Tasar World Championship at Hayling Island Sailing Club - Overall

Australian father and daughter duo, Rob and Nicole Douglass won their third World Championship (2005, 2009 & 2019) and the Masters Trophy.

The event certainly had its moments. The British weather threw everything it had at the Tasar fleet from brilliant sunshine, rain, to varying wind strengths. There was no racing on Tuesday due to the high winds and protests included one against the Race Officer for breaching the class wind strength limits which was dismissed and one against Championship winners (and others) for class design breaches which could have knocked them out of the Championship completely. It was eventually dismissed and final results stood.

Start line during the Tasar Worlds at Hayling Island - photo © Peter Hickson

The Japanese and Australian boats were packed into their respective containers and competitors donned their glad rags for the Championship Dinner and Prize giving. Everyone was entertained at their tables by a magician and danced the night away afterwards in the bar to a live band.

1st Rob & Nicole Douglass (Jervis Bay SC) - World Champions and Masters
2nd James & Tara Burman (GRSC)
3rd James Peters & Charlie Darling (Hayling Island Sailing Club)
4th Rick Longbottom & Darryl Bentley (RANSA) - 1st Grand Master
5th Michael Karas & Molly Jackson (Seattle YC)
6th Paul & Bronwyn Ridgway - 1st Senior Grand Master (Leigh & Lowton SC)
7th Hugh & Anna Tait (Northbridge)
Heather Macfarlane - Female Helm
Gwen Sargent - Junior Helm

Gwen Sargent wins Junior Helm in the Tasar Worlds at Hayling Island - photo © Roy O'Donnell

The competitors leave HISC this morning for their return trips home, some via a well-deserved holiday and others to various sailing championships and regattas around the globe.

Mark Wood Race Officer praised his team this morning saying "It was a long Championship and it had it's 'moments' but that's how it is sometimes. Strangely yesterday (Saturday) was the toughest of the week with my race officers hat on, as the wind was shifting around and we had a strong tide across the race track but will still managed to get two fair races in. To achieve the scheduled 12 races is a true reflection on how good and strong our race team was and we can all hold our heads up high."

The Tasar 2021 World Championship will be held at Seattle Yacht Club.

Camraderie and sportsmanship define Tasar World Championships at HISC (from Sarah Desjonqueres)

It has been 8 years since the UK hosted a Tasar Worlds and, so it was with great pleasure that Hayling Island SC rolled out the welcome carpet for the 2019 Tasar World Championships last week (28th July to 3rd August). Representing Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, USA and the UK, 67 boats signed up for a week on the water which turned out to be packed with drama, tight racing and unbelievable acts of sportsmanship amongst the fleet.

HISC Race Officer Mark Wood and his incredibly hard-working team successfully laid on 12 championship races run in conditions ranging from frustrating zephyrs to full fat houlies plus everything in between, in a Championship that all parties involved will not forget quickly.

Sunday and Monday delivered racing that was simply a sailors' delight; the sun shone, the afternoon sea breeze filled Hayling Bay and the competitors were given plenty of waves and wind to play with, allowing us all to iron out the creases and get our Championship heads on. Obviously with 67 boats on a start line, the general recall flag (and its mate the Black flag) both got a good airing, but nobody minded. After 2 days, the practice race and the first 3 races of the series were up on the board, the happy sailors had negotiated the washing machine re-entry sail back to the club with very little incident and the beers on the sunny balcony tasted good.

But a UK summer can be a moody thing and Tuesday rolled in with 50knot winds and 50ft (well maybe not that big) waves romping across Hayling Bay. Not even the most committed sailor was up for that kind of challenge and racing was postponed for the day with the decision to sail on the reserve day, Thursday, instead.

Wednesday was not a lot better. The sea state was still pretty excited from the hammering the day before and the wind was still whistling through the halyards. The Race Team sent scout boats out to assess the situation, considered it good and at around midday, in 17knots of wind, the D flag went up and the boats were released.

All bar a sagacious six, decided to race - the Race Team deeming the conditions sailable and within the Sailing Instruction limits - at this point however no-one could have predicted what was ahead. By the end of the first race the wind had cranked up to an energy level that was turning the bay white and a handful of boats had decided to run the gauntlet and head for home, in itself no mean feat. By the end of the second race the only way to describe the scene was carnage. Championship leaders Team Douglass lost their mast on the final leg, as did several other boats. Capsizes now littered the course and in such heavy seas, crews were quickly becoming separated from their boats forcing the helms to turn turtle and stand on the boats desperately clinging to the daggerboards just so they could keep an eye on their precious lost cargo. Frighteningly, Australian visitor, 71 year old Julie Creak, was washed over board during a capsize and very quickly disappeared from sight under the waves, her distraught husband, Tony watching in horror. Miraculously, local sailors Richard Marsden and Emma Toman, quickly read the situation and unable to see a support boat nearby, abandoned their race to sail over in the very tricky conditions to rescue Julie from the water and return her to a visibly upset Tony. Really incredible sportsmanship and bravery.

