Race Report – the Last Race – 10 November 2019

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Race Report, 10 November 2019, the Last Race

Sunday was a lovely sunny autumn day.  All it lacked was a steady sailing wind.  But then this is Strand on the Green.  The incoming tide was almost swamped by the flow of rainwater coming down the river, which meant that there was little or no beach for rigging the boats.  And the rigging was interrupted by the two-minutes silence, orchestrated by Tim on the starting horn.

Eight boats turned out for short A-course from the Zoffany start line, with an upstream buoy opposite the Bell and Crown and the downstream buoy below the grid.  Once Jane and Tim had disentangled themselves from the bank all the boats got away without recalls, and had a sort-of run downstream driven by a fickle wind with quite a lot of north in it.  Making the downstream mark was quite a struggle for the little boats but the Laser, Enterprises, Leader and Alex’s lugger managed to keep going pretty well.

Rob Adams in his Laser was first around the downstream mark and was well up the course before the Browns in their Enterprise, followed by Lev Kolobov (solo in Enterprise), Alex and Chris Greenwood (with Mary in the Leader) got around for the beat back upstream.

Rob was almost 2 minutes ahead of the Browns and Lev on the first lap; on the second lap he was followed by Alex and then the Browns, who then overtook Alex and maintained second place with Lev in close pursuit.  At the end of five laps Rob was 9 minutes ahead of the Browns with Alex and Lev within two minutes astern.

The shifty wind on the downwind leg caused Chris and Ian to complete only four laps with the two Gulls, Tim and Jane, both doing three laps.

After the handicap sums were done Rob was the clear winner with Alex in second place followed by the Browns.

Mary Short got back to the arch in time to fire-up the barbeque and cook some very spicey sausages.  Sam, who manned the safety boat, had orchestrated the classic Beer and Bangers feast with home-brew beer, as usual, courtesy of Steve Newell and a variety of other treats from sundry members.

So that was the end of the 2019 season.  What will we do with Sundays in the coming bleak winter days?

AGM 2019

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The winter is over and we are back !

The Strand on the Green Club Annual General Meeting took place at The City Barge on 19th of February 2019.
Minutes can be downloaded here:
SGSC_AGM_2019.

Good luck in the new season.

Last Race, 4 November 2018

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The last race, 4 November 2018

An early start at 1000 did not deter 11 boats from turning out – the largest number for any race in 14 years.  It was an overcast morning with a fitful SE wind of F3 coming straight up the river adding to a moderate tide.  Rob Collingwood and David Jones put the downstream buoy just above the grid and the upstream one well clear of Kew Bridge.

The Enterprises, tacking down against the tide, trying to make the best of the slower inshore waters, reached the downstream buoy first and the Browns, taking advantage of a slight wind shift, tried an oblique attack on it from upstream.  The gamble failed, the wind dropped and the tide pushed them onto the buoy and forced a penalty re-rounding.  James, crewed by grandson Ayanda, took the more cautious approach tacking downstream of the mark and established a lead which he maintained and increased throughout the race.  At the end of the first lap James led the Browns by about 2 minutes followed by Andy and Enoch with Lev close on their transom.  At the second lap James’ lead over the Browns was nearer 5 minutes and Rob Adams was less than half a minute behind.  By the third lap Rob was 10 seconds ahead of the Browns with Lev in fourth place, and it was on the third lap that Chris Greenwood, on his second race in a Solo, capsized and took some time to get sailing again – wet and cold.  That was the only drama of the morning, apart from the disappointment of Jane who had to be rescued by the safety boat from the perils of Kew Bridge.

Rob maintained his narrow lead over the Browns for the next two laps and there were some interesting inshore tacking battles on the downstream legs.  By the fifth lap of the leading ‘also rans’, James and Ayanda had worked their way through the fleet to lap everyone.  A lap later the Browns had regained their narrow margin over Rob which they maintained to the end, and Lev, also on seven laps, finished fourth.

So James was the decisive winner with 8 laps, followed by the Browns, Rob and Lev on 7 laps, Ian and Andy on 6 laps, Chris and Alex on 5 laps, Tim on 3 laps, Sam Shemtob (late starter) on 1 lap and Jane a reluctant non-starter.

Meanwhile, Mary Short was at work on the barbeque and a sumptuous feast was being prepared.  Founder member Marthe Armitage was present as well as Margaret Berger with a delicious chocolate cake.

Many thanks to Enoch for an immaculate record of a very crowded finishing line (he suggests that next time sailors should space themselves out more evenly), and to Rob Collingwood and David Jones for standing by in the safety boat.

Racing results 1 April 2018

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Race Report 1 April 2018, the Easter Egg Race

Sunday followed several days of rain and a predicted high tide, and the Met Office told us the wind would be as near as possible to non-existent.  Not ideal conditions for a race, but three Enterprises turned out nevertheless.  James Armitage was crewed by David Kolobov; Rob Collingwood was crewed by Lev Kolobov; and Dave Berger was crewed by Sheila in the Brown’s Enterprise.

