Cowes Week 2010
A absolutely fantastic result for X-37 owner, Iain Kirkpatrick, achieving a 2nd in the Black Group Overall! A hugely impressive achievement for Iain in his X-37, ‘Fatjax’.
Aswell as the success of 'Fatjax', IRC Class 3 saw some more great results from X-Yachts, with the top 3 overall being an X-37 and two X-40's.
Cork Week 2010
Some great results for X-Yachts in Cork Week 2010, with Donal O'Leary doing well in IRC Group 2 in his X-35 'D-Tox'.
Ross McDonald also gained an excellent 2nd place in IRC Group 3 in his X-332 'Equinox'.
In IRC Group 5 we saw 2 X-302's in 2nd and 3rd place, John Allen in his X-302 'Antix' in 2nd place, followed by Ted Crosbie in his X-302 'No Excuse'.
X-37 'S X Girl' Racing Success
X-37 'S X Girl' owner, John White, has had a good streak of racing success so far in 2010.
John's most recent results
Warsash Spring Series 2010
With the Spring Series now over, we are delighted to announce a successful series of racing, finishing first overall in Class 3. We were joined by Charles Whittam, a new member of the X-Yachts family and owner of new X-34 ‘Juno’ in this Spring's racing. Another successful series win for the X-34, finishing first again in the Solent, after winning the Hamble Winter Series at the end of 2008.
Race reports for the Spring Series are published below, along with the top 3 in Class 3 - competing against 39 boats in the class. Photographs of this event can be found courtesy of Paul Wyeth - http://www.pwpictures.com/gallery/411?page=5
In the meantime please keep us updated with all of your racing successes and stories; we’d love to hear them and feature them in our racing section!
Warsash Spring Series IRC 3 Overall Results
| Position | Boat | Number | Owner | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | Race 6 | Total |
| 1 | Juno | GBR922R | Charles Whittam | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | | -12 | 7 |
| 2 | Jika-Jika | GBR9297R | Mike & Jamie Holmes | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | | -18 | 15 |
| 3 | Stiletto | GBR2187L | John Barrett & Paul Woodward | 5 | 3 | -7 | 3 | | 4 | 15 |
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Final Week: 25/04/10
Race 6:
Spring Series Complete!
The Juno crew was somewhat depleted this week with other commitments, volcanic ash etc…. With the series won already we decided to go out sailing anyway and have some fun. A miserable start to the day soon cleared leaving great sailing conditions, 16kts SW and sunshine. We started well and had good speed but with all new trim and foredeck crew we played everything very safe. After a few minor sail handling errors we lost some places and finished in mid fleet.
A great day was had by all and we were glad of the opportunity to train up some future team members.
Thanks very much to Charles Whittam and all who have helped out for a fantastic Spring Series!
Week 5: 18/04/10
Race 5:
X-34 Juno wins Spring Series with a day to spare!
After four hours relaxing in the sunshine the race was abandoned due to lack of wind. With one discard in five races the Juno team has done enough to win Class 3 discarding next week’s result.
We’ll still be out there next week hoping for another good race!
Week 4: 11/04/10
Race 4:
X-34 Juno Wins Day Four!
With the breeze from the North West and a strong westbound tide, conditions were tricky in the Solent this week. We managed to extricate ourselves from the overcrowded pin end of the line and round the windward mark in the top 5. After a long run from off Hill Head down towards Cowes we turned back to windward into the strongest ebb tide. As soon as we could clear the traffic at the mark we headed out to the left as fast as possible to escape the tide over the bramble bank. With good speed and a fair amount of good favour we got to the bank second and passed the west end with half a meter under the keel. There was a little more breeze once we were out of the tide, back above the 10kts mark. We had great boat speed overtaking the leader and rounding the next mark in first place.
After another couple of windward leeward legs in the shifty breeze we were overtaken again by some of the faster boats to finish 3rd over the water. Juno won the race by 45 seconds on corrected time.
Week 3: 28/03/10
Race 3:
X-34 Juno Wins Day Three!
Sailing conditions were much more straight forward for this weeks racing. The wind was relatively stable at 10-15kts from the SW but with the westbound tide we felt slightly more over the water. Back in optimum X-34 conditions we took the rig back to base setting and added two more turns for medium airs.
The course this week was very good. We got away cleanly from the start and rounded the windward mark in the top five. After a slightly tight spinnaker leg to clear the starting area the course took us up and downwind working across the Solent to the finish. With small oscillations in the wind direction most of our tactical decisions were tide based; trying to make the most of the Solent banks and channels. This combined with good crew work and boat speed took us past all but one of our higher rating competitors to finish second on the water.
Juno won the race by over two minutes corrected.
Week 2: 21/03/10
Race 2:
X-34 Spring Series Day Two!
A challenging day for Juno this week. The forecast was for NW 8kts backing to SW 10-12kts during the day. We sailed out in 6-8kts NW practicing our roll gybes and setting the rig up for the lighter conditions. As we approached the sailing area the breeze gradually dropped but IRC classes 1 and 2 were sent off regardless. They struggled to cross the start line against the flooding tide and, after just 2 legs of the course, the leading TP52 retired and headed home, frustrated by the drifting conditions.
The remaining classes were held under postponement until the tide slackened and some new breeze filled in from the SW. There was a large line bias when we finally started with the 25 strong fleet all pushing for the pin. Squeezed out at the last minute we gybed and ducked some sterns then took a hitch to the left as soon as possible to clear our air. The poor start actually paid in the end as, with better than expected breeze on the left, we overtook most of the boats who got away before us. There was a large ‘hole’ in the wind half way down the run with an Easterly thermal breeze fighting the prevailing South Westerly. The course was shortened but the fleet still had to cross this hole again on the beat back to the finish.
The Juno team managed to get to the new breeze in the leading pack of 5 boats and we finished in 3rd place. A great result on such a tricky day!
Week 1: 14/03/10
Race 1:
X-34 Juno Wins Race One of the Spring Series 2010!
Just one week after launch of his new X-34 Juno, Charles Whittam took us out into the Solent for the first race of the Warsash Spring Series. With new crew and sails the team were keen to do some sailing and calibration before the start. We left the river at 8am and sailed a couple of windward leeward practice legs in the light westerly breeze.
Juno is entered in IRC 3 with 26 boats competing.
As the start time approached the breeze slowly increased and veered to the North West. The start line and course were reset leaving a line with some pin end bias but the windward mark well out to the right. We had to choose; the pin end for line bias or the boat end to allow us to tack out to the right early. With a strong westbound tide we opted for a conservative start around 1/3 down the line to stay out of the congestion at the committee boat. We got away cleanly but as we feared were held left for too long and overstood the mark. We rounded in mid fleet with some work still to do…
The breeze for the remainder of the race was between 12 and 18 kts. In these conditions we had consistently good boat speed and height upwind. We continued our conservative approach sailing our own race in clear air wherever possible. Juno finished in the top five on the water overtaking some faster rated boats along the way and won the race on corrected time. A great result and fantastic racing day, here’s hope for more of the same!
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