Henri-Lloyd Spring Championship – Weekend 2 – 25/26th April

30th April 2026 Naomi Rowbotham 175 Views

The final weekend of the Henri-Lloyd Warsash Spring Championship was held in glorious spring weather basking the Solent in wall-to-wall sunshine for both Saturday and Sunday.

The forecast easterly wind was very stable – barely moving more than 20 degrees on either day – making course setting more straight forward than the incredibly shifty northerly from the previous weekend! Competitors enjoyed 7-10kts on Saturday and up to 13kts on Sunday.

IRC – Black Group

Competitor numbers in Class 1 and 2 were bolstered with additional yachts as the Performance 30 and 40 classes held their second inshore event of the 2026 season.

Three windward/leeward, two-lap courses followed by around the cans to finish closer to Southampton Water were set on Saturday, with a windward/leeward and a final round the cans course for Sunday.

The largest boat in Class 1, Luna, Tim Webb’s Swan 45, was consistent with six firsts discarding a 4th gave them a 22-point gap over 2nd place Journeymaker 11, J111 owned by Chris Jones finishing five points ahead of Paul Griffiths’ J111 Jagerbomb. The J111s clearly performs well in the P40 class taking the 2nd to 5th places.

J boats covered the top four places in IRC 2 with Jukebox, John Smart’s J109 with a consistent scoreline, discarding a 7th. Sam and Ollie Love’s J109 had a strong day on Sunday finishing 2nd, some eight points ahead of Kevin Taylor’s J99 Jump to It. Ed Mockridge’s well-travelled JPK 1010 Elaine Again was the highest placed non-J boat in fifth.

There are very few boats that can discard a 1st over a 12-race series. However, Sam Laidlaw continued his winning ways from the previous weekend in the immaculately sailed ¼ tonner Aguila. Another ¼ tonner, Pacifist, fresh out of the workshop owned by Duncan Peace in second and James Crew and Peter Rutter’s ½ tonner, Quokka, in 3rd place. It was touch and go for 3rd (and more importantly first Warsash SC boat!) against Jon Powell’s well sailed SJ320 Betty. Aguila’s performance merited the presentation of the perennial Commodores’ Cup. One of only two boats in the championships 40-year history to win this consecutively.

Click here to view the full gallery for Black Group for Warsash Spring Championships 2026

Sportsboats – White Group

White Group’s SB20s had perfect racing conditions with 9-13kts of wind all weekend.

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing as Charlie Whelan from Reservoir Bod had an unexpected chilly swim as he leapt in to untangle a mark line from around his keel. The well organised support rib quickly laid a replacement as the fleet came downwind on their second run and the race continued!

Mark Gillett’s PB11 had a strong weekend increasing their lead from one point last weekend to finish 1st for the Championship, eight points clear of Reservoir Bod in 2nd.

Mark was presented the perennial Founder’s Salver for best non ITC performance at the prize giving.

Warsash Sailing Club in conjunction with Henri-Lloyd welcomed over 100 competitors to the club on Saturday 25th April for a post-race social which was enjoyed by all. The event prize winners were very happy on Sunday afternoon when they received some fantastic prizes and vouchers courtesy of Henri-Lloyd.

Click here to view the full gallery for White Group for Warsash Spring Championships 2026