Race Officer Peter Knight summed up day four of the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series as “a testing day for competitors and committee boats alike!” It was set to be a challenging day on the Solent; a sunny spring day, but with a forecast of 5-10 knots of breeze dropping towards lunchtime and tides at about 95% of full springs.
White Group classes and IRC4 started near Royal Southern with a light Northerly breeze averaging around 350 degrees, but periodically flicking left and fading before going back to around 350 and strengthening slightly. The first two White Group races were set on an axis of about 350, but for the third race, the course had to be adjusted as the breeze trended left toward Southampton Water. In the J/70s, David Mcleman’s OFFBEAT is sailing a steady series and is leading based on a tiebreaker at 42 points each with Patrick Liardet’s COSMIC. Sitting in third is Phil Chandler’s BLACKJAX with 60 points, fourth is Andrew Barraclough’s JENGA 8 with 69 points and in fifth is Marshall King & Ian Wilson’s SOAK RACING at 84 points. For more HELLY HANSEN Warsash Spring Series information, visit http://warsashspringseries.org.uk/2017/index.htm.