South Bank Sailing Club Blog

I just watched Molly’s game last week, not by far the best movie I have seen, but it inspired the report… A northerly light wind caressed the Thames on this gorgeous day, the players sat on their boats ready to gamble on the rectangular table set by the dealer using a gate course.     Anyone could have won this race and probably everyone was winning it at some point. It all started with low bets: a very bad start from a very good bunch of sailors: Sara, John and Jane, Ben and Sally, Allan and Anna Woodward, Jamie, and Leo. Blame was put on the noise from Fulham FC and on the big trees for blocking sounds from the bell and the view of the flags. Since all seemed to hide their cards, Leo decided to bet and he took the lead at the first mark;  the others checked and followed him just to find the tide was still going strong on the south river bank. The pair of Jacks showed off their blue chips and wisdom on this tricky stretch of the river and they dominated the game a...

Sunday 14th October Ruby Bell 2018 RO and SB1 Jane SH and Elaine, SB2 Mike de S and Ian P The Ruby Bell was first raced in 1992 to celebrate our club’s 40 th  anniversary.  It’s a downriver race with a twist because sailors choose their own start times! Today, the day after a warm and windy taster sail, the competitors rigged for the race in a still, heavy downpour.   Allan and Anna W (Enterprise) were keen to start and launched moments after noon, almost exactly 45 minutes before predicted low water.   It was 10 more minutes before Leo & Erkka set out in the Xenon; 6 more for Sally (Laser Rad), Piers (Solo), Sara (Solo) and Henry (Laser); and another full 15 before Gary and Renato came running to launch their Lasers. The roving reporters (Safety Boat 2) sped off to lay the buoy, and discovered that (perhaps due to the rain) the tide was still ebbing well past the predicted low water.   Allan and Anna arrived at the mark after around an hour’s sail, raised their rud...

30 September 2018: The Campbell Downriver (aka The Campbell Upriver) Sunday was a perfect day for sailing, with the sun out at the start and a good wind of 6-10 mph. We had six boats, with Henry, Alexei and Allan all sailing fully rigged Lasers, Sara in her Solo, Ollie & Leo in the Xenon and John & Jane in an Enterprise. The Race Committee Boat had Richard & Erkka and the Safety Boat had Andrew and João. The river was having a busy day, and there was more rowers using the slipway than we needed. In true SBSC fashion we slowly made our way onto the water quite some time after we should have. The plan was to race down to the Battersea Pagoda and then race back. Not all plans come together though! Now to the first race. The wind dipped slightly and caught a few of the sailors by surprise when the 5 minute bell rang. This allowed a very strategic Sara to capitalise on the conditions and cross the line quite some way in advance. Allan and Henry followed her in pursuit. As all si...

Race Report for the Bernard Driver Trophy 2018 It was an overcast, blustery day as we gathered at South Bank Sailing Club for the illustrious Bernard Driver Trophy Race. Surprisingly, there was not a large field of competitors for this event, not withstanding the prize on offer. Ben and Elaine, in Ben’s glorious but strangely named Albacore, Jamie in his lightning fast Maclaren Laser, the redoubtable Henry Cook, Sara in her Solo, Henry Koe the young pretender and the ever-reliable Renato. Could anyone deny Renato one of his crowns? As is tradition at SBSC, the boats took to the water slightly late, and prepared for a 4 lap race over a ‘sausage’ course, with a beat up to the Crabtree and a run down to a buoy just passed the start line. The wind was good, gusty but not overly strong, and we were all set, although Henry Koe was a little handicapped by his tiller extension not being long enough for him to hike out, the poor little mite. All made a   good start, Henry Koe in particular tack...

Report on the Strand Challenge In fact only six people turned up, Sara and Jane who took a GP and Elaine and Leo who took a Xenon, Stephanie had driven up to SotG  with James. Allan helmed the SB with John as no.2. We towed Enfin for Allan and Steph and to stop it veering about Allan tied a tyre on a long line to the transom and that stabilized it very well. Fresh gusts funneled up the SW stretch past Corinthian which tested both crews but we arrived in good time. 5-6 Corinthian Lasers and Enterprises followed us up the river. The river widens at Strand on the Green but there is a tree covered island in the middle and houses within a few yards of the bank which ensures that there is either very little wind or that it blows in the wrong direction, something the locals have learned to exploit. They also have their own starting sequence; 6 mins –3mins– Start, with flag signals, and that caught our crews out on the wrong side of the river. Some 12 Boats made a slow and congested...

Bevington Trophy, 29 July 2018 Two safety boats were launched on this gusty day, with winds from 15mph to 30mph. Four intrepid Laser sailors came to test their skills. All four chose to use cut-down sails, three would capsize several times, two would retire, one would win the race by 11 minutes. A three-buoy course was laid stretching from a little past the mile marker to Bishop’s Park. In seemingly no time, the fleet was bunched at the top mark, & there the first capsize happened.   It was a hard beat back; three sailors kept to the wall, with Jakob choosing a line more to the centre.   Gary’s capsize lost him a lot of time.   Henry’s capsize soon after put him back several minutes. Tom completed the first lap in 17 minutes, & was followed across the line by Jakob, Henry & Gary with the field now well stretched out. Everyone was still game on the second lap.   Tom extended his lead.   Jakob capsized & was overtaken by Henry who, a few minutes later, himself capsized ...

Sunday 12th August – Bevington Race 11 It was a good turn out with an eclectic mix of 5 boats joining for the Bevington Race this Sunday. With a lovely light- moderate breeze on the river bank (S-SW 10-15mph) Johnny (RO) set a course of 7 laps of a north – south sausage (mark “A” near the Crab tree and mar “B” level with the end of the Fulham Football Club). Beer in one hand and launching pulley in the other, Johnny managed to coerce the sailors onto the water. In true laid back SBSC style this meant that we finally got all 5 boats afloat by 2.40pm. On the water we had Ben and Sina in their splendid new boat Blæk, Jamie in his Laser, Chris in his Streaker, Sara in her Solo and finally Alan and Steph in Alan’s Enterprise. Baby James, who was running operations along with 7 week old Freya and Tom from the club house, thought it was only fair to give them a bit of time to try and get up river. A start time of 3pm was decided. Taking our orders, Johnny an...