570 reasons why Chichester Harbour Race Week was a hit

There should have been a fifth day, but a menacing storm loomed as Wednesday’s starts were in progress and in the interests of safety racing was abandoned for 14 of the 17 fleets – only the youngsters on sheltered water close to shore and the Elite keelboats in Hayling Bay continued.If anything, that made the racing even more competitive over the final two days of the regatta, run from Hayling Island SC by 100-plus volunteers from member clubs of the Chichester Harbour Federation.

Top three places in many fleets were decided by the final race.Sailors of all ages and abilities took part, some two or even three generations of the same family. The 375 boats entered represented 45 clubs stretching from Devonshire to Cheshire, from Kent to South Wales and including the regular contingent from Sussex Sailability.

Highest turn-outs came from within the harbour, notably from Hayling Island SC and Emsworth SC – who tied on points for the club team trophy.Largest entry came from the RS200s, at 41, a week before their national championship at HISC. The three handicap events were very well supported, too, and included classic dinghies such as Ospreys, International Canoes and Merlin-Rockets as well as many modern asymmetrics.

Large numbers of the increasingly popular RSAero single-handers were among the one-design fleets, and 2000s had an impressive 17 entrants.Competitors from the Sussex side of the harbour had good results: notably two from Chichester YC: Thomas Knight, who headed the youngest group, the Optimists, and Sophie Kirk, first in the combined Laser Radials and 4.7s – where Sue Manning (Dell Quay SC) was the leading 4.7.CYC's Ian Barnett was fourth Solo overall, and clubmate Roger Millett had the same final place in the Hadron/Devoti/RSAero 9 fleet. Competitors from Emsworth SC and Emsworth Slipper SC did wellConditions varied throughout the week, there were often remarkably tight finishes, and the week again proved that dinghy sailing remains a very safe sport.