Race Report - Tuesday 11th AUgust

As forecast today’s weather came in stronger from the east to provide a different course for Series A and B with start lines on the Pilsey sands, weather marks laid in the Itchenor Channel south of Astra, and with a gybe mark on the winner bank. Prior to the first start the wind strengthened to force 5, pulling further south, but then settled to a solid force 4 easterly to provide excellent racing for all fleets and a classic CHRW day.

On Series A in the Fast Handicap, it was a day for the Fireball of Simon Kings and Jono Looe to excel and they took handicap honours but only by 9 seconds from the Merlin Rocket of Simon and Jackie Lytton. The Merlin of Judith and Graham Williamson came in 3^rd on corrected time.

The Flying 15’s had their usual close racing with many place changes and it was Mark and Anne-Marie Wood who eventually won the day.

In the Hadron H2/DZero it was a superb day for Richard Leftley in his Hadron with a commanding win. Simon Pettit rolled back the years with a good win in the competitive Finn class, leaving him overnight leader ahead of David Hitchcock on equal points.

The stronger winds were much more to the liking of the RS800’s in the Fast Asymmetric class with the first 4 places being taken by them. The winner of the pack being Bryan and Anne Ormand. The RS400’s were again winners of the Slow Asymmetric but this time it was Andy and Allyson Jeffries from Eastbourne Sovereign SC taking the winning gun. However, it may have been different if the 59er had seen the green starboard round course flag and sailed the course correctly!

There were new names at the front of the RS200 fleet with Alan Roberts and Chris Witty HISC, winning followed by Ian Martin and Lucy Preston. However Aiden Mitchell’s consistency leaves him in second place tonight.

On SERIES B It was impressive to see how quickly the 2000’s completed the larger course today and the winners were Justin Smith and Jumbo Olphert followed by Paul and Caroline Fisk. In the Medium Handicap one time CHRW Finn champion Neil Robinson crewed by Alex Coles from Mengham Rythe SC won on corrected time in an RS Vision.  Tom Kennedy from Emsworth Slipper won the Aero 7’s while the Aero 6’s were taken by Kevin Duce from Burghfield.

Today’s Aero5 winner was Iona Williams followed by Debbie Caldwell while yesterday’s winner Carol Fiddaman came in 3^rd. In the Solo’s local lad Alex Butler HISC won a good race from Paul Lewis, although Paul leads the fleet overnight. In both the ILCA4 and ILCA6 classes the winners were the same as day one. the only classes for this to happen, with Ella Gardiner winning the ILCA4 and Thomas Knight taking the ILCA 6.

RS Feva XL winners today were Richard Hewitt and Max Murphy from HISC.

Tomorrow the forecast is for slightly less wind but again from the east, and starts will be slightly later.

 

 

   

 

    

Race Report - Monday 10th August

With over 340 entries registered, only two hundred and seventy signed out to race, with a light northerly wind forecast, but expected to defer to a sea breeze by mid-morning. 

The race teams had had been prepped and afloat in good time for the 10 o’clock first start on both Series A and B.  Courses were set on 320° over the Pilsey sands to offset the effect of the current when it turned to the ebb soon after the first start. 

During the start sequence and first lap for the early fleets the wind started to show signs of switching off as the land heated up so the Series A race team elected to shorten events 1-4 to just one lap. However, the northerly won the early battle with the sea breeze and kicked back in so events 5-7 were able to sail the full 2 lap course in a stable 10 knot breeze. 

The Fast handicap proved to be good day for Merlin Rockets which managed first and third places,  the winner being Charles and Emma Tavner. 2nd was the Osprey sailed by Ross Harvey and Nick Willis. The Flying Fifteens enjoyed a good battle and close finish between James Yearsley (4126) and Andy Jameson (4145) with AJ taking line honours but it turned out he fell foul of the UFD rule.  

The healthy Hadron H2/Devoti Zero fleet of 22 entries was won by the Hadron of Tim Blackmore from Chichester YC.  The Devoti Zero Rohan Daniels, who has ventured all the way down from Ogston Sailing Club (Derbyshire) was second. The 24 Finn entry enjoyed their usual close racing but it was David Hitchcock from Hayling who took the gun despite an early collision after starting. 

In the Fast Asymmetric it was a great day for the perennial “Fed Week” visitor Christian Reynolds in his Musto skiff.  In the light winds, the Slow Asymmetric were dominated by the RS400 of Rob Gullan and Jack Holden. In 2nd place was a new boat to CHRW, the 59er sailed by Andrew Peters and Rachel Jenkins from Castle Cove. 

