2018 X-Yachts Solent Cup Report
From 4th May to 6th May this year’s X-Yachts GB Solent Cup returned to Hamble and The Royal Southern Yacht Club, who took care of the racing and our onshore entertainment.
Friday brought the Skipper’s Briefing, followed by the X-Yachts Owner’s Association Drinks, which were sponsored by Meridien Modena. Crews were happy in the Upper Bar with everyone joining for the Summer BBQ.
Saturday afternoon’s Dark & Stormy Rum reception was sponsored by North Sails. The onshore Surf Simulator competition was fun for all involved with The Lone Reveller entertaining us in the background. This set up a nice atmosphere before our Gala Dinner, which was attended by over 150 people. Fuzz Townshend of Car SOS was this year’s after dinner speaker, who told his story of how he’s gotten to where he is today.
On Sunday after racing, the fleet made their way back to The Royal Southern Yacht Club for after racing Chicken Curry, along with a Pimms drinks reception in conjunction with the Prize Giving. A lot of the crew viewed the weekend as a social event as well as some fun on the water. Thanks to the Royal Southern Yacht Club for being great hosts. We are looking forward to returning in the future.
Family Class Results
| Rank | Model | Boat Name | Sail No. | Owner/Skipper | R1 | R2 | Total | |
| 1 | XP 44 | Minx | GBR4533 | Gary & Sasha Fry | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2 | X-37 | S X Girl | GBR9837 T | John White | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| 3 | X4.3 | Xenia | GBR2543 | Richard Nieveen | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
| 4 | XC 42 | Roxanne | IRL1346 | Jason Dance | 5 | 5 | 10 | |
| 5 | XC 38 | Elixier | GBR4440 L | Nigel Bartlett | 3 | 9 | 12 | |
| 6 | X4.3 | Alexis | GBR9800 T | Nick Mulholland | 9 | 4 | 13 | |
| 7 | X-34 | Aura | GBR32746 L | Gwynne Lewis | 8 | 7 | 15 | |
| 8 | XC 42 | PresenXe | GBR4200 X | Anne Gunther | 7 | 8 | 15 | |
| 9 | XC 42 | Skedaddle | GBR4487 L | Nigel Davies | 10 | 6 | 16 | |
| 10 | X4.3 | Sprit | GBR4511 | Jonathan Nicholls | 6 | 11 | 17 |
Open Sports Class A Results
| Rank | Model | Boat Name | Sail No. | Owner/Skipper | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | |
| 1 | X-50 | Exhilarance | GBR1435 L | Clive Buesnel | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| 2 | X-442 | Alison Mary | GBR8601 T | Simon Anderson | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | |
| 3 | X-55 | Lutine | GBR809 | Lloyds Yacht Club | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 12 | |
| 4 | Xc 45 | Zampa | GBR4500 X | Ian McDougall | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 14 |
Open Sports Class B Results
| Rank | Model | Boat Name | Sail No. | Owner/Skipper | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total |
| 1 | X-362s | Xcitable | GBR6895 T | Peter & Sarah Hodgkinson | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | X-362s | Magec | GBR8436 R | Mike Garvey | 2 | 4.5 | 7 | 1 | 14.5 |
| 3 | X-332 | La Nef IV | GBR6621 T | John Noe | 3 | 4.5 | 2 | 5 | 14.5 |
| 4 | X-302 | Xtract | GBR754 R | Dudley Stock | 4 | 4.5 | 6 | 3 | 17.5 |
| 5 | X-34 | Juno | GBR922 R | Charles Whittam | 6 | 4.5 | 3 | 4 | 17.5 |
| 6 | X-37 | Unruly | GBR3737 L | Charles Bull | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 7 | 20.5 |
| 7 | X-37 | Pure Attitude | GBR1575 L | Martin Gray | 7 | 4.5 | 5 | 6 | 22.5 |
So, after a wonderful two days of racing overall congratulations goes to Clive Buesnel and all on board X-50 “Exhilarance” the overall winner of the 2018 X-Yachts Solent Cup!
