First Race 2026

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RACE REPORT: 15 MARCH 2026 – FIRST RACE OF THE SEASON

Sunshine and a Met Office forecast of a 14kt SW wind offered the prospect of an excellent, if challenging first race of the season.

Seven boats launched: three Enterprises (James, Rob and Lev); Chris’ Leader; two Lasers (Tamir and Patrick); and a solo Solo (Lennert). Keith manned the Safety Boat single-handed, which was noble of him given the high likelihood of salvage operations.

In the event, all the big boats stayed afloat, if not always quite upright, which was impressive, especially as Rob and Lev were sailing single-handed. 

The start was delayed by a few minutes awaiting late-rigged boats, and then by a few more minutes when somebody led half the fleet over the start line on the 5th minute, despite yellow and blue flags still flying pending the conventional six-minute start & signal. This was of little consequence because the wind (& sunshine) held throughout the morning – we definitely got the better half of the day.  

Lev and Tamir got a very good start, sailing almost in formation all the way round the first lap with Lev just beating Tamir round the upwind buoy and onto the second lap. Fighting gusts (& doing well to avoid capsizing) Lev lost the lead to Tamir, and second place to James on the second lap.

Lennert retired when his boat filled with water.

From the third lap, James and Tamir started to consolidate their lead, albeit changing positions, with James taking and just holding the lead from the fifth (penultimate) lap, to cross the line after the sixth lap in just under 48 minutes.

Meanwhile, a real battle was developing between Lev, Chris and Rob, with Rob taking the lead on the fifth lap, only to relinquish it to Chris – by just 12 seconds – on the sixth and final one. Patrick, making a good fist of Strand’s unusual sailing conditions, completed five laps, finishing only a couple of minutes after the six-lap mid-field big-boats.

Tim Wellburn  – OOD

PS A warm welcome to Patrick (Laser) and Lennert (Solo) who have joined SGSC and now have first-hand experience of our peculiar conditions. Long may they continue.

The next race is another A or B course (depending on conditions) starting at 15:30 next Sunday.

Race Results for 2025

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Just in time for Christmas – here are the results of our Club races for the season.

Congratulations to James for coming first in the three Points Series (Handicap Cup, Class Cup – Big Boats, and Polly Prize), and to Rebecca for coming first in the Class Cup, Little Boats.

Lev was second in the Big Boats and Polly Prize; Keith was second in the Handicap Cup; and Nick and Olly were joint second in the Little Boats. Chris was third in the three Points Series.

HB

Race Report 16th November 2025 – Last Race

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Race Report 16th November 2025

OOD :  Enoch Rodriguez assisted by Andy Ross and Dave Jones

Safety Boat:  David Baker

Weather:  Cloudy, light NE wind, 2-3 Beaufort, 

Course: A

It was the last race of the season with a good turn-out of 8 boats on a fine Autumn morning.  James Armitage had Kieran Biekarck as crew in Zephyr (Enterprise); Lev Kolobov and Rob Adams were both solo in their Enterprises – Porpoise and Big Polly.  Chris Greenwood had Commodore Felicia Biekarck as crew in Distant Thunder (Leader) and Sam Shemtob had Timor Gottfried aboard to speed his Wayfarer, SY2.  Ben Chappell and Keith Clarke had their Lasers – Envy and Kaia, and Rebecca Hayle was all alone in Wagtail.

The wind was good for the Ents: James was consistently ahead doing laps in 5-7 minutes with Lev and Rob ending up about 4 minutes behind after 9 laps, and Chris followed closely about 90 seconds behind.  The two Lasers were lapped by the Ents and completed 7 laps in about the same time.  Sam in the Wayfarer had put a reef in his main (expecting to sail solo), which slowed him down despite Tamir’s assistance.  And the light wind was no friend to Rebecca who persisted heroically to overcome the flood tide in the approach to Kew bridge.  But she nevertheless completed 3 laps.

The race was over in just over an hour and all the boats made their way back to the Arch.  But spare a thought for Enoch and his helpers who had to record the times of eight boats crossing the line up to 9 times each – around 60 individual records.  And the race sheet was immaculate.

