Wessex Winter Warmer 2024 at Spinnaker - Southampton University Sailing Club
by Freya Mason 24 Feb 00:34 NZDT
27-28 January 2024
The Wessex Winter Warmer 2024, hosted by Southampton University Sailing Club (SUSC) at Spinnaker Sailing Club once again brought over one hundred sailors together for a weekend of competitive team racing.
20 teams arrived at Spinnaker ready for two days of three-boat Firefly team racing bright and early on Saturday morning - despite near-perfect forecast, the Spinnaker microclimate struck again, and racing was delayed by two hours as competitors waited for the wind to fill in. Once the promised 8-10 knots had arrived, competition swiftly got under way, thanks to the thorough preparation from the SUSC volunteers and PRO Keith Sammons.
Despite the delay, the race team were able to run 88 races on Saturday, and with an early start on Sunday the HLS Stage 1 schedule was completed by mid-morning. A smooth changeover to Stage 2, comprising three leagues (6, 8, & 6 teams), ensured a further 58 close races could be sailed.
The weather held up on Sunday, with a consistent 12 knots and sunny skies - with slightly warmer temperatures making ideal conditions for sailors and spectators alike.
With two stages of extremely close racing and some complicated tie-break calculations from the race team, semi-finals kicked off at 1430 on the Sunday, with Cumberland Sausages v Wessex Walking Sticks and RTYC White v silver surfer Cambridge Blue. Following a 2:0 win for the Cumberland Sausages and a close 2:1 win for RTYC, the final was set to be a spectacle.
The final got off to a contested start, with each team securing a win. In the deciding race RTYC looked like they had the win with a 1,4,5; however, one of their team was OCS at the start and did not return to clear themselves, leading to a victory for the Cumberland Sausages.
Congratulations to the Cumberland Sausages team of Tim Gratton, Jamie Webb, Chloe Macalay, Jem Lawson, Morgan Dibb & Cat Wallace on the win, and a huge thank you to all competitors for a great weekend of close competition.
Thank you also to all the umpires, SUSC volunteers, Spinnaker SC and of course Keith and the kSail team for helping us to run such a fantastic event!
Results are available from the first four links at this page: events.ksail.co.uk/2024/Warmer