Rooster Sailing Hadron H2 open meeting 2026 at Bowmoor Sailing Club

Rooster Sailing Hadron H2 open meeting at Bowmoor © BSC

The preceding week of sun, daffodils, and fair winds came to a grinding halt on the Saturday morning of the Bowmoor Sailing Club H2 Open on 7 March 2026. The skies were eerily dark and murky, hiding the arrival B-1s thundering into RAF Fairford, landing a stone's throw from where the H2s and RS300s were preparing for a weekend of close light-wind racing.

A damp arrival was tempered by a warm welcome from everyone at Bowmoor with a cosy clubhouse and catering for all. The race briefing was covered by a frazzled RO that needed to set a course with light and shifting winds that blew from the wrong direction, making long upwind legs difficult to set. He made sure to get his excuses in early, but it was unnecessary and he ran some good races on the day.

Saturday was a day of two sets of back-to-back races on Saturday broken by lunch. The H2s started after the RS300 fleet, giving everyone time to watch and try to figure out the best way to tackle to the flukey conditions. Racing for the day was tight with the first five or six boats mostly finishing within a minute.

Wind was extremely light, making it a day for sitting on the thwart and while it didn't suit the heavier helms, they weren't exactly spat out the back. Runs were tricky because choosing a side was a gamble and the crossing fleets meant that slight differences in pressure could be tough to take advantage of.

Tim Garvin managed to win every race on the first day and, in some races, quite comfortably too. It was left Richard Leftley to keep Tim from scampering off, but he couldn't reliably hold him back. A notable event for the day was the first time that the gold-trimmed Midas was involved in a scuffle where Richard Le Mare, probably within rights, was demanding mark room where there was none. He did indeed follow through on his Dinghy Show promise that he would be sailing his masterpiece as hard he can.

Shoreside chat was Tim obviously being pleased with his (new to him) boat, and telling others that having a completely loose rig was the thing to do on the day, something that Steven and I did try out with surprising degrees of success (surprising because 'so that it can breathe' is not a technically strong explanation as to why it may work).

A later discussion about how H2s are now performing better in light winds than they used to suggested that it is either the result of a mastery of light winds by the fleet in general, or the magical use of a prodder. As seems to be tradition when H2 sailors meet, the prodder was discussed.

Racing for the day finished quite early, but it had been a dark and cold day, so everyone was happy to be off the water and in the warm clubhouse. The bar was open, the rugby was still on, and the hosts and RS300 sailors led us deep into the evening, including everyone sitting around and enjoying a curry together in the clubhouse. On-site 'pods' and car parking for camper vans and a lonely Tentbox meant that it was easy to stay over on site.

Sunday looked like it may be better, but it was still chilly and gloomy. The early open-water swimmers emerged from the grey murk like soggy dunked biscuits and sloshed past Le-Mare's Midas with no recognition that they were in the presence of an award-winning boat. In their defence there was not enough light to get any sparkle from the gold and diamonds sitting in plain sight. Richard was also missing his sparkle and sat out the Sunday races so that he could recover from a persistent cold.

Everyone was keen to get the two races for Sunday going and the H2s were out on the water early trying to get a feel for the conditions. The wind had shifted to blow down the lake, making for a longer upwind leg, but it was dropping fast. Conditions were similar to the previous day but patchy and the choice as to which side of the course to go to chase pressure seemed more important than the sailing the shifts.

Again, the racing was close with frequent position changes and bunched-up finishes. Tim won the first race but sailed into a hole on the last - breaking his unblemished record of wins for the weekend.

Thanks to Rooster for sponsoring the event.

Spring events will always have unpredictable sailing conditions, and the light winds were a challenge, but the H2 calendar is off to a competitive start and looks to be a good season of competitive racing. It was a well-deserved and comprehensive win for Tim Garvin who has a spring in his step following his recent rejoining of the class. The next event is the Chichester Open on 18 and 19 April where the travelling H2 sailors will join a strong local fleet.

Overall Results: