OOD: Enoch Rodriguez.   Safety Boat: Tim Young and David Jones

Sunday was our 28^th and Last Race of the season with its own special prize.  There was sunshine and a WSW wind at 8knots, gusting 17knots (according to the Met Office at Kew Gardens).   Tim set a long triangular A-course with a downstream buoy at the bottom end of Oliver’s Island (giving the opportunity of an upstream leg on either side of the island).  The upstream rowing buoy on the Surrey side and our buoy opposite the Steam Packet formed the other end of the triangle.

Eight boats launched from the rapidly diminishing foreshore: three Enterprises (James Armitage and crew in Zephyr, Rob Adams in Big Polly, and Lev Kolobov in Porpoise); two Lasers (Ben Chappell in Envy and Keith Clarke in Kaia); Chris Greenwood and Felicia Biekark in Distant Thunder  – Leader; Nick Floyer in flo – Gull; and Rebecca Hayes in Wagtail – Mirror.

It was a day for the big boats: the three Enterprises and the Leader led the way from the start at 13:45 with all four within three minutes at the first lap – James and Rob 10 seconds apart.  Rob was ahead at the second lap by about the same margin, but James soon overtook and was ahead for the next three laps, and he was 20 seconds ahead of Rob when Enoch finished the race after 51 minutes on the fifth lap.  Chris, Ben and Lev were next on four laps each, and Nick, Keith and finally Rebecca finished their three laps after 70 minutes.

Meanwhile the tide had forced OOD Enoch and Ian Nethersell off the footpath and onto the steps of the Bell and Crown.  And yet they resisted a drink. Their return to the club had to be along Thames Road with the last short stretch welly-deep past the Bull’s Head. 

By then the dinghies had floated into the Club’s soggy premises where the barbeque was sizzling with sausages and Steve Newell’s delicious beer was flowing freely.  The traditional end-of-season Beer and Bangers was relaxed and, as ever, enjoyed by all.  Many thanks to those many hands who provided and prepared the sumptuous feast.

The handicap sums made little difference to the finishing order: first James, second Rob and third Chris.  

The results for this race are shown below.  The final results for the whole season need some tweaking to account for the ‘best 14 results’ which is a way of reducing the advantage to those who sail most frequently.  The Master of Sums will publish them as soon as possible.

OOD: Keith Clarke;   Safety Boat: Tim Young

A glorious autumn day, sunny, warm, but no wind.  After deliberating for several minutes the four intrepid sailors said a C course was viable. Four boats made it to the start: James Armitage and crew in Zephyr (Enterprise); Felicia Biekark in Kaia (Laser); Rebecca Hayes in Wagtail (Mirror); and Nick Jeffery in Eeyore (Duckling).  All successfully navigated Kew Bridge will skill, with Nick gamely rowing up to the start.

A good start with James drifting across the line with the current, chased by Felicia in Keith’s lent/borrowed laser, with Rebecca and Nick following.

The safety boat took the opportunity to go upriver to look at the recent breach in the tow path, which is substantial. Returning downstream the mark was dropped astutely at Brentford to be positioned for both slack tide and 30 min sailing.  On checking on the fleet’s progress Nick was not in sight.  A rapid run downstream to the clubhouse followed with no sight of Nick.  Meanwhile James continued to lead closely chased by Felicia and Rebecca further back.  Still barely a breath of wind.

Nick was finally spotted having gone up the channel north of the Brentford Eyots, happily drifting on the slight current.

On returning to the main channel all three leading boats had rounded the mark and were headed downstream on the slowly increasing tide. We agreed with Nick on his emergence from behind the Eyot that he would not reach the upstream mark against the turned tide.  We instructed him to sail a shortened course and chase the fleet downstream.

At the finish line James crossed at 1hr 6 min 30 sec chased by Felicia at 1hr 7min 45 sec, Rebecca at 1hr19min 33sec and Nick at 1hr 20 plus 15 min penalty,1hr 35 min since he clearly deserved to have a finished time.  Great day on the river, pity about the wind.

