CLUBS & CLASSES
Protis claims Hamble Winter Series top trophy
With a fair bit of wind from the north-east, the final day of the HYS Hamble Winter Series saw a couple of teams working out they would win their class without venturing into the cold December air: Peter Rutter and James Crew in Half Tonner, Quokka 9 could not be bettered in IRC 3, nor Simon Perry’s J/109 Jiraffe in IRC 2. Team Hamble, Ian Southworth and friends aboard Quarter Tonner Protis in IRC 4, would have none of this staying at home on a Sunday morning and went out to add a 10th first place to their record, to finish with a superb net 8 points. In IRC 1, the battle between Melges IC37 Icy, Ian Atkins, and the J112e Devanti Tyres, of Chaz Ivill, was settled when Icy took the final race. According to Atkins this was his first victory at Hamble River SC since he won in a Mirror dinghy in 1967! Lee Pollock from Hamble Yacht Services presented the overall prizes, the Yacht of the Series trophy going to Protis. The new Paul Heys Trophy went to Simon Perry (Jiraffe); this trophy will be presented annually to the best J/Boat in memory of Paul.
Barton races RS Aero 7 to Datchet Flyer victory
Pete Barton raced his RS Aero 7 to victory at the Datchet Flyer, the second round of the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series and the first time an Aero has won a SailJuice event outright. Barton, from Lymington, took a consistent 2,2,1 from Saturday’s three races in moderate breezes around a trapezoid course. The Pursuit Race on the Sunday was then abandoned after the wind kicked up to over 30 knots resulting in carnage across the racecourse. The event had a maximum entry of 100
