Solent Forts Race at Hayling Ferry Sailing Club
by Richard Golden 16 Jul 2015 19:43 BST
14 July 2015
The Solent Forts Race is a long distance catamaran event set in the eastern Solent, featuring a multi-leg format with boats returning to a gate to complete each leg. The course is set on the day according to conditions and may include legs to the Nab Tower, West Pole (Chichester Bar), No Mans Land Fort, Spitbank Fort and others.
The event is run by Hayling Ferry Sailing Club and has established a loyal following since it was first run in 2012, and this year's event took place on 14th June. Whilst some teams apparently come for the party on the Saturday night the event attracts some of the UK's top multihull sailors.
The fleet had a good breeze on the first leg out to the Nab Tower (the longest leg - a distance of about 8 miles). Flying Phantom GBR0 (Orpin/Crawford) soon left the rest of the fleet behind, steering a course far deeper than the non-foiling boats and was first around the Nab Tower followed by Tornado 403 (Arnison/Hoyle) and Nacra Infusion GBR1577 (Neal/Fry).
On the way back upwind the breeze started to die and by the time the majority of the fleet reached Langstone Harbour entrance the combination of northerly tide and northerly wind made it impossible to reach the turning mark and the fleet spent a fruitless 40 minutes beating against the tide.
Before long they were joined by the Flying Phantom which had just completed the second leg out to West Pole (having rounded the turning mark and got through the gate in better wind and tide conditions).
Eventually the wind increased sufficiently for 4 boats to round the mark and get through the gate, but the remainder retired and the race was shorted to just one leg.
Next year's Solent Forts Race will be on 12th June.
The four boats that finished were:
1st GBR 0, Flying Phantom, Toby Orpin/Lewis Crawford
2nd GBR 239, Viper, Nick Barnes/Neil Baldry
3rd GBR 1577, Nacra Infusion, Tim Neal/Bob Fry
4th GBR 1421, Nacra Infusion, Richard Golden/Charles Howting