The imminent release of the latest James Bond movie – No Time To Die – will revive memories for Hayling Island SC members of an earlier Bond movie – The Spy Who Loved Me – released back in 1977.
For that Bond movie the club was involved as a staging post for the preparation and launching of a 250ft long plywood ‘Nuclear Submarine’, which was then towed out into Hayling Bay and blown up!
As recounted in the beautifully produced Hayling Island SC centenary volume ‘100 years in the making’ – the club received the grand sum £250 and no doubt a footnote in the history of the James Bond movie franchise when it comes to be written.
This nugget of information is just one of many items in the meticulously researched and presented photographic snapshot of HISC from where it all began in 1921.
This magnificent collection of images . . . from the first Regatta in 1922 featuring pillow fights (on a greasy pole) and sailing races with cash prizes to the value of £3 for the winner, charts the development of HISC and opens a picture on dinghy club sailing in Britain.
From the beginning HISC was at the forefront of dinghy sailing development, with the local clinker restricted classes, through to the International Canoe and Sharpie classes.
And after the shut-down during World War II, when the clubhouse was requisitioned for use by COPPS – Combined Operation Pilotage Parties – the club resumed sailing in 1945 with members enthusiastically taking up new design developments of the Merlin, International 14 and Firefly dinghies.
Then embracing the sailing dinghy boom years of the 70s and 80s, the club hosting numerous national and international championship events, through to today’s asymmetric dinghies, skiffs and foiling Moths.
This eclectic collection of images charts not just the growth of one of Britain’s major sporting clubs but offers a delightful photographic snapshot of the changing social scene, the increasing leisure time and different expectations of how that time can be spent.
There is no doubt that the Archivists at Hayling Island SC – Belinda Cooke and Leonie Austin – have produced a valuable volume that will not only interest present club members, but deserves a wider audience of those interested in the development of racing dinghy and sailing club culture in Britain.
This premium-quality hardback centenary book is a 200-page pictorial record that will make an ideal gift and is bound to secure a place on many coffee tables for years to come. Size 300mm x 250mm.
More information for Hayling Island SC ‘100 years in the making’ here . . .
‘Submarine’ Image courtesy of the Driscoll Family
