SUNDAY 30th JUNE, BEVINGTON 9 Race Officers : John P and Abbi Safety Boat : Matthias and Sebastian It was a lovely day, it had everything from calms that would see you carried back just as you were about to win, to planing gusts that could have you over just as you were about to win. The Fulham builders had laid three large yellow buoys 10m out from the bank and on Allan’s advice the fleet was instructed to stay outside of them. To celebrate the weather the RO set an old fashioned L shaped course, up the Fulham bank (to mark 2; port), across to the Barnes bank (to mark 3; stbd) back to the Fulham bank (now mark 4; stbd), back down the Fulham bank (to mark 5 stbd) for 5 laps. There was a lively but good-natured debate about the RO’s left and right hands which led to a vital consensus and off we went, except for Allan and Gary who it seemed were tuning their rigs very carefully and launched after the starting bell and so had to sail down river to cross the line. Although boats were...
A normal Februarish forecast, overcast with an E. wind well into the teens and gusts well into the twenties, temperature 5-8deg. A welcome challenge for young laser sailors or so one of them said; I thought it was a good day to be well wrapped up in a stable safety boat with a flask of hot (fortified) coffee and a penguin for half time. Actually the river did not look threatening, no whitecaps and the gusts looked sparkling rather than black and threatening but it seemed that nearly all the club felt as I did because only six boats launched. The RO was Stefan, a compassionate man, and he agreed to a shorter race. However he spends much of his time patrolling the Thames with the RNLI so he was specially concerned about safety on the river and in his briefing required all boats to use the centre arches. Not everyone remembered. The fleet made a clean start with Sara well ahead but when they reached Putney Bridge Renato was in his usual place with Stephanie (4.7) close behind. And so they...
It was a blustery and challenging day with even the three greats - Allan, Renato and Jakob - straining their sinews. Elspeth made a valiant effort, with erratic conditions proving challenging. She went over a couple of times but nimbly avoided going in herself, before deciding to call it a day. No honour lost there! You need exhausting technique to win, and win Renato did. Followed by Allan (after the handicap adjustment), with Jakob just behind. Sergio was my fantastic assistant, and made the whole thing a real pleasure.
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