Soak Insure Tide Ride 2026 at Hayling Island Sailing Club

by Sarah Mitchell 30 Sep 16:18 BST 26-27 September 2026

The Soak Insure Tide Ride was back last weekend for its 3rd year following its revival in 2024. This year was just as exciting as the last two. We welcomed the 29er class, the RS800s, Wingfoil riders, and we also ran a Switch versus Moths head-to-head!

Saturday brought a disappointing forecast - certainly not one for foilers - so with a slight change to instructions, we turned the foiling event into a one-day event on Sunday. After deciding there would not be enough wind over the Winner Bank at the right time for high-water racing and spectating, we bundled the 29ers and RS800s out into Bracklesham Bay and found them a lovely patch of waves and tide to ride.

With winds under 10 knots, the sailors experienced the full force of the Hayling spring tides. From the committee boats, we saw some excellent buoy collection, boarding, and general mounting, followed by total sideways boat manoeuvring. However, there was enough wind to get all scheduled races in on both courses, fairly.

Once back ashore, our commentators gave out some spot prizes generously provided by Ovington Boats, Rooster, Salcombe Gin, and Armstrong Foil, who were also on-site demoing some of their kit.

Late afternoon saw the RS800 fleet taking some of the 29er sailors out for a "Try an 800" session. Big shout out to Blake Tudor, who took out some sailors and showed them exactly how to ram the Winner Bank, so they knew where not to go on Sunday! His next tutorial is on how to fix the centreboard case. Jokes aside, it was really nice of him to take sailors out in these awesome boats.

Party time arrived, and HISC members joined the Tide Riders for a proper HISC party with dancing well into the night.

A bright and early start on Sunday saw us back in the harbour, commentators primed with juicy info and lots more spot prizes from our sponsors.

First up were the 29ers and the RS800s. The 800s were on Pilsey Sands with RO Zeb Elliott, continuing their sprint series with a winner-takes-all final. The top 4 boats from the series sailed a final race where all previous points were void and only this race counted. Victorious was Rob Gullan from HISC, sailing with Hugh Shone from Swanage.

The 29ers raced over the Winner Bank and were a bit more complicated. A bigger fleet meant flight racing on Saturday and new flights on Sunday. The 29ers each sailed 7 races over the 2 days, and the top 10 of that series (no discards) made it into a winner-takes-all final. A very competitive start from all boats left Lila and Claude with no sound signal as they went over the line - instead picking up an OCS - leaving the big fat cheque to Dirk Rogers and Will McEwen from Royal Lymington.

As the Winner Bank race team, headed up by James Yearsley, rolled around in the waves preparing for our next fleet, we lost a couple of the team to the mighty effects of the rollers (and potentially a slight over-indulgence on Saturday night).

Meanwhile, over on Pilsey Sands, Zeb and his team commenced the Wingfoil event. 15 riders battled across 4 races over a slalom course, leaving the race and safety teams in awe - especially when rewarded with jumps and tricks over the finish line!

Over on the Winner, we ran 4 races for the Moths and Switches to see which was faster: the Moth or the Switch? Conditions by this time were getting rather feisty, and the waves at the top end of the course were knocking on the meter-high mark, leaving us with some rather battered-looking foilers at the finish. By the last race, we were down to 2 competitors, both of whom ended the series on equal points - with Simon Hiscocks from WPNSA and the Switch winning the cash on countback!

The final race over the Winner Bank on the now-falling tide was the Wingfoil riders' winner-takes-all final. The top 6 riders, including our top U16 rider Zac Carveth, entertained the race team while we finished setting up, before demonstrating to the spectators watching from the balcony just how it was done, over a windward course with leeward gates. A victory for Rafferty Read from WPNSA!

Such a fun event! Massive thanks as ever to all the volunteers, thank you to everyone for coming, and congratulations to all the sailors. Huge thank you to Soak Insure for the extremely generous prize money. Thank you to Ovington Boats, Armstrong Foil, Salcombe Gin and Rooster for all the prizes they gave us which were mainly handed out as spot prizes during the spectator sections, keeping those ashore on their toes!

See you next year on 18th and 19th September to do it all again!