The final race of this year’s spring series saw eight J105’s on the start line in glorious sailing conditions, sunshine with a 9 to 15 knot south easterly breeze. The race committee set a demanding course which in the event took approaching three hours (or longer) to complete.

The first beat to Daks was testing with both shifts and less breeze towards the island shore to contend with. Fay J (Paul Griffiths) and Only Just (Andy Hill with Paul Heys on board) read the shifts the best and rounded together with a substantial lead over the rest of the fleet. These two fought it out together over the next two legs until a riding turn on Fay J allowed Only Just to get away and the gap behind to close substantially.

There then ensued another incredibly close race with at one stage Fay J falling to fifth behind Only Just, Java (Rob Dornton-Duff), Voador (Nicky Curwen) and Journeymaker (Chris Jones). The final three legs, a beat to Norris, a run down to East Knoll and the final beat to the finish proved decisive with Fay J rediscovering their earlier boat speed to take second, two and a half minutes behind Only Just but just seven seconds ahead of Voador with Java fourth. Another great advert for one design racing!

Journeymaker came in a close fifth after losing their spinnaker halyard up the mast on the first run and sending a man up to retrieve it. Jackpot (Vernon Bradley) followed but only after trawling one of the crew through the water for some considerable distance. Not good for boat speed!

The protest between Journeymaker and Java relating to race three took place after racing. The protest was upheld leading to a 4% time penalty on Java, knocking her down from first to fourth for that race. In the overall standings after the five races held, with a discard coming into operation, Fay J with 8 points won the series with Voador second on 9 points and Java third on 10 points. Interestingly if Java had immediately accepted the protest in race three (with a 1% time penalty) they would have tied for first on 8 points.

If the rest of the season is as full on as the first five races we are in for a vintage year, roll on the Nationals. In the five races of the Spring Series Java crossed the line first on two occasions with the other three races being won by three different boats: Only Just, Journeymaker and Voador. The series winner did not actually win a race, except in the protest room, where they were not involved!

Paul Griffiths

Sunday 19 April saw two races for the J105 class, the first starting at 1000 hours, the first start of the day. This all seemed rather strange and frantic, normally we are the fourth start and you can quietly ease yourself into the day!

With a shifty 9 to 14 knot north easterly the race committee set a testing course with one leg skirting on / over the Bramble Bank. Java (Rob Dornton-Duff) and Fay J (Paul Griffiths) started towards the pin end and went left while the remaining five boats went right. Left paid with Java leading Fay J around the first windward mark. By the next windward mark Java and Fay J were neck and neck with Fay J performing a rather scary duck right on the mark with a jammed mainsheet! The next leg took the fleet to Williams Shipping which brought the Bramble Bank into play. Java seemed to go straight over the top while Fay J skirted around the south side, watching /waiting for Java to go aground which in the event did not happen This was decisive in that Java sailed a shorter distance and held the ensuing lead to the finish.

Behind the leading two boats there was a close scrap between Journeymaker (Chris Jones) and Voador (Simon Curwen) with Journeymaker just prevailing in third position.

As it happens the result of this first race is in doubt since Journeymaker has protested Java as a result of a port/starboard incident just before the start. The protest will be heard after racing on 26 April.

The second race of the day turned into an incredibly close affair with Java, Voador, Journeymaker and Fay J swapping the lead on virtually every leg. This was One Design racing at its very best with good tactics and good boat handling.

In the final shake up wind shifts towards the finish proved decisive with Java narrowly beating Voador to the line with Journeymaker in third.

With one race of the series left there is everything to play for with the protest in the first race just adding to the excitement. If the protest is dismissed then Java will win the series, leaving Voador, Journeymaker and Fay J to fight for the remaining prizes. If the protest is upheld then any of these four boats can still win the series.

Seven J105’s made it to the start line for what was to be the second race of the Spring Series, with only Jackpot missing. On arrival at the start that had been set up close to Flying Fish there was no wind. Was this going to be a repeat of the previous weekend? Thankfully no, a sold 8 to 12 knot breeze established itself from just south of an easterly direction and racing commenced after a delay of 30 minutes. The tide dictated that the pin end was the sensible end to be which is where Journeymaker (Chris Jones) and Voador (Simon Curwen) were and where Fay-J (Paul Griffiths) wanted to be, but a riding turn on a winch at the crucial moment meant that they started at the other end! Voador were called back for being early which left Journeymaker in clear air and they made the most of it romping away to a lead that they maintained all the way round with good boat handling and tactics. I hope they enjoyed the bottle of champagne presented by Raymarine! The real race, at least the one I saw too much of, was for second and third between Java (Rob Dornton-Duff) and Fay-J. They traded places around the course with never much more than two boat lengths between them at any stage of the race. The end result was that Java timed their final tack to the line with perfection, pipping Fay-J by all of two seconds. Now this is what one design racing is all about! The same boats with the same North Sails, both pretty well sailed, and you are going to get close racing. Voador clawed her way back up to fourth with Jolene (Ivan Trotman) fifth a little ahead of Only Just (Andy Hill) and Just Acquaholix (Jo Finn/Siobhan Hayes), these latter two clearly having a great battle with only 18 seconds between them.

Paul Griffiths

No wind, no racing!

The plan is to hold two races on Sunday 19 April with the first start at 1000 hours.