Meanwhile, back at the Arch, Mary Short (and others) had bought the barbeque to life to prepare a hot feast of bangers and other meats, plus pickles and sauces, plus buns, plus a wide variety of cakes, flapjacks and sweets, plus beer and other drinks.  The traditional beer and bangers to mark the end of the season, and 80 years of SGSC.   And we were honoured to have Marthe Armitage, a founder member of the club back in 1946, to share in the celebrations. 

Race Report 9th November 2025

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A good muster of boats ready for a D course in a decent breeze and sunshine. Boats included James Armitage and Felicia Biekarck in Zephyr (Enterprise), Keith Clarke (Kaia) and Tamir Gottfried in Lasers, Sam Shemtob and new crew in SY2 (Wayfarer), Nick Floyer in flo (Gull) and Olly Adams and Billy in Spinosaurus (Mirror).

The race got off to a start 5mins late with syncopated start sequence of horns and flags from OOD Heather Adams supported by Sienna. Sadly the tide was on the wane and it was clear that a full course was not possible. With James, Tamir and Keith stretching out and the little boats stuck at Chiswick Bridge, Rob Adams and Kieran in the safety boat put the buoy down just at the upstream end of the old Watney’s Brewery. 

Tamir lead James round the buoy with Keith close behind. The tide was exactly slack. The remaining boats managed to clear Chiswick Bridge and its wind shadow and began to make a little progress to the buoy but with an ever-strengthening incoming tide Rob and Kieran offered to move the buoy for the small boats, but both declined and pressed on. 

By this time Sam had retired finding it difficult to make it through Chiswick Bridge with a reef in his sail. 

To the great relief of the safety boat the wind changed a little more from the S allowing the two little boats to keep in to the Middlesex shore and reach up to the mark and round, Nick’s boat in the lead. The excitement was to see if the deployment of the Mirror’s spinnaker would give them a chance of catching up. Billy’s enthusiastic foredeck work finally got the bulging sail up and filled but wind was becoming more fickle and the positions didn’t change. 

The last two boats had a hour of sailing but by the time they got back the Wayfarer, Lasers and Enterprise were all put away. 

Rob Adams (from the safety boat)

Race Report 26th October 2025

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Race Report 26th October 2025

OOD and Safety Boat:  Keith Clarke

Cloudy, light rain, gusty, SW 12-28 knots, F 4-5 Beaufort

Course: A

Three boats launched late on a forbidding autumn day: back to GMT.  James Armitage in Zephyr (Enterprise) with Tom Wellburn as crew; Lev Kolobov solo in Porpoise (Enterprise); and Chris Greenwood with Mary Short in Distant Thunder (Leader).

Good start by all at 13:30.  Lev turned at the downstream mark first, followed by James and then Chris.  James overtook on the run upstream and led most of the way thereafter. (Lev was ahead on the 4th lap). Some strong gusts had all three leaning at times.  Six laps by James and Lev, 2 minutes apart at the end.  5 laps by Chris and Mary, about 5 minutes behind.  Daylight faded as the race procession ended.

Mary got moral points for crewing Chris in the rain and cold!

Thanks to Keith for doubling up on duties and enabling Tim to crew for James.

Keith Clarke OOD.

Race Report, 12th October 2025

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SGSC Race Report 12 October 2025

SGSC Race Report 12 October 2025

A sunny evening race. There was very light wind from ENE and so from behind the houses along Strand: a slight back-draught however blew one way or another or sometimes not at all. An A course was set from a Bell & Crown start to half-way down to the railway bridge.

James (Enterprise) made slow and patient progress keeping close to the bank, and was the first to round the downstream and upstream buoys and complete a lap. Rob (Enterprise) headed out into the strong flood tide in search of more wind, which looked initially to pay off but in the event he completed his first lap a few minutes later; he almost immediately fouled a mooring buoy and took several minutes to clear himself, after which progress was so slow that he was  unable to go round again.

Chris (Leader) rounded the downstream mark but found it difficult to turn back round the one upstream; he had a losing battle against the tide before resorting to paddling to avoid Kew bridge. Tamir (Laser) managed better but needed several attempts out in midstream to reach the line.

