44th Hamble Winter Series Reports
(Hamble, England)- The 44th running of the Hamble Winter Series is now in its fourth weekend of sailing on the infamous, capricious Solent Water between Southampton and the Isle of Wight. Yet again, J/teams across the board are enjoying a wide range of conditions from wet & wild to sunny and benign. Here are the reports from the first three weekends.
Week 1 Report
In the build-up to the 44th Hamble Winter Series, all eyes were focused on the GRIB weather prediction files to see how Storm Amy would affect the proceedings. Try as they might, the Race Team could not find a forecast that would allow racing on Saturday, 4th October. This made the decision easy for Matt Stein, the RC/PRO for the Hamble One-Design Championship. He was able to cancel racing on Friday morning, giving those competitors who had to travel, including one from Italy, plenty of notice.
By Sunday, Amy had lifted up her skirts and headed East. She left behind a good sailing breeze, interspersed with a number of interesting gusts. Matt Stein took the CV Flightwing out to 4S (Royal Southern buoy) with the intention of giving the J/111s and J/70s four races to compensate for the missed Saturday. RC/PRO Peter Bateson headed towards 4V (Hamble Yacht Services) before settling the line for the IRC classes half a mile East of 4S.
On the One-Design line, nineteen teams started in the J/70 fleet. This was the last of their Grand Slam events for the 2025 season, so no pressure! Three J/111s started first and went to a further windward mark. The windward mark on Race 2 for the J/70s arrived as a strong gust met the fleet. There proceeded to be a number of boat handling challenges as the kites went up. EV Experts, Tim Collins, managed to show a keel and test the buoyancy all at the same time. Everyone on board was fine, and the EV Experts headed home to Hamble. As is always the case, consistency prevailed in the J/70 fleet. Max Clapp’s JEEPSTER went 4-3-3-7 in the four-race, no discard, series. Hector Simpson’s DADS’N’LADS was 4 points back. Arthur Farley’s GENIUS was in third, regretting a 17th in the first race, after which they went 1-2-3!!
In the J/111 class, it was JOURNEYMAKER 11, with Louise Makin and Chris Jones, that had a clean sweep with straight firsts! In second behind them was Ella Wollmann’s FREQUENT FLYER, then Paul Griffiths’s JAGERBOMB in third position.
Back in the HRSC clubhouse, Key Yachting presented some very welcome prizes to the windswept participants. Bubbles, Beer, and Chocolates are always well received after a hard day’s play on the Solent.
Week 2 Report
For the second week running, wind was the major discussion point as the weekend approached. This time, however, it was an apparent lack of breeze, particularly on the Saturday. Not one to be put off by less-than-favorable forecasts, RC/PRO Peter Bateson messaged the fleet by WhatsApp on Friday to give them his thoughts. His message finished with, “We are certainly going to go out and try!” Oh, the power of positive thinking. Peter and his Race Team completed the whole five-race program for the Hamble IRC Autumn Championship, including three races on a puffless Saturday.
To add to the fun, there were mean spring tides in the Solent, which have a big influence on light airs. In an attempt to mitigate this, Peter and his No. 2, Kathryn Clark, took the CV Baldur, inshore of the North channel, to start near 4Q (John Fisher). Even so, the effect of the tide was significant. With the breeze from the NE, the windward mark at 0.7 miles from the CV ended up near the shore, which made things very shifty.
A simple windward/leeward, with a spreader mark giving a short hitch up tide to improve the runs, was the plan for the first two races. Race 1 had two laps and Race 2 had three. Finally, a round-the-cans of 6 to 7 miles for the different classes was set for Race 3, but this had to be shortened to 2.7 miles as the breeze veered and dropped. Notwithstanding this, Peter Bateson was “delighted to have got three races in” and so were the 38 teams out on the racecourse.
Simon Shillaker’s J/92S JAMBO was leading IRC 2 with ten points, closely followed by the J/109s, JUKEBOX and JEANIE, of John Smart and Rosie Berry, respectively, with 12 points.
Sunday brought less tide and a better breeze, mostly around 8 knots, again from the NE. The CV set up at 48 (Paul Heys) with windward marks at up to 1.2 miles, again close to shore and quite shifty. Only one windward/leeward was required on Sunday, followed by a decent round-the-cans race of between 7 and 8½ miles for the different classes. Once again, the Race Team and the competitors managed to get both races in, and “the sun came out!” boasted the PRO.
IRC 2 was equally packed with Solent experts. The J/109 JUKEBOX banged in a couple of firsts to take the class.
Back at HRSC, Tom, the Manager from Force 4 at Port Hamble, was there to present the prizes. There were some very impressive waterproof bags given out, as well as vouchers to use in the store.
Week 3 Report
Saturday saw the start of the second weekend of the Hamble One-Design Championship. RC/PRO Matt Stein took the CV Artimis near 4R (Darling Buoy). He was ably assisted by Kathryn Clark as ARO, with PRO Peter Bateson lurking onboard doing menial tasks. In addition, HRSC Rear Commodore Sailing- Mark Benton- skippered the boat, under the watchful eye of Dian Galpin. Helen O’Connor and Ann Russell completed the crew. What a Team!
With the breeze averaging circa 15-17 knots from 140 degrees, the plan was to run three windward/leeward races for the J/111s with a 1.5-mile leg.
In the J/111s, JOURNEYMAKER 11 of Louise Makin and Chris Jones, who were leading the competition from the first weekend, had a disappointing second place in Race 1. Cornel Riklin’s JITTERBUG took advantage of their slip-up to record the bullet. Paul Griffiths’s JAGERBOMB was third. JOURNEYMAKER 11 recovered their poise in the next two races, winning both, leaving them in a pretty uncatchable position with one day to go. JAGERBOMB was second, and JITTERBUG recorded a DNC.
The PRO messaged both fleets on Saturday night to confirm that “we are expecting brisk conditions tomorrow and are planning to go racing.” He didn’t mention the rain! The J/111s sent in a note from their Mum to say they would not be going out in the rain.
Thanks for these report contributions from Trevor Pountain
Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth-
http://www.pwpictures.com
For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information
https://www.hamblewinterseries.com