John Lowton of Babbacome Corinthian SC had to limp home under tow with a large section of his deck missing, as the violent combination of a delaminating deck and a dramatic dismasting ripped out the port side of the boat. Talking to John later in the bar however, he described the scary incident in less technical terms suggesting his dead boat was less to do with hull integrity failure and more to do with "a large white shark appearing from nowhere and taking a bite". Ok....

It doesn't stop there, a Japanese boat lost its transom, somehow, and once helm and crew had been transferred to safety, it duly sank (it was marked with a buoy for recovery later). Several sailors were dragged from the water by support boats after spending a fair amount of time trying to keep their head above the waves, many swallowed a lot of salt water and Steve Eustice, who told me over a beer that he 'bleeping' hates the water, said "he did not particularly enjoy the experience".

Sadly, one very, very unfortunate Japanese sailor, Mahoro, managed to badly sever a finger which required surgical intervention. She was whisked back to base and taken straight to hospital. She was back in the club by the end of the week sporting a very large bandage and a strapped up arm and will fortunately make a full recovery.

Despite the chaos all across the race course, there were still enough boats upright and competing to complete both races. It wasn't simple though, Dutch visitor Constantine, after a full turtle capsize 20m from the finish line went trawling the bay floor with his mast. After effecting a quick righting of the boat and regardless of a completely buckled top section he still successfully whizzed over the finish line to get another good score on the board.

The trip home - crazy southerly winds, across the bar, on an ebbing tide - was described by many as the most terrifying experience they have ever had (apparently you can still see the imprints of desperately clinging fingers on the gunwhales of many Tasars..). As I said, this was a Championship that all parties involved will not forget quickly The Race Team must be given full credit however, every sailor and every broken boat was rescued and returned to shore. The Team were out on the water for many, many hours and had to deal with incredibly difficult conditions, carrying out the skilled and precarious task of towing damaged boats back across the bar, along with their wide-eyed crews, carefully through some very heavy, confused seas. Thank you to you all.

Back in the club, after a heady evening of recuperative beers (thanks to the sponsors and the class association for the free bar), the memories of windy Wednesday gradually became less intense with each epic retelling and for those still with some energy left, it was time to hit the dance floor for some lessons in swing jive organised by the Class Association Chairman Rod Porteous and his wife Maureen.

Windy Wednesday subsequently calmed through the night leaving us with tranquil Thursday, and honestly, the difference was ridiculous. After a short postponement to let the sea breeze wake up, we all launched and enjoyed a highly competitive afternoon with 3 races. Again, the camaraderie and sportsmanship was on show, competitors pointing out to one another when there was weed wrapped around rudders and generally just enjoying being out on the water with each other.

As the week rolled on, the wind seemed to wander off elsewhere, and Saturday's racing was spread over 2 rather painfully slow races where much was won or lost on the shifty beats. There was fun ahead for sail number 742, who were forever finding themselves as the jam in a Tasar sandwich at the mark and got caught once more in a mark rounding melee, this time at the end of the run, where on this occasion the lack of space was further exacerbated by a faster boat, now on the beat attempting to sail back up through a fleet of goosewinged wobbly boats. After a fair amount of shouting and bit of light boat contact, all the dinghies found space to gybe and friendly racing resumed. Big fleet racing really is something else.

Up at the front of the fleet and with few enough points on the board, the third place earned by Team Douglass in race 11 gave them the World Championship title once more and earned them the right to watch the last race from the side-lines.

Waiting for everyone back in the club house were hundreds of scones made by Maureen Porteous, thank you so much Mo, and in honour the rumbling debate, the ladies who had prepared the treats had ensured that some scones were prepared jam first then the cream (the only way) whilst others were assembled upside down, with cream first and then jam, that way everyone was happy.

The week long Championship then came to a close Saturday night with the prize giving, a fabulous meal and an evening of live music to which around 200 people attended making the HISC Club House buzz. Thank you to the sponsors Vaikobi for the spot prizes and free drinks, to HISC for laying on a fantastic week of sailing and socialising and thank you to all the sailors who came from so far to compete and to keep this lovely fleet alive and kicking.

Overall Results: