HMS Spirits & haggis racing

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The Haggis Racing sailing team is based on the South Coast out of East Cowes, Isle of Wight. 

They are a very well ­known and popular team that compete competitively in the Solent sailing scene. 

PICTURE CREDITS: John Green & Nick Edwards - both superb sailing photographers based on the Isle of Wight

The Boat

Haggis 2 is a Mustang 30 Mk2, designed by Paul Handley and built at Harley Raceboats in 1998. She has been owned by Andrew and Rebecca since 2015. Under their ownership, Haggis 2 has had many good results proving to be an extremely competitive boat. Recent results include 2nd in class in Cowes week 2018, 7th in ISCRS in RTI 2018 (1st in div, 2nd in class) and 3rd in the ISC Tuesday night series along with many other ECSC Thursday night race wins. This year so far we are sat in 4th for the Tuesday night series and came 6th in ISCRS in RTI, so clearly on track for some good results in this years Cowes Week, results that could be even better with coaching, allowing us to make the marginal gains that separate the good and the best. 

The Crew

The crew’s age range spans over 40 years. Sailing experience of crew members is intentionally mixed as one of the core values of the team is focused around mentoring and inspiring others to get involved in sailing. This works well in terms of team dynamics with the more experienced offering support and training to the less experienced members. For example Will their bowman started out when he was 13, with the support of others such as Andrew who is an ex Challenge yacht mate, is now preparing to take part in the blind sailing world championships in Canada as sighted crew and is now passing on his experience to others. Rebecca ensures there is always a balanced gender mix on­board and has particularly inspired many women to take part in sailing that would not have normally done so.

Follow Haggis Racing

Haggis Racing has a relatively new but rapidly growing social media presence. With nearly 200 followers between Facebook and Instagram their audience is mostly 25­44 years old with a near balance of male to female.  Whilst reach does vary according to activity at times they can be reaching over 500 people and know that with a little bit more focus in this area they could greatly improve their numbers and reach. Their bowman is a dab hand with a Go­Pro and made this little video of at Cowes Week last year. https://bit.ly/2Y50Aia

Instagram  ­  @haggisracing     www.instagram.com/haggisracing/

Facebook  ­    Haggis Racing      www.facebook.com/haggisracing1/