South Bank Sailing Club Blog

It was the last day of the year 2017 and while many people were getting ready for the last moments of a fantastic year, a selected group was determined to ensure they ended up the year even better coming down to sail. Ms Sara Bennet CAMBPELL decided to stay in the safety boat and enjoy her well-deserved triumph on the homonymous trophy. Congratulations VC.     The course wasa3 lap triangle +  sausage which always makes it interesting and can open the race using the tactics of the river. Ben and Sina in the Albacore had a good start and were followed for a while by a GP14 helmed by Allan and with Steph and little James in her tummy as crew. The race was close for one lap butBen and Sina made the most of thespeed of the Albacore and had a commanding lead at the end of the race.   Henry Cook and Hugh Spalding had also a good battle for a couple of laps but Henry managed to put distance after the 2 nd  lap and secure the third position in the race. Final results : Ben and Sin...

The end-of-year supper was a great event as always. Here are the results! Trophy Results Goodwin (Spring) Series: Renato, Allan, Amy, Henry C, Johnny, Ben, Jamie, Jane D, Joe Bevington (Summer) Series: Renato, Sara, Johnny, Ben = Jamie, Allan Campbell (Autumn): Sara, Renato, Allan, Ben, Amy, Henry C, Jakob Overall: Renato (18), Allan (30), Sara (41), Amy (62), Ben (66), Henry C (75), Johnny (91), Jamie (98), Sally (136), Jane D (159) Crew Trophy: Steph, Sina, Bob, Jane SH, Rita, Matthias, Digby = Josh Single Handers: Renato, Sara Double Handers: Allan, Ben Downriver: Allan, Renato, Sara, Amy, Johnny, Ben = Jamie, Sally Ruby Bell Trophy: Sara, Jamie, Ben + Sina, Jacob, Henry C, Armand + Rex, Elaine, Ana G John Cope Trophy: Carla + Sina, Ben + Josh, Henry C Bernard Driver: Race cancelled due to lack of wind Extras Thanks to Sara, Jane SH, Ray, Allan and Emma for covering many extra duties. Thanks to Sina and Andy T for helping with race spreadsheets and attendance reporting. Well done to...

Sunday 7th Jan 2018  John Cope Downriver Race  What better way to start the New Year than the John Cope cup!   As well as being the 1 st race of 2018 it was also the 1 st race using the revised calculations moving OTW times closer to the predicted high/low tide times. As forecast it was a very cold day with 3-5C temperature with NE winds 16-19mph gusting 33 but we did have some sunshine and lovely blue skies for a while. Six intrepid sailors turned up to compete in 5 boats; Matthias in a club Laser 4.7, Henry in his Laser Rad, Johnny in his Solo, Carla visiting from Singapore reunited with her teammate Sina in their 420 and Ben with Josh in his Albacore.   There were delays launching our boats partly because of a busy ramp with several rowers coming and going!  However at 12.50, with Steph’s help, I started the race from the beach. Making the most of the strong winds and gusts our gallant sailors moved over the start line at high speed followed by Jane D and Simon in the Safety Boat....

The penultimate race of the Campbell series was off to a slow start. There was barely enough wind to move the tape tell tales and 8 sailors spent a couple of hours umming and ahhing in the yard before the more optimistic ones decided one might as well rig and see what happens. So they did. But nothing much happened and so more waiting ensued. Thankfully Allan & Steph and Henry Koe eventually volunteered to test the waters and two boats were launched. A few minutes later, the rest of us sought shelter at Barn Elms Boathouse while a 38-week pregnant woman, an optimistic commodore and a 12-year-old showed us what could and could not be done in these conditions. Their relentless struggle to stay near the start line, however, was not enough to deter Renato as it emerged that the Campbell trophy would go to Sara if the race was cancelled. While he was campaigning against cancellation, good news came in from the North Bank where Allan & Steph had started to make progress against the t...

For no other reason than it’s a photo too lovely not to have permanent pride of place on our site. Here’s our most experienced helm, John Parke, with some of our youngest sailors, Oscar, Sophia and Nicholas. It looks a bit like a session on downriver currents. You’re never too young to learn. Even if, like Nicholas, you need a nap to let it all sink in. Thanks for the picture, Olga. Jane

Weather – Sunny, cold Wind – F3/4 Course – There and Back Again Competing Boats – Albacore 1, GP14 1, Solo 1, Lasers Various Downriver Start – Almost on time!! Dead RO Boat Batteries – ! Safety Boat Swaps – 1 Downriver Race – Uneventful Downriver Finish (OTW) – 1st Ben and Sina (Albacore) 2nd= (We can only time to the second!) Jakob (Laser)and Leo (Laser) 4th El (Laser) 5th Joshua (Laser) 6th Sara (Solo) 7th Amy (Laser) 8th Henry (Laser) 9th Allan and Stephanie (GP14) Tea Break – RO and Assistant (I say assistant, but Ana did all the important stuff) Upriver Race Start – Yes Upriver Race – Windier? Capsizes – 3? Upriver Race Finish (OTW)- 1st Ben and Sina (Albacore) 2nd Allan and Stephanie (GP14) 3rd Henry (laser) 4th Amy (Laser) 5th Sara (Solo) 6th Jakob (Laser) 7th El (Laser) 8th Joshua (Laser) 9th Leo (Laser) OVERALL (Corrected Time) 1st SARA (Solo) 2nd Ben and Sina (Albacore) 3rd Allan and Stephanie (GP14)...

  Sunday 18th November   Campbell 9 Race Report A lovely brisk winter morning with not a breath of wind. The usual diehards trickled in and there was the usual will we won’t we discussion. The Old Man shook his head “Aarr unless they telltales flow them boats won’t go” and went in to have a cup of coffee muttering “ A 7.4m tide! They might go but they won’t come back”. When he came down, hardly a leaf had moved and Stephanie thought not, but Sunshine Sara had the cover off and was stroking her Solo to reassure her. Renato had taken the cover off his torpedo so cleverly disguised as a Laser, there was no wind but there was a tangible feeling of desperation. Any minute and the RO would be labelled defeatist. He had to compromise so he agreed a race with a 45min postponement and the threat was lifted.   Daniel with son James in the SB, laid a minimal sausage on the Fulham bank and it seemed that feeble air currents did disturb the surface in mid stream but not near the Fulham bank.   ...