A chilly northeasterly breeze, accompanied by beautiful sunshine provided near-perfect conditions for the racing in the first weekend of the Hamble One Design Championship, which featured racing for the J/70s. Kathy Smalley, CRO Hamble One Design Championship, commented, “The lighter winds on Saturday resulted in shifty conditions at the top end of the course—as would be expected from that direction—meaning the top marks were moved constantly to compensate for that and the increasing tides. The stronger wind on Sunday was much more steady.” The J/70s finished within a minute in one race. The starts were equally competitive, and in race six a sudden gust of wind at 30 seconds to go resulted in everybody being early and a general recall. The prompt use of the U-flag brought the fleet back under control, and for race seven the competitors were back to the good behavior. The competitors were undecided on which way to go on the beats and runs, with splits on every race. In race one, everybody wanted to go up-tide and so chose the right hand mark at the gate, but a quick tweak meant that the fleet were spread for the rest of the weekend. The course ended with a reach to the finish. In the 12-strong J/70 fleet, four different boats took bullets—but after seven races, it was Mark Lees’ JUST-4-SALE that was topping the class, a healthy eight points clear of two boats. Patrick Liardet’s COSMIC and Simon Cavey’s JUST-4-PLAY were tied on points, with COSMIC just edging ahead on countback. This should ensure some close racing in the second half of the Championship in two weeks’ time. For more event information. visit http://www.hamblewinterseries.com/.