Race Report,  1 September 2019, SBSC and RSC visit

It was quite an intimidating sight for the hosts to see a fleet of 11 dinghies beating up the river towards us.  There were 11 from SBSC and one from Ranelagh.  We managed to muster six on the foreshore but Tim had to retire before the start with a bad case of gravel in the centreboard slot.

We set a B-course, downstream of the Railway Bridge, and the wind was a brisk F3-4, and mostly F4. Quite challenging for the mixed fleet of mostly single-handers.

Una-Jane Winfield (Ranelagh), solo in her RS200, led almost from the start. On the first lap she was followed closely by Lev, solo in his Enterprise, with Rob Adams (Laser) close behind.  Lev had a spectacular capsize at the upstream mark on the second lap, was swept under the bridge and spent some time bailing on the foreshore before re-joining the race.  Rob passed the line in second place on the second lap and continued close to Una-Jane’s transom to the end of the race. At this stage Ian (Vibe) was in third place but with a flock of SBSC boats in hot pursuit.  On the third lap Henry Cook (SBSC, Laser) was in third place with Ian in 4th, and on the fourth and final lap Henry in 3rd place was followed by Jacob Grunig, flying Estonia’s Olympic colours (Laser), Allen Munro (Enterprise),  Nick Ives (Xenon), and then Ian.

Eleven of the 16 boats completed 4 laps with the remainder completing 3, and despite at least eleven capsizes (before the safety boat ran out of fingers), in very frisky conditions, no one sought help and retired.

After the Yardstick sums were done, the finishing order was Rob (SGSC) 1st, Una-Jane (RSC) 2nd by about 6 seconds on corrected time, and Ian (SGSC) 3rd.  The team trophy was award to SBSC: it’s awarded on the sum of the positions of, this year, the first five boats in each fleet.  Lowest score wins.

The after-race socialising, initially wading in ankle-deep water, centered around Stephen Newell’s excellent home brew and mounds of cake, soup, cheese and biscuits from many volunteers.  As usual, a good time was had by all.

Please note: The results below have been corrected to reflect the fact that Sarah Bennett did 4 laps, not 3.  Many apologies to her.