October 22-23
Saturday morning; a buzz in the air; weather looking to provide good sailing conditions; LCSC rolling down Satchell Lane for the third week of Hamble Winter Series. Again, we had three J109's fully crewed: High Tension (Martin Richmond-Coggan), Doris J (Shaun Curran) and Me Julie (Tony Burn, with Ian Stow coaching). Some boats had returning crew, but there were quite a few new faces this week.
The LCSC 109's were doing their own thing on Saturday and we were off with our trainer James Hughes (crew: Mr. Berry and 5 girlies). Hmm, how did that happen??
[Now, if you have been following these articles you will notice that Jumping Jellyfish isn't listed above. Long story short, the JJF crew is now the 'X' crew. The 'X' crew is racing X-perience, an X362 Sport, in IRC2. Needless to say, last week was a bit frantic trying to find a new boat, re-filing entry paperwork etc etc. Highlight, X-perience found a mascot on board - Rasta. He sits quite nicely at the helm.]
Enough on that, back to the weekend summary. Saturday was another beautiful sailing day on the Solent, good wind and sunshine. X-perience headed down to play around the race buoys near the Beaulieu River, with a long kite run back practicing gybing with a pole. As the wind picked up later in the day, sail peels were performed to perfection.
The LCSC 109's had a practice race which ended with Doris J taking line honours, but the two other boats were seriously distracted. We all were reminded that things can, and do, go wrong very, very quickly. Yes, one of the worst, Man-Over-Board. Thankfully, no one was injured, the sailor was retrieved within minutes: a bit damp, but fine. Amazingly, the winch handle made it back on board, unfortunately the sun glasses did not. A chilling reminder that MOB review, discussion and practice is time well spent.
Unlike prior Sunday mornings, which have been mostly hang-over free, this one was extremely rough. It all went very wrong for the X-perience crew when three boys sauntered into the Square Rigger about 6:00pm Saturday evening. These three boys were part of our Bojangles Fastnet crew, and had just completed their Yachtmaster practical, which all passed. So, without question, celebration was in order. Our Beef and Guinness dinner for 6 became that for 9, sleeping arrangements became a tactical exercise, and some crew decided it was a good plan to close Boomerang. Oh even better: drink more beer and fizz on deck as a nightcap!!! Not smart hitting the bunk at 3am when race prep is in 4 hours time (the moon and stars were spectacular though). The alarm went off (or was that simply my head throbbing). A gorgeous red hued sunrise over Hamble River helped to clear the cobwebs, as did the very large latte and chilly air!!
Sunday's racing was very successful for Me Julie, placing 11th (out of 23). They hold this week's bragging rights (she was fastest of the LCSC J109's). Doris J turned in an impressive performance, placing 15th with High Tension 20th. Seems High Tension went with a new starting strategy, in front of the X332's. They did however 'claw' their way back during the race and managed to overtake a few of the other J's. X-perience had a solid race in the new class on a new boat and will remain on her for the series.
In conclusion, a hearty Congratulations to Nick Walters, David Harrison and John Rushby on their Yachtmaster!!! As always, it is such a pleasure to see so many club members participating. Crews are bonding together and getting to know their boats, as well as the other crews. Successes are coming, not only in race places but in learning and improving as individuals and crews. Who knows what the future holds for the rest of the series, but it has been fabulous so far. Best of luck to everyone next week!! Wonder who will be top boat?!
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| Sunrise over Hamble River on Sunday morning. You don't get this in London!! |
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| Saturday's J109 practice race. Shaun (helm) and Steven can taste victory on Doris J. Me Julie has her kite flying, while High Tension works the perfect gybe. |
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| Here is the 'new' boat, X-perience. What's that long metal bit on the foredeck? Oh right, a proper pole. And what do we do with that again? |
Copyright © London Corinthian Sailing Club, 2005