The J Class come to the Solent

Members and friends enjoyed four days of iconic and nostalgic sailing scenes in the Solent this week beginning on the 17th July.

The J Class yachts were in town.

Older members will remember Velsheda in the 1980s, still beautiful but sailing forlornly around the Solent, clearly short of money and scratching a living doing mostly local charter work.

To see her now reveals an amazing transformation once again in to the racing machine that she once was. Built in the 1930s by the Woolworth owner W L Stephenson she was named after his three daughters and was the epitome of the rich man’s plaything of the era.

Today the J Class is reinvigorated. Only three of the original yachts remain but a string of new ones are either in the pipeline or already at sea.

This week we saw Velsheda, one of the originals, with three replicas on show Ranger, Lionheart and Rainbow.

They gave us a wonderful display of disciplined sailing over four days with heavy weather on Wednesday and Thursday and light airs on Friday and Saturday, the final being the clockwise Round the Island Race for the Kings Cup the forerunner of what is now transformed into the Americas Cup. Lionheart was the winner in a shade over five hours with Velsheda and Ranger following only minutes behind.

These yachts have to be seen to be believed and attracted chaotic scenes of support with ribs, motor boats and yachts churning up the waters around them in to a roaring inferno.

The occasion was supported by a number of Club members and yachts who under the guidance of Fleet Captain Barrie Martin based themselves at Gins Farm on the Beaulieu River with an enjoyable supper together on Friday night before dispersing on Saturday after the final race.