The attention signal is planned for 1000 with the first start at 1010. Remember the start sequence on Saturdays is 5-4-1-go, to help us get through the programme. Possibly there may be a 5-minute gap between classes at some point, e.g. perhaps before the 40.7s if they have a different course from the 45-foot and BB1 classes.

Sunday racing

The whole of class IRC 1 gets 2 medium length races, and IRC 1 includes the 45 foot class and BB1 (plus others not involved in the championship).

The First 40.7s and Class CC3 are in class IRC 2 which will get a full length race. Then for the 40.7s and CC3, there will be a short second race (whilst the rest of IRC 2 goes home). On both Saturday and Sunday, Class CC3 and the 40.7s will race alongside each other, although scored separately. This is partly because some 40.7s are also RCC triallists and they will be scored in both classes.

Similarly the J/109s will get a full length race for all boats, followed by a short second race for those entered in the Spring Championship (those not entered in the Championship will go home).

On Sundays the start sequence is 10-5-1-go.

WHITE GROUP SPRING CHAMPIONSHIP

4 races on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, if the conditions allow.

Laser SB3s are on their own “Laser” line.

J/80s are on the “White” line; the Quarter Tonners join them for the first weekend only.

On Sunday 18 April, three lucky boats will get a prize of a FREE racing scrub courtesy of Deacons Boatyard. The winners will be announced at the daily prize giving at Warsash SC.

The usual Mumm champagne prizes will be awarded as well.

On Sunday 11 April, there were prizes of a “half-price scrub” kindly provided by RS Divers for the first and last boat in each class except the dry sailed Laser SB3s. These will be announced at the daily prize giving at Warsash SC.

This is in addition to the usual Mumm champagne prizes.

Week 4: Mostly a good breeze, generally from the ENE though tending to veer during the day, and dropping towards the end of racing so that 3 or 4 boats had to take advantage of the “OTL” scoring provisions when they were caught by the time limit. A full report is under the News and Reports button on the left. Back ashore, there were prizes of a “half-price scrub” kindly provided by RS Divers for the first and last boat in each class except the dry sailed Laser SB3s. The vouchers were posted out to competitors who weren’t at the Club on Sunday afternoon. This was in addition to the usual Mumm champagne prizes.

Week 3: Great sailing conditions, force 4 SW - a bit chilly still, but surely nobody noticed! 10-15 mile courses for black group; all 3 races in for the white group classes. A full report is under the News and Reports button on the left.

Week 2: “interesting” wind conditions and a fairly brisk tide made for some difficult decisions for the CROs, course setters and for tacticians, plus a lot of hanging about for many competitors, in the hope that the breeze would settle.

The two White Group lines managed most of their starts although some shortening course became unavoidable as the wind swung and/or died. The Laser SB3s got 2 races in and the J/80s, under the direction of Peter Knight as CRO this week, managed all three. IRC 4 got away on time at 1000 and managed to sail through the light patches, finishing their 9½ mile course to Flying Fish in around 2½ hours.

The start for the rest of Black Group was on the Ryde Middle bank, to give enough water for the deeper draught boats to sail in. In the light and fluky conditions, IRC 1 was shortened from a RIB at South East Ryde Middle and IRC 2 from another RIB at Browndown.

When the other classes were eventually able to get going, most were shortened at the second windward mark at Air Canada. The race committee attempted to shorten the final classes, J/105s and J/92s, at the leeward mark, but the correct procedure was not followed, and most boats continued to Air Canada, however two finished at North Ryde Middle. Those that went on to Air Canada arrived there in the same order as they had rounded North Ryde Middle. The race committee has therefore used the order at North Ryde Middle (which all boats raced to) to produce a result. We felt this was a better solution than abandoning the race altogether and seems as fair a result as can be found in the circumstances. We apologise for the errors which occurred. The reason may have been that we were rather stretched with black group boats finishing in four different places, but that is no excuse.

Week 1: a sparking breeze and sunshine. Could spring really be coming! Things were quite “interesting” yesterday for course setters and tacticians alike as the breeze moved around quite a bit as it came out of Southampton Water. The feedback was that competitors had a great sail.

