Solent Sailing for the Juniors!

Published 10:53 on 7 May 2026

After a week of mixed weather, our Junior Sailing group was blessed once again with blue sky and warm sunshine for their session afloat last Saturday morning!

The complete lack of wind presented a prime opportunity to initially tow all the dinghies out into the becalmed Solent and, once there, await the faintest of southerly breeze which was forecast to come in.

With 24 Juniors spread across 8 RS Zests, 1 RS Feva, 1 RS Quba and a Pico, all lined up behind 4 support boats, the group headed out of Hawkers - to be greeted by one the seals who popped up to take in the sights!

Once out in the middle of the Solent, the dinghies were set free and pointed back for the river entrance with the light south easterly behind just enough to slip along.

Also at play on Saturday were the snakes and ladders of the local tides which brought very different spoils for the dinghies and their crews! Those that reached the last of the tide flooding into the river mouth received a very welcome push in, whilst those that located the Solent ebb tide found a great splash zone along the spit shore line.

Meanwhile the wall-to-wall sunshine brought some real heat to the early season so a good number even sought a swim or a capsize practise before completing the sedate sail off the wind back to the slipway.

Back ashore, the lunch time BBQ rounded off a memorable morning - and all before the afternoon rain!

Thank you, as always, to all the parent volunteers.

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