Solo Vintage Championship 2026 at Leigh-on-Sea Sailing Club - Preview

GRP versus wood, sailor versus sailor © Will Loy

You could be forgiven for thinking you have walked through a wormhole back in time if you happen to pass by Leigh on Sea on Saturday May 30th, narrow cobbled streets overflowing with pedestrians eager to sample the local ales and cockle bars, a train station, bereft of travellers awaiting departure and a beach full of cutting edge timber-constructed Solos.

Only when Technora sails are hoisted by sailors modelling the latest hikers are we transported back into the modern era. This is Leigh on Sea and this is the Solo Vintage Championship. It is an event close to my heart and having provided media for the class for five decades, you could say I have seen a thing or two.

Now in our 80th year, the Solo has developed into quite a weapon though a foiling version of this craft with an all-up weight (depending on helm) approaching 200kgs would be both dangerous and folly. The enjoyment of trying to negotiate through the wave patterns far more fun than ignoring them altogether. There will be many examples from different builders on show, some bewitching with their beauty, others constructed for function and maybe maximum profit but to their owners, unless they are just hard up, they are a beautiful 12 foot, 5 inch racing machine.

Committees made up of club racers and goal getters have shaped the class, it's slow but thoughtful development instigated mainly by the sailors though later years have seen the builders suggesting alterations, some for aesthetic improvement, some through limited or dwindling resources and a few through misinterpretation of the rules. The Solo has always had a staunch team of measurers to oversee, where visible, any departure from the ground rules Jack Holt set out on what must have been the largest match box in history and we still have a product that, if you sit it side by side with any other Solo from any other decade, will be recognisable as the same but different.

While many of the examples on show will be 70 kgs, only some will have correctors (the legal limit well known at 3 kgs) and some will probably be many kilos heavier but it is satisfying for the competitors to know that they may not have as competitive a Solo as the modern man but it is the same length and width (give or take 5mm) and one missed wind shift has to be worth a kilo in weight.

We must congratulate Honourable Chief Measurers Frank Mountifield, Martin Grounds, Jim Gates, Ron Green and Gordon Barclay for their steadfast adherence to the NSCA bible though to be fair, they would always do their level best to try and get their stretchy tape measures to squeak hulls and sails inside the legal limits where possible, well they did for me. All said and done, the tolerances always allowed for builder error and that shall always be true.

To the racing and visitors are in for a real treat once you understand the broad east coast accents, be patient, the water will arrive but it will also exit quicker than a toilet flush so be ready to race.

The sailing club have all the details so why not dig out that rusting but road safe trailer which you have been keeping as a clothes airer for ten years and make the fabled journey to this sublime British venue.

First race is at around 11.15 am and high water is at 12.54pm so I guarantee you will be off the water or in the mud by 3pm.

The club are also hosting their Solo open on Sunday 31st so do stay and take on your younger siblings, I mean the boats, the sailors will be of a similar age.