie Gray) to take 1st with Mischief 3rd in both . Despite what were testing conditions for both XODs all their crew were clearly buzzing from a good race when they arrived at the Club and enjoyed the course.

In Class 2 Imptish (Barney Smith) took line honours but was just pipped by Mist (Undraa & Ross Elliston) for the evening with Anne Louise (Peter Slimming) taking a 3rd. However it clinched the NHC series for Imptish by one point from Polly with Dino Volante (Vigar, North & Munro) in 3rd and again in the Impala series with Two Frank in 3rd. In the Club series Needlework (Patrick Pymm and Peter Smith) took 1st on the night from Anne Louise and then Imptish to take the series with straight 1sts from Polly in 2nd and Dino Volante in 3rd.

Midnight Cowboy (Steph Merry) failed to turn up despite leading Class 1 which left the door wide open in both Club and NHC . Wee Bear took 1st for the race in both NHC and IRC from La Nef (John Noe) who was 1st in the series. Midnight Cowboy was 2nd and Wee Bear 3rd whilst under NHC Wee Bear just pipped La Nef into 2nd with Midnight Cowboy in 3rd.

Special thanks must go to Race Officer Mike Dellar for the Early Bird series. Mike will conclude with the Bottle Pursuit race next week before disappearing to Baltic for a couple of months with his wife and their Sigma 33 and we wish them fair winds. Wednesday night racers are reminded that next week is the Bottle Pursuit race and the start times are on the web site. Racing is free for all members of Hamble River Sailing Club with annual membership costing less than many other series entry fees. New members are welcome to come and try out an evening race for free and details of the full activities, training courses and events of the Club are on the Hamble River SC website.

Lis Robinson