Guy Cribb Interview

Guy Cribb, Round Hayling's 'Fastest Guy' answers a few questions about his past experiences with the race.

1.  How many times have you entered the event & how many times have you won it?

About five times, 88, 91, 92, and 2010-ish
Won it three of those times I think.


2.  What were the conditions like when you achieved the course record in 1992?

Northerly wind creating really flat water for highest speeds and smoothest blast under the bridge (at full speed), gusting 20-30 knots. It was low tide though so sailing upwind from HISC to the bridge was a series of about fifty tacks, at this point the small board I was on was not the fastest - long boards were ahead of me, but I quickly overtook them as we sailed off the wind.


3. Do you think that your course record can be broken?

Yes, I would have broken it in 2010 if it weren't for the 40knot squall. It had taken around 30 mins to go from HISC anticlockwise all the way to the west point/lifeboat place - I got there quicker than the staff driving there to monitor the sailors coming passed! From there it should have been a quick blast back to the club and finish- probably about 15 mins. But the squall flattened me on a sail for half that wind speed. I was unable to recover for about ten minutes, then there was a massive wind shift and eventually the wind died, with exhaustion I wobbled in to HISC.


4.  What is special to you about the Hayling Round Island Windsurfing event?

Circumnavigations of anywhere is a great natural challenge, I think in general sailing races should use more geographical features anyway, and Hayling is a particularly good one for windsurfing. My favourite area is negotiating the bridge - approaching it at full speed and at the last second dropping the rig down, gliding underneath it, looking at barnacles and hearing traffic, trying to keep the board planing, then lifting the rig back up with out it touching the water, feeling the wind fill it again and accelerate towards the open water of the west side. There's no where else in the sailing world that has that obstacle in the middle of a race!

6/3/2015 10:08