First Race of the season, 10^th March 2019 , race report

The first event of the day was a ceremonial naming and anointing of our new safety boat, the ‘Kurt Berger’.  The old Dory had been swapped for the new, bright yellow, Whaly 435 the previous Sunday and she lay under the bridge swathed in black polythene throughout the week.  Today around a dozen sailors and friends wheeled it onto the top of the ramp where Margaret Berger did the naming honours in appropriate style with a thimble or two of champagne.  She (the boat) had been immaculately inscribed with her new name by David Jones.

Despite the number of sailors on hand there were, at first, no volunteers for the First Race.  A cold F4 gusting F5 or 6 was blasting straight down the river against an incoming tide, and those present soon decided to launch and test the ‘Kurt Berger’, and nothing else.  That was before Rob Adams heaved into sight in a dry suit and with an appetite for a challenge.  So as the ‘KB’ was put through her paces with a crew of four including Margaret, Rob’s laser skated across the choppy water in an abundance of spray in an exhilarating display of seamanship.  The safety boat served only as the platform for an admiring audience: rescue was not required.

After 40 minutes or so both boats retired to the ramp where the ‘KB’ was man-handled up by a team of 6 or 8 into the yard.  She is significantly lighter than the Dory.  Rob Adams was, of course, awarded the First Race honours – it wasn’t his fault that no-one else joined in – and the assembly warmed up with tea, Margaret’s drizzle cake and Mary Brown’s flapjack.

Next week it’s an early start (10:05) for an Isleworth race.

Race report, 21 October 2018

Sunday was a glorious day for a sail with blue sky and enough wind coming straight down the river from the Kew Bridge for a good race.  David Jones, on advice from James, set a downstream buoy just above the City Barge and the upstream mark at the Café Rouge.

The fleet of seven set off on the run shoulder to shoulder and there was some inevitable barging at the downstream buoy with quite a strong tide flooding.  James, crewed by David Kolobov, got an inside line on the mark and was around and in the clear while the rest of us struggled to avoid each other and the mark.   James completed his first lap in under 9 minutes, followed by three other Enterprises: first Rob Collingwood (sailing solo), then the Browns, then Lev Kolobov (also solo), all within a minute of each other.  Chris Greenwood, having abandoned the rotting hulk of his Enterprise, tried out David Jones’ almost pristine Solo and duelled with Ian Nethersell for the rest of the race.  Tim cruised contentedly in their wake.

The course offered the choice of a long starboard tack across the river upstream of Oliver’s Island, mixing it with the rowers and a manoeuvring RNLI boat, or shorter tacks on the Strand side of the moorings.  Neither showed a decisive advantage but most of the fleet tried the long one if only for the variety.

James, as is his wont, gradually increased his lead and by the end overtook the three tail-enders and was only one second short of catching Lev.  He completed 7 laps in the hour, followed 8 minutes later by Rob, a mere 11 seconds ahead of the Browns, with Lev about a minute behind.  After 6 laps Ian finished fifth just over a minute ahead of Chris, with Tim about 6 minutes behind.

The various handicap calculations gave Chris the winning Handicap points, Tim the Little Boat points, and James the first position in the Big Boats and the Polly Prize.

Many thanks to Tom Broadhurst for officiating, and to David Jones in the safety boat.

Only two boats turned out this lunchtime despite the lovely autumnal sunshine, perhaps because of the tame conditions: a  light wind from the SW.

A very short B-course was set with a downstream buoy almost opposite the Strand End pier and the upstream buoy outside No. 7 Strand.  It was clearly a test of patience and making the most of whatever wind there was.  Rob Adams in his Laser was ahead from the start, as you would expect from the Laser’s handicap, but Ian Nethersell in his Vibe gave him a hard time.  Rob was ahead by 9 minutes on the third lap but Ian managed to cut that down to a mere minute by the sixth and last lap, which gave him a win on both the Handicap and Polly prizes.

David Jones and Mary Berger were in the safety boat to see that nobody drifted into danger, and Chris Greenwood looked after things from the bank.

Race report, 30 September 2018

There were only three takers for a race on Sunday: Nick Floyer (Lightning), Tim Young (Gull) and Jane Watkins (Gull).  It was cloudy but dry with a steady NW wind of around F3.

Nick was ahead almost from the start on the run down to Chiswick Bridge and had stretched quite a lead by the time he went under the bridge.  The Gulls expended lots of energy gybing and poling out their jibs as the wind veered and backed from dead astern.  Nick had only one sail to worry about and that probably gave him a smoother ride.

Once all three were under the bridge it became apparent to the safety boat that the tide was no longer ebbing, and the first red rowing buoy below the bridge confirmed that the flood had started.  It was clear that there was no realistic prospect of running all the way down to Hammersmith against the incoming tide and the safety boat decided to turn the fleet before the struggle became too great.  Not having had the foresight to load a buoy, we dropped an anchor and instructed first Nick and then the Gulls to turn around the safety boat, less than 200m below the bridge.  At the turn the Gulls were neck and neck.

It was a beat back to Strand with quite a brisk wind on some parts of the course.  Nick kept his lead with Tim closing on him, but although dropping back Jane was clearly learning fast, and determined that the safety boat should keep a respectful distance and keep its advice to itself.  It is, after all, the best way to learn. And the number of rowers and pleasure boats on the river made the learning quite critical at times.

