Osprey open meeting at Hayling Island Sailing Club

Ben Townsend and Ed Richardson win the Osprey open meeting at Hayling Island © Nick Willis

Seven Ospreys made it to Hayling Island Sailing Club on 24th & 25th May 2025, for a wild weekend of racing shared with the Flying Fifteen and 505 classes.

Ben Richardson of 1322 'Peek a boo' reports first

Saturday racing started out in Hayling Bay with the line just off West Pole. In big waves and 20-25 knots South Westerly race one was under way. It was a good start for all, but Terry Curtis & Peter Greig were 1st at the windward mark with Michael Atkinson & Gareth Humphrey 2nd and Ben Townsend & Ed Richardson 3rd. Ben & Ed tamed their kite and passed Michael & Gareth.

Heavy rollers made the first downwind leg a baptism of fire with Terry & Peter surfing into 1st and Ben & Ed 2nd.

With wind building the second race got under way. Ben & Ed showed great boat speed off the line and pulled away to a decent lead compounded by their choice to fly their kite. Sadly Terry & Peter had boat issues and headed in. Richard Marshall & Kevin Francis sailed into 2nd. Roger & Jamie Blake showed great speed before capsizing on the last beat and snapping their mast.

'Ghost Ship' suffered a broken mast - Osprey open meeting at Hayling Island - photo © Nick Willis

With the rest of the fleet deciding to head to shore a confused Ben & Ed trudged round the course for the third race to take the win.

HISC Open Meeting Day 1 in mega waves and 20-25kts. Well done Ed and Ben (crew always comes first) Following a hearty breakfast courtesy of Jayne Willis - Sunday's racing started at 10am in the harbour due to the 25-30 knot breeze.

Sea state was choppy and conditions were very lively.

Sharing the start with the 505s the four remaining ospreys got under way with Ben & Ed leading out Terry & Peter on the first lap. Only to go the wrong way up the second beat with Terry & Peter having a great windward leg to take the lead. 20 metres from the leeward mark Terry & Peter capsize. Ben & Ed seized their opportunity to take the lead simultaneously snapping their goose-neck. With the end of the boom pointing at the sky and the mainsail flogging they crawled across the line to take the win.

Gusts of 30 knots plus meant racing was abandoned for Race 5 and everyone was glad to be back on dry land.

Ben & Ed came out on top with Terry & Peter 2nd and Richard & Kevin 3rd. Many thanks to HISC, the class captain Nick Willis, race officer Paul Hammett and the safety boat teams.

Michael Atkinson of 1298 'Barking Mad' brings us : Two Go Barking Mad at Hayling

Gareth and I decided a while ago that we were going to take 'Barking Mad', Osprey 1298, on a trip from Poole to Hayling Island for their Osprey Open Meeting. It was going to be a little adventure for some much needed the practice. So having raced at Poole on Thursday evening we loaded the boat and headed to Hayling on Friday morning to get a little pre-event boat handling practice.

As we crossed over the Langstone Harbour, Gareth wondered out loud what would happen if the bridge collapsed while we were at the Open. Well, lots of sailing while we waited for someone to rebuild the bridge was my reply. I'm home now so that was an unlikely scenario that we avoided.

Having arrived at the very splendid Hayling Island Sailing Club we lost no time in rigging and getting afloat. A few Flying Fifteens who were having their Southern Area Championships were already out practising. Well, it was champagne conditions with an 18 knot South Westerly blowing and some big rollers washing down from the Solent. Setting course upwind we headed in the general direction of Bembridge.

As so far this year we've only sailed in light breezes, so have been going around with the mast upright. I had raked the mast back a bit, but finding I was still fighting the boat a little I soon realised it needed to go back a little more. Once that setting was correct, we settled into a few miles of upwind tacking to get used to going about in waves again. When the Solent Forts were starting to become clear it was time to get the kite out. Up it went in a perfect wineglass, so we had practice dropping the pole and dropping the kite back into the boat a bit, to untaffle the knot. Then we were off, sun, spray and a roller coaster ride. It's amazing how easy it is when you don't have the inconvenience of a mark to aim at. A couple of gybes and we were back to the sand bar.

It was so much fun we did it again. Then we had the joy of coming back with the kite up on the big waves beneath the bar as we hurtled back to the club.

