RACE 6 Saturday, 29th October 1500 HT 1402

Starting Platform June Kirkman

Race Officer Tim Robinson

Safety Boat Team Mike Doherty & Vova Karavan

End of Season Tea Frances Robinson – any contribution to the tea table welcome, thank you!

One of the things I’ve noticed this year is that the fleet naturally falls into different sailing camps: those that thrive on the strong wind, ‘white-knuckle rides’ at Needs Ore and those that find equal enjoyment in the sometimes gentler winds at the top of the river, as we had last weekend.

This light wind sailing calls for quiet patience and a certain skill set – constant reading and reacting to those feckless wind shifts, watching the ripples on the water, the top of the sail and feeling for wind on the cheek; checking the topography of the river bank, the tidal eddies, together with all the nuisances of balance and trim. These fleeting observations, gentle manoeuvres and adjustments incrementally add up to enable the helmsman to softly fill the sail and coax every last little bit of forward motion out of theIr scow.

This is not me. So last weekend, as Edward and I shuffled around at the back of the fleet we marvelled at those at the front who made it look like pure poetry in motion.

RACE 5 RACE REPORT – from Lucy Markby

I do love it at the top of the river… with familiarity comes calm.

Between the storms and squalls on Sunday, there was a calm hiatus at 11am, allowing 8 scows to line up for the penultimate race of the Autumn series.

All boats were well positioned along the starting line, with Jay in the best wind, who took an early lead on the far bank for a beat downriver to round mark ‘E’ off Dock Head. Timor who managed to catch his fair share of wind on the tricky near bank, frustratingly lost his halyard on the beat and was forced to retire.

The fleet sailed on with Jay stretching ahead in the run back up the river. All the other single handers, (Mary, Lizzie and myself,) jockeyed for position throughout the race. Finally crossing the finish line after Jay, with myself 2nd, Lizzie 3rd and Mary 4th.

The boats with crews found the lighter winds less favourable but seemed to have fun too. Well done in particular to young Pippa who helmed the Seller’s family scow with her mother Camilla crewing for her.

Thanks as always to all helpers: Frank, for setting a great course, Martin as beach master, Gerard as starter, Andrew and Nick BB for safety, and Miranda for a very welcome tea of homemade cakes, sausages and delicious late season strawberries from Vova.

As the year draws to a close I’d like to remind you to kindly make arrangements to remove your scow from the top or the bottom of the river by 15th November.

It’s also an opportunity to thank Richard Chitty, James Gedge, Peter Hayward-Broomfield, Jay Devonshire, Gerard Downes, Peter Marling-Roberts, Peter Bettridge and Cassie Strang for all the behind the scenes maintenance of the pontoon, slipway, starting platform, buoys, boats and clubhouse. Also many thanks to Sam van Holthe for organising our safety boat team and for overseeing the maintenance of the safety boats. It is very much appreciated.

Hope to see a great turn out on Saturday, at 1500 for the ‘last harrah’!

Yours aye,

Victoria Bonham Carter
Captain of Scows

RACE 5 Sunday, 23 October 1100 HT 1035

Starting Platform Gerry Marling-Roberts

Race Officer Frank McGinn

Safety Boat Team Andrew & Alexander Duncan

Refreshments Miranda Knowles

It seems like the changeable Autumn weather has arrived and last Saturday we were closely watching the weather forecast and the gusts on the river to see if we could race. A select number of ‘Autumn hardies’ turned up and we were delighted to be joined by 2 of our junior members, Timour and Ned.

RACE 4 Race Report – from Polly Savage

It was touch and go whether racing would go ahead last Saturday, partly due to the high winds and secondly would there be enough of us? Ben and I arrived in the boat park to hear, “we have a quorum”, but actually in the end, 6 boats took to the water. Gusty winds lead to a ‘Duncan dunking’ before the race started, so he retired gracefully but the remaining 5 boats took off on a brilliantly set course by Tim and started by Frances Robinson, for which many thanks.

Charles and Ned Nicholson led from the start and finished a very clear first. They were followed most of the way round by Mary and her crew Sophie Smith in Moti, being hounded by the us in ‘sCow’. Challenging and gusty winds led to hairy moments in all boats but after a poor decision by the Savages on the last mark we just pipped ‘Moti on the line (apologies Mary). Red Came in 4th and Timour crossed 5th.

Many thanks to the safety boat team of Edward and Victoria Bonham Carter whose work was mainly done before the start but it could have been so much more!

