South Bank Sailing Club Blog

Sunday 22 nd  July –  Bevington Downriver Race Report After a debate about wind and whether or not to sail the decision to GO was unanimous!  The RO’s took on safety duties and took only one safety boat. All the ‘brave’ sailors rigged their boats despite the fickle wind (WNW 8.9, really). They all waited on the beach until 1 minute before the start at 16.20. Race Officer Jane with Ana as assistant and SB helm set off with Ana’s reluctant-to-touch-water husband Inaki; victim of a cunning plan between RO and assistant RO to get him signed as a new member J   Jakob took the lead in his laser. He was followed by Elaine and Leonardo in the enterprise Enfin, and Vaughan  (Jakob’s guest/temporary member for the day) and Matthias in their lasers. All boats crossed Putney Railway Bridge at 16.35 with Enfin leading the group on a broad reach/run assisted by the tide. The wind picked up a little lifting the boats’ sails for a while as they all moved to the Putney side of the river...

“Well, that was a nice little walk! ? ” were the words I tweeted at 9am on Wednesday 27 th June. Precisely three days earlier I had started my SleepWalk Challenge , in aid of Bowel Cancer UK, the RNLI and The Cure Parkinson’s Trust. In those 3 days / 72 hours, I walked for 225 km (140 miles) and had only 2 hours sleep!   My route took me round (and round and round!) London’s stunning Richmond Park, with occasional forays into Wimbledon Common, and along the Thames Path via Teddington Lifeboat station. Every six hours I would stop briefly at my support base (a camper van, parked with special permission in the corner of Richmond Park) for a meal break and to cool/wash my feet and change into clean socks. That way, I was essentially able to keep walking from 9am Sunday, through three days and nights, until 9am on the Wednesday morning. For me, the SleepWalk represents the huge challenges some people face in their daily lives and I wanted to capture that spirit of positivity a...

Sunday 8 th  July – Bevington Downriver Race 7 A magnificent day with variable winds but mostly NW averaging around 8-10 knots. At first we had only 3 boats so RO Sara decided we only needed one safety boat. BUT then more sailors arrived and the number increased to seven boats competing.    The race team was reorganised with one SB helmed by David F and Polly and Jane SH took over from Sara as RO. At 15.45 Jane and Polly started Race 1 from the bank in front of the clubhouse. Everything went very well as the tightly bunched pack crossed the start line in good order. However, at Putney reach in front of Ranelagh’s clubhouse, Sara had a mishap and capsized her Solo five minutes into the race. This put her way behind as the others proceeded and gradually separated into two groups of boats.     At Wandsworth bridge, the leading group was: Sally, Barbara, and Renato (Lasers). In the second group and not far behind were: the John & Bob (Enterprise), Chris (Streaker)...

Very challenging day for planning the race. Little wind from NNE means we are good against the tide, but which bank to choose? Putney Bank looks better exposed to NNE wind, but the tide is likely to be a bit stronger due to the river bending. On the other side, Fulham bank has a weaker tide close to the wall, which would help the boats in the legs towards the clubhouse.   What to do? The wind was not helping either, and changed direction several times. There were conflicting suggestions and eventually a final change of direction, back to the original NNE, convinced all to lay a sausage along Putney bank.   Sorted? Not really. We could use the red buoys, but…. Ranelagh used them :/ and they were just then laying other buoys for their race. So our great safety boat team went to ask their safety boat if they were planning to use the red buoys today. Of course they would! So we decided to lay 2 yellow buoys just upriver of the first 2 red buoys on Putney Bank for our race. Sorted!...

         Brilliant sunshine, shorts and short sleeves all round, an 15mph E-SE wind base wind forecast with gusts of 30, clearly better to sail against the wind on the Barnes bank. In fact the water on the Fulham bank looked unruffled. So the RO drew on his 45 years experience and planned rigging on the water, then an anti-clockwise 5 lap course with buoy 1 opposite the flats, down tide on the Fulham bank and hoping for some fast, possibly planing, SWerly reaches from buoy 2 at Crabtree to buoy 3 on the Barnes bank. And nearly got lynched. “We want to sail not drift up the river” “There will intolerable bunches at buoy 1” “Why not set simple up and down sausage on the Barnes bank?”  The RO said not to worry it would be alright, he could see wind on the Fulham bank.   Everyone went back grumbling under their breath to rigging their boats on the bank. The RO got stubborn and rang the ten minute bell. No launches, more protests, “We can’t possibly be ready in time” As so often happens a ...