Keith Clarke (OOD)

Next week we have an A-course starting at 14:00.

Advance warning:  the ever-popular SGSC winter Dinner and Dance is booked for 8^th March 2025 at the Royal Mid Surrey Golf Club.  Mark it in your diary and email Marian to let her know of your interest: armitagew4@gmail.com.

Race Report   6 October 2024

OOD:  Mary Brown,    Safety Boat:  Henry Brown

This Sunday was the day for the annual test closing of the Thames Barrier.  It was scheduled to close at 0900 and reopen to the incoming tide at 1930.  Our race, scheduled before the closure was announced, was to start at 1600, and sure enough the river that had been flowing out all day as if the moon had dropped out of the sky was gradually filling up the river bed behind the closed barrier.  So we had what looked like a B-course with only half a river and what we thought would be a diminishing river flow as the water backed up.  The wind was forecast to be SSE, conveniently against the river flow, at 7-8 knots. It was accompanied by an intermittent drizzle.

Five boats assembled on the enlarged foreshore: James Armitage, plus crew, in Zephyr (Enterprise); Rob Adams and Billy in Big Polly (Enterprise); Lev Kolobov solo in Porpoise (Enterprise); Toby Hicks in Cis… (Laser); and Olly and Felicity Adams in Spinosaurus (Mirror).

The beat down-stream to the mark (opposite Chiswick Staithe) was quick – James made it in 5 minutes – but the run back against the flow of the river – which seemed to pay little attention to the Woolwich Barrier – was much slower.  The Surrey bank was the preferred strategy, out of the full flow of the river but still with enough wind to goose-wing upstream.  James completed his first lap (around a mark opposite the Bull’s Head) in 20 minutes, one minute ahead of Rob.  Toby was third in 27 minutes with Lev a minute behind.  Olly did his usual skilful and patient job in the Mirror and lapped in 33 minutes.

The second lap saw Rob catch up with James and finally overtake him around the top mark to finish about 20 seconds ahead after just over 53 minutes.  Lev lost his way a bit around the top mark and finished just ahead of Olly after around 70 minutes.  Toby felt he’d had enough at the top mark and retired under the bridge.

And the river was still flowing strongly down to Woolwich but creeping ever closer up the foreshore towards the ramp.

Next week is a C-course starting at 1000 – an early start is necessary to get under Kew Bridge.

Race report to follow …

Race Report, 22^nd September 2024

OOD:  Tom Broadhurst.  Safety boat:  Dave Barker

There were four starters for a late afternoon B-course on a day with very little wind:  James Armitage with Alex in Zephyr (Enterprise); Rob Adams with Hugo in Big Polly (Enterprise); Chris Greenwood and Felicia in Distant Thunder (Leader); Keith Clarke in his Laser (Kaia); and Olly Adams and Billy in Spinosaurus (Mirror).

As is often the case with B-courses the toughest part was making it around the Strand End jetty in the full strength of the tide. James completed his first lap in about 25 minutes, followed by Rob in 32 minutes and Chris in 33 minutes.  James went on to finish his second lap, and the race, in 56 minutes, followed as before by Rob in 71 minutes and Chris in 76 minutes.  Olly in his Mirror persisted with fortitude to round the Strand End jetty and completed a triumphant single lap in 90 minutes, but Keith gave up the struggle and retired back to the Arch.

Next week is an A-course starting at 11:50.

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

OOD: Nick Jeffery

Safety boat: Frankie Skrzesewski, Henry Brown

It was a fine afternoon for a sail, but England were in the knock-out phase of the Euros, which perhaps provided an alternative to serious competition on the water.  Four helms made it to the foreshore of which one, Keith Clarke, found he had a broken block on his Laser and had to retire.  That left Chris Greenwood and Felicia Biekark in Distant Thunder (Leader), Commodore Tim Young in Ait Knots (Wanderer), and Nick Floyer in flo (Gull).

