South Bank Sailing Club Blog

  The John Cope race is a downriver consisting of two separate races, with the combined results counting for the trophy. We had a variable weather forecast – some sun, some clouds and probably some rain. We also a strong wind of 14 knots with gusts of up to 19, and quite a strong tide that refused to turn on time.   The racers consisted of Allan and Steph (in an Enterprise), Renato and Ben (each in in a Laser), Jamie and Henry (each in a Laser Radial), and Robert and Sina in a 420. The race committee consisted of Richard, David and Will.   The first leg of the race down river started with Renato taking the lead (as you might expect), followed by Henry, Allan and Steph, Ben and Jamie, and then Robert and Sina in the 420. It was a great start and the wind remained strong. By Putney Bridge the running order had evolved. Renato in the lead (see above), followed by Jamie and Ben, Robert and Sina, Allan and Steph then Henry.   Something then happened. Renato took off, with a great gust b...

Wednesday: the new Saturday.       The sun was shining, the wind was breezy and out came a bunch of retired/freelance/truant playing sailors to take on the Thames mid week. With 7 people all eager to take out a single hander an argument quickly broke out over who was going to take which Laser. After a dangerous tournament of rock, paper, scissors Graham conceded and took out an Enterprise with James M as his crew. The rest of us (myself, James D, Roland and new member Amanda) took lasers and Dan J decided to he was ok with being the laughing stock of the river by helming the brightly coloured club Solo named “Joker”. (You can see what I did there – I thank you.) In the safety boat was Ray and David who set a simple sausage course by dropping down 2 markers with remarkable ease. (Something tells me it’s not the first time Ray has dumped a couple of bouys attached to an anchor into a river. Although that’s usually done under cover of darkness so the police say…) Where was I? Oh yes ...

The countdown to the race began as soon as the last trolley was pulled from the water, during a lull in the stream of rowers. A mishap from Dan J left him over the line following the bell, so while the fleet barrelled up the river to the first gate with the tide, he worked to return to the line only to gradually slip farther away. We suggested he accept a penalty and get on with the race, and he obliged. The course had been laid as two gates, using the nearest two red rowing marks on the south bank. This would give the flexibility to use either bank depending on the wind and tide. The marks on the Fulham bank were slightly farther apart in an attempt to counter the benefit that a weaker tide would have on the Fulham bank. At least, that justification makes for a good excuse. All boats rounded the northern upriver buoy to complete the first lap, then wrangled their way back against the tide, keeping close to the Fulham bank. Clearly the attraction of the closer southern buoy wasn’t...

A Tale of Two Safety Boats   On a lovely day in early September, the sun was out, people were enjoying the weather and a number of sailors were hoping there would be enough wind to avoid a drift-a-thon downriver and back. 12 people were busy rigging boats and doing their best to look interested as the Race Officer droned on about buoys, traffic, start times and so on and on….. In the fine SBSC tradition of ignoring any scheduled time for launching and being ready the RO started proceedings with a warning signal with two boats still on the ramp. With only a safety boat on the water, everybody stayed on the beach until after the preparatory signal, which had the RO reaching for the rulebook on forms of permitted propulsion after the preparatory signal had been sounded. In the spirit of a sunny day it was deemed that nobody had gained any material advantage from a good shove off from the beach. But the thought of a general recall amused the one person who considered it. The line was clear...

Thanks Allan, and thanks to Andy, Roland, Anton, Massimo and Jan for joining me on the water for a delightful evening sail. The warm sunshine, glorious blue sky and a lovely steady breeze were at odds with the official end to summer. We had 2 Lasers, 1 Solo and 1 Enterprise with me in the power boat. After some general cruising, I set a couple of buoys for informal racing to give everyone a chance to hone their skills in readiness for the weekend competitive sailing. Allan, powered by 2 ladies, rowed past us to check that we were enjoying ourselves. Later, he was on the bank with Steph to help us off the water and to stow the boats. Thanks guys for another enjoyable evening at South Bank.

Campbell Trophy, race no.1, 4 September 2016 In the race box:  Joseph Cabon & Serena O’Keefe In the safety boat: Dan Johnson & Anton Fitzpatrick At about the same time that eight SBSC boats were getting on the water for the first race of this year’s Campbell trophy, Nico Rosberg won the Italian Grand Prix on the fast, power-circuit that is Monza near Brescia in Lombardy.  Who, we wondered, would come first on the fast, power-circuit that is The Thames at Putney in good 15-25mph wind from the west?  Alas, it was not to be.  Instead of freshening to the level forecast, the wind lessened, to somewhere between 5 & 10 mph, mostly in the trees & relatively little at water level.  Though there was enough to sail by (mostly), it was hard to make way against the tide & all boats were seemingly stationary at times on the homeward leg as they looked, or waited, for the next small gust to set them going again. The course was a figure-of-eight, flattened & a littl...

Saturday  had seen near gale force winds so as race officer I was somewhat pleased to see Sunday’s conditions much more sedate. We had a fabulous turn out with 11 boats on the water. Ranging from old hands such as Sara and Allan, returnees such as Sina sailing with Tom and newer members including Amy in a Laser Radial. The wind was very changeable at the start with a strong tide, we had a significant number of boats over the start line and I decided to do a general recall which I then regretted as it took about half an hour to get everyone back to the start. The RNLI was hovering around and chatting to our racers at one point. I never did find out what that was about. Finally we got them all off. Allan, Henry (big), David and Graham led the pack around the first lap and pretty much stayed in that order for the entire race, with lots of exciting action further to the back . Sara gradually pulled herself up to the front pack. Digby had a terrible first lap missing the first buoy, bu...

I certainly remember arriving and being directed to Sina who had already begun to get things properly organised. I then tried to look industrious and observed some valiant sailors rigging boats, while Sina took everyone’s details. Sarah B was there, gently manoeuvring her magnificent solo into race order. Her boat always brings to mind a fabulously well cared for piece of furniture, so elegant and shiny it is. Ironic that it is often sailed so athletically by our Commandant of Vice. Who else? Well Tom Glockner, the erstwhile American, Bob (or is Rob) the well muscled fellow who rides a motor bike and often floods lasers, Alan and Steff and Roland too. Roland was a slight older chap I hadn’t met before who looked like a member of the CIA, in dark glasses. He was friendly though and had the air of a man who could tell a few stories. My son Henry was there as well, the little stormtrooper, in his new Topper, ready to take on the world and surprisingly (for us and for him as it turned out)...