Chris Jones assisted by Henry Brown, set a short A-course with a start line at Zoffany House.  There was so much rain water coming down the river that the flood tide flow was noticeably less than normal but started high up the foreshore:  all three boats launched straight into the water from the ramp.  All managed to drift and manoeuvre close to the start line for the signal and set off together but unusually for a downstream / against the tide start, the boats furthest from the bank fared best.  The Bergers found wind from somewhere and, relatively speaking, romped away.  James tried everything, but Porpoise refused to make progress.  The Bergers made the downstream mark, well above the draw dock, and drifted back up to the Bell and Crown upstream mark comfortably ahead of Rob.  But despite all efforts they continued to drift towards Kew Bridge as Rob rounded the mark and continued his stately progress back to the start line.  James meanwhile was still struggling to get to the downstream mark.

The strength of the tide was by now increasing and still had an hour to go.  It had topped the footpath and the OOD and his assistant were ankle deep.  Rob passed the start line after 26 minutes and Dave crossed it five minutes later.  The prospect of another half-hour, at least, of this was more than the OOD team could bear and they declared the race finished.  No loud protests were heard from the sailors.  So the Easter Egg was won by the Rob / Lev Enterprise.

The OOD team waded back to the arch just as the water reached the top of their wellies; the three Ents sailed/paddled/drifted straight into the yard, followed by Dave Jones in the safety boat, who backed practically up to the arch door to offload the engine  and bits; and all present were then marooned  until the tide turned, more of less on schedule, at 1630.  They were sustained by cups of tea, Rum and Blackcurrant, Easter Egg and some tasty seasonal concoctions from Michael Sommerville and Alice.

Next week it’s a 1500 D-course.  Lets hope for just a bit more wind.

Dance and Dinner Tickets on Sale !

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Greeting Sailors and non-Sailors!

We are happy to invite you to reserve your tickets below for SGSC Dance and Dinner Party. We are looking forward seeing you all.

Delicious 3 course dinner and cash bar.
Highland dancing with the Craigievar Scottish Dance Band.
Raffle later in the evening.

Dress code:
Black Tie/ Scottish Dress. Footwear – come prepared for lively dancing!
Where:
Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club | Old Deer Park, Twickenham Road, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 2SB | T: 020 8940 1894
When:
Saturday, March 03, 2018, Start time is 7.30pm.
 
Please let Marian know immediately if there are any dietary requirements.
 

Dinner and Dance Ticket Request Form
Strand on the Green Sailing Club invites you, your family and your friends to Dinner and Dance party on Saturday, March 03, 2018 Please reserve your tickets here.
How many tickets would you like to purchase?
In case we need to reach you.
Please provide the phone number we can reach you to take payment.
Please let us know if you have any dietary requirements.

Last Race, 5 November 2017

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Last Race of the season, 5 November  2017

It was a bright and breezy afternoon with a full F3, plus added gust, blowing down the A-course from Kew Bridge.  A magnificent 9 boats took to the water, but even before the start three of them came to the conclusion that an immersion was highly likely and returned to the ramp – all Enterprises: the Browns, Rob Collingwood, and Chris and Laura Greenwood.  The others were made of sterner stuff.

Dave and Sheila Berger, rare visitors to our waters, sailing James Armitage’s Enterprise, led almost from the start.  He was closely followed by Nick Floyer at the start of the second lap (14 seconds behind) with Alex Pape and Ian Nethersell also less than a minute behind.   Alas, that was it for Nick.  He was overpowered on the run downstream, capsized, and despite valiant attempts to right his Lightning, it refused to behave.  After several attempts he had to concede and retire from the race – wet and cold.

So that left five contenders, and the Bergers kept ahead, but not by much at first.  At lap two all four were within two minutes of each other.  At three laps Alex and the Bergers were a mere 20 seconds apart with Lev and Ian about three minutes behind them.  Alex was still number two on the next lap with Ian just ahead of Lev, but by the next lap both had overtaken Alex.  The Bergers were drawing further ahead by this stage and went on to lap all the others.  They completed seven hectic laps in the allotted hour, three minutes ahead of Ian’s six laps with Alex and then Lev crossing the line after a further two and three minutes.  Sam Shemtob, with two crew in his Wayfarer and two reefs in his main fought for three laps and the fifth place but was forced to take assistance from the safety boat and retired.

So ended a very exciting race, as well as the 2017 sailing season.  The handicap system gave the race to the Bergers, followed by Lev, then Alex, and finally Ian.  Many thanks to Enoch Rodriguez for supervising the event, and to David Jones and Steve Newell for manning the safety boat.

As usual the race was followed by Beer and Bangers.  The beer was brewed by Steve, Mary Short slaved over the barbeque, soup and cake were provided by Margaret Berger, and other food was provided by several willing members.  It was especially good to see three of our most senior members at the feast: Kurt and Margaret Berger and Paul Williamson.