Holt Tide Ride at Hayling Island Sailing Club
by Julie Latta, Webwords PR 1 Oct 2003 10:05 BST
Laser 4000 winners Mark & Ollie Ponsford at the Holt Tide Ride © Peter Newton
Breathtaking Action at the Holt Tide Ride
This year’s Holt Tide Ride provided more than 200 competitors, from five performance classes, cutting edge sailing and high adrenalin action on the shores of Hayling Island this weekend the 27th and 28th September.
Now in its third year, support for the Holt Tide Ride continues to grow as an event that breaks away from the traditional open meeting race series. Its exciting format offers high performance dinghies lots of tight racing over short courses, while providing spectacular action easily seen from the shore.
Five classes were invited to compete in this year’s showdown: the International Fourteens, RS800s, B14s and for the first time the RS700s and Laser 4000s.
The action kicked off on Saturday morning with four qualifying races in each class being sailed in a round robin format. Short windward leeward courses with downwind gates were set to keep the action compact and to maintain maximum boat contact.
Breathtaking Action at the Holt Tide Ride (cont.)
Conditions on Saturday were a might tricky, kicking off at 10.30am the power of the high Spring tide grew as the wind reduced. Sailing on the Pilsey Sands the RS800’s and B14’s managed to complete four races before the wind and tide got the better of them. Fighting for their ranking in the elimination series on Sunday they went ashore with everything to play for.
Also in the Harbour on the Winner Bank the RS700s, International Fourteens and Laser 4000s were set a similar course. They too struggled against the falling Tide but all managed to complete four qualifying races except the RS700s who had their fourth race first thing on Sunday morning.
Sailed under the burgee of Hayling Island SC, this sailfest was the brainchild of the clubs commodore Tim Hancock. With race organisation that would send a good many OOD’s into temporary amnesia, its officers and support staff proved an exceptional team with 62 races taking place over the weekend.
On Sunday it was smiles all round with a good breeze, sun and plenty of water. The action was transferred close in to the Hayling shore, with a gate set just off the new clubhouse.
Each of the five classes was split into two groups of 10 boats to sail in sudden death quarterfinals. The top five from each group then qualified for a 10-boat semi final. From this the top six boats were selected to go through to the class finals.
Spectators were treated to fantastic displays of sailing and plenty of action. Results from each final were as follows:
Holt Tide Ride 2003 - Final Results:
B14
1 Matt Searle & Richard Bell – HISC
2 David Hayes & Sean Dwyer – Southport
3 Jason Andrews & Joel McDonald –Eastbourne
4 Tim Fells & Sean Barber – Oxford
5 Nils Jolliffe & Jon Branch – Weston
6 Mark Barnes & Tom Pygall – Whistable
International 14
1 Richard Lovering & Richard Kent – HISC
2 Dick Parker & David Cunningham – HISC
3 Geoff Carveth & Adrian Murphy – HISC
4 Mark Upton-Brown & Damian Ash – HISC
5 Andy Partington & Ben Vernieres – HISC
6 Martin & Robin Pascal – Itchenor
Laser 4000
1 Mark & Ollie Ponsford – Felpham
2 Peter Barton & Sally Cuthbert – Royal Lymington
3 A Palmer-Felgate & Robin Kenyon – Tamesis
4 Douglas & Hilary Baker – Weston
5 Tom Glanford & Richard Mayo – Lancing
6 Mark & Peter Flanders – South West Shingles
RS700
1 Jason Belben – Stokes Bay
2 Neil Upton-Brown – HISC
3 Keith Willis – Lymington Town
4 Ben Cooper – Lymington Town
5 Ben Oakley – HISC
6 Andrew Jameson – HISC
RS800
1 Barrie Edgington & Ian Lovering – HISC
2 Chips Howarth & Ali Hall – HISC
3 Chris Howarth & Stewart Aston – Bristol
4 James Date & Mike Warren – Stokes Bay
5 Paul Jenkins & Colin Hatton – Weirwood
6 Martin Orton & Lucy Kennedy – HISC