Six double winners

As Ran maintains pole in the Farr 45s at Hamble Winter Series

Sunday’s steady northerly breeze produced six double wins from the seven classes in the Garmin Black Group fleet, including those from Polly and Festine Lente in IRC4 and the Sigma 38s. Both are owned by HRSC members, two generations of the Meakins family, Ben and his parents Philip and Lynda.

The other double winners who joined them to collect the Spinlock day prizes for best overall performances were Mervyn Hughes’ Jua Kali in IRC0, the Apthorps' J-Dream in the J/109s, Mike and Jamie Holmes’ Jika-Jika in IRC3, and Tim Harrington’s X-35 Vortex, that now leads IRC1 with a stunning five firsts and a second.

With a bumper turn out of yachts in the Black Group, surprisingly only 21 of the 40 sportsboats entered in the three classes turned out for White Group racing on this lovely day. Gary Shaffer’s Big Grin and the X-Treme 25 steered by Ian Wilson were welcome guests in the outgoing RORC SBR class.

Alongside the main Garmin series at the weekend was the concluding round of the Bugle Hamble Big Boat Series. Saturday’s racing was marked by an unexpected squall when 12–15 knots of westerly breeze leapt to 40 knots at precisely 1300hrs. It was soon over but Race Director Jamie Wilkinson had immediately signaled an abandonment, and the two fleets returned for a restart of Race 3.

In the Level Racing 45 Class the weekend's race wins were shared between Jerry Otter’s Werewolf, Stewart Whitehead’s Rebel, and Niklas Zennstrom’s Ràn, with Ràn maintaining her first round lead to win the championship with 7 firsts from 11 starts.

The wide ranging Big Boat IRC Class was dominated by Peter Rutter's Quokka 8, with 6 wins in her scoreline. Ian Matthews' second placed J/122 Jinja and Jim Macgregor's Elan 410 Premier Flair grabbed a win each, with the top rating Farr 52 Bob of Gray and Laidlaw scoring two firsts in her tally to take third place overall in the class.

The Bugle's Oliver Weeks presented the overall trophies and prizes, and the whole fleet were invited to enjoy live music at the Bugle in Hamble that evening. The Spinlock day prizes were presented by James Hall and Simon Crowther.

Next Sunday’s racing sees the fourth round of the main Garmin Hamble Winter Series, with day prizes presented by Harken UK. There will also be more cakes on the menu in response to popular demand.

Garmin Hamble Winter Series - Day 3 Results:

Black Fleet Race Winners:

IRC 0
Race 1 & 2 ‘Jua Kali’ Mervyn Hughes

IRC 1
Race 1 & 2 ‘Vortex’ Tim Harrington

IRC 2
Race 1 ‘Steady Barker’ Michael Brough
Race 2 ‘Elaine’ Mike Bridges

IRC 3
Race 1 & 2 ‘Jika-Jika’ Mike and Jamie Holmes

IRC 4
Race 1 & 2 ‘Polly’ Ben Meakins & Adrian Cudmore

Sigma 38
Race 1 & 2 ‘Festine Lente’ Meakins Family

J/109
Races 1 & 2 ‘J Dream’ David & Kirsty Apthorp

White Fleet Race Winners:

Laser SB3
Races 1 & 3, ‘Rola Trac’ Peter Saxton
Race 2, 'Sailboat Deliveries' Sarah Alan

J/80
Race 1, 'Swallow' Gordon Cragen
Race 2 & 3, ‘Aqua J’ Patrick Liardet

Bugle Hamble Big Boat Overall Results:

Level Racing 45 Class
1st ‘Ran’ Niklas Zennstrom
2nd ‘Rebel’ Stewart Whitehead
3rd ‘Werewolf’ Jerry Otter

Open IRC Class
1st ‘Quokka 8' Peter Rutter
2nd
'Jinja' Ian Matthews'
3rd ‘Bob’ Gray & Laidlaw
4th 'Premier Flair' Jim Macgregor

More photos from Vicki Weston. Click on images to enlarge them.

And from Jonty Sherwill...