Victory for Jamalaya, Hobby Horse, Zumbido and Kokomo The first race of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club's Double-Handed series on Saturday 20 April attracted an entry of 70 boats.

The Race Management Team set the Committee Boat off Hill Head in the Central Solent. The fickle breeze caused a postponement of over an hour.

Racing was divided into four classes, Class 3 for Club rated, Class 2 and Class 1 for IRC rated and Multihull.

The fleet were set a two and half mile beat to Gurnard on the Isle of Wight shore, the different classes were then set further marks to windward depending on boat size. Class 1 and the multihulls were set a mark off Lymington. The seventy boat fleet settled down after the start to a light air beat against the tide.

Some boats opted to go straight for the Isle of Wight shore and risk even less wind off Cowes. This proved to be the winning tactic in some Classes. The majority of the fleet chose to make headway against the tide by hugging the shallows of the Bramble Bank in the middle of the Solent.

Several boats spent time aground. At Gurnard short tacking up the shore out the tide was the order of the day as the Class 1 and Multihull course was shortened by changing the windward mark to West Lepe. The finish was also shortened to East Lepe.

Class 3 saw Gordon Craigen's Hunter 707 Swallow first to finish but Michael Hibberd's Sadler 29 Zumbido came through to take victory from Swallow on corrected time by 72 seconds. Jonathan Meeson's Trapper Fantastic Mr Fox was third.

Class 2 were next to finish with victory going to Michael Fawcett's Mustang 30 Hobby Horse, first to finish and first on corrected time by two and a half minutes from the James Yarrow's Starlight 35 with Chris Hornsey's Panache third.

Class 1 saw the Mini-Transat pairing of Simon Curwen and Paul Peggs first to finish sailing the Jeanneau 35 One Design Audacious, but Andrew Bird's J/92 Jabalaya was first on corrected time by two and a half minutes from John Nye 's X332 La Nef IV with Mike Garvey's sistership X-Parrot third.

The multihull class saw the Shuttleworth 30 trimaran Meridian first to finish but it was Dragonfly 800 Kokomo (James Stewart) that won on corrected time by 68 seconds from Mike Wigmore's F24 Trivia, with Pete Jenkins Corsair F28R third.

The RSYC Doublehanded Series continues with the Weymouth Double on 3rd May.

For details contact Cathy Crawley, Sailing Secretary, RSYC, Tel: 023 80 223352 or email racing@rsyc.org.uk

PROVISIONAL RESULTS SOLENT SPRING DOUBLE

Class: 1 -IRC

1. Jambalaya Andrew Bird

2. La Nef IV John Nye

3. X Parrot Mike Garvey

' Class: 2 - IRC

1. Hobby Horse Michael Fawcett

2. Dreamer James Yarrow

3. Panache Chris Hornsey

Class: 3 Club rated

1. Zumbido Michael Hibberd

2. Swallow Gordon Craigen

3. Fantastic Mr Fox Jonathan Meeson

Class: Multihull

1. Kokomo James Stewart

2. Trivia Mike Wigmore

3. Shakatak Peter Jenkins

Report by Simon Forbes