Exabyte 2 (IMX 40)   Warsash Spring Series Race 1 March 16 2003 After two practice races at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club, Exabyte 2's season kicked off in earnest with Race 1 of the Raymarine sponsored Warsash Spring Series. On Saturday we had carried out sail trials with a new Checkmate Carbon Mainsail and .5oz Running spinnaker and both sails looked great, although with no wind instruments working we knew that the real test would come on Sunday morning! Racing in IRC 1 we were pitted against a class that included two new Swan 45s, Desperado, Team Tonic, a Max Fun 35, Minx (ex Carphone Warehouse) as well as Magnum II (a new IMX40) and a gaggle of Prima 38s. Having no instruments made the choice of headsail for the first beat a bit more difficult but we opted for the No.3 as did most of the fleet. With a strong ebb tide the bigger boats in the class were soon a long way ahead as we battled to stay ahead of the much higher rated Minx and Kirribilli. After a reach across the Solent we set the new Runner and showed good downwind speed, so much so that we nearly forgot about the leeward mark and ended up rounding the Jib only half up! The rest of the race was quite uneventful and the wind gradually eased until we set the Medium/Heavy No.1 for the last beat. The result was a sixth on corrected, beaten by three seconds by Firestorm, the first Prima, and the four much bigger boats. Magnum II the other IMX40 was two minutes behind us on corrected time. Back to Exabyte minisite