After gale force winds on Saturday and rain squalls early on Sunday morning, the weather settled down to a picturesque day of sunshine and cloud for the sixth round of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series.

Despite the windward going tide that might be expected to benefit the smaller boats, most of the class leaders maintained their form. In IRC Zero Michael Blair’s ‘Paragon’ won again, as did Michael Bridges’ ‘Elaine’ in IRC2, the Sigma 38 ‘With Alacrity’ in IRC3, the Quarter Tonner ‘Menace’ in IRC4, and ‘J-Dream’ in the J-109 class. Meanwhile in IRC1 the Elan 410 ‘Great Scot IV’ made her way back to the front beating the Beneteau 40.7 ‘Encore’ by just three seconds on corrected time, and Chris Jones’
‘Journeymaker 5′ won the J-105 class.

One small boat team that came close to grabbing a win was Robbie and Lis Robinson aboard their Humphreys 30 ‘Hot Rats’. Sailing hot angles downwind while some chose to sail deep and avoid gybing, they finishing second in
IRC2, missing their target by 14 seconds.  

The White Group classes were as usual closer to the mainland shore, and sailing in a 250 degree breeze. All three races went off without mishap, but to the frustration of the committee and probably the competitors the wind backed by 10 degrees during the final race start sequence.

In the SBR class the Hunter 707 ‘Touchdown’ won two of the three races, as did ‘Oil!’ in the J-80’s. John Cooper and his crew slipped up with an OCS in race three, with Cressida Robson and Allan Higgs’ ‘Juicy’ winning this one by four seconds from Patrick Liardet’s ‘Aqua J’. In the Laser SB3 Mark Rushall scored three firsts ahead of ‘Rumbleflurg’ in the first two, while ‘Team Novae’ climbed to second place in the third race.

Next Sunday’s racing (22nd. Nov) continues with the full Winter Series programme for White and Black Group racing. — Jonty Sherwill

Full details of the 2009 Garmin Hamble Winter Series, plus Hamble Big Boat Series and Autumn Championships results are available at http://www.garminhamblewinterseries.co.uk

Garmin Hamble Winter Series – Day 5 Results:

Black Fleet Race Winners:
IRC 0 ‘Paragon’ Michael Blair
IRC 1, ‘Great Scot IV’  Eurof Phillips and Barbara Mackam IRC 2, ‘Elaine’ Mike Bridges IRC 3, ‘With Alacrity’ Chris and Vanessa Choules IRC 4, ‘Menace’ Derek & James Morland and Tim Rees J/105, ‘Journeymaker 5′ Chris Jones J/109,  ‘J Dream’ David & Kirsty Athorp

White Fleet Race Winners:
Laser SB3
Races 1, 2, & 3 ‘MarkRushall.net’ Mark Rushall

J/80
Race 1 & 2, ‘Oil!’ John Cooper
Race 3, ‘Juicy’ Cressida Robson and Allan Higgs

SBR Sportsboats
Race 1 ‘Finn M’Coul’ Tom Clay
Races 2 & 3, ‘Touchdown’ ‘Oliver Hemming, Anthony Vollmer, & Lucien Farrell