Boss Nationals at Hayling Island Sailing Club

The usual suspects turned up at Hayling Island for the Boss Nationals over the bank holiday weekend, and the dreadful forecast clearly put off many of the new arrivals in the Boss class. Sharing with the ISOs and Buzzes this year, a tough weekend was in store with racing planned out in Hayling Bay on spring tides.

The race committee took us all out on Saturday, but with the horrible wind against tide conditions near the bar, there was plenty of practice in submarining techniques (you have to remember to bale out when the water inside the boat reaches your waist) and pitchpoling, putting great strain on masts and gear.

With carnage all around in all three fleets, the race officer wisely decided to call it a day, but as the wind rose further, it was touch and go getting all ashore safely. The mast of Nick & Steve Murray succumbed after some acrobatics, so they had to be content with a tow from the Harbourmaster.

Saturday evening developed into a 'hunt the Boss mast' session, with several runs up the A3 to find all the necessary bits.

So with everyone repaired, it was back out on the water on Sunday morning, with a good breeze and more sensible sea-state.

Peter Bennett and John Shelton from Shoreham took the first two races, leading from start to finish. But with the Murrays tweaking their new mast as they went along, there was some place changing in races 3 and 4, with the Murrays looking set to take the 4th race with more downwind boatspeed. As the Bosses approached the finish line at speed, the ISOs were just starting their next race, so it was decidely iffy trying to avoid an ISO kebab, and Bennett just sneaked through to take the final gun.

On Sunday, it was back out to the bay with a freshening breeze. On the way out, Bennett suffered a broken main halyard (note to self: don't pull so hard on the cunningham) endangering their chances of retaining the championship. But as it turned out, racing was called off for the day, with the weather threatening a repeat of Saturday's fun.

So with four straight wins, Bennett and Shelton held on to the cup for another year.

Thanks to Hayling Island SC for a well-run championship in difficult conditions, and we now look forward to the Assymetric Open meeting at Shoreham on the 9th June.

Overall Results: