South Bank Sailing Club Blog

Bevington Trophy race, 25 June 2017 A double-‘sausage’ course was laid, the first quite close to the line & the second at the mile post, both going across the river to take advantage of a good, if sometimes freakish, westerly. Nine boats took to the water & the race started just a few minutes late. Immediately it became obvious that boats would struggle against a relentless, fast tide that was higher than usual, even with reasonable wind. At times they seemed to move well & at other times to be absolutely stationary. Four boats failed to round the first buoy & were straightaway disqualified.   The remaining five boats fought a tiring, technical race.   The first lap took just over 24 minutes & the race was shortened from five to three laps. Renato was immediately in the lead, followed by Ben & Josh (Albacore), Stephanie (Laser radial), Johnny (Solo) & Amy (Laser radial).   So it remained until the last part of the third lap when Johnny got good wind & zi...

More than 10 boats started the race, that is a great achievement considering more than 10% of the members were in Greece on the sailing holiday. On the race box Serena was doing a great job assisted by Oscar who just needed an improvised bell extension to start the race: https://youtu.be/PXlkPo3qwuo   It is hard to tell but there could be a boat or two over the start line… no protest was made. There was a strong South Westerly wind and an initial triangular course was designed with the idea to have a long reach from the south bank to Fulham stadium. That was a total fail as no boat was able to round the second buoy located on the South bank due to the strong current. I couldn’t hear it from the distance but I could certainly feel the swearing at the RO while boat after boat tried to round the mark and had to gave up when the tide were pushing them back. Finally the buoy had to be removed and boats happily continue with the remaining two buoys. No harm done. There were lots o...

Bevington 4 Downriver The wind was 10 gusting 18, so the Bevington Downriver looked like a great Sunday sail. Hot on the heels of the AGM, we had an excellent turnout of 11 boats, including Johnny’s new Solo, which is nothing short of beautiful. He looked proud! The line up included: Steph & Allan and Miguel & Rita each in an Enterprise, Rex in the “Chelsea Harbour” Topper, Jamie and Renato each in a Laser, Jakob and Amy each in a Laser Radial, Ben & Sina in an Albacore, and Johnny, Sara and Andy Tasker each in a Solo. Sara’s Solo was a slightly different handicap to the others due to the sail size. The Race Committee consisted of Armand and Jim Forrest in the Safety Boat and Anne Hauger and Richard Graham in the Race Boat. Armand had a number of hats on though: Father to Rex, Topper Coach, Wind Guru, Ginger Beard Admirer and Safety Boat Engine Tester. We really need these all-rounders in times like these. We delayed the race start by 30 minutes as we realised the tide had ...

Sunday 28th May was set fair…but still. I mean STILL. Still…six boats were rigged by sailors who laughed in the face of the non-existent breeze. Allan & Steph, Sara, Tom, Cristina, Sally & Amy crossed the line for the downriver race. It was less sailing than drifting.  Sally provided the only excitement by angling her sail so high to catch a whiff of wind that she fell out the back of the boat! We put an end to everyone’s misery by laying an early mark, beached and decided to wait for the tide to turn at The Ship. None of us had any cash or card, except Josh, who very trustingly let us buy a jug of Pimms on his card (for he’s a jolly good fellow…!). We did attract some curious looks from the very polished men and ladies at the pub as we clambered over the gate in our sailing gear, bringing just a whiff of the Thames with us. The Only Way is Southbank meets The Only Way is Wandsworth. When the tide turned thankfully there was actually some wind in pl...

It was Sunday 21 st of May, a downriver Bevington, the jewel in the crown of the SBSC series. In the northern parlance it was literally “cracking the flags” with 9-11 mph winds in a toasty 24 degrees centigrade. Some might say perfect weather to go boating. The initial pre-race drama only added to the excitement with John P agreeing to step in to the empty race officer role at late notice, the commodore going missing to sort out the garage as well 13 boats getting ready to launching for the race. The Competitors were… In lasers: Renato, Johnny, Jane D, Henry C, Sally, Hannah and Tom G trying out a tiny 8.1 sail. In Solos: Sara, Andy T, Digby In the Enterprise: Allan & Steph, In the Topper: Henry K With the inevitable delay the bell was rung at approximately 4pm and the race was on! In a strange turn up for the books and totally against form Renato led the race through Putney Bridge, ably followed by the late launching Enterprise and the queen of vice in her Solo. The other la...

Sunday was a lovely day out at SBSC. The weather was rather cold and cloudy. The wind speed was apparently 4 knots. Unlucky for some, thirteen boats (possibly 14/15 boats but it’s now Wednesday and a lot has happened since Sunday morning)   were soon quickly rigged out on the tow path and raring to go. It was decided to have a course that involved two gates. One at the Crabtree and one closer to home. The only thing you had to do was go between the two buoys at each end of the rectangle. Not rocket   science. The start went without a hitch which is always a relief as race officer. The boats sped off towards the Crabtree. It was very difficult to make sense of what was happening at the top gate so we had to be patient, make a coffee and wait for the fleet to return to the bottom gate. There was a little bit of argy bargy between the Albacore and the two lasers sailed by Renato and Miguel. Miguel had not sailed a laser for 15 years so was feeling a little rusty. The rest of the happ...

Looks good doesn’t it? A slice of what you’re missing if you don’t join in the fun of Saturday sailing and the impromptu barbecues and pud that often follow. On Saturday 13th May a happy bunch of sailors took advantage of sunny temperatures and nice winds to mess about on the river. Armand came over all swallows and amazons and took his wee red boat out onto the water. Very pretty it looked too. Later Tom fired up the barbecue and did us proud –  and Emma Koe’s talented friend Lottie served up a cake with lashings and lashings of cream. Another lovely day which shows what a great place we have here. Jane