DON'S REPORT - NOV 18

Wow – the word of the day ! 

Wow ! What a transformation of our lovely club’s tired old kitchen and dreary race-box office into stunning state of the art facilities. Gone are the dreary hand-me-downs replaced with modern bright welcoming fittings. Allan and his helpers have done a fantastic renovation job.

Wow ! What a lovely warm friendly welcome from everyone, new members and old as it is a long time since I have made it to the Club for a Sunday race. Definitely the friendliest club on the river.

Wow ! For the steady strong NE breeze, allowing me to set a 3 mark, 5 lap course, using the first red navigation buoy on the Surrey bank as the first mark, up to mark 2 just beyond Crabtree but still on the Surrey side and across to mark 3 just below Crabtree on the Fulham side.

Wow ! To being beaten by Ranelagh who sailed past before we had managed to launch our boats.

Wow !  And thank you to the Rowers for holding back so that we could launch our boats.

Wow ! To Roland and Leo for reminding us to look for the simplest reason when we get blocked rigging our boats. Look down as well as up !

Wow ! To Henry Coe showing the unflappable confidence of youth in totally re-rigging his Laser Radial as we rang the 10 minute bell and getting onto the water before the start.

Wow ! Everyone. Ana and I were able to start the race only 30 minutes after the agreed start time.

Wow ! For the demonstrations of great sailing technique from everyone. Henry opted for a Fulham bank side start allowing him to sail straight across the tide for the first mark where he joined Renato and Joe for a close tussel around but Renato took the lead  with Joe and Henry in close pursuit. It was an exciting race from the start and had Ana and I on tenterhooks checking each boat round the marks and getting slightly confused when Renato started overtaking the tail enders.For interest, here are the finishing times and oder for each lap, without yardstick correction:-

Renato LaserJoe LaserJamie LaserHenry RadialGarry LaserSara Solo
Lap 1

1

2

3

4

5

6

Time9 m 45 s
Lap 2

1

2

3

4

6

5

Time20 m 10 s24m 0s24m 20s29m 30s30m 15s29m 55s
Lap 3

1

3

2

4

6

5

Time30m 10s36m 25s34m 50s40m 05s43m 20s42m 25s
Lap 4

1

2

3

5

6

3

Time40m 00s44m 40s44m 50s55m 2059m 55s54m 25s
Lap 5

1

3

2

5

6

4

Time55m 30s60m 40s60m 05s67m 35s73m 12s65m 41 s

Wow ! To Brian’s skills with his Ranelagh rescue boat coming to the aid of Roland and Leo in the Fulham trees. They had lost steerage because their rudder kept lifting.

Wow ! To the heroic efforts of Henry, Jane and Robyn in the SB safety boat quickly rescuing the rowing girls who got entangled in the rescue melee of Roland and Leo.

Wow! To Renato for a master class in Laser dinghy sailing and winning the race. Each lap took him just about 10 minutes.

Wow ! To everyone for a fun day

Cheers

Don Henderson.

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