South Bank Sailing Club Blog

Campbell 5 – Downriver,  Sunday 16 th  October    Race Officers / SB1- Jane SH and Bruce R with help from Jane W Safety Boat 2- Ray and Toby S   The published wind speed of 5 knots appeared somewhat optimistic, when six boats began the downriver leg of Campbell 5. Despite trying to make the most of what wind there was, the initial leg was as much competitive drifting as sailing. Nonetheless, Jakob (Laser) made a good start and, by creating something out of nothing, maintained a solid lead throughout the first leg to the finish at Chelsea Reach. He was followed by Peter Mack (Solo), with a tight race between Sara (Solo) and Stephanie (Laser), who nudged ahead in the final seconds. They were followed by Alex (Laser), ahead of Tom G, paddling and waggling his Supernova to the finish.   The second leg was much more fun. The wind picked up and there was finally some decent sailing to be had. Once more, Jakob had a strong start and maintained his lead until the e...

Tim Young's report (Strand on the Green Vice Commodore) It was an overcast day with a distinct autumnal chill in the 5-6 knot WNW breeze: perfect for the planned B-course. Six boats came up river from South Bank: 3 Enterprises; a Laser; a Xenon, and a Merlin, together with an attendant safety boat. They beached on the slimy foreshore downstream of the railway bridge and made use of our sumptuous facilities, including tea and coffee. They were matched by nine Strand boats: James Armitage and Lev Kolobov in Enterprises, Rob Adams, Joseph Armitage and Keith Clarke in Lasers; Sam Shemtob’s Wayfarer; Ian Nethersell’s Vibe; Tim Young’s Wanderer and Nick Floyer’s Gull. The downwind start, against the flood tide, presented the choice of seeking the relatively slack water on either side of the river. 14 boats chose the Middlesex side and only one SBSC Enterprise (Allan Munro-Faure) chose the Surrey side. He was correct and rounded the downstream mark (at Chiswick Staithe) well ahead of the ...

The forecast 6 to 11mph SSW to S wind seemed lighter and more westerly in the event for the 2nd Campbell Series race, with the club flag at half mast.  After some excellent cake thanks to Elaine, 11 boats took to the water. Most were quickly swept to the wrong side of the start line by a strong spring tide which seemed to be carrying lots of debris including an entire tree.  Not an easy situation for the RO team, but we felt it best to get things underway and allow the rest of the fleet to start racing once passed by Renato and Jakob who had started from the correct side. Things improved significantly once the fleet reached the simple 2 buoy course, in the wind which had also picked up and in the lighter tide on the Fulham bank. It looked like an enjoyable sail. Jakob (Laser full) was first over the finish line after the 4 laps we’d eventually decided on, having well handled or been lucky with the shifty wind around the new Fulham stadium, followed a minute later by Renato (La...

  Sunday 21st August 2022. The last downriver race of the 2022 Bevington Trophy series promised to be a tactical affair with the forecast of 6 gusting 10 looking optimistic.  At least it was South Westerly wind giving the best chance of making use of what wind we did have.  With a small field of very capable sailors Race Officer Jane S-H decided we only needed one safety boat and planned to allow plenty of time by starting the race an hour before low tide at Battersea.  Setting off a little late Henry C led the field out in a Laser, closely followed by Allan in his Solo.  Initially Ellie and James C in the 420, Karin A and Ben R in the Enterprise, and Mike and Ang in the GP stayed in touch by edging down the Southern bank and negotiating paddle boarders, and moored boats to take advantage of any  width of the river they could find.  At Putney Bridge a seal snacking on an eel, looked on approvingly at the skill on display. As the wind became patch...

Sunday 7 th August 2022 RO and SB1- Jane SH and Sina, SB2- Alex D and Lucy A hot sunny Sunday late afternoon race with a forecast of NE wind 6 knots gusting 16. As usual quite changeable when on the water!. The competing sailors Elaine and Ellie (Lasers),  James, Jakob and Allan (Solos)… plus at RO’s discretion (a one-off) and with SB team support  Michael and his non sailor guest Karan in a trusty ENT. Sina provided delicious cupcakes for the race briefing enjoyed by us all. Perhaps a contributing factor to our keen sailors being rigged and ready to go when the start bell rang at 15:30. And off they sailed with some wind behind them.  A slow and steady race with James, Ellie, Allan and Jakob in contention.. then Allan found some wind and surged ahead. Then a call from SB 2 to say “no bung in the ENT”.. they couldn’t find the bung (pointed out afterwards) But luckily SB Lucy carries a supply of bungs  (!)  Hey presto the ENT set sail once more.. however as they...

Sunday 31st July 2022. As we arrived at the club, the wind was blowing a strong 20-knot northwesterly. A tricky course was proposed in view of the wind direction, favouring the controversial red rowing buoy as the windward mark in an arrangement of three buoys. Mutiny in the ranks prevailed, but the race officer and John Parke as assistant race officer were adamant and stuck to their guns in retaining the course proposed. ‘Sausage sailing’ – not on our watch! All raced in Lasers today, save James who was in his trusty red Solo. While Sara and Alex were in the safety boat, John and Andrew manned the race box. No sooner had the boats hit the water, than the wind completely dropped off. But we had a clean start, and Renato took a different tack to the rest of the sailors. It was very slow race at the beginning up to mark 2 (the controversial red rowing mark) as the wind completely dropped off. Had we chosen the right course? Had we set the correct number of laps? We would just have to let...

Sunday 24th July 2022 Today we set sail to start the downriver John Cope race. This consists of two races, one down river to about Battersea Park and the other from Battersea Park to SBSC. We started the first race with Peter just on the line, but Andrew, James and Jakob quickly caught up. Four minutes in, James was leading the race in his Solo, with Andrew and Jakob closely battling it out in their Lasers. It was quite a windy day so the whole way down favoured some incredible but difficult downwind sailing. Andrew, James and Jakob were neck and neck the whole way down, but James managed to seal the deal and take first place at the end of the first race. The race took about half an hour considering the favourable wind, so we had to wait about half an hour at Battersea Park before the tide turned. James and Jakob had the best start in the second race which started at 18:45 with Jakob heading the whole upwind leg back to SBSC. James, Andrew, and Peter closely followed. The exhaustion an...