There was a good 7knot NNW to NW breeze, gusting (according to the Met Office) to 18 knots, but we didn’t experience many gusts of that strength on the water.  At the start the NW wind took two of the fleet, Distant Thunder and flo, down river on a brisk run to Chiswick Bridge.  The same breeze trapped Ait Knots against the beach for a while.  She soon got afloat and seemed likely to overtake flo but, with a cautious reef in her main, she was not able to match flo on the several upwind sections of the serpentine D-course.

Distant Thunder made good time both running and beating and made the Corinthian’s starting line in Hammersmith, our downstream mark, after 45 minutes.  By then it was clear to the Safety Boat that the other two boats would also make the mark on the ebb tide.  Distant Thunder rounded the mark and made steady, if slow, progress back against river and wind.

Flo was next at the mark about 5 minutes later and had to beat hard even to stand still against the mighty river.  And 5 minutes later Ait Knots was in the same position, only with her reefed main she couldn’t help but slip downstream towards Hammersmith Bridge.  So flo and Ait Knots both crept upriver against the continuing ebb while Distant Thunder disappeared round the bends upriver.

About an hour after the start the flood tide eventually started to dominate, first to the benefit of Tim, then Nick, and finally at Chiswick Bridge, Chris and Felicia.  Chris finished first two hours after the start with Nick seven minutes later and Tim after another seven minutes.

The handicap sums gave the honours for Handicap and Polly prizes to Nick.

And that’s when the hard work of the day began: hauling 3 dinghies and the safety boat up the muddy foreshore, up the ramp and into the arch.

Next week it’s an A-course at 15:00

OOD: Leona Shepherd

Safety Boat: Andy Ross and David Baker

Weather: Fair to sunny with light winds.

Course: A

Eight boats launched with Rob Adams and Billy Adams in Big Polly (Enterprise), Nick Jeffrey in Eeyore (Duckling), Ollie Adams and Felicity Adams in Spinosaurus (Mirror), Toby Hicks in Cip.. (Laser), Rebbeca Hayes in Wagtail (Mirror), Tim Young in Ait Knots (Wanderer), Sam Shemtob in Spirit of Youth (Wayfarer) and Nick Floyer in flo (Gull). Due to the light winds the OOD started the race at 15.05 to allow all boats to reach the starting line and also get a feel for the conditions.

Immediately skippers Rob and Olly were vying for position down the first leg of the first lap. Thereafter Rob in Big Polly demonstrated his experience (or was it Billy’s magic touch?) and maintained a lead position throughout the race. Toby on Cip.. put in some excellent lap times overtaking Olly & Felcia on Spinosaurus on the 2^nd lap, holding the position until the 4^th lap and then staying very close to them until his last lap.

There were some tricky moments as there always are. The spring tide was strong in the middle of the channel but was manageable. Special commendation goes to Rebecca on Wagtail’s inaugural race with SGSC. Despite initially denying a desire to compete Wagtail did eventually pass the start line and ultimately completed 4 timed laps. The usual entourage outside the Bell & Crown turned into a Wagtail/Rebecca fan-club cheering her at each lap. And, without prejudice, the atmosphere on the bank was superb such that all boats were given an ovation as they passed the final flag.

Happily the wind picked up and the doomsters premonition of a 1 lap race were dispelled with half the fleet eventually completing 7 or more laps.  

Back at the boathouse (where the morning’s work party had done a sterling job) a delicious chocolate cake, with cream and rhubarb compote had been prepared by our newest racer Rebbeca and her daughter. Thank you to everyone who helped on shore, on the water and back at the club.

Leona Shepherd (OOD)

Next Sunday it’s a D-course (Hammersmith and back) starting at 16:00

It was a lovely day for a C-course with a F4 (gusting F5) WSW wind and two people in the safety boat (Tim Young and Dave Baker). A good day for Dave to learn our under-the-bridge procedure.

