RACE REPORT: 15 September 2024: Visit by South Bank Sailing Club

Stunning! That is the first and best word to describe the day!

An inkling of the approach of a high pressure dome over the UK was seen in the slow lifting of the mist at Chiswick Bridge as a flotilla of seven SBSC boats plus their Safety Boat came into view.  On the foreshore, pre-assembled, were our Safety Boat with, amazingly, 10 SGSC boats lined up – an unparalleled turnout. A massive racing fleet of 17 boats!

With beautiful new bunting laid out by Nick Jeffery and pre-laid offerings of French and Danish pastries and tea and coffee, presented by Mary Short, and in ever-warming sunshine, it was just a matter of judging if there was sufficient wind to justify a B course – but since our visitors had already come that way, and the gentle but persistent North-West wind seemed to allow for a long A, that was decided upon.

The OOD welcomed the visitors – and described the long A course which also allowed the possibility of going round Olivers Island – and the hazard of Kew Bridge, while James added comments on how to find and see the Bell & Crown start line and how to perform a turn if anyone hit a buoy.

Thankfully, faced with the OOD’s ultimate nightmare probability of losing track of 17 boats crossing the line, and simultaneously clocking times and writing them down and not knowing all the names or numbers, a brilliant solution was suggested by Felicia to simply photo every boat as it went by – and use the camera recorded times later to write them down. But even more thankfully, Jane from SBSC, with a broken elbow, offered to assist as a duo with the OOD as he photographed and called out the sail numbers and times, which she could then write down.

A classic ship’s handbell, perfectly designed to perform acoustically superbly across the water – and unmistakably heard by everyone, set the fleet off. 

There was a most extraordinary of the sight of this vast fleet converging simultaneously on the downstream buoy – after which a running order emerged – with Tamir streaking ahead round the upstream mark set by The Steam Packet, to lead the first lap – and ultimately win the race. 

Thereafter, the effort to record the times was a monumental challenge. Multiple boats in parallel, with sails set goose-winged obscuring their number, driving fast in the increasing wind, were so hard to identify correctly; except by both the OOD and Jane helping each other with identifying who was who, and when.  The Race Sheet began to look like scrambled eggs of corrections.

And Stephen Newell wonderfully assisted by re-checking the sail numbers, after they passed by.

David Jones and Pacu in the SGSC Safety Boat ‘Kurt’, accompanied by the SBSC Safety Boat ‘Henry’ kept an expert eye on everyone all the time; with no incidents to attend to; though only three boats ‘appeared to disappear’ as they chose to go round the island.

After the race was over: with exactly 60 race times recorded over 6 laps, Jane and Andy and James (with his laptop) retired to the back of the club to decipher the signals and decode the camera photos to produce the handicapped results: an astonishing clean sweep victory [see list] for SGSC!

And the BBQ was superb! All the great work that had gone into its preparation and its cooking; marvelously orchestrated by Marian, Heather and Mary, with soup and sausages and sweet cakes, with loads of kids running around, and stories told of how the day had gone, was truly enjoyable.

And Tim proudly announced that “Everyone has won a Prize” – as he gleefully read out the list of winners – and handed out to great applause, celebration mugs to:

1          SGSC              Tamir

2          SGSC              James

3          SGSC              Rob & Tim

4          SGSC              Chris & Felicia

5          SGSC              Ben

6          SBSC              Roland

7          SBSC              Verena

8          SGSC              Lev &

9          SGSC              Tim

10        SGSG             Olly & Felicity

11        SBSC              Anthony

12        SBSC              John               

13        SBSC              Steph & Alan

14        SBSC              Eric

15        SGSC              Sam

16        SGSC              Keith

17        SBSC              Oliver

OOD: Andy Ross