Harken 29er Grand Prix Round 8 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Harken 28er GP at Hayling Island © Alex Irwin / www.sportography.tv

Lessons learnt?

Forty-seven teams made the trip to Hayling Island SC for the eighth and final Harken GP of the 2015/2016 season. The weather was predominantly bright sunshine with light winds. The large 29er fleet shared Hayling Bay with the visiting RC44 fleet and some BAR press boats came over to watch and snap pictures. Thank you to Sportography.tv who had a full camera team on station with drone in action and of course to Harken for the continued support of the 29er Class.

The first day consisted of wind ranging from around 6-12 knots and a fleet determined to aim towards the left of the beat and the port end of the line to take advantage of the tide, so the 29ers swarmed at the pin. Race Officer Tim Hancock then tried to lure them back along the line as the pin was moved back and back. With tide pushing people over for the first half of the day there were many general recalls, however once racing, the fleet battled around the course like gladiators in a Roman Coliseum. Although the left side of the course seemed to pay on some of the beats it was far from certain as a sure fire strategy. Throughout the day with the winning strategy seeming to be get a good start near the pin end of the line and stay in the pressure. Five races were sailed on Saturday with the dying wind in the last race making it hard to cross the finish line against the tide. Top performance of the day went to old timers Rowan/Dan with 4,1,4,1,1 who looked like they'd never been out of the boat! Dan/John meanwhile, a new pair with plenty of experience, had a 9,2,1,2,4.

Harken 28er GP at Hayling Island - photo © Alex Irwin / www.sportography.tv

A very similar second day dawned and the four scheduled races were sailed in light winds. Forty-one boats were black flagged in the first race partly due to the adverse tide ripping the fleet over the start line and the quote "when will they learn" from welsh squad coach Max Todd summed up the fleets error. Racing was tough throughout the day with the occasional wacky shifts, random bands of pressure and tide. the Race Officer did a really good job to get the 4 races in as the RC44s, which were in sight, only got one race ! The 4 races were won respectively by Bobby/Harvey, Rowan/Dan, Dan/John and JJ/James. At the end of the weekend 9 races were completed allowing 2 discards so no excuses for making a few mistakes.

Even with two black flags Rowan Edwards / Dan Blight were consistent enough to storm the win by a 9 point margin counting 7 top 6 results with Crispin Beaumont / Tom Darling 2nd and Bobby Hewitt / Harvey Martin 3rd. It was hard to believe that this was Rowan and Dan's first GP win while Max Todd was heard shouting "Wales Wales" on more than one occasion on the water. Phil Walker, RYA Youth Squad coach was watching the sailing and he must have been pleased to see his RS800 crew come in 4th with Dan Venables.

Hattie Rogers and Orla Mitchell took top all girls from Phoebe and Sophie while Izzy Black and James Grummet took the mixed award. In the Junior category Henry Jameson and Harry Jones took the prize in their first GP.

Harken 28er GP at Hayling Island - photo © 29er UK

A big thanks to Hayling Island Sailing Club for hosting, the race committee led by Tim Hancock for putting on some great racing in tough light winds and Harken for their continued support.

Good luck to all the sailors heading out to the 29er Worlds in Medemblik next week, where 42 GBR boats are entered. Phil Walker was heard to comment, "Great weekend and hopefully lots of lessons learnt ahead of the Worlds".

Overall Results: