Hayling Island has long held a tradition of one of the foremost locations in the UK and who am I to disagree with that! For most people it's a rapid (joke) drive down the A3 from SW London, turn off at Havant and then a quick (further joke) drive across the island to the beach. That said apart from getting there & then getting off the island, on a "good" day Hayling can offer some great sailing/kiting & surfing, though to a lesser degree. Andy Biggs in the season runs a hire center, instruction, shop and club near to the sailing beach, just next to the Inn on the Beach which is always a bonus if you end up breaking some kit. Off season the shop is just before you turn off to the beach. And if you're traveling down with families etc - it's not a bad beach for them - along with thousands of others! Hayling has always been a major venue and used to attract more windsurfers to the annual round Hayling Race than any other UK event - in fact a major Sunday Newspaper "The Observer" used to sponsor it. Gone are those glory days of pumping an 8.0 sqmt sail around the island on a big old race board in light winds! This review will focus more on the seaward beach and sailing/kiting than the Langstone Harbour end, though if you travel down late in the day in high season that's probably about as far as you will get on to the island! The beach is well signposted for "Board Sailing" and the main area is half a mile west away from the Inn on the Beach. As you can see from the map below the "East Winner" sandbank is perfectly positioned to provide good conditions depending on the wind and what exactly you want from your sailing! These reviews tend not to be for the "beginner", if they still exist in windsurfing, and Hayling can offer conditions to suit all abilities, Langstone Harbour with it's gentle sloping mud flats is ideal, though only at certain times due to tides - low tide is not good due to the vast quantities of mud! So if you are a beginner / intermediate check on the tide times and tide heights. As for the beach itself, Hayling again is like many other S Coast locations, pebble beach with sand at low tide Fair amount of sea defenses, usual high tide launching problems, which is good for Andy Biggs turnover, though not his hire kit! And local summer sea breezes from May through to September make this a classic bump n'jump / freestyle, or what ever you're into location! Anything from the North West, through to SE will work, though in the winter and early spring anything with East in them should have a health warning as quite a considerable wind chill goes with them. Best conditions as always is a westerly with a slight bit of North in it, and again after a couple of days of strong South Westerlies - that will provide very good clean waves and down the line riding if the swell is at all decent, so I am informed! Vast majority of windsurfers and kiters that will visit Hayling will never see the above conditions in their full glory, as they will either be at work or at home on a cold February Sunday morning! Hayling is also a great location at low tide for intermediates keen to progress. The Car pak area - as usual pay n'display Looking down along the beach into the sunlight! Hayling is now one of the major South Coast Kite locations, and Andy Biggs one of the few on beach centres to offer instruction and rental kit (mad fool). That said, the kiters have been upsetting people, or is it the other way round, the dog walkers and golfers have been upsetting the kitesurfers. Anyway they will do well not to get banned this season from the beach. All kitesurfers, and there are many, are fine model citizens and they can now be seen helping old grannies with their terriers to walk over their lines. It will be interesting to see how the above situation works out, because there is no doubt Hayling is a great kitesurfing venue, and attracts large numbers, and as so often happens its very own success might be its demise! Other beaches will be looking on with interest. STOP PRESS from HKA The low down is that the golf club at Hayling (who own the beach) have written to Phil (Chairman of the HKA) advising that the local byelaw banning kitesurfing will be upheld this year.......... Basically we (the members of the HKA) are putting proposals to the golf club- the proposals are summarised as follows: members & signed in guests only guests have to be checked for proficiency and pay a day fee all members, guests & probationers to be identified by rash vests members & probationers to pay an annual fee to cover costs of running the HKA & affiliation to the BKSA Learning, probationers & members kitesurf areas to be strictly controlled & marked on the beach - basically, members can go from the usual launch area (but this will be clearly marked out), probationers to go from the area close to where Phil runs his lessons ie well out of the way Remember.these are the draft proposals only & await the agreement of the golf club......we really are at their mercy!! Apparently they have had lots of complaints from non watersport beach users throughout the year & reading between the lines are losing their sense of humour Hayling does not have major problems with currents, if you stay in the main area - venturing further out to play off the winner out to sea is fine, as long as you and your kit hold out. There are plenty of craft on the water and other users so if something does go you should be ok. Hayling will always be one of the most popular sites, along with Poole, and there to me is the problem, not so much with the number of water users, it's always great to be out on the water with other people, but the sheer hassle of getting to the place, and off it! That said it's only a few weekends of the year when things get really bad, and if you've any common sense leave early to get there, and chill out in the Inn on the Beach whilst the day trippers leave. Best time will be a Monday morning in the spring / autumn with 4-5 ft waves and a steady 25mph from the WNW while every git's back at work!
