On 25 June, a squad of eight SHSK students set off on a three-day trip to Chichester Harbour to race at the BDSRA Schools’ Firefly Regatta 2025.
This was our first outing on tidal waters and with just a couple of training sessions in the Fireflies under their belt, our sailors were quickly put to the test by the challenging wind conditions.
The regatta involves fleet racing in Fireflies across one training day followed by two days of racing, with each boat crewed by two sailors.
Many other boats in the fleet were mainly crewed by older, Sixth Form sailors, so with SHSK represented by a younger squad – mainly students from Years 9–11 – it was fantastic to see how they persevered and made the most of their time on the water.
The experience was extremely valuable for our sailors, and the whole squad enjoyed the opportunity to sail in a large fleet and socialise with crews from other schools.
We are hugely grateful to Itchenor Sailing Club for hosting the event and for their warm hospitality, to Spinnaker Sailing club for arranging the use of their Fireflies, and to Keith Sammons at Ksail for his support in keeping the four SHSK boats water-ready!
