The JOG Lymington Weekend brought the curtain down on a busy and hugely successful JOG season, with an impressive fleet of 55 boats signing up for two days of racing in the Solent.

 

 

With some of the higher-resolution forecast models suggesting a more reliable thermal breeze further west for a few hours during the afternoon, the Racing Manager made the decision to find a committee boat and move the start to the Powder Byrne area.

 

With the start scheduled for 1300, the breeze arrived almost perfectly on cue. Under glorious sunshine, the fleet got away into a beautiful afternoon of Solent racing, heading west towards the Hurst Narrows before taking on a course around the cans off Lymington.

 

With 55 boats on the water, the Western Solent was a spectacular sight. A conveyor belt of yachts of all shapes and sizes raced west, with plenty of close-quarters, inches-apart racing throughout the fleet.

 

At the end of the day, Jetpack took the honours on IRC Overall.

 

The class victories went to Dusty P in Class 1, Bellino in Class 2, Javelin in Class 3 and Stan the Boat in Class 4. Mzungu! finished as the leading double-handed boat, while the crew of Stan the Boat added the Generation JOG prize to their class victory. Local Lymington boat Just So claimed the Women’s Sailing Series prize. Cowes to Lymington results

 

Once ashore, racing was replaced by some equally enthusiastic socialising. The Royal Lymington Yacht Club provided fantastic hospitality, with a packed bar followed by a delicious sit-down dinner for the crews before everyone retired for the night ahead of Sunday’s return race.

 

Sunday brought a considerably more reliable forecast, although the moderate southerly breeze presented a different challenge for the Race Team.

 

A southerly is an unusual direction for a Lymington to Cowes race and can easily produce a course dominated by reaching. The challenge was therefore to find enough variety to test crews across different points of sail while working the fleet back towards Cowes.

 

Racing got underway amid a few spits of rain and a decent breeze. Spinnakers were soon up, with boats carrying them down towards Cowes before negotiating a tricky turnaround and heading into the Eastern Solent, where the breeze came increasingly onto the nose.

 

A mixture of downwind legs and tactical upwind sailing followed before the fleet returned to the traditional JOG finish line off Egypt Point.

 

This time it was Jukebox that came out on top, taking both IRC Overall and the Class 3 victory.

 

Stickleback won Class 1, while Bellino completed an excellent weekend by taking Class 2 for the second day running. With Alacrity claimed Class 4 and also took the Women’s Sailing Series prize.

 

In the double-handed fleet, Sunday’s honours went to Rockit, while overall winner Jukebox also secured the Generation JOG prize.

 

 

 

A huge congratulations goes to Dusty P, winners of Class 1, while RORC Griffin took Class 2 after a particularly close battle with Bellino. Javelin secured Class 3 with an impressive lead, while Stan the Boat took Class 4 after a great racing season. In the double-handed series, Rockit, came out on top. 

 

Congratulations to all of our Coastal, and Offshore, Series winners and to everyone who has raced with us this season.  2026 Coastal Series Results.

 

Attention now turns to the JOG Annual Awards Evening on 31 October at the Harbour Hotel Southampton, a chance to celebrate another memorable season together. And it’s certainly not just for those collecting silverware. The Awards Evening is for the whole JOG community, and a great excuse to get the crew together for a lovely dinner, drinks and a party to round off the season.

 

Book your place at the JOG Annual Awards Evening.

 

The 2027 JOG racing programme is already live, so get next season’s dates in the diary. View the 2027 JOG Racing Programme here.