South Bank Sailing Club Blog

Storm Freya loomed and the Thames was battleship grey. We planned a brief “round the buoys” with thoughts of early retirements. Five boats began to rig, not foolhardy but certainly hardy, reduced rigs all round for the Lasers. Allan & Steph’s acknowledgement of the weather was to take the Wayfarer but with a full rig. We set the usual triangular course but making sure that the gybe mark was in the shelter of the Barnes bank. They got away smoothly but anti-climax (!) it was not easy to get above the start and Sally got stuck and had to join the race as it passed. The wind rose and squalls developed, Jamie who was under the weather, found himself under the water too and wisely decided that that was enough and retired. Rounding the Putney buoy was difficult because the need to spill wind made it difficult to sail close hauled, the tide was fast and several boats needed several attempts before they got round. Even A. & S. needed two attempts but soon built up a half lap lead whic...

Race report – Goodwin 7 – 17.2.19   Ten boats took to the river for this race, no doubt drawn by the mild temperature, sunshine and steady southerly wind. Ben & Elaine were in the Albacore, Allan & Steph in an Enterprise, Sara, Graham and Johny were in Solos, and everyone else was in a laser with full, radial or 4.7 sail. With the larger then usual number of boats for this time of year and the need to watch out for two of the rowing clubs holding a cup race it was not the smoothest of build-ups, but after a false start (sorry to all for that) the race eventually got under way. By then the wind had moved more to the south west, making it an easy decision to choose the Fulham side of the gate course that Gary and John in the safety boat had laid out. Renato was ahead after the first lap, followed by the Albacore and Enterprise. By lap 3 Ben and Elaine were ahead on the water, making good use of the occasional stronger gusts which had caught one or two other boats out o...

Despite incredibly strong winds all through Saturday, Sunday mercifully seemed calmer and the wind was doable for a downriver race.  With a lot of the usual suspects not able to come, I half thought we might not get enough people to sail but sure enough they eventually started to drift in.   It was good to see Simon Harrison who had brought an experienced Dinghy sailor friend with him, and they decided the Xenon was for them.  Sina paired up with Leo in her 420 and both Henry and Renato both went for radial sails on their Lasers. I was a bit concerned that things were starting to go wrong when Jane pointed out I had flown the club flag the wrong way up……(uh oh)  but having put that right things started to improve!  Luckily for me we had an excellent safety boat team and many thanks to both Graham and Ray who both stepped in at the last minute to replace John and Polly who both reported in on the Saturday  as unwell – hope you’re both better. So off they went with Renat...

After some gentle snow fell during the week it turned out Sunday was a beautiful sunny day with enough wind to sail a four lap sausage on the north bank. Six boats started at the usual 5,4,1,0 minute sequence. But suddenly a seventh boat appeared with Allan and Steph around 5 minutes late and when the rest of the fleet was already turning the first mark. Sally and Henry had a good start and they both had an interesting battle with Martin, a temporary member who came to try the club and had sailed optimist, europe and 29er in Spain but never sailed a laser until now. Behind them the second group was not far behind formed by Sara, Leo and Matthias. On corrected time Sara was probably leading the race. The wind picked up a bit given the opportunity to hike at times and provided an exciting finish: Martin crossed the line first followed within just a fraction of a second by Henry who had a fantastic race. Unfortunately for Martin he ignored the last mark on his way to the finish line and h...

Campbell 4 – 27 January 2019, Erkka and Sina’s report It was a very windy Sunday, 19 gusting 29 knots from the Northwest and as a result the scheduled downriver race was cancelled and we held a race round the buoys on the rising tide instead. There wasn’t much scope for complicated course layouts due to the low water, so we aimed for 5 (very) long sausage laps.   After the usual delay, the race was off to a smooth start with Allan&Steph in the GP14 first off the line, closely followed by Leo (4.7) and Jamie (Radial). Jamie managed to get ahead and had built a 30 second lead at the end of the first lap. Leo and Sally (4.7) followed. The second lap proved more troublesome with Sara capsizing repeatedly not far from the upwind mark and, having noticed a hole in poor Conker, decided to call it a day and ask for a tow back from the Crabtree. At around the same time, the GP14 had a few near misses, Ben & Elaine went for a swim, and Gary retired after a few capsizes. Oh, and it w...

Jane’s phophecy that we’d never be ready in time of course came true, but just after 12:30 a fleet of happy sailors set off in 7 boats; Ben and Sina in Ben’s Albacore, Sara in her Solo, Renato testing out his new Sunsail on his Laser, Gary in his (Full) Laser, Leo S and Erkka in Roland’s Laser II, Sally with her 4.7 and Henry with a Radial. Sara and Gary both had quick capsizes and took a few minutes to get back in, before both deciding to return to the club. While briefly towing Gary back above Putney Bridge he noticed a seal surfacing a few times nearby; obviously interested in seeing what the commotion was all about. You can just about make out a black blob in the photo; I’m afraid you’ll have to take our word for it that it wasn’t a log. We left Gary Sara (and the seal!) half way back to the club where they could safely sail or walk their boats back along the bank. We caught up and followed the fleet down as Jane and Kevin tracked the first-...

The second to last race of the year. Sally was race officer supported by a very talented off shore racer and former iso champion so all competitors were warned, no bending of rules! 5 boats on the water, 3 lasors, 1 xenon and an enterprise. A triangle race 5 laps. Apologies I have lost my notes of the race but pretty sure Henry had a good start but gradually fell back. Renato pulled away after first lap. Henry and Jamie had a bit of a battle at halfway mark but Jamie pulled away. Enterprise was a bit overwhelmed by the wind. Xenon had a go at getting the kite up. Resulting in a capsize but good on you for trying. BIG shout out Digby and Bob on safety boat for a difficult and exhausting time dealing with the waterlogged enterprise. Your efforts are much appreciated.