So it was a very short D-course with Nick finishing in 40 minutes, Tim 4 minutes behind and Jane 10 minutes behind Tim.  After the sums Nick won the Handicap points but Tim came first in the Class and Polly Prizes.

Thanks to Heather for supervising the start and finish and preparing a warming cup of tea after the slog of recovering the boats at the end.  Rob and Henry took the executive decisions on the water.

Henry

Nick invited someone to submit a race report, which I will gladly publish.

Meanwhile, here are the results in numbers.

Hopefully someone will submit a proper eye-witness report of the event, but since Nick has been good enough to supervise the race and prepare the results I thought it best to publish as soon as possible.

It was our annual team-racing event against LCSC and SBSC and on paper it looks like a classic of its kind.  16 boats were out, 8 from Strand, 3 from South Bank, and 5 from Corinthians.  There was enough wind for 5 boats to do 5 laps, 5 boats to do 4 laps, and the slow boats to finish 2 laps.  Nick had the un-enviable job of keeping tabs on them all.

There are two team trophies at stake, one for SGSC v. LCSC and one for SGSC v. SBSC.  The results are computed on the sum of finishing positions of each of the pair of teams.  In the case of SGSC v. LCSC, as LCSC brought five boats upriver the sum of the finishing places of their 5 boats are compared with the sum of the first 5 Strand boats.  In the case of SGSC v. SBSC, the first 3 of Strandies were compared with SBSC’s three boats.

The end result was a decisive win for the home team for both trophies.  Three of the first four positions were taken by James Armitage, Dave and Sheila Berger, and Rob Collingwood, with Val from LCSC, in his Laser, in third position.  That gave the us a score line of 8 SGSC against 39 SBSC (lowest score wins) and 21 SGSC against 40 LCSC.

Race Report plus activities Sunday 2nd September 2018

A Special Sunday Tidefest and SGSC Working Party and Race.

Strand on the Green Tidefest – Fishing competition, Boat trips, paddle boarding foreshore talks, RNLI plus other activities. A lively day at Strand.

Meanwhile, in the Sailing Club a working party was in progress. It was well attended and resulted in a great deal of reorganisation and a massive clear up of the boatyard. The Race followed the WP at 18.15. Late in the day but with plenty of sunshine and a blue sky but unfortunately very little wind. The lack of wind resulted in the programmed “B” course being changed to a short “A” with the start and finish line being Zoffany House.

Four dinghies were prepared to endure the light and fickle conditions.

The course was set by the OOD and Enoch Rodriguez and Dave Jones in the safety boat with the usual buoy positions for a short course.

James and David (LEV’s son) in Porpoise and Tim in Axoloti started well but Jane in Pacman struggled to find the wind at first but eventually moved forward. Lev in his unnamed Enterprise surprisingly got wedged on the bank at the start line. He soon got away, caught Jane and was then chasing James and Tim.

The first lap was expertly sailed by James and David in 6.18 mins followed by Tim at 10.39 and Lev 11.18. Jane followed at 21.30.

The race quickly settled into a pattern, the two Enterprises easily completing lap after lap but the slower Gulls struggling with the tide and lack of wind.

Tim eventually sailed to the Surrey Bank for a change of scenery and Jane spent time investigating a Willow Tree at Strand before visiting Kew Bridge. Well we have all experienced this, except for James. Both Tim and Jane eventually quit, sensibly deciding to take a tow and retire. Thanks Enoch and David for the Tow.

James and David continued to sail smoothly round the course, sweetly roll tacking along the Strand followed by Lev.

James and David completed 7 laps in 50.15 mins with Lev 5 Laps in 54.01mins

John Bull OOD

Race Report, 26 August 2018

This Sunday’s race followed the excitement of the Ladies Plate and the relaxing pleasures of the summer party, and perhaps that combination was enough to exhaust the usual turnout.  Or perhaps it was a weather forecast of F3 southerlies, gusting 4-5 with continuous heavy rain and low temperatures.  Whatever the cause, four hardy souls were willing to test their skills: Dave and Sheila Berger, who appropriated the Brown’s Enterprise (they being down for race officer and safety boat duties), James Armitage and Lev Kolobov, who decided to pool their resources in Jame’s Enterprise.

Before the launch the wind was steadily propelling the rain almost straight up the river and flapping rather than flogging the hoisted sails.  Not too scary.  And so it continued: a quick run up to the start, some frisky reaches before the whistle, then a beat down to the downstream mark by the City Barge, both boats keeping in the relatively slack water by the bank.  They rounded neck and neck to run back up to the line with James a mere 2 seconds ahead of Dave.  It was a 10 minute lap, as was the second with James’ lead increasing to 25 seconds.  And still the rain came down.  From then on James gradually got ahead so that by the time Mary took pity on them and hoisted the yellow flag it was clear that the pattern had been set.  James and Lev finished about 4 minutes in the lead.

Margaret Berger came down on her bike to join Mary and see fair play while Henry got wetter and wetter with no one to rescue in the safety boat.  But there was Mary’s flapjack in the arch to supplement the hot tea.