yacht news

Beneteau 40.7s perform in Spring Champs

It has been a successful start to the season for Hyde in the Beneteau 40.7 class as Hyde-powered entries took the class win, and the runner-up spot in the Warsash Spring Championships.

First place in this competitive class went to Andrew Iyer's 'Portia of Hamble', while second place went to Peter Robson's 'Playing Around', which finished three points behind. Nicolas Gaumont-
Prat's 'Tradition Philosophie IV' was third.

For 'Portia' the path to victory started with some promise as she posted 3,1,2 on the first day of racing, just two seconds adrift of 'Playing Around' in the third race of the day. However, on the
following day 'Portia' had to settle for two thirds, leaving 'Playing Around' at the top of the leader board.

Peter Robson commented: "The first Saturday was light, and our two-year-old GPL sails were built for heavier conditions for the Fastnet in 2007. They have seen a lot of duty, however we still managed to hold our own in the light air. Racing was intense - there was very little between the boats. Considering the age of the sails, they performed admirably. On the Sunday the wind increased a little, and we managed better results, as the heavier and stronger material came into
its own. The special Hyde’s kite, a 0.9oz runner with ultra large shoulders gave us a stunning edge downwind."

Andrew Iyer added: "In Sunday's stronger winds the sea state was lively which made for challenging kite work at times for all of the boats. We are pretty comfortable in stronger winds and 'Portia', as a heavier 40.7, goes fairly well in the breeze. She is less quick in very light winds, but we are trying to work on that."

The following weekend delivered testing, shifty conditions and a first race win for 'Philosophie', 'Playing Around' third and 'Portia' fourth. However, 'Portia' found her form in race two, finishing six seconds ahead of 'Playing Around', with the two rivals swapping places in race three. Andrew Iyer explained: "The Saturday of the second weekend was probably our best all round day. With so many races across the Championship, consistency is vital and we were trying to finish in the top three in each race." 'Portia finished the day leading by one point from 'Playing Around'.

'Playing Around' took the penultimate race with 'Portia' pushed down to third by 'Tarka', but in the final race, a win for 'Portia' secured the championship victory, while 'Playing Around' had to settle for fifth, to finish second overall.

Andrew Iyer tells the story: "We knew we had to race smart in the final race. We started with a port flyer from the pin end, which saw us lead the fleet. There was a very tight and exciting upwind dual between 'Portia' and 'Philosophie', where the boats paced each other in tight formation neck and neck, But we read the shifts pretty well, left the other lead boats and found more wind. This lifted us into the windward mark with 'Genie', which we managed to pass to round the penultimate windward mark in the lead. During the run we managed to pull away putting vital seconds, but then the wind stared to fill in from behind the fleet and we could only watch as the other boats' kites started to fill as they began to catch us up. Working to protect our lead whenever we could, we gybed, dropped the kite and came hard
up onto the wind for the final beat. The fleet behind us had closed the gap but hiking hard and still trying to follow the shifts we managed to nibble back a few boat lengths on the final beat to the line. As we crossed the finish line in first place we looked back to time the other boats in. After two minutes we were still the only finisher and at that point we were pretty sure we had won the Championship. All of the races were close! Exciting stuff.

Looking to the season ahead on 'Portia', Andrew Iyer explains: "This was our first event with the new Hyde sails. We are still tuning the boat and getting used to the new mainsail in particular. We think we can find more pace as we settle into the new sails. We have a busy season planned; 40.7 Nationals; IRC Nationals; RTIR; Beneteau Cup, Cowes Week and some corporate events including The Lutine Cup (which we won last year and will try and defend); the Financial Services Cup plus a few others, before the Winter Series at the end of the year."

For 'Playing Around', their season includes a new name. According to Peter Robson: "This year we will again be doing an RORC Offshore Series with Sailing Logic, the boat for the season being rebadged 'Playing Around Logic'. We will be starting with a novice team, training and educating them to 'mix it' with the best. We hope to maintain the high standard the regular crew achieved in 2007!"