The storms and gales may have brought Britain to a standstill last weekend but the large handicap classes enjoyed a blast before the heavy weather struck in the fourth race of the MDL Hamble Winter Series.

Racing in both the White Group and sportsboat classes was cancelled first thing on Sunday as winds were forecast to reach gale force eight or higher but race officials gave the green light to the bigger boats, 65 competitors choosing to venture out.

They faced base winds of 20-25 knots with strong gusts up to about 35 knots and, while there were a number of early retirements and a few problems with spinnakers and ripped mainsails, no major breakages were reported. The skipper of Sigmamagician called the Solent Coastguard after one of their crew suffered a head injury and was concussed.

The bad weather struck just as the boats made their way home after the race, with Douglas Flynn on his First 47.7 Kirribili taking honours in IRC Class 1 and another First 47.7, Tony Mack's McFly, coming in second.

IRC 1: 1 Kirribilli, (D. Flynn) 2 Mcfly, (T. Mack) 3 Team Tonic (N. Hewson), 4 Alibi (G. Grant), 5 Firestorm (J Perry)

IRC 2: 1 Alvine XII (H. Evans), 2 The Big Cheese (J. Slawson), 3 Comedy of Errors (A. Wardrop), 4 Touch Too (S. Liebmann), 5 Panther (Clipper Ventures). IRC 3: 1 Carabistouilles II (E. Wylleman), 2 Exabyte (S. Frohlich) 3 Kwik Fix (R. Hodgson), 4 Quencher (A.Webster), 5 X-ploitor (T. Barclay). IRC 4: 1 Menace (T. Rees), 2 Polly (P. Meakins), 3 Five Tarts (Anderson). Sigma 38: 1 Steamy Windows ( N. Haigh), 2 Arbitrator (D. Kennedy), 3 Serendip (P. King), 4 Mustigo II (S. Scholesfield), 5 Fat Chance (R. Lee).