Chichester Harbour Series Round 1
by Kendall Massey 15 Nov 10:43 UTC
30 October 2025
On October 30th, enthusiastic sailors from five harbour clubs rigged their boats and readied for the first Chichester Harbour Series event of the year. As they slipped out to the race area, sailors caught up with other crews and good friends, set strategies and anticipated another set of great races.
Converging upon Bosham Sailing Club's Committee Boat, an impressive fleet of 19 Fevas and six ILCAs sailors found steadily building breeze and plenty of excitement.
The record Harbour Series turnout made for spectacular sight on an iconic autumn day!
Some of the sailors were racing against new competitors in brisk conditions and rapidly rising to the challenge. In Feva Race One, George Bayliss and Monty Fry flew into first, with Xander Bailey and Belle Francis sweeping in for second and Alice and Henry King securing a well-earned third. In the ILCAs, Thomas Knight came first, edging out Callum Aldridge in second and Martha Lewis in third.
A slightly overcast sky failed to dull the high energy atmosphere and +20 knot gusts for Race Two required sailors to dig deep and hike hard. George and Monty were on for it and delivered another first in Fevas. Florence Lewin and Tara Chapman cracked the code and took second and Carter Mills and Rupert Garlick announced themselves with a strong third. In the ILCA, once again it was a bullet for Thomas Knight, this time closely pursued by Tessa Hammal in second and Callum grabbed another podium place with a third.
Race Officer Mike Storey kept the starts moving quickly with a view to getting four races in before the weather worsened. The sun rejoined the fun for Race Three and amped up an already motivated cohort of racers, with our six rescue boats of very supportive volunteers also benefiting from a burst of Indian Summer. The metaphorical winds of change then blew through the Feva racecourse in Race Three as Arthur Pattison and Felix Garlick got ahead of the fleet to claim their first race victory of the day, with Carter and Rupert adding a second to their bags and George and Monty adding a third. Another bullet for Thomas in ILCAs, with steady competition from Callum who landed a second 2nd and Martha a second 3rd for the day.
Was it over? Not quite! And the competition in Race Four was no less lively. Back-to-back wins for Arthur and Felix who took first in Fevas, while Florence and Tara delivered another signature result and landed their second 2nd and George and Monty made it four-for-four on the podium. Thomas once again took first in ILCAs, Callum in second and Tessa in third.
The overall winners for the first event of the 2025/2026 Harbour Series were George Bayliss and Monty Fry in Fevas and Thomas Knight in ILCAs. But performances were impressive all around. Well done to all the sailors who came out and did their best in challenging conditions.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to Race Officer Mike Storey and the Bosham Sailing Club team for hosting the first Harbour Series event of the year and providing both fleets with an excellent day of racing.
Please join us for the next Harbour Series event - the Solstice Races - on Saturday the 22nd and Sunday the 23rd of November.
Enter for the 22/23 of November at www.itchenorsc.co.uk/event/1224707