Something different

Paul Brotherton reports from the Holt Tide Ride at HISC

The Hayling Island Sailing Club annual Tide Ride has developed a strong and loyal following due to its different than usuall format. The 2005 event - sponsored by Holt - was blessed with glorious autumn sunshine, moderate warm winds and the usual impeccable race management that HISC always offers.

Short sharp racing with an emphasis on boat handling and swift decision making are the focus at this popular event. Featured this year were the single handed RS700 and Musto Skiffs, endless bar room banter would finally be concluded with decisive head to head racing. Interestingly before racing all RS700 sailors were vocal and confident of their superior boat speed and chances of victory. By comparison the Musto Skiff brigade were understated and cautious of any comment preferring only to offer "let's wait and see".

The other four featured classes, the International 14, B14, RS800 and 29ers all arived with significant fleets and as Greg Wells, Hayling Islands Sailing Commodore commented as he walked through the dinghy park, "It's like walking into a hall of fame of British dinghy sailing". Tracey Covell, Steve Irish, Mike Lennon, Zeb Elliott, Tim Fells, Dave Smithwhite, Peter Greenhalgh, Richard Stenhouse and Hugh Styles show the diverse interest that Tim Hancock the event director has managed to create.

The format was straight forward and effective. Four races on Saturday would be used to rank the sailors and give an overall score that would be counted as one result. At the conclusion of racing on Saturday two even groups were established. These groups then raced separately the top six from each group going forward to compete in the final. The winner was the boat with the best combined scores from the saturday series and the Sunday final.

The RS700 / Musto Skiff debate looked to be resolved at the conclusion of Saturdays racing with predomintly Musto Skiffs fillling the top spaces, whilst having only 16 boats racing against 35 RS700s. The general conclusion from both parties appeared to be that the Musto Skiff was slighly superior upwind and the boats were generally better handled around the track.

The most unfortunate team must have been James Fawcett and Dave Debrojevic. After dominating racing on Saturday, the had an unfortunate brush with the infamous Winner Bank in the eliminator semi final on Sunday morning. They came off second best, the bank claiming the bottom half of their centreboard as a trophy. They arrived at the start line for the final but were unable to reproduce saturdays great form.

This event looks well set to continue as a big draw for the UKs growing asymmetric classes. Next years event is scheduled for the 9th and 10th of September.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew
	RS800
1	Steve Irish	Martin Gotrel
2	Peter Barton	Mark Tait
3	Philip King	King
4	Ralph Singleton	Sophie Singleton
5	Robert Watson	TBA
6	Tracey Covell	Ian Gotts
	B14
1	Nils Jolliffe	Jon Branch
2	Chris Bines	Dave Gibbons
3	Tim Fells	Sean Dwyer
4	James Mears	Matt Gill
5	Mark Watts	Tim Rogers
6	Simon Hadley	Pete Nicholson
	International 14
1	Paul Brotherton	Zeb Elliott
2	Mike Lennon	John McKenna
3	Charles Duchesne	Will Broom
4	Douglas Pattison	Nigel Ash
5	Ian Pinnell	Ed Clay
6	James Fawcett	Dave Dubrejvic
	29er
1	Dylan Fletcher	Rob Partridge
2	Sophie White	Catherine Alton
3	David Hall	Sheperd
4	Sarah Martin	Nicola Groves
5	James Peters	Neale Jones
6	Edd Chapmaman	Gemma McIntyre
	Musto Skiff / RS700
1	Ian Turnbull	Musto Skiff
2	Richard Stenhouse	Musto Skiff
3	Peter Greenhalgh	RS700
4	Simon Reynolds	Musto Skiff
5	Rick Perkins	Musto Skiff
6	Dave Smithwhite	RS700