FIRST AID RESPONSE & DEFIBRILLATOR

As you know, this year we have been reviewing the club’s First Aid response. We now have a portable defibrillator which, depending on the season, travels between Needs Ore and RFF and which will be housed at 7 Needs Ore Cottages for the ‘off season’ months, should you require it. We’ve organised training courses to ensure that there are always at least 2 qualified First Aiders on the bank for every event. Special thanks to Elizabeth Gedge who has expertly overseen the updating of the First Aid boxes at the Point and at RFF and the ‘grab bag’ for club expeditions. Next year we hope to run a refresher safety boat – power boat course so do let me know if you are interested in this.

Very much looking forward to seeing the ‘Autumn Hardies’ for a brisk sail next Sunday at 1100.

Yours aye,

Victoria

We had a beautiful Autumn sail last Sunday, the wind veering between blustery gusts and glassy calm, with an excellent course set by Ginna that had us weaving up and down to Oxleys allowing us snippets of time to appreciate how pretty the river looked in the clear afternoon light.

RACE 4 Saturday, 15th October 1500 HT: 1505

Starting Platform & CRO Frances & Tim Robinson

Safety Team Victoria & Edward Bonham Carter

Tea Anyone like to pop the kettle on?

RACE 3 Race Report – Sunday 9th October, RFF – from Charles Nicholson

We had not expected to be pretty much becalmed half way to Oxleys; but we were; any wind we had was corkscrewing, coming from all points of the compass; first the north bank seemed favoured, then mid-stream; who would come out ahead?

It hadn’t been like that in the boat park, with a stiff south westerly blowing and discussions about reefing. Eight boats started, with half solo, half two-up. As ever, the prevailing wind direction favoured the far end of the starting line and there was the usual manoeuvring to get the best start.

CRO Ginna had set an excellent course, with a long windward leg to Oxleys, then downwind the whole way back, a loop and then back again to Oxleys and the finish.

The first leg was an extremely tactical beat, with the earlier stiff wind diminishing to a patchy breeze with the familiar huge Beaulieu River shifts – look away from the wind indicator for long and you could be 30% off the wind.

And then en route to Oxleys the wind disappeared. Jay went from first to last; Mike Doherty drifted ahead; then Victoriaand Ed; Andrew Duncan, with a beaming Fiona came up in mid channel, with Nick BB and Nimesh Patel nearby. Every boat had their moment – even Miranda Knowles and Sophie Smith, by then hampered by their seemingly wise earlier decision to reef.

In the end, Jay and Red found the first of a steadying breeze, slipping up the east bank and away, with the fleet following as the wind filled in. The lead swapped between them on the long downwind leg, with the boats literally touching at the rounding mark.

The long final upwind leg saw more positions changing, with Red sailing into a calm patch, letting Mike almost catch up with Jay. In the end Jay claimed another deserved win, with Mike in third and Victoria and Ed in fourth.

The organisation was as immaculate as ever – big thanks to Gerry on the Starting Platform, Ginna for a top course, safety team Lizzie and Camilla who ‘purred’ up and down the river with the new electric engine and of course heartfelt thanks to our wonderful hosts at Oxleys, Stephanie and Charles Morgan who treated us to a delicious BBQ, ably assisted by Lindy and John. https://click.mlsend.com/link/…

Other News

I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank all our riverside hosts who have so warmly welcomed us: Sara Steele, Christoph and Sarah Brooke, John and Carol Hackman, Benji and Christian Scrimgeour, Julian and Holly Chichester, Maria Stratton, Nick and Amanda Bentley-Buckle, Charles and Stephanie Morgan.

In January, Lizzie and I will start to put together next year’s calendar so if you would like to host post-race refreshments, do get in touch here. Thank you.

Very special thanks too, to club member Michele Sopher of The Cut Flower Farm who has home grown and arranged the most wonderful bouquets of flowers for our hosts this year: info@cutflowerfarm.co.uk. Thank you to Avril Cox, supported by Peter Bettridge, who has kindly collected them from Cut Flower Farm for us.

VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES – to fill

RACE 5 Race officer

RACE 6 Race Officer, Starting Platform, Tea

Looking forward to seeing you on the river next Saturday and do let me know if you fancy helping with post race refreshments. It’s a lovely opportunity to get together and ‘chew the cud’.

Yours aye,

Victoria Bonham Carter
Captain of Scows