The situation did not look favourable when the Black Group committee boat first anchored near Hamble Yacht Services buoy, in poor visibility with no discernible breeze. Then the mist slowly lifted, the wind filled in through the Needles Channel and by late morning the sun was shining. With this constant breeze and a midday high tide, Chief Race Officer Peter Bateson proclaimed it "a most glorious day" and was able to set a range of courses with an initial windward mark at RORC buoy and a common finishing mark at East Knoll. For the first time this year, all classes were taken west of the Brambles Bank, to Williams Shipping buoy. As the morning progressed, there was a clearly defined racing channel established, with all classes using the same strip of water. However, with some of the smaller classes using shorter legs and rounding marks to starboard, crews in the faster designs needed to keep a sharp look out for converging boats.
IRC1 was boosted by a growing contingent of J's, all preparing for the “Big Boat” Spring Championship which starts next weekend. This brought 15 entries to the line at 1000. Going around the track, the smaller boats in class were making good time against their handicap ratings against leading-edge teams like Nick Zenstroms' Swan 45 RAN, Neil Kipling’s J/122 JOOPSTER won the class for the second week running on handicap and moved to fourth in the overall standings, just three points up on the J/111 ARABELLA. Second for the day was Ian Matthews J/122 JINJA.
The final two weekends (9th/10th and 16th/17th April), see additional racing on Saturdays for the Spring Championship. The Warsash Spring Series continues on 10th April 2011. For more Warsash Spring Series sailing results. Sailing Photo credits- Eddie Mays
