Warsash Spring Series 2002: Race 1 For 2002 we have produced two new genoas and a new spinnaker for Fandango. We were due to carry out sail trials over the weekend of 9th/10th March but the weather had other ideas and with 30 knots of breeze each day we decided to wait until Saturday 16th. With a wind at 10-12 knots we hoisted the new Carbon Medium No.1 soon after Hamble Point and it fitted perfectly. After marking it for spreader patches we then hoisted the new Carbon Heavy No.1 which although out of its wind range looked very nice. We then hoisted the new Series 2000 1/2oz Runner. This sail carries the logo of London based interior architects Pringle Brandon who will be sailing Fandango at the Little Britain Challenge Cup later in the year. Spinnaker trimmer Tim Mills was very pleased with the set of the new sail and we were all looking forward to the next day's race. We left the dock at 8.15am and set off for the central Solent to find that the committee boat was a long way off in the vicinity of Kelvin Hughes. After arriving in the start area we sailed half of the first beat towards Sunsail with the Heavy No.1 set and then returned to the line to watch the IRM and IRC 1 starts. We were one of 8 First 40.7s entered in IRC 2 along with a few Swans, Reflex 38s and various other cruiser/racers. With the east-going tide helmsman Robin Berwick executed a near-perfect start close to the committee boat. We held on to starboard tack for a couple of minutes and then headed towards the favoured right-hand side of the course. After rounding the windward mark in first position we were off down the genoa reach closely followed by another 40.7, Fastwave II. A gybe and then we set our Series 2000 AP Spinnaker. We held our own down the spinnaker reach and then managed to pull away from Fastwave up the next beat. We then continued to pull away from the chasing pack whilst keeping a loose cover on Fastwave. On the last spinnaker reach, with just a short beat to finish remaining, disaster struck! Navigators & General mark was out of position which resulted in Fandango sailing past the mark under spinnaker whilst heading to its expected position. On realising our mistake we dropped the spinnaker and headed back upwind to see boats that had been over five minutes behind now rounding ahead of us! When the results were calculated we scored an 8th on corrected time, disappointing when a 1st was on the cards, but not too bad considering we'd sailed the best part of an extra mile! Roger Cerrato, Banks Sails Back to Fandango minisite homepage