The weather certainly took a turn for the better in the opening races of the Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series on March 16. With a clear blue sky and temperatures soaring to 18 degrees C, the River Hamble suddenly became alive with keelboats making their way to the Solent start. Despite the gorgeous day, the breeze had tricks to play. White Group under CRO Peter Knight completed three races for each of the J/70 and J/80 classes. The first group enjoyed good clean starts all round with a couple of late arrivals just making it to the line in time. In the J/70s, Simon Cavey’s JUST4PLAY led around the course followed by DJANG (Malcom/Tristan Jaques) and Marie-Claude & Paul Heys on JOSEPH’s COAT. After this first round, the committee boat then moved close into the Meon shore. Race 2 saw single individual recalls for both J/70 and J/80 classes as the wind became more variable, shifting south to SSW and dropping. The J/70 JOYRIDE retired after one lap with equipment issues. JUST4PLAY went on to another win but with the Jaques’s DJANGO just seven seconds behind, probably caused by returning to restart (although not in fact OCS). Race 3 saw JUST4PLAY “three-peat” in the J/70s, chalking up another win for the day to be leading the series. For more information, visit http://www.warsashspringseries.org.uk/.