The 16 to 18 of May saw the annual gathering of dinghy sailors from the financial industry at Hayling Island S.C. We arrived to witness the last of the old clubhouse crash to the ground as a prelude to 3 days of exciting sailing. The temporary facilities were excellent, all services normally expected at HISC were available. As in recent years the event had no shortage of wind.

Day one was raced in a gusty force 6. In these testing conditions several of the competitors had an early chance to inspect the underside of their boats at the first gybe mark. It also saw the first retirement when the Bristol & West enterprise of Ben Newby and Phil Kaszubski sustained a broken mast. The 2nd race of the day was abandoned as the conditions worsened and the competitors retired to a local curry house to compare capsize techniques.

Day two greeted us with a southerly gale. Good day for surfing but not for dinghy sailing. Racing was abandoned allowing some of the competitors to brush up on their Go-karting skills prior to that evenings excellent regatta dinner.

The final day was warm and sunny with the a pleasing 4 to 5 wind which dropped to a force 3 in the afternoon. To make up for lost time there were 4 short races. In the fast handicap the Bristol & West Osprey of Nick Willis (last year's winner) and Ross Harvey (first time in the boat) raced neck and neck with the HSBC RS800 of Chris and Stewart Doe. The Osprey just coming out the winner again. In the slow handicap the Solo of Paul Irons from Barclays battled hard against the Laser of Stephen Harvey from Nationwide BS who just clinched 1st place by one point.

The Southampton Cup for the fastest boat in race 3 went to the Osprey of Willis & Harvey for Bristol & West. Pictures of this year's event & how to enter for next year's eagerly awaited event will appear on the CB&FI website http://homepages.rya-online.net/cbsa

Gold Fleet

Silver Fleet

See you next year!