The good entry of fourteen 29ers mean they get their own results this year and todays winners were Ed Stubbs and Kai Miller from Lyme Regis. The large fleet of 28 RS200’s saw the top 3 boats having a great tussle but it was Frances Partington’s downwind speed on the final run which saw Frances and Chris O’Neill take the gun followed by Paul and Suzie Hammett and then Aidan Mitchell in third place.

On Series B the race officer opted for a smaller windward-leeward course in case the wind dropped out as forecasted.  This turned out to be a good call and the sailors enjoyed a great morning.  

The 2000s were won by Martin Sowerby and Angela Booth, whilst the massive medium handicap fleet of 39 boats was won by Graham and Felix Camm in their National 12. A great result given no reaches, although some competitors evidently spent some time searching for a gybe mark.

The RS Aero 7 was won by Sarah Pickard from Bowmoor, whilst the RS Aero 6 was led by Glenn Collings all the way from the beautiful Mount Martha Yacht Club in Australia! In the Aero 5s the ever popular Carol Fiddaman took line honours ahead the also ever popular Sarah Smith in 2nd place. 

Bryan Taylor from Frensham Pond took the gun for the solo fleet, with today’s light conditions well suited to pond sailors! The ICLA4s were won by Ella Gardiner from Emsworth SC., whilst the ILCA6 fleet was won by Rob Jackson from Dragon Bay which we believe is in the Cayman Islands. In the RS Fevas Cara Lynch and Annabelle Kent crossed the line first.

On Series C the similar conditions endured but the team managed to get both races sailed, over  a trapezoid  course for the first time. In the Teras Ollie Gardiner has established a lead with two first places ahead of Jack Wood in a Tera Sport but with more wind tomorrow will this all change? In the Optimist fleet Ingaela Leask has the overnight lead with two seconds ahead of Wilfred Wareham with a 1st and 4th place. 

Tomorrow brings another early start, but with more wind forecast from the east. 

Know Your Flags, Know Your Colours

Electronic communication is now universal yet in the sailing world we still rely a lot on good old-fashioned flags and for good reasons. Flags are simple and reliable, visible and obvious.

However flags are of no use unless you understand what they mean. This article explains all.

In addition to the signal flags described in the Racing Rules of Sailing, Race Week uses two sets of colour-coded flags and it is important to know which colours apply to you.

Series (aka group) flags

Each Series has its own coloured flags. They normally bear the Event letter.

   A    yellow - Series A

   B    green - Series B

   C    pink - Series C

   D    white - Series D

Series flags are only ever flown from the Race Box. They are used in two ways

• When flown over an RRS signal flag they mean that the signal applies to that series alone. For example, a pink flag over an L flag means there is a change to the SIs or other information that affects only Series C. Check Notices on the Official Notice Board on the regatta website for details.
• When flown on their own they mean that competitors in that series should stay ashore, usually because there is either too much wind or not enough.

Event (aka fleet) flags

Each Event has a coloured flag unique within its Series. They normally bear the Event number.

Event flags are primarily used as class flags for starts. So, for example, if you are sailing a Flying Fifteen (Event 2) and you see a    2    (yellow) flag flying from your committee boat then you know the next start is yours.

Event flags may also be used to indicate that individual fleets are being shortened. So, if you see an S flag over    16    (grey) and    17    (jade) flags, it means that ILCAs and Fevas courses are shortened. Everyone else carries on.

What colours are my flags?

You can find out in words in the Race Programme document on the Official Notice Board, and in colour on the Entry List, both available on the event website. 

Key Takeaways

• Know your Series, its letter and its flag colour.
• Know your Event, its number and its flag colour.

Know these and you will know which flags to look out for and what they mean. 

Other Flags Seen on the Water

• Orange start line and blue finish line flags have a large letter A, B, C or D to indicate the Series to which they apply.
• A boat displaying a red and yellow flag is a patrol boat.

Important: if anything said here conflicts with the Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions then the latter are deemed to be correct.

Regatta Communications

It’s a two way thing -

• The regatta organisers need to provide competitors with news and instructions. 
• Competitors may want advice and clarification from the organisers.

Communications from the Organisers

Official Notice Board

This is the place for key documents such as the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions.

It’s a virtual noticeboard accessible via the regatta website or directly at https://sailevent.net/noticeboard/1bs

Notices to Competitors

Official updates that may be issued before or during the event. They are published on the ONB and promulgated to competitors by text and email.

Flags

Flown from the Race Box or on the race course. They have a lot going for them – visible, unambiguous, available to all. But you need to know what they mean. See the Know Your Flags, Know your Colours blog post here for a full explanation.

