South Bank Sailing Club Blog

A grey and damp afternoon, with very little wind, greeted the few souls who turned out for the first race of the Goodwin Cup series. After much humming and a no little hawing, it was decided that a race could be held. Inevitably, our arrival at the slipway coincided with some launches from the Boathouse, but eventually our five dry-suited hopefuls – Allan and Steph in the Enterprise, and Henry Josh and Renato in Lasers – made it by hook or crook to the downriver side of the start line. A two- buoy, four lap (ha!) course was to be attempted. Your race officer for once got the timing right, and as the start bell jangled Renato was at the line at almost full speed, followed by the Enterprise, with Henry and Josh a little further back. A fairly rapid beat over the tide to the top mark and the fleet compressed in their attempts to broad reach back downriver. It seemed for a while that these would be unsuccessful, but the skill of the sailors and/or a slight increase in wind strength brought...

Considering how chilly it was, it was great to see so many sailors come down for yesterday’s sail. It was very kind of Daniel and son James to man the safety boat and lay a course for us. No rowers on the ramp – wonderful!  So off we went – a triangular course with a sausage was set with three laps to complete. Sina and Ben in the 420, Jen and Ana in Enfin the Enterprise, new member Joshua, Henry, Tom G fresh from Singapore and Andy all in lasers, Roland in his Topaz Race and me in my Solo. The NW breeze was quite a bit lighter than forecast but we had a lovely outing with Tom leading for three quarters of the race but in the final quarter Henry and Andy overtook both Tom and I to take the first two places.  Joshua had some boom problems before we started but luckily Daniel managed to sort it. Great to get out after too many days being cancelled for lack of wind. Many thanks to Daniel and James for setting a good course (with advice from Chris Phillips) and looking aft...

Wednesday sailing came to its years end on this fabulously sunny December afternoon. Shame however that there was no wind – at first. Nevertheless it didn’t stop Andy, Don and Roland from showing the Thames who’s boss! Later on their persistence paid off and wind arrived which provided an hour and half of fun for the guys on the water. What fun to have midweek! I urge you all to book off a Wednesday in the summer next year and come and joined the Wednesday crew for a sail and a beer in the midweek sunshine! Thanks to Sara for providing voluntary safety boat/towing cover. Jamie  

The morning sun shone warmly as a good turnout of southbankers enthusiastically launched their boats onto a windless Thames. Apart from some inventive manoeuvring from Joseph to get above the line, the 13-strong fleet set off around a sausage course along the North bank. Potential new member Peter was kindly assisting in the race box. To give an idea of the wind strength, when asked who was at the front of the fleet, he replied… Depends if that boat is going that way on purpose. … and shortly after, without prompt … When do you normally tow? Given the low wind, the fleet returned round the top mark after 30-35 mins, and the seemingly obvious decision was made to shorten the (three-lap) course to just two. No sooner had that been conveyed to the sailors, that the wind picked up nicely and the second lap was speedily completed. After the race, the main event began as we enjoyed mulled wine and mince pies. It would have put me in a tricky situation to try both Allan and S...

Something obviously stirred in our sailors this grey winter’s morning, because a fleet a dozen-strong turned out for the upriver race. The North Easterly wind got Allan and I thinking – let’s try something different. So a 3 buoy course was laid on the South Bank, with the bottom buoy the Ranelagh side of the starting line. Suggesting a ‘big sausage, small sausage’ course backfired slightly when I had to somehow fathom which lap the sailors were on as they whizzed backwards and forwards past the race box! But Andrew Linford and I had a system and somehow kept track. It was a very entertaining race, with positions changing all over the place. At one point Jamie even snuck past Renato. Jamie then had a ‘difficult spell’ and decided to let Renato take the spoils – except he didn’t. Who knew that leading the chasing pack, Henry Koe’s Topper handicap was inching closer and closer on adjusted times? In the final analysis, Renato (who ...

With Storm “Angus” pummelling the UK’s coastlines, gusts of 106mph were recorded off the Kent coast and up to 59mm of rainfall resulted in widespread flooding and major incidents across the UK. The forecast for the Thames was somewhat less biblical but nonetheless formidable with gusts of 32kts and six courageous sailors braved the elements for Campbell 11 to defend their standing in the series. Taking some solace in the knowledge that the low height of tide would offer a degree of shelter from the Autumn gales gusting over the river embankments, a comprehensive range of sail sizes was opted for, with Steph, Matthias and Sara’s cautious but strategically handicapped Laser 4.7s and small Solo sails, Allan and Henry’s moderately rapid radials and Renato’s speedy full rig Laser forming the line-up. By general consensus it was agreed that the race start should be postponed by an hour, to take into account the likelihood of the tide turning late, which in conjunction with the low temperatur...

Following the bonfire extravaganza we had a great turnout for today’s downriver on a sunny and windy but cold day. The wind scared most into taking cut down sails but dropped down just in time for the start.  I had the dream team of Armand, Ben, Sam and potential new member Christina in the safety boats – thanks for that, Ollie! Hugh and Gary in the Xenon and Roland and Anne in Roland’s new topaz (watch out Edmund!) were above the line at the start gun and the Xenon valiantly made its way back without losing too much time.  The topaz was forgiven and allowed to start soon after the others taking a small time penalty.  The lower winds helped Renato and Ollie (in laser fulls) to pull considerably ahead of the others.  Further back Jamie and Henry were neck and neck and finished within 2 seconds of each other.  But Jane and Amy in 4.7s took 3rd and (separating Jamie and Henry) 5th spots respectively due to their handicaps.  Showing how every second counts! With three peop...