By Isle of Wight Observer
By Ollie Dewar
The fleet of 198 competing boats were given a severe challenge in testing conditions during the 17th edition of the Royal Solent Yacht Club regatta, in Yarmouth, over the weekend.
Both Black and White Groups started Race 1 on Saturday, off the mainland shore; White Group just to the west of the Lymington River, Black Group slightly to the east.
A WSW breeze twitching between 19–23 knots, and a deep swell with a horribly uncomfortable pattern from the final two hours of the ebb tide, made the start line for both groups a real examination of their crews’ skills.
As the wind continued to build through Saturday morning, White Group’s course took the boats across towards the flatter water off the Island shore. Meanwhile, Black Group hammered it out in mid-Solent, with the Race 1 downwind leg producing broaches, spinouts and spinnaker dramas forcing around eight boats to retire across the group’s seven classes.
As gusts peaked at 30-plus knots at midday, the decision was made to cancel Race 2 for Black Group. Under one mile to the south, the 30-knot gusts arrived later in the afternoon and the six classes in White Group completed two races.
On Sunday morning, the Western Solent was a far calmer and less chaotic stretch of water for the second day of racing, with the westerly breeze building swiftly from nine knots to gusts in the 20s towards noon.
These conditions enabled the Race Committee to slot in Black Group’s missing race from Saturday, while White Group completed their scheduled, single race for Day 2.
At Sunday’s prize-giving, there were a number of repeat winners from last year’s regatta. David Richards’s J109 Jumping Jellyfish was back collecting silverware again with 1-1-1 victory; Tony Mack and crew of J111 McFly returned to the prize-giving table, with a 1-2-2 scorecard, and Peter Lloyd’s Spirit C72 Gwenhyfar II triumphed for a second year in the IRC Classic Cruiser Class.