Holt Tide Ride 2008 - Hayling Island

Inspite of a forecast of very strong winds and heavy rain, 19 Musto Skiffs turned up to sail the Holt Tide Ride at Hayling Island on the 4th/5th October. The Tide Ride has a different format to most events, with multiple races run over very short courses. To make the races more interesting the race committee add another gate or two on the downwind legs to force boats back into the centre of the course. The races are normally 3 rounds and only last around 20 minutes, which means it is very good for practising your boat handling skills or showing you where you need to improve them! The organisers set two courses inside the harbour, with each of the classes (29er, RS800, B14, Moth, Int14/Laser 4000) taking turns to sail on one of the courses.

The 29ers and RS800s launched first in slightly lighter winds, but by the time the RS800s had started the breeze was back up to 25+ knots and at times it was difficult to see an RS800 that was still upright! The RS800 racing was abandoned, but the 29er course was sheltered by the shore, so they continued to race. Most Musto Skiff sailors watched the 29ers from the comfort of the clubhouse, while trying to keep track of the number of 29ers that had broken their masts! (I counted 4!) The 29ers continued to race and it wasn't long before the Musto and B14 fleet were sent out, as we were told the wind speed was “only 21 knots”! About a third of the MPS fleet stayed ashore and watched instead.

The B14s decided that it was too strong and sailed back in, while our first race got underway with Richard Stenhouse extending his lead through-out. Bruce Keen and Neil Upton-Brown fought it out for 2nd and 3rd places respectively. After the first race most sailors had realised that getting quickly around the course was all about minimising your number of tacks and gybes, therefore decreasing your chance of capsizing. With such short courses, there were some strange manoeuvres that often seemed to be pay off, like sailing almost on a run with the kite up or hoisting very late so that you could gybe without the kite up.

The wind increased for the 2nd race and after the first downwind leg everyone seemed to come to the conclusion that it was much safer and faster to sail downwind without the kite. Sten again pulled out a good lead, with the rest of the fleet positions generally determined by the number of capsizes they did (or how quickly they righted the boat after each one).

By the third race the wind was blowing well over 25knots with gusts probably in the mid-30s. Only 8 boats managed to finish this race, but even with such a small fleet it was difficult to navigate around most of the marks due to the capsized boats. Sten pulled out a big lead again but capsized a few boat lengths from the finish line. He drifted across the line and and got the gun, while still upside-down! Neil Upton-Brown, finished 2nd, to eventually give him 2nd overall.

Amazingly the only breakage was a shroud bolt on Sergei's boat, which is a good testament to the design of the boat and the skill of the MPS sailors.

The wind was again blowing on Sunday morning and it was decided to postpone until the wind dropped. This happened around mid-day, but because the MPS fleet already had 3 races, we were put at the back of the queue for a race course. Our scheduled start time was 17h00, so a unanimous decision was taken to skip the racing and go for a sail instead. Around 10 sailors rigged up and did some practising in a relatively light 12-14 knots.

The race committee did a good job of getting some races in very challenging conditions and I am sure everyone who sailed on Saturday won't forget the experience quickly!

Report by Bruce Keen

Photos by Tania Samus more photos here >>>

Overall Position Sail No Helm Club
1 369 Richard Stenhouse Rutland SC
2 251 Neil Upton-Brown HISC
3 205 Bruce Keen Stokes Bay SC
4 153 Dave Poston Queen Mary SC
5 288 Andrew Peake Whitstable YC
6 364 Rob Chaplin Queen Mary SC
7 376 Leigh Albrecht Queen Mary SC
8 193 Dan Vincent RNSA/ Stokes Bay SC
9 286 Dan Ward Frensham Ponds/SBSC
10 368 Kit Stenhouse Rutland SC
11 333/16 Tim Chapman Rutland SC
12 154 Bruce Spratt Thorpe Bay YC
12 170 Iver Ahlmann Rutland SC
12 209 Tom Wright Rutland SC
12 222 Paddy Gamble HISC
12 284 Sergei Samus Whitstable YC
12 290 Alex Cooper Stokes Bay SC
12 305 Dan Henderson Thorpe Bay YC
12 374 Jerry Wales Queen Mary SC