Different classes are set different courses. Sadly a few boats in Black Group went to the wrong finish line. Some finishes were at mark 21 and some at 84, the two finishes being about 1,500 metres apart. As in previous years, we usually run two BG finish lines to reduce congestion both for competitors and for the record-keepers. So it is worth making sure you are making for a mark because it’s set for your class, not just because other boats are going there. If you do end up at the wrong finish line, you may well get a “gun” since the race committee will normally give this courtesy to all boats crossing the line, probably only realising your error when doing checks afterwards, and anyway the absence of a hoot could perhaps be construed as giving outside assistance.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Remember there is a bottle of Mumm champagne on offer each race day for each class, for the winners IF they are present in Warsash Sailing Club, otherwise 2^nd or 3^rd get a chance and often seem to collect! We aim to do the prize giving between 1500 and 1530 each Sunday.

Our official event photographer Eddie Mays has pics of the Spring Series racing – find them via the Links button on the left or direct to http://www.eddiemays.com/.

Other photos from Hamo Thornycroft are at http://www.cowes.co.uk/zonexml/story?story_id=8648;cp=0 and from Paul Wyeth at http://www.pwpictures.com/gallery/410

184 boats are entered in the series so far, 8 more than at this stage last year. Black Group numbers are 15 above the entry at the same stage last year, whilst White Group entries are 7 lower at present although including a healthy 40 Laser SB3s and 11 J/80s.

Please will any boat trialling for the Rolex Commodores’ Cup tell us so. Of course we know about boats entered in CC3 but any that are for RCC classes 1 and 2 need to let us know.

The IRC Class Splits and Amendment to SIs No 1 are available along with the Sailing Instructions and other documents via the button on the left.

We have sent a special Spring Series version of the Buoy Racer chart to each entry. If you need any extra copies of the Spring Series Buoy Racer chart, these can be bought online from the suppliers at http://www.winningtides.co.uk/ec/products.asp.

After a short sojourn 140 yards too far south, Flying Fish buoy is now in its new position for 2010 at latitude 50-47.27N, 1-15.90. That is where it is shown in the official 2010 lists including the SIs.

IRC certificates: if you get your certificate in time, it avoids making a nonsense of provisional results. However we do appreciate that at this time of year, it is not always possible, e.g. if you have a new boat or new sails. If your certificate does not arrive in time, we will initially show you in the results at a rating of 2.000. When the certificate comes, we will back-date the effect of the rating to the first race after the application was lodged, so we re-score the earlier race(s) using the actual TCC. But we will not re-allocate the champagne prize given out on the day based on the provisional results!

To answer a couple of queries about the Spring Championship:

For any First 40.7 that wishes to race in both the Commodore’s Cup trials and the First 40.7 class, this is how it will work: On the weekend of 17-18 April, such 40.7s will score in the First 40.7 class. CC3 is not racing. On the weekend 24-25 April, CC3 will race alongside the First 40.7s, with the same start and the same course. Any 40.7s that are in CC3 will be scored in both classes. Boats that are not 40.7s will score only in CC3.

Any Quarter tonner that wishes to race in the Spring Series (Sundays) in IRC as well as in the Spring Championship on 17-18 April will have to miss the Series IRC race that day. The two sets of racing cannot satisfactorily be combined – the quarter tonners will have multiple windward-leewards, IRC will have one 2 or 3 hour race around the cans. The missed race will have to count as the discard.

We’re still a bit short on some classes for the Spring Championship so if you’re thinking of entering, do make up your mind sooner rather than later!

Warsash Sailing Club enjoys the help of well over 100 volunteers, afloat and ashore. We are very grateful to the race officers, protest committee members (yes, really), RIB crews, bar helpers, and everyone else who lends us a hand. Nearly all are Club members except for the protest committee who come from across the river and from Southampton to help us and resolve any little problems that competitors may have…

The Spring Series comprises six Sunday races held in the central Solent, starting on 14^th March and running through to 25^th April, with a break for the Easter weekend. Black Group classes – IRC, J/109, J/105 – will have one good race a day, whilst White Group – Laser SB3, J/80, SBR Sportsboats – are scheduled for three shorter races.

The Warsash Spring Championship takes place over the weekends of 17^th/18^th and 24^th/25^th April. This event caters for selected Black Group boats, including “Big Boats, Class 40s, Farr 45s, J/109s, First 40.7s and 31.7s, who will enjoy up to 12 races. White Group classes, Laser SB3s, J/80s and SBR Sportsboats have up to 14 races. Quarter Tonners join in on 17^th/18^th April and Commodore’s Cup triallists on 24^th/25^th April.

After racing, Warsash Sailing Club extends a warm welcome to all competitors at Shore House in the entrance to the Hamble River. Hot food is available in the friendly events bar where you can watch the day’s results unfold and weekly champagne prizes are awarded to class winners present in the clubhouse. Provisional results are also emailed to each entry as soon as they are available.

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