South Bank Sailing Club Blog

Today’s sun, mild temperatures and strong wind brought out a great turnout for this time of year of 11 boats, and it turned out to be quite a memorable race! As the start sequence was underway, the race officers were distracted by a number of boats that seemed to be hovering in the danger zone a fair bit below the start line, and a lot of shouting.   Eventually we made out Sally who was shouting about seeing a dolphin.   We thought to ourselves surely she must be imagining she was still in Mauritius and mean a seal… Everyone managed to make it back against the tide to the right side of the start line, and it was a dramatic start with many neck and neck and Sara capsizing about 1 second into the race in the middle of the tight fleet.   Well, everyone was there except Johnny who, possibly distracted by the dolphin, was about half way to Putney Bridge already and who took a good 4 minutes to make his way back to the start line.   “You can still win it”, we encourage...

It was a warmish autumnal day 15C with some sunny intervals and blustery.                 W- WNW winds 17 knots gusting 28 .. enticing our intrepid SBSC sailors seeking that adrenaline rush, to race in 7 boats; Ben & friend Jason (Albacore), David & Alan W (Wayfarer), Jane D and Amy (Laser 4.7’s) and Renato, Jamie and Jakob (Laser Rad’s).   We decided on a 3-buoy course up the north bank.. a short sausage in a longer sausage and rounding all marks to starboard.. and 3 laps. (*see my note to self further on….) Briefing was on time at 14.00 and I started the race at 14.50. The strong gusts swirling around in front of the clubhouse scattered the fleet as they prepared for the start. As the bell went Amy still had to get to the right side of the start line but Jane seemed to be stuck mid river and after watching her valiant efforts for 4 long minutes the RO allowed her to join the race. It was lovely to watch (through binoculars) all the sails whizzing down river to star...

Campbell Series Race 5 – Sunday 8 October 2017 A light wind, but rather more than forecast, greeted sailors on arrival, and eleven boats were rigged in the expectation of a reasonable sail. Spring tides had deposited an impressive mudslide on the slipway, and launching the safety boat looked a little challenging: so a perfect opportunity to put Johnny Lyell’s recently-engineered pulley system into action, and the effectiveness of his design was soon apparent; the fleet launched the same way, slower than usual but safely. Having also hung around for rowers to clear the slipway, we were behind schedule, and with the slipway being in a rather windless zone, a few boats drifted well off the line. The Race Officer then allowed time for them to get a tow over the line; possibly not the right decision. The fleet set off on a beat in a north north westerly, to sail an A-B-A-C course, all buoys to starboard and on the north bank. Most of the fleet made a good start, with Renato (Laser), Ben ...

The Campbell 4 Downriver Summer is definitely over. This race felt like (and actually was) an autumn race. It was also on a Saturday, an unusual day for a downriver race.   However, we had a great turnout and the race itself was eventually decided on a matter of seconds. The race committee consisted of Jane Deith and Justin Pavry in the safety boat, and Christina Pontin and myself (Richard Graham) in the race boat. The 10 boats of competitors were: ·           Eleanor in a Laser Radial; ·           Renato, Henry, Leo S, Erkka and Jakob all in a Laser; ·           Josh and Sina in the 420; ·           Allan/Steph and Anita/Jane in Enterprises; and ·           Sara in her Solo. The race consisted of two legs. The first leg was from the Boat Club to Battersea and the second leg was the reverse. As usual, we were reliant on the tide turning on prediction, something that actually never happens. The pre-race warm up followed the standard routine. The Race Officer turned up late, Allan allowe...