Evening Sailing Races
10 weekday evening sailing races in Southampton Water, timed to suit as many sailing competitors as possible. Our Evening series is open to members of SWSA member clubs and individual members of the RYA, and offers open racing at the lowest cost in Southampton Water and the Solent.
times
Races are usually held on Wednesdays to avoid clashes with club races. Usual start is 7pm (no earlier than 6pm) with a time limit of 90 minutes.
We start off Netley at high water and use 8 pre-set courses (displayed at the start) to give good racing in each wind direction and avoid crossing the deep water channel.
We use the Byron Cruiser Handicap System and allow 5 discards from 10 races, so you have a fair chance even if you cannot make every race.
Join our friendly races
Just complete our simple entry form, pay your Race Fee for the year and you’re ready to race. We’re looking forward to meeting you!
Entry Fees
Sponsorship from Whale Pumps allows us to keep entry fees low. And your first year is free!
A single annual fee covering ALL SWSA races is £25 for members of SWSA clubs, £50 for RYA members
More about the SWSA Evening Sailing races in Southampton Water
Our evening sailing races have been running since 2008. They provide friendly racing with the opportunity for a social gathering afterwards where tides and daylight permit. We have had up to 18 boats racing in any day: fully crewed yachts, short handed entries using white sails only, and a sailing club boat sailed by different crews in each race. Yachts competing ranged from 40ft down to a Foxcub 18, and from a few years old to a 33ft classic built in 1951.
Sailing for everyone
It can be difficult for individual clubs to run their own sailing cruiser series to suit every member’s needs. SWSA helps by allowing members of different clubs to come together for sailing races in Southampton Water.
One of our primary objectives has been to facilitate entry to as many boats as possible and noting that many of our members are on tide restricted moorings, the races are always scheduled to coincide with the high water stand.
And if you are a keen sailor but not a member of any club, SWSA races give you the perfect opportunity to try some racing and be introduced to sailing clubs in the Southampton Water area.
Safe Sailing Races
Our courses are carefully planned to allow enough deep water so that none of our competitors need cross the Southampton Water main shipping channel. Potential interaction with commercial shipping is therefore minimised and we are proud to say that in all the series seasons we have had no close quarter incidents with commercial shipping and received no complaints from ABP or other water users. The SWSA protest committee has never sat for the evening series; testament to the friendliness, good seamanship and sportsmanship of our racing competitors.