Harken 29er Grand Prix 7 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Sunshine for the Harken 29er GP at Hayling © R Bowerman

Girl power, new kids on the block and deep talent. All the messages from HISC. The weather was gorgeous. The wind was light. The 29ers were out in force with over 50 hitting Hayling Bay.

Saturday had 4 races while Sunday squeezed 3 in despite the best efforts by the wind to not come out and play. Neptune hadn't reckoned on the patient and slick Race officering by Nick Peters and team! In fact the I14's sharing the event had voted with their trailers and sloped off home not believing in the Peters magic!

So many headlines to write and so little time and space. Girl power? 8 out of the top 12 sailors (ie in 6 boats worth) were epic ladies! In fact over the fleet there were 28 girls! New kids on the block? Well this counts two ways. First up, for their maiden GP win, were Owen Bowerman & Morgan Peach going one better than at the Torquay GP a couple of weeks ago. Secondly, the new talent arriving from the junior classes is settling in nicely with plenty of promise. Deep talent? 7 different race winners!

Saturday was won by Mimi El-Khazindar & Ben Batten on the tie break from Owen Bowerman & Morgan Peach. Conditions were very tricky with the wind coming from the NE off the land and racing taking place in Hayling Bay West. Always a shifty direction with pressure differences being vital to spot, these two were the best windsniffers by just a couple of points from Rob & Emma Loveridge who have rediscovered their early season speed boots.

Sunday was won by Charlotte Hooper & Molly Brown who posted a fairly stunning 1,2,3 on the day that lifted them into 3rd overall. Next best on Sunday were the Loveridges but with ruthless consistency over two days were eventual runaway winners Owen & Morgan just ahead of Vikki Payne & Steffi Orton on the day. To be fair, everyone other than the two leaders (if you except the OCS in R1 by the Loveridges) pinged in some big scores due to the combination of the talent out there and the incredibly demanding conditions.

Luke Berry & Henry Morley won the U16 prize 2 places ahead of Dan Venables and Finn Murphy and further 5 ahead of Lewis Marr & Aaron Murray. These latter two show that the talent pool is clearly deep in Scotland too. In fact 4 boats made it down from Scotland with the way being led by Gillies Munro & Daniel Harris in 11th this weekend. Gillies said afterwards that they, in company with a number of others, were gutted on Saturday when in one race they had crept up towards the finish line only for that race to be timed out with yards to go.

Of this years newcomers great credit has to go to many, so here is a possibly idiosyncratic pick. Mimi El-Khazindar crewed by the experienced Ben Batten as they won day1. Or Lauren Miles & Charlie Darling in 19th overall and no mega stinkers or Stirling & Chay Taylor from Burnham with mega consistent results and a flourish in the last race ending 27th overall. In fact fair credit to all the new 29ers who sailed very well indeed in an open sea regatta without any of the usual early yips. A superb HISC team supported young Peters in the glory job and the support from Harken to making these events possible is much appreciated.

The future is fast, the future is hot, the future is in touch with its feminine side!

Overall Results: