Solo Southern Area Circuit Open at Bough Beech Sailing Club

Bough Beech Solo Open © Sarah Seddon

The National Solo Class Association (NSCA) Southern Area Circuit travelled to Bough Beech Sailing Club for the first event of the 2026 season.

Bough Beech reservoir is situated in the Weald of Kent enjoying 400-acres of water in what is arguably one of the premier inland sailing locations in Southern England. The Bough Beech Open, along with NSCA Southern Circuit, is generously sponsored by Pinnell & Bax.

23-boats entered with 14-visitors joining the 9-home boats for an excellent, sun filled, days racing in a shifty 8/10 mph W breeze. Entry numbers were up 25% from 2025, which was encouraging to see at the first event of the series; also reflecting the popularity of BBSC as a venue. Visitors travelled from Littleton, Fishers Green, Papercourt, Hayland Island, Tamesis, Chipstead, Frensham Ponds, Langstone, Martello Lakes and Largos Yacht Club (RYA).

Race Officer, Mike Warwicker, set a trapezoidal port rounding course using the maximum available distance across the reservoir. This provided good tactical racing particularly upwind and on the long run back down the reservoir. Three of the planned four races were held each being approximately 40-minutes in duration.

Race 1

The fleet got clearly away on a slightly port biased line. At the windward mark Jamie Clementson led from Fraser Hayden and Simon Derham. On the second lap Jamie extended followed by Fraser and John Clementson who had moved up to third. By the third lap the fleet had closed up with six boats all contesting the lead (Jamie, John C, Simon, Fraser, John Reed & James Hart). At the windward mark John R demonstrated his mastery of the shifty conditions by moving into the lead; closely followed by Fraser, Simon and James.

At the finish John R took the win followed by Fraser and James with Simon taking fourth.

Bough Beech Solo Open - photo © Sarah Seddon

Race 2

Another clean start with the fleet bunched towards the middle of the line. At the windward mark John C led from John R and James. By the leeward mark Jamie had moved into the lead exhibiting good downwind speed followed by James and John R. Jamie extended up the second beat to lead by 25m at the windward mark followed by Simon, John R and John C. Jamie and John R continued to extend their lead down the run as the fleet compressed approaching the bottom mark with a bunch of six boats all contesting third place.

At the finish Jamie took the win followed by John C and Simon with John R taking fourth.

With the third and fourth races scheduled after lunch there was everything to play for with only 3-points separating the top six boats.

Bough Beech Solo Open - photo © Sarah Seddon

Race 3

The breeze dropped as the start of three approached making it difficult for the fleet to find clear air. The Race Officer stopped the race halfway up the beat and went into a restart once the breeze materialised.

Due to a big shift on the start signal the fleet mostly crossed the line on port.

At the windward mark Jamie was leading followed by Timothy Barr and Fraser. The breeze settled during the run allowing Timothy to sail deeper overtaking Jamie in the process. Nick Pighills rounding the leeward mark in third. Jamie played the shifts well going up the second beat giving him a 50m lead over Fraser in second and John R in third. The front three boats continued to stretch their lead up the next beat with Simon moving up to fourth.

At the finish Jamie took the win by a good margin with Fraser second and John R third. John C pulled through to take fourth.

Race 4 was not held due to the events time limit being exceeded.

Overall Results:

Bough Beech Solo Open - photo © Sarah Seddon

Bough Beech Solo Open - photo © Sarah Seddon

Bough Beech Solo Open - photo © Sarah Seddon

Bough Beech Solo Open - photo © Sarah Seddon