All went smoothly under the bridge with Ben Chappell’s Laser (Envy) and Rob Adams’ Enterprise (Big Polly), under Tim’s supervision and clear instruction, and David’s perfect execution.  Nick went under the bridge by himself, lowering his Gull’s gunter rig, but was unfortunately caught with a gust and blown to the side of the bridge just before exiting. His boat capsized. The safety boat (with Lev now aboard crossing the river to his OOD position) rushed to help. The flood tide took Nick and flo out from under the bridge and he managed to right flo with some help from the SB which then towed him to the Surrey side, leaving him moored by residential barges where he bailed out with help and emotional support from a resident.

Lev was moved to his position on the pontoon waiting for a signal from Tim confirming Nicks readiness.

Exactly 6 minutes before 10:00 signal was sent and the countdown to the race started. As planned race started 10:00 on the dot.

Big Polly (with Felicia Biekark as crew) and then Envy crossed line beating into the wind. It took Nick about 1:45 min to cross the starting line, also with great speed beating to windward. They maintained that order throughout the race: Rob; Ben; then Nick. 

The SB stayed in the middle, mesmerised by Ben’s skilful dodging between rowing boats with both expert and very novice crews. Towards end of the beating leg the SB had to apply full throttle to beat Rob and to drop the mark. The mark was dropped seconds before Rob got to it.

Rob rounded the mark after 25 min. Ben was 4-8 minutes behind. The tide was just about to turn but the wind propelled Rob very fast downstream with the SB having a hard time getting there first to drop the OOD. Once the OOD was dropped to record Rob’s time, the SB went back to pick up the mark and watch Nick run back.

Rob was first, following Ben who manage maintain 6 min gap although having a dry capsize manoeuvre right before final turn to the finishing line. As the tide was ebbing fast, Ben sailed under the bridge tipping his boat slowly while Rob waited to get help from the SB which was following Nick flying in with wind and tide.

Thank you for Tim and Dave for outstanding safety boat duty. Tim’s ability to spot birds (especially) herons should be noted as OOD never saw so many birds on the river.

Lev Kolobov  OOD

Next week we’ve got a working party at 10:30 followed by an A-course at 15:00.

OOD: Heather Adams, Safety Boat: Tim Young; Course: D

On Sunday we had a turnout of 10 boats: a number only matched twice recently in 2021-22, and before that unknown since the heady days of the last century.

The fleet consisted of the Leader, 3 Lasers,3 single handed Enterprises, a Mirror, a Solo and the Wayfarer. Too many people to list. We had a very confused start, but all got away on a tightly bunched, brisk run down towards Hammersmith.   At Barnes Railway Bridge with the change in direction of the river the race became a beat: James picking up the new wind quickly established a lead from Lev and Rob that he maintained at the turning mark off LCSC. The slowest boat in the race, the Mirror, turned soon after but still into a falling tide and, hampered by his dagger board made no progress back to SGSC for 20mins.  Similarly, the Lasers were also hampered. (Olly can you show the club your tracker course?)  

The Enterprises and the Leader managed to make progress beating back against the tide on the Surrey shore with James (Ent) still out in front. The old adage of who gets back through Barnes Railway Bridge sails away to win hung over him.  In the end James got stuck at the bridge and Lev slipped through under the bridge into the lead.  Rob and James (Ents) getting in each other’s way in little water under the Barnes end of the bridge. By now the ebb had slackened and full tacks across the river could be made. James capsized on the final leg after Chiswick Bridge but in the modern Enterprise this proved no problem. He hopped onto the centreboard and with the help of the buoyancy in the double bottom construction rapidly cleared the boat of water using the self-bailers situated in wells in the double bottom. All in time to recover the ground on Lev and pip him for line honours in the weak flood tide.

The Wayfarer and the Solo both retired.

In retrospect Olly in the Mirror made a plea to delay the start or even schedule the start later in relation to the low water Hammersmith Bridge, when favourable conditions are apparent.  Easier said than done. As it turned out, when the handicap sums were complete, Olly romped home to win in the Handicap and Polly points, as well as the Little Boats Class: James winning the Big Boats Class points.

Next week is a C-course, starting at 10:00.  Remember to launch super-early to get under Kew Bridge.

Rob Adams