Solos return to Hayling Island for 55th Nationals

Solos at Hayling © Gerald New / www.sailweb.co.uk

The return of the Solo Nationals to Hayling Island SC for the first time in 30 years has stirred a lot of memories, not least for Geoff Carveth. It was at HISC in 1983 that Carveth won the second of his eight Solo titles. And in July he will return to compete again in the class that started him on his incredible sailing career.

Carveth, "Thirty years on and the championship is back at HISC, now my main club, and so it seems only right to revisit the class, along with a number of other migrating helms. I believe the game has moved on with the likes of Charlie Cumberly, Matt Howard and Andy "Taxi" Davis."

"Jim Hunt led the way with the new rig to suit the bigger, aggresive sailor, so as a 75 kilo helm, with some experience it will be interesting to try out the latest rigs and see how the Solo has eveolved in technique and talent."

Geoff will be using a new Solo hull from The Boatyard at Beer, with input from Jo Richards to modify the hull shape and tweaked rudder and centreboard profiles by Phil Morrison.

Other well known names joining in the fun at HISC will be multi-class champion Ian Pinnell, whose chandlery P&B markets the Winder solo and also the new FRP Poulson. Another returning Soloist is sailmaker Dick Batt who has a new range of Solo sails and will be back competing this year. Turning his hand to a very different type of boat from his usual choice is Nick Peters, founder of RS, who is already showing winning form in the HISC fleet.

The class is in fine health, adding around 100 boats a year, with the Boon and Winder hulls joined by the new Sailboats Speed, Poulson, SP Boats and The Boatyard hulls, plus the beautiful Gosling and Crawshaw custom wood versions.

Andy Davis will be defending his title won at Mounts Bay last year, with the likes of Charlie Cumberly, Matt Howard, Jamie Lee, Geoff Carveth, Jim Hunt & David McGregor lining up to take the 55th Solo National Championship.

Entries stand at 60+ (see the entry list here) and you have until Friday 31 May to enter for what promises to be a classic event on one of the great sailing areas, Hayling Bay.

The club is famous for running large international events and with a state of the art clubhouse, on-site accomodation and plenty of parking space for boats and cars, surrounded by sandy beaches, all we need is someone to push the weather button marked "Summer".

Visit the HISC Solo National Championship event page.