Page 36 - Yachter Autumn 2021

36 RACING REPORTS
elsewhere in this edition. I have never known anyone as enthusiastic, involved and inclusive and I miss his presence every day.
Only one day earlier, on 6th May, we had run our first ever Beaulieu Racing Series race.The concept had been proposed by Guy and Zoë Darby in February.They suggested running a series of races off the Beaulieu River on those Thursday evenings that coincide with high water, with the option to visit Gins after racing, where catering would be available.They proposed to run the races themselves using their own boat, Ripple of Kyle, as the committee boat and using only the available fixed marks in theWestern Solent.We had for some time been trying to work out how to provide racing for boats moored in the Beaulieu River, so their suggestion was enthusiastically endorsed and added to our racing programme.To get 14 boats entered for the series in its first year with limited publicity
is a real achievement. As I write, we have just run race 4, Mary Rose Tudor is in the lead, and all is to play for in the two more races to come in September, after a summer
break for cruising. Gins on these Thursday evenings is buzzing. Beaulieu racing will definitely be in our plans for next year.
Mid-May saw the country move into step three of the roadmap out of lock-down and we were able to lift restrictions on crewing for our competitors. It also meant that we could have more volunteers on our committee boats.Throughout the pandemic we had been relying on a very small core
of volunteers who were able to field two people from a single household - the Cox, Davill, Parry and Trimble families.We owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their unstinting contribution.
Mid-May also saw the start of our Twilight Series - six races using RSYC
club handicaps in Southampton Water on consecutive Thursday evenings from 13th May to 17th June. For this series we alternate the format. On low water evenings, when fewer of the fixed marks are accessible, we run an ‘Average Laps’ race in which we set
a course which is a relatively short loop. The faster boats may manage to get round the loop three or four times while the
slower boats may only manage two or three. Results are based on the average time taken to go once round the loop. On high water evenings it’s time for a ‘Pursuit’ race. Boats set off in sequence, slowest first, and if they all sail to their handicaps they will in theory all finish together.The winner is the first across the finish line.We lost the second race to extreme weather, but at the end of the series the overall winner was Lucas Kolff’s SB20, Amica, followed by Mike Garvey’s X-362 Sport, Magec, and Jacob Mackenzie’s Evolution 22, Glass Onion.
The next race in our Double Handed Series was due to be theWeymouth Double
- a race to Weymouth on Saturday 22nd May followed by a race back the following day. The weather gods had other ideas however and promised rough seas on the first day after a big storm on Friday and then another storm for the race back on Sunday.These were not the right conditions to send out short-handed boats.While we tried to find a later weekend with the right tides and with overnight space in Weymouth, we ran an extra ‘Consolation’ race on the Saturday when the gap between storms meant conditions were suitable for racing in the Solent. In the IRC class the winner was Michael Barham’s Najad 331, Skua IV, while in the RSYC class the winner was Ian Roper’s Dehler 34, Hadaway. The Weymouth Double itself is now rescheduled for 21st/22nd August, when we hope for more suitable conditions.