The Warsash Sailing Club’s annual Helly Hansen Spring Series produced no surprises at the end of six weekends of racing. In addition, the two-weekend Crewsaver Spring Championship also did not see measurable changes in the standings from last weekend. As always with the wind off the mainland shore, big shifts were evident, and success in the final weekend went to those boats that managed to play the shifts correctly.
Spring Championship: Peter Knight, PRO of White Group, exclaimed, “This second Saturday played out much the same as the first. We got the classes started, and then the Northerly wind shifted round to the left forcing us to delay the J/70 fleet whilst we moved the Committee Boat and re-set the start line.” Overall, it turned out to be a taxing days racing for competitors and committee alike with the wind continuing to shift and the committee moving start lines and adjusting courses to the breeze. The wind started to drop off later in the afternoon but rallied with 6 knots of breeze enabling all four White Group races to run on Saturday. Although still offshore, the wind on Sunday was further to the right and stronger, and the White Committee boat set up courses on a 020-degree axis. In the afternoon, it built to 15 knots by the final race giving White Group competitors a good blast to finish the Championship on. There was no change in places in the J/70 fleet from last weekend with CALYPSO (Calascione/Ripard) winning, SOAK RACING (Marshall King & Ian Wilson) in second and JELVIS (Martin Dent) in third.
Spring Series: Apart from the first cancelled weekend of the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series, this year’s series has been characterized by generally light winds. However, on Sunday during the last race, the fleet did see up to 15 knots out of the North.
The White Committee boat set up courses on a 020-degree axis and adjusted the length as the breeze varied. The J/70s did their normal routine of treating their first start as practice start, with a big bulge of boats in the middle. Subsequent starts under black and then U flags saw their starts returning to their normal good standard. In the last J/70 race, the increasing breeze allowed them to start planing which gave them an exhilarating end to the series. From an entry of 30 J/70s, DSP (Douglas Struth) sailed consistently well to win this class from PEGGY (Jon Powell) and OFFBEAT (David Mcleman).
For more HELLY HANSEN Warsash Spring Series information, visit http://warsashspringseries.org.uk/2018/index.htm.