Royal Southern Oyster Week

Royal Southern Oyster Week
Hosted by the Royal Southern Y.C., Hamble
Monday, 28th June – Friday, 2nd July 2010

The Royal Southern Yacht Club based on the world famous River Hamble was very proud to host the U.K.’s only 2010 Oyster Marine endorsed regatta. The overall programme allowed for a fine mix of sailing and social events, traditional Oyster fare. Four days of racing were combined with visits to the Royal Solent Y.C. in Yarmouth and lunch on the final day at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes.



Monday
The week started in glorious sunshine as the yachts arrived at their berths in the nearby marina. At the early evening Skippers’ briefing in the lower dining room at the club Commodore John Beardsley welcomed the competitors before handing over to the Principal Race Officer Tony Lovell. With the business of the day completed, the owners & skippers joined their crew on the club pontoon for a Pimm’s Reception, hosted by Oyster Marine’s C.E.O. David Tydeman, as a relaxing end to thefirst day.



Tuesday
Sponsored by electronics giant, Raymarine, Tuesday’s programme consisted of two races around the cans. The sun declined to shine but the Southwesterly breeze remained and mid morning, Class 2 started with a long reaching leg eastwards towards Portsmouth. The class was very evenly matched with ‘Mythos’ the smallest and ‘Shakura’ the largest. In Class 1 the spread was much greater. Whilst the boats were anchored for lunch in Osborne Bay, below Queen Victoria’s Island retreat, the wind relented and strengthened so by the time the afternoon race started there was a brisk 15 – 18 kts blowing up the Needles Channel, champagne conditions that allowed the larger yachts to stretch their sea legs on a fine spinnaker run towards the east before reaching across to the finishing line near the entrance to Southampton Water, and the mouth of the River Hamble.



Wednesday
The day sponsors were Pelagos Yachts and it was a mid-day start for a race that would take the competitors westwards to a finish off the Royal Solent Y.C. committee boat at Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. After four hours of racing ‘Starry Night’ took line honours in Class 1 but ‘Scarlet Oyster’ had hung on to finish only two minutes behind and her lower handicap enabled her to take the class win. In the other division ‘Marela’ again took both line & handicap wins but by less than one minute from the class scratch yacht ‘Kite Runner’.



Thursday
Round the Island race on Thursday, sponsored by Lewmar had everyone up and about for a very early start from the Royal Solent start line. There was always enough wind but it was those tacticians that made best use of their motoring time allowance that reaped the greatest rewards. ‘Little Morten’ had the privilege of reaching the Needles first. A lead she was to keep in Class 2. ‘Starry Night’ did the course in 4 ¾ hours, almost catching the finishing committee boat out. ‘Kite Runner’ using very little of her motoring allowance but enjoying the day immensely was the last boat home, finishing just before 14:00. 



Friday
The final day of racing was sponsored by Dolphin Sails and was scheduled to be a pursuit race finishing off at Cowes, followed by a lunch at the Squadron. The day started well with the early boats going across towards the Island shore but an hour into the race the wind faded away to a very light zephyr leaving the late starters struggling to make any headway as the tide started to build. The Race team wisely decided to extend the time limit and shorten the course at the 2nd mark. In Class 1 ‘Spirit of Epsilon’ was first to the turning mark and she was followed across by ‘Elvis the Gecko’. However it was ‘Scarlet Oyster’ who picked up a new wind in mid channel and managed to sneak home 2nd. In Class 2 ‘Penrose III’ capped off a short week’s racing by taking the gun ahead of ‘Mythos’, ‘Marela’ & ‘Kite Runner. Evening presentations were made to ‘Marela’ for overall victory in Class 2 and to ‘Scarlet Oyster’ for her victory in Class 1. A special presentation to Colin Hall, as Event Organiser for making the Royal Southern Oyster event a week to remember.

Overall Results:

Class 1
1st    SCARLET OYSTER, Lightwave 48     
2nd   STARRY NIGHT, Oyster 82   
3rd   ASANTE, Oyster 66   
4th    SPIRIT OF EPSILON, Oyster 53
5th    ELVIS THE GECKO, Oyster 66

Class 2
1st    MARELA, Oyster 46   
2nd   KITE RUNNER, Oyster 45   
3rd    GREAT MYTHOS, Oyster 45   
4th    LITTLE MORTEN, Oyster 45
5th    PENROSE III, Oyster 46
5th    SHAKURA, Oyster 49       

Congratulations to all winners and a very special thank you from Oyster to all who participated, and to all who made this memorable event happen!

For more information and images on the Royal Southern Oyster Week, please visit the Royal Southern Website.