Tokoloshe on top

Halloween comes to the Garmin Hamble Winter Series and Rule 26 Hamble Big Boat Series

A suitably eerie mist descended to finish off the Halloween weekend, and with it the latest instalments in the Garmin Hamble Winter Series and Rule 26 Hamble Big Boat Series.

Marine Yacht Graphics & Corporate Clothing Company Rule 26 sponsored the Hamble Big Boat Series, with racing on both days for a large fleet of 15 boats in IRC 0 and four Farr 45s. Saturday’s steady 8-12 knots tracked slowly right during the day to get four races in by 1500.

In IRC0, the Mills 40 Tokoloshe won the day’s first two races, but J/133 Jammy Dodger took the second half’s top spot. Her sistership Jeronimo put in a solid performance with two podium positions, as did the Swan 42 Brevity, which took two seconds. In the Farr 45 class, Niklas Zennstrom’s Rán won three out of the day’s four races, with Alice II second overall after a 2, 2, 1, 3 scoreline.

With the end of BST and an hour’s extra sleep, Sunday dawned with 12-18 knots from the WSW, which let the race team squeeze two races in for all classes in the Rule 26 Big Boat Series and Garmin Hamble Winter Series, which this week was supported by One Sails GBR. With windward-leeward courses for all classes, the race area became a little congested at times, but courses of different lengths kept classes apart in a fine drizzle that gave way to a damp mist.

Peter Rutter’s Quokka 8 won both races in IRC 0, ahead of Bob in race 1 and David Bartholemew’s Tokoloshe in race 2, but it wasn’t enough to stop Tokoloshe taking the series overall. Rán won both her races to complete her near-perfect weekend scoreline in the Farr 45 class, but it was Simon Henning’s Alice II that sailed consistently well to take first overall in the Rule 26 Hamble Big Boat Series.

In IRC 1, Jim MacGregor’s Premier Flair won both races convincingly – but the racing was close in the whole fleet, with only 39 seconds separating 5th and 8th place. Match 38 Steady Barker continued her run of form in IRC 2, ahead of Elan 37 Elaine, which scored two second places.

J/97 Jika Jika, sailed by Mike and Jamie Holmes, topped IRC 3 in both races. In the J/109s, Just So won the first race, while OutraJeous took the second. Thanks go to the J/109 class who managed to finish their own race after a communications mixup with the finish-line boats led to a brief but conspicuous absence of committee boats at the finishing line.

Some of the closest racing of the day was seen in the evergreen Sigma 38 class. Chris and Vanessa Choules’ With Alacrity took the first race, with many a needle match throughout the fleet. Max and Rebecca Walker won the second race in Pavlova III, giving them a two point lead overall in this competitive fleet.

Impala 28 Polly headed the IRC 4 class, pursued hotly by Peter Slimming’s Hunter 30 Anne Louise and Graham Edwards’ beautifully varnished self-built My Dream not far behind. The mixed sportsboat fleet had a mix of classes this week, and saw J/80 Jester and Hunter 707 Turbulence taking a race each.

In the club after racing, Rule 26 and One Sails GBR handed out prizes for the top boats present in all classes.

So after four weekends, where competitors have experienced everything from big breezes to calms, fog and drizzle, next weekend sees a mid-series break. The fifth weekend of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series returns in a fortnight, with day sponsor Southern Ropes. The end result of the series is far from certain, with some tantalising battles lining themselves up in each class.