Meanwhile, James finished a second lap, and although only a little more than half an hour had gone by, he and the others were progressing so slowly that it seemed wise to finish the race. This enabled Sam (Wayfarer) to be the second to finish, after one lap taking three-quarters of an hour; and to be followed by a finally successful Tamir. Keith (Laser) also sailed but did not complete a lap.

All the two-handed boats were fully crewed, so crews also deserve credit: I am sorry that I did not take a list of names. And thanks to Andy who managed the safety boat unassisted.

Nick Floyer OOD

Race Report 5th October 2025

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OOD: Leona Shepherd

Safety Boat: James Armitage with Kieran Biekrack (crew)

Weather: Bright with strong gusty WNW winds. 

Course: A (the planned C course was changed due to strong winds)   

Start: 13:10  HWKB:14.10    Wind  WNW 14/ with gusts >30mph

3 boats launched with Ben Chappell in Envy (Laser), Felicia Biekrack and Paco in Distant Thunder (Leader) and Rebecca Hayes in Wagtail (Mirror). Following a few last minute repairs/improvements the boats launched and were whizzing up and down enjoying the wind against tide experience. 

All boats tested different positions in the river to optimise the conditions. It was neck and neck on the first leg with Felicia and Paco, on Distant Thunder, taking the lead at the end of the 1st lap, with Ben, on Envy, close behind by only 20seconds. Wagtail, unfortunately, capsized while on the return leg of the first lap and, despite getting righted while in the water, retired. Distant Thunder then developed a commanding lead on lap 2 crossing the line a full minute ahead of Envy. On the 3rd lap, Distant Thunder slowed and Envy accelerated, it was getting exciting!! However, it was not to last and on lap 4, after 3 capsizes while rounding the downstream buoy, Envy eventually retired. This left Distant Thunder with Felicia and Paco, to complete the 4 lap course unchallenged and the race ended in strong winds after 42minutes as the pace rounding the upstream buoy  was quite exciting. The OD apologies that there are no photos from the race. 

Good fun was had, even by the soggy but happy sailors!

Leona(OOD)

Race report, SGSC v. SBSC 21st September 2025

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SGSC v. SBSC 21st September 2025

OOD: Mary and Henry Brown;   SB: David Baker , Andy Ross

Course: B;   Weather: fine, North 2-4 Beaufort;  Start time: 14:00

On a perfect day for the event, we had 5 visitors from SBSC (Laser, Laser 13, GP14 and 2 Solos) who sailed up with the tide to arrive at around 11:00, in time for a quick lunch in the Bull’s Head, mooring on the slimy foreshore outside the pub.  We had already chosen a B-course because of the predicted north wind, and the fact that a temporary mooring downstream of the Railway Bridge would be more convenient for our visitors.

The first surprise of the day was the unusually large turn-out from SGSC: 11 boats eventually started (3 Enterprises, 4 Lasers, a Leader, a Wayfarer, a Mirror and a Solo).  The OOD had taken the precaution of doubling-up: one to record times so far as possible, the other to simply log each boat for each lap as a check.  And David Jones was also on hand to identify sail numbers.

Dave Baker and Andy had laid the downstream buoy opposite Chiswick Staithe, and the upstream mark was just downstream of the Railway Bridge, in line with the old mooring post.

It was a downwind start, and all started without a recall.  Sam Shemtob (Wayfarer) was late getting to the start but persisted anyway.  From the OOD’s point of view the fleet was out of site until late in the return half.  Joe Armitage was in the lead ahead of his father, James, and followed by Lev Kolobov, then Rob Adams and then Tamir Gotfried, and these five were in the lead throughout.  The first SBSC visitor was Matt Young in a Laser at No. 7.

It was exciting sailing at times with several capsizes and recoveries and the OOD decided to give everyone a generous hour.  Approaching the hour James was bow-and-bow with Joe with Rob close behind followed by Tamir and then Lev.  These five completed five laps, with eight boats completing four laps, and the SBSC Laser 13 and Sam’s Wayfarer on 3 laps.  Ariel Biekark was last to finish in a Solo – he was caught by the turning tide.

So, a spectacular and enjoyable afternoon for all 16 boats on the river, and those watching from the shore, and it was followed by a delicious barbeque, provided by Mary Short and many helpers.