It was another day of glorious sunshine on the river but, alas, very little wind.
Seven boats launched and a short A-course was set with a start opposite Zoffany House and a downstream start. The downstream mark was just upstream of the drying dock and the upstream mark was at the Bell and Crown. The only incident on the start was that James Armitage (sailing with daughter Ruth) was over the line at the hooter, mistakenly believing it to be an upstream start. He quickly recovered.
Chris (Leader) with Ema as crew was first away and around the downstream mark, followed by Rob Adams (Laser) and then John Bull (Laser). At the end of the first lap Rob was first followed by Chris and then John. In the fluky breeze there was quite a gathering of boats manoeuvring for position at the downstream mark, but by going around the outside James managed to get ahead of the bunch and so was first at the second lap followed closely by John and then Rob. John stuck close to James for three more laps as they overtook the rest of the fleet and completed 5 laps. The OOD took pity on them in the trying conditions and finished the leader after just under 50 minutes. Rob finished four laps in 51 minutes followed by an undistinguishable bunch of John (5 laps), Chris (4 laps) and Ben Chappell (Laser, 3 laps) on 55 minutes 35 seconds. Jane Watkins (Gull, 3 laps) followed them about 5 seconds later. Nick Jeffery, crewed by daughter and dog in their charming red-sailed Duckling resorted to an oar at a relatively early stage and thus retired from the race.
Thanks to David Jones and Tim Young in the safety boat for making sure no one drifted back to Kew Bridge.
HB
