The Royal Southern Yacht Club’s 2022 Summer Series is off and running with the North Sails May Regatta held 7-8 May on The Solent. The race management team, led by Principal Race Officer Peter Bateson and Race Officer Peter Saxton, provided 60 teams with great racing in seven different fleets. As with all of the Summer Series regattas, superb après-racing social events are organized at the club’s purpose-built facility on the banks of the River Hamble. The North Sails coaching team was out on the water, and after racing on Saturday, their experts Jeremy Smart and Ruaridh Wright presented a debrief, including detailed drone video and top tips from specialists including double-Olympic sailor Chris Grube. Hundreds of sailors enjoyed a great regatta in sunny light to medium conditions. The North Sails May Regatta Prize Giving was held at the Royal Southern YC Clubhouse with North Sails jackets, books and sail bags for the winners. Paul Ward’s Eat Sleep J Repeat romped home scoring nine bullets in ten races. Ian Poynton’s Powder Monkey scored their first podium finish in the J/70 UK Class coming second overall and was the top J/70 with an amateur crew. Paul Barnett’s Scottish team racing Panther in their first season also made the podium for the first time and was only a point behind Powder Monkey after nine short sharp races. Ian Poynton lent Powder Monkey to his friends Hannah Muskett and Ross Perchard, who raced with Fran Evans and 15-year-old Freddie Denton. “We have done very little J/70 sailing in the past and not since last September!” commented helm Hannah Muskett. “Ian is the kindest man in the world to let us race Powder Monkey for the series at the Royal Southern. Racing J/70s takes us back to our student days racing J/80s. A J/70 is incredibly tweaky, so it took us a few races to get going and watch Paul Ward, we learnt so much, especially being soft on the controls in light air. It was a fantastic weekend with incredibly well-run race management.” “We have a fantastic season of racing planned for the Royal Southern, and many thanks to North Sails for supporting the May Regatta and also to the race management team who produced a first-class racing on both courses,” commented RSrnYC Rear Commodore Sailing Paul Ward, who also won the J/70 Sprint Series event at the regatta. “Having coaching from North Sails experts is a wonderful way to start the series. I am sure all of the teams have benefitted from their help, which will boost the standard of racing for everybody.”
Full Results: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=14998