The weather played a few tricks in the Solent for Day 5 of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series. First of all, it largely ignored the weather forecast, which predicted winds in the region of 15 knots, but it was generally in excess of that by 5 to 12 knots, although it continually fluctuated up and down in strength. The forecast was, however, right on the money with the wind direction, which was from the west at the 10:00 start time, and veered to the north west in the afternoon, which had been allowed for in the courses that were set.

Having lost a number of races in the first half of the series, the race committee decided to try to make up for them whenever conditions in the second half allowed, and the plan on Day 5 was to sail an extra race for all White Fleet classes, together with an extra one for IRC classes 0 to 3 in the Black Fleet. This was accomplished, thanks to the adequacy of the breeze.

It has to be said that this was a tough day, with difficult winds and the sort of chop that only the Solent can produce. Nevertheless, things went very well, and the racing was spectacular - especially among the White Fleet classes. In particular, the Laser SB3s absolutely flew downwind, apart from those who suffered the dreaded knockdown under spinnaker and usually needed quite a long time to sort themselves out.

Two hat tricks of race wins were scored - by James Hayward's Hunter 707 'Mad Dog' and Tom Clay's 1720 'Finn McCoul'. The J/80s shared the wins out more equitably, with Ian Atkins' 'Boats.Com', Tom Smedley's 'Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme' and Robert & Jonathan Fox's 'Jevan' winning a race apiece. Tim and Sue Fells won the first Laser SB3 race, while the 'Dirty Harry' team of Messrs McAdam, Hall, Wheelan and Lyon won the other two.

On the Black Fleet track, both IRC 0 races were won by Paul and Marie-Claude Heys' brand new Comet 41 'Biela', which will obviously be a difficult boat to beat throughout the remainder of the series. In IRC 1 Sailing Logic's 'Puma Logic' won the first race, then Lucy Macgregor's 'Premier Flair' added another first to stay well ahead overall.

In IRC 2 the Segal/Oundjian 'Christina' took the first race, and Peter Morton's 'Salvo' the second. IRC 3 saw Colin Byrne's 'Xtravagance' notch up another first, but was then OCS in the second which was won by the Meakins Family's all-conquering Sigma 38 'Festina Lente'.

The IRC 4 race was won by Paul & Julia Aisher's 'Tangent Minus 1' which did so well last year. The other classes sailing only one race were the J/105s, where Chris Jones's 'Journeymaker 5' took the win, and the aggressive J/109s who had another general recall before Nigel and Suzie Brookes' 'Jalapeno' won again to consolidate their overall lead.

All in all a good day's racing. Rayospruce Ltd were the sponsors of the day.

Results: Garmin Hamble Winter Series, Day 5, White Fleet Race Winners: Laser SB3 Race 1, 'Shaun Beaver' Tim & Sue Fells. Races 2 & 3, 'Dirty Harry' Messrs McAdam, Hall, Whelan & Lyon.

J/80 Race 1, 'Boats.com' Ian Atkins. Race 2, 'Volvo RYA' Tom Smedley. Race 3, 'Jevan' Robert & Jonathan Fox.

Hunter 707 Races 1, 2 & 3, 'Mad Dog' James Hayward.

Sportsboat Races 1, 2 & 3, 'Finn M'Coul' Tom Clay.

Garmin Hamble Winter Series, Day 5, Black Fleet Race Winners: IRC 0 Races 1 & 2, 'Biela' Paul & Marie-Claude Heys.

IRC 1 Race 1, 'Puma Logic' Sailing Logic. Race 2, 'Premier Flair' Lucy Macgregor.

IRC 2 Race 1, 'Christina' Segal/Oundjian. Race 2, 'Salvo' Peter Morton.

IRC 3 Race 1, 'Xtravagance' Colin Byrne. Race 2, 'Festina Lente' Meakins Family.

IRC 4, 'Tangent Minus 1' Paul & Julia Aisher.

J/105, 'Journeymaker 5' Chris Jones.

J/109, 'Jalapeno' Nigel & Suzie Brooke.

Sigma 38 Races 1 & 2, 'Festina Lente' Meakins Family.

9:56am Monday 12th November 2007

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