(Hamble, England)- After the first weekend's boisterous conditions, light winds saw in the 2nd weekend of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series, with the conditions giving all classes some sparkling sailing and nail-bitingly close racing.
This weekend featured the Hamble Big Boat Series on both days, with top-class racing for everyone. Thanks to Rule 26 who sponsored the event. Saturday dawned with 8-12 knots of breeze from the east, expected to shift to the right during the day. Four races were run, with a windward-leeward course set across the North Channel from a committee boat at East Knoll
By contrast, Sunday morning saw thick fog, with ships sounding their way slowly up Southampton water with foghorns blaring. PRO Jamie Wilkinson set an hour's postponement to let the fog clear, later postponed by a further hour when ABP, backed up by a competitor in a RIB reported that the Southampton Water was impassable. Every cloud has a silver lining, however, and this wasn't an unpopular move as it allowed competitors to watch the end of the rugby.
By 1000 the fog began to clear to reveal a millpond, with zero wind – but by 1230 a light breeze had built from the WSW and the race committee hurriedly set a course for all classes, with starts combined to get racing underway as soon as possible.
After a false start, the wind built to 10 knots during the race, which meant that all classes converged on the leeward mark at once, with large gains for the taking for those with an inside overlap.
In IRC 1 Class, the good Doctor Ivan Trotman continues to be a force amongst the leaders on his J/122 JOLOU with his 1-4-5 record to be currently lying 2nd in class. Ken Lowes J/122 GHOST is showing improvement every race and with his current progress may be winning by next week! So far GHOSTS record of 9-8-4 for 21 pts is promising.
Next weekend sees the third Winter Series race day on Sunday. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing information
