Solo Tyler Trophy at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Hayling Solo open winners (l to r) Jim Hunt, David McGregor and Matt Howard © Gerald New

Jim Hunt won the first day blast at the Hayling Island SC Solo Open Meeting for the Tyler Trophy and completed his weekend with a win in the first race on the second day and then a second place behind Matt Howard to take the event, when the third race was cancelled as the weather strengthened again.

Hunt, sailing the first boat off the Speed Sails new mould, held off the challenge of Howard and local helm, David Macgregor, and also a charging Charlie Cumberly. Cumberly who had missed the Saturday race, needed all three races to be sailed on Sunday to be in with a chance, but it was not to be.

Saturday started with the wind howling across the dinghy park and the promise of more to come. A course was laid in the harbour and 16 boats, including two with B rigs, launched to run to the start. At the windward mark David Macgregor was closely followed by Jim Hunt. These two diced down the reach to an incident packed gybe mark. McGregor recovered first but Matt Howard had caught them and the three fought it out to the lee mark. At the end of the second beat, Howard sailed over Hunt as they both over stood the mark. McGregor bore off in a lull, then a ferocious 35 knot gust laid him over. The leading pair fought it out to the finish at the end of the next beat with Hunt just ahead of Howard. Tim Polglase had sailed a steady race to take third from McGregor and Andrew Bonsey.

On Sunday, the wind was around 20 knots for the start of Race 2 which was held in Hayling Bay with 23 starters. Jim Hunt chose to go left out to sea and rounded the windward mark in the lead. Charlie Cumbley, who had had gear problems yesterday, was next just ahead of Howard. With decent waves rolling across the bay, the down wind legs enabled the experts to demonstrate their skills. The leaders maintained their order to the finish and pulled away from the fleet. The wind shifted, delaying the start to the next race and increased to 25 knots. The same trio took the leading slots without changing as they rounded the course, although this time the order was Howard, Cumbley and then Hunt. McGregor improved to fourth. With the third race of the day cancelled, this left Hunt winning the Tyler Trophy with Howard second and McGregor third.

Overall Results: (top ten)

Full results on the Hayling Island Sailing Club website.