Gerry sailing double handed

                                                           Lark finsished 2nd Overall

                                     Lark Leading Dux to the finish after finally
                                     getting ahead following a impressive
                                            weekends sail by Eliot

Battle of Britain Regatta

XOD Class

29^th & 30^th September 2012

Due to a prior commitment the Hamble Division of the XOD Class were unable to take part in the RAF YC’s main Battle of Britain regatta that was held at the beginning of September. The re-arranged weekend was combined with the Richard Donald Trophy and held over the last weekend in September.

Saturday’s two races could not have been sailed in better conditions. The 8 – 10 kt NW’erly breeze blowing down Southampton Water allowed the Race Officer to set a good windward / leeward course in the morning without too much influence from the tidal flow. Elliot Motherwell helming ‘Dux’ and Nick Brebner’s ‘Lark’ gradually pulled away from the rest of the fleet to take the top two spots with Hamish & Diana Wilson’s ‘Mischief’ 3^rd. The afternoon race was sailed around the cans and after the beat to the Sposa buoy the building ebb tide took the fleet swiftly down to the Royal Southern buoy before they had to work their way back against the tide to a finish at Hamble Point. Again it was ‘Dux’ and ‘Lark’ that showed at the front of the fleet. ‘Lark’ took the lead on the 2^nd beat but failed to cover and ‘Dux’ sailed the better line to the next windward mark to regain the lead. The final beat was a slow affair with most of the fleet choosing to head towards shore to escape the tide. However David Oddie took ‘Magic Dragon’ out into the tide early, picked up extra pressure and gained several places to finish 2^nd to ‘Dux’ with ‘Lark’ 3^rd.

The forecast for Sunday was not promising with SW’erly Force 7 and rain on the cards for the afternoon. The start time of the first race was brought forward to 11:00 but at 10:25 it looked as if the caution had been premature. The light SW’erly breeze was barely enough for a fair windward / leeward course to be set across the flooding tide. However, 20 minutes later the breeze was up to 8 kts and continued to build during the morning until it was over 20kts on the final beat of the 2nd race. ‘Lark’ made the best start and held the lead on the first lap but ‘Dux’ slowly hauled her in and then took the lead on the last lap. Gerry Goulding sailing ‘Pepper’ with only one crew finished a creditable 3^rd. The final race of the weekend was a sharp dash around the buoys near the entrance to Southampton Water. ‘Lark’ started best, again, but this time she managed to keep the lead to the gun. ‘Dux’ finished 2^nd and ‘Pepper’ was 3^rd.

Everyone was safely back in the clubhouse for reviving brew and a 14:00 prizegiving where the club’s Rear-Commodore (Sailing) Marc Donohue presented double winner Elliot Motherwell with both his prizes.

Overall Results: Top 5    Battle of Britain Regatta                                                Richard Donald Trophy

1^st                                           Elliot Motherwell, 159, Dux                          Elliot Motherwell, 159, Dux

2^nd                                          Nick Brebner, 54, Lark                                    Nick Brebner, 54, Lark

3^rd                                           Gerry Goulding, 150, Pepper                      Gerry Goulding, 150, Pepper

4^th                                           Diana Wilson, 13, Mischief                           Diana Wilson, 13, Mischief

5^th                                           David Oddie, 82, Magic Dragon                  John Sparshatt, 118, Xavia

Wednesday A Series Result

Following the completion of the Wednesday A Series at the Hamble River Sailing Club the Honours for Gold have gone to Andy Hamlett in X21 Satu. Many Congratulations for his consistant performance on Wednesday evenings and here is hoping we can catch him in the Wednesday B Series. We would also like to give a Warm welcome to Peter Nicholson. Peter has bought X77, Sunshine (in the past also owned by his grandfather).It is great we have another XOD joining us in Hamble and look forward to seeing him out on the water.

With a 20 knot wind and a rather lumpy sea with wind against tide, it was decided to use one of the shortened courses. 'Sods Law' dictated that the wind should ease a little and a longer course would have been fine! However it was good racing and those that stood out for the tide from Bald Head to Stormforce were benefitted. Mischief had a secret weapon on board in the person of Jonti Sherwill who put crew and moveable ballast to rights in their sail setting which was much appreciated by Mischief. The consensus so far on the new spinnakers is that they are definitely faster down wind but they are not easy to set on a reach particularly a fine reach.

1st Bronze Race - 12th May

Sadly there were only two boats out as Satu's main was found to be torn and Fantasy did not come out to play. It was a lovely warm sunny afternoon with a very erratic NE wind of force 3-4. Beginning of the season cobwebs were much in evidence as first Mischief went off to the wrong mark and then later in the race Pepper had her own detour which allowed Mischief to get ahead. Despite all the errors it was a lovely afternoon sail

Vanity Launches

Vanity has finally made it to the water and hopefully out Wednesday Evening for a warm up.

The 2012 season is fast approaching and we have a new designed race format for our saturday racing which we hope will improve the numbers and quality of racing we have whilst still delivering regular racing for all who can get out every weekend.

The emphasis for those with limited time should be to concentrate on the Gold events, then the Silver. The Bronze events are for those who can race every weekend. The change in format is to ensure we try to deliver for the varied scope of racers we have and enhance on the solid footing we have.

We have taken the feedback recieved by the survey last year and developed what we believe is a great formula to create some excellent racing and hopefully inspire more to join our great fleet.

Happy sanding and not long until we can get back out on the water.