The UNofficial Notice Board

A WhatsApp group where regatta organisers post snippets of news to keep you in touch. Sign up via the ONB.

Push Notifications

Subscribe via the ONB to have significant things pinged to your phone. 

Communications from Competitors

It’s good to talk so if you have a question, need to report something or file a protest do pop up to the Race Management Office. It’s up the stairs behind the Race Box. Open on Sunday afternoon then daily from about 2 hours before the first start until well after racing has finished.

But sometimes digital communication is more convenient. You have available on the ONB:

• Protest forms
• Results query form

Finally there’s a Contact Us form on the Regatta Information menu on the event website or simply email chrw@sailevent.net

 

About Sail Numbers

There can’t be much to say about them, can there? Class and sail number uniquely identify a boat, don’t they? You put the number that’s on your sail on your entry form, it appears in the entry list, it gets recorded as you cross the finish line and it appears in the results. And that’s the way it is for just about everyone, except...

Typos There are always a few, usually digits transposed, like written as 1683 when it should be 1863. Easily done but it causes chaos when working out results – what’s this new boat, what class, who’s sailing it? So please take a moment to check the entry list and correct if necessary.

Hire boats can mean that you don’t know your sail number till late on so you left it blank when you entered. Not a problem but as soon as you do know your real number, please fill it in on your entry form. No sail number = no results!

Substitutions So far we’ve been talking about ‘official’ sail numbers, the ones that appear in results. But there are occasions, hopefully rare, when, in mid regatta, you have to switch to another sail with a different number – perhaps your original was damaged on a breezy day. This is where Alternate Sail Number on the entry form comes in. Put your substitute sail number in the Alternate box. That way, when your alternate number is seen on the finish line, it is automatically mapped to your original number and you appear correctly in the results. Alternate Sail Number is available on entry forms only during the regatta.

Not sure how to update your entry form? See Using the Online Entry Form in the Information section of the Official Notice Board on this website.

Racing Tips from the Archives

To mark 60 regattas, we’ve delved into the archives and come up with no fewer than four interesting and informative articles*.

They all date from the Noughties but the principles of sailing and the ebb and flow of tides remain constant so they are as relevant now as they were back then.

Which Way Shall We Go?

Co-authored by the late, great Roger “King of the Harbour” Palmer and the redoubtable, and still very much with us, Keith Walker.  Emphasising the importance of working the tides and being in the right place at the right time.

Racing in Fed Week, Tactics on the Ebb

Very pertinent. Roger again stresses the importance of tidal flow and how your strategy should adapt to wind direction.

Weighing up the Factors

Keith’s thoughts on where to position yourself on the course with real examples from Fed Week (now Race Week). And a cautionary tale to end!

By now you will have figured out that tide is all important when sailing in Chichester Harbour! The articles assume a level of local knowledge but fortunately Racing in Fed Week includes a chartlet of the racing marks (as they were then) so it should be easy enough to orient yourself. Though we now use inflatable marks the race area is exactly the same so, especially if you are a visitor, you may find it to your advantage to read and learn. 

And also observe the differences, and similarities, in boats and gear between then and now!

Finally we have the legendary Jim Saltonstall’s take on the winds and tides of Hayling Bay. Not so relevant to this regatta but nevertheless an amusing read in Jim’s inimitable style.

*All articles are PDFs and were originally published in Chichester Harbour Conservancy newsletters.

Chichester Harbour Race Week 2026

 

The hugely popular family-friendly Chichester Harbour Race Week (aka “Fed Week”) has now been running successfully for over 60 years.  

With the website open for entries, you can now reserve your place in this year’s ‘must attend’ event.  Starting on Monday 10th August, the regatta is organised by Chichester Harbour Federation and hosted by Hayling Island Sailing Club, the UK’s premier championship venue.

This prestigious five-day event is hugely popular amongst racers across Chichester Harbour and attracts sailors from over 50 clubs throughout the UK and beyond. There are often more than 500 competitors in 350 boats.   

Separate events will be provided for the eighteen fleets, run by four race teams. The regatta includes not only many parent-child teams but also former World and Olympic champions, offering something for everyone.

After racing there are social events throughout the week to keep families entertained - a steel band and afternoon barbecue, the famous Mengeham Rythe Sailing Club quiz night, gig rowing and of course the HISC disco and live band. And there are hosted evenings at other harbour clubs.

Keeping the regatta affordable and value for money is key to Race Week’s success so do take advantage of the Early Bird entry (until 30th June). That means five days of racing for a two-person youth boat is only £62 and for two adults only £83.  

Follow this link to enter now for this fantastic summer regatta.