Friday practice complete Gareth and I headed for a well-deserved beer. In the bar Nick & Jayne were there to greet us and Rob & Alistair had made it down from Blithfield. They had brought 'Robbers Alley', but Alistair's new wooden boat is sounding like we might see it soon. For a lock down project, it has taken a little while, but we saw the pictures of what is a nearly fitted out boat. Just needs measuring now. Alistair regaled us with the fact that he just happened to have a big chunk of spruce he'd had lying around in his shed for years and as he had nothing to do during Covid it was perfect for the stringers, so the idea to build a wooden Osprey was fledged so to speak.

As Nick & Jayne were off to play bridge and Rob & Allie were off back to their Winnibago for some supper. We headed to the local Gandi Curry House. We were entertained by a large group of Flying Fifteen sailors on the table next to us. They were asking for their curry to be made extra hot, which we thought was fool hardy, and a practice I haven't seen since my university days. We were very impressed that they positively hovered up the said inferno of a curry. Interestingly, Gareth noticed a sign on entering the curry house declaring that there was 20 percent discount if you paid cash, so we paid cash, a quaint Hayling Island tradition it seems?

Getting back to the club it was good to see Jamie & Roger had made it to the club after a bit of a detour through the narrow lanes, as the M3 was a car park. Jamie had missed most of the fun as he was sleeping, after a hard week at work. He did wake up in time to expertly park the motor home at Chez Willis though.

Saturday dawned and Gareth an I where able to enjoy a lengthy breakfast in the club as we were smug in the knowledge our boat was ready to go.

The wind was whistling in the rigging and the forecast weather was surely arriving.

We followed Peter & Terry and Rob & Alistair out in the direction of Hayling Bay. Sure, enough it was a solid wind with some monster waves rolling over the bar. Rob & Alistair turned round at this point and headed back in. The committee boat was very conveniently situated, just the other side of the sand bar. But it did mean the waves were huge on the start line. The remaining six of our fleet lined up, starting six minutes after the 505s. We tacked off and headed inshore the spray was immense, making seeing any marks impossible. We were following Ben & Ed who are from Emsworth just up the river from Hayling, so I thought they are local so perhaps we were going the right way.

It's great to see some young people sailing an Osprey so well, hopefully they can persuade more of their age group to join our fleet. Their combined age is easily less than my age. I thought we were going really well against them, because Ed is good and tall, the perfect Osprey crew. We were going past and I thought we must have the settings right as Gareth and I are a lighter crew than these two young fit guys. No nothing to do with that as they were having to sort a bit of an issue out. Once sorted they started to sail much better again.

No one flew the kite down the reach of the trapezoid course as it was way too windy, but the run was Himalayan, especially down near the bar just where we had to take the kite down so that was a little testing. It turned out that the committee boat engine had overheated and the reason they were so near the bar was, that was the furthest they could get without blowing up. But they still got all the races away, so kudos to the race team who were excellent all weekend.

It was a war of attrition, the numbers of boats out on the water in all the fleets fairly rapidly diminished. Jamie & Roger unfortunately broke their mast in the shallow water following a capsize. They were doing very well in the second race at the time. Terry & Peter broke their mast ram and went in after the first race.

Ed and Ben went in as over-night leaders.

The evening had a great party atmosphere with The Rock & Roll Hoodlems playing some really good music. I was fascinated to learn from Rob that farmers actually plant special grass seed in fields to feed livestock. I innocently thought grass just grew by itself. Who knew? Richard went into full preacher mode standing up on his chair to ensure everyone could see him. I've no idea what he was going on about, probably because by this point in the evening the wine was definitely flowing copiously.

Team Barking Mad sincerely regretted the fun night before, it was not good preparation for another hard days sailing. Fortunately, disaster was averted as Jayne kindly invited the Osprey fleet for a lovely breakfast which went some way to curing our hangover. Thank you to the Willis's for their hospitality.

The racing for the second day was in the harbour as it was blowing "dogs off chains"! Only four of us got to the start line. Richard & Kevin sailed the first beat and headed straight in. Gareth and I got to the second beat, but it had got to the point where we were going up the beat constantly having to let the Genoa go to stop us being blown over. We carried on upwind back to the club. The remaining two headed down the last run. Terry & Peter launched their boat off the back of a wave and rolled in, leaving Ed & Ben to limp across the finish line having broken their goose-neck in the gybe to the finish.

Well done to the young team from Emsworth who kept on going through ever worsening weather to come out victorious.

Thanks to Hayling Island Sailing Club for getting a weekends sailing completed despite the windy weather.

Made it home from Hayling Open! Lots of windy sailing! Managed to stay upright too!

Next weekend is looking like a less windy event at Poole YC Osprey Open Meeting. Hopefully see some of you there!

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