Debbie Weldon, X-Yachts GB
Solent Cup 2018 from the newbies perspective
Before the Solent Cup, our only experience on our shiny new XP44 was a shakedown cruise around the Solent over the Easter Holidays in rather wintery, windy and wet conditions. We were blessed with quite the opposite on a fine sunny bank holiday weekend in May with glorious sunshine but very little breeze.
Friday marked the anticipation of the weekend ahead and we enjoyed the lovely trip on the Royal Southern Launch. After being greeted with great enthusiasm by Debbie and given our entry pack we decided that the first beer of the day was beckoning. Back on minX stickers were placed very carefully on her bows and the final preparations were made for the day ahead.
Onto the briefing followed by a lovely BBQ at the Royal Southern. The briefing was very informative and covered all of the areas of the racing ahead. Our race officer had clearly done this many times before and instilled confidence into all of us. The proceeding BBQ was a lovely chance to meet other X Yachts owners, their crews and families. It struck me how friendly the entire group was and how welcoming they were to us newcomers.
From the briefing we were expecting a delay to proceedings on day 1, but alas we departed on time and chugged out in convoy into the still and breathless Solent. Some of the yachts were sensible and anchored, awaiting the impending sea breeze and some of us continued to chug around drinking tea. Our children decided that it would be good fun to get the bosuns chair out to enjoy a dunk or 2 into the water that passed the time and made for some nice photographs.
Eventually a very light breeze came and we were all systems go to start. The race fleet went off first followed by our family class. The wind was light and fickle, but the X Yachts large and small managed to make way and started the racing. From our perspective our XP44 seemed to love the lighter breeze and after a nice port end start managed to get clear air and take the lead. In close pursuit were the XC42’s the X4.3’s and the dual handed X37 that also seemed to relish in the lighter airs. Our race finished, without incident, and not knowing the relative handicaps we did not really know how we did but thoroughly enjoyed the sailing and competition.
Race 2 started quickly afterwards in what seemed to be a lighter and decreasing breeze. The race officer however managed to get us started and around a course until the breeze faded away to nothing and the tide started to build. Our course was shortened, but after many attempts by us all to make the finish the race was abandoned.
X Yachts GB had set up a fun afternoon at the Royal Southern involving rum cocktails and a surf board! As we are based at Hamble Point we decided to enjoy the sunshine and a magnum of fine rose on board instead. We were joined by our new found X Yachts friends on e-pontoon. The launch was called and we arrived in style to the X Yachts Dinner. From being total newbies on the first night we were then greeted like long lost friends by many and had a lovely time in the bar followed by a wonderful dinner. We had individual framed pictures of our boats from the days racing on our tables which was a lovely treat. The food was excellent and far too much wine was consumed. The after dinner speaker was Fozz from Car SOS, we were all looking forward to stories of renovating 1950’s Porsches and American muscle cars, but instead we were treated with a life story that had many twists and turns. It was all too much for our children who had been working hard all day and were ready for the hike home through the dark woods and to our cozy awaiting cabins. I understand that many made it to the end and selfy’s were taken with Fozz.
The 2nd day of racing for the family class was a pursuit race. For those of us that are new to the concept, as we were, it involved a staggered start based on a mixture of our handicap and yesterdays performance. As we found out we had won yesterday we started 21 minutes after the first starter. Again conditions were extremely light and tide was starting to build. We started on a tight port fetch (that started out as a port biased beat for the first starters and thus gained us later starters a nice advantage). This allowed us to get around the windward mark first and crabbed to the downwind turn point whilst our fellow competitors fell foul of the tide and struggled to make the final 30 yards to the first mark. As the wind filled in from where the bulk of the fleet were we were now the ones to struggle, after around 1.5 hours of racing the race officer shortened the course and we just managed to make the finish line. The rest of the family class fleet at this point were flying along and had some nice tight racing.
At prize giving we were welcomed with Pimms and a lovely Thai Green Curry and a now very UV exposed X Yacht fleet. Debbie and Stuart presented the prizes and we were very proud and excited to have won the family class and even more proud to have been part of such a special and spectacular regatta. All the X Yachts GB team did a tremendous job of putting this event together but a real special thank you to Debbie and Kat. We now feel a part of the X Yachts Hamble family and look forward to many more events together.
