South Bank Sailing Club Blog

Sunday 12th August. A windy summer’s evening, with forecasted gusts into F6 meant downriver racing was changed to local racing. A long sausage course was laid between Crabtree Wharf and Putney Hard, with the additional tactical requirement to be mindful of draught as the fleet raced at the bottom of the tide. Steph opted for a tactical up-tide start, ducking line on the start signal and leading the pack at the start, however a couple of early capsizes cost her a few places during the first leg. The fleet continued a downwind reach to the leeward mark, laid off Crabtree wharf, with Joe Driver leading the Laser pack on the approach to the first windward rounding. Renato was snapping at his heels as they approached the windward mark, laid off Putney PDC, and despite her early capsizes, Steph worked her way back to the head of the fleet, with barely a boat length separating first and fifth place as the laser pack passed the finish line for lap 1. Leonardo and Henry both took turns at ...

Bevington 12, Sunday 28 th July 2019 Race Officers : John P and Martin G. Safety Boat : Hugh and Roland A grey day with a good, easy sailing wind, until a 23mph gust prompted careful sailors to promptly spill wind and so depower and then (as I can well remember) wonder how Renato managed to be 200m ahead. A pity to see only 8 boats out on what was a good sailing day. All single handers; Leonardo (Streaker), Sara & Ben (Solos), Elaine (Laser 4.7), Jane D (Laser Radial) Renato, Peter M, Henry (Lasers). The RO remembered that he had a reputation for setting interesting courses and so set a 5 lap square one taking the further rower’s mark as buoy B and the usual return past C & D down the Fulham bank. The westerly wind reduced the amount of tacking, but crossing the river and the tide, close hauled at the end of each lap from buoy D on the Fulham bank. Getting to buoy A on the Barnes bank, needed nice judgement and several boats were carried upstream above the buoy and so lost tim...

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...

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon as the sailors gathered for Race 7 of the Bevington Series, which looked to be a gentle sail around the buoys, with the wind hovering around 5 knots, but flickering and flukey, like the light from a poorly wired bulb in an old house. It had been a while since I’d been at the club and it was nice to meet some members I hadn’t met before. I almost immediately got a chance to apologize to Sebastian Glen for telling him that he looked like Jamie M-F’s twin brother, as he really has heard that before. It was nice to see Rita and Miguel, although I felt sorry that our Portuguese friends, who always look like they should be on a beach, had been greeted with such insipid sailing weather. I was pleased to see Giles and Trish as the safety boat crew. Punctual, competent and full of good humour, they were all you could ask for. We were in good hands. It looked like a standard Southbank race fleet, although it was interesting to see three Solos on the water...

Sunday 14 th July Bevington Series Race 11 On Sunday at 10am with NNW Winds 8-9 mph gusting 14, preparations were underway for the Bevington Race around the buoys. RO Jane S-H and Assistant RO new member Katherine (that would be me!) orientating to the role. Jane with leg brace in situ did a great job “hopping” along to show me all the duties. Put up transom pole opposite White line for the Starting point Welcome sign for passersby’s to come and visit “the friendliest sailing club on the Thames” Plan race course with help from Chris B and Elaine Help with Safety Boat, as time permits Sign On sheet Set up RO desk, Digital clocks, Binoculars and an essential cup of tea-We were all set! In the Safety Boat were Elaine and Anna R (also orientating to the role). Elaine gave an excellent overview of all the “bits and bobs” that needed to be checked on the Safety boat. We had a fleet of nine boats competing: Two Streakers: Chris and Leonardo Z (in his new boat) and Lasers, with Joe, Renato, H...

Bevington Downriver Series Race 6 After a fairly strong wind on Saturday, there wasn’t much left for any of the Sunday sailors. It varied between 4mph and 8mph, and at times it wasn’t fully clear to the Race Officer where it was actually coming from. In the Race Officer Boat we had Kevin Heydenrych and myself, and in the Safety Boat we had Mike de Selincourt and Justin Lloyd Williams. We had five boats, which was actually a good turnout given the wind. We had Jakob, Henry, Elaine and Seb in the full-rigged Lasers, and Allan & Steph in the Enterprise. Importantly, there was no Renato, which meant everyone was looking for a win. This was evidenced by the fact that a number of the sailors approached me separately with recommendations on start time, finish time and tides! How exciting. With the tide turning at 14:30, we started the race broadly on time at 13:37. We had hoped this would at least allow a Pagoda trip and back, but this didn’t happen. By the five minute bell, the majority ...

It is always a pleasure to have the opportunity to enjoy a downriver race from the safety boat at the same time as providing assistance in case of need. I had the opportunity to welcome our new club member Fatih Guler, who had only joined the day before during one of Sara’s tasting sessions, and volunteer ed to assist with safety boat the next day!! Race Officer Jane SH with Anna were in SB1 with myself and Fatih in SB2 . T here was no need of assistance on this occasion, even if a couple of capsizes were observed!! It was a good opportunity for Fatih to get familiar with the river and basic safety boat manoeuvring. During the day w e had all type s of different conditions, from sunny and calm breezes to some rain and strong wind gusts , taking our sailors by surprise –  especially under the bridges. We had Renato, Jakob and Elaine in the ir full-rigged Lasers, Allan & Steph in the Enterprise and Sara in her Solo. We planned the race as per the usual form...