SUMMER SERIES The Hextall Trophy
RACE REPORT RACE 1 HEXTALL TROPHY COURSE: Fs Bp Os to Brickyards
By Symon Stratton
It was absolutely glorious looking out across the river at lunch time on Sunday, the sun was glistening across the water, we finally had some warmth, almost perfect sailing conditions, apart from one missing ingredient…wind! I was pretty much convinced that Race 1 of the Hextall trophy would amount to nothing more than a slow drift down to the Brickyards, it was sure to be cancelled. Fast forward an hour or so and close to 10 minutes prior to the start, a 2nd glance at the river revealed a gentle south-westerly and more alarmingly about 13 boats out on the water. Panic stations …the race was on! There was no time to spare, no time to bail out a month’s worth of April showers that had seeped in since our last outing and certainly not enough time to remove any resident slugs & earwigs, they were joining me for the ride!
Out in a flash, I just managed to catch the tail of the fleet as they crossed the start line. I had not seen the course set by Ginna, as I was still rigging my mainsheet, but out in front were the likes of Ned & Charles Nicolson and Mary & Claudia, seemingly heading down towards F by the creek. It was a decent beat, with plenty of wind shifts and I found myself hugging the west shore, which initially allowed me to pass a few boats. I then made the mistake of going in too close under the trees and ended up rounding F right back where I had started …2nd last. For the downwind leg, we returned back up to B, just beyond the start line. There was quite a lot of ground to make up to catch the likes of Elizabeth Gedge, Victoria and Ed bonham Carter, Lizzie Anders and several others but the wind gradually filled in behind, allowing me to reach B on their tails. At this point all the boats ahead tacked off and headed towards the centre of the river, I decided to carry on towards the west shore and lucked in with a decent lift, circumnavigating 6 or 7 boats at once, including Mary & Claudia. The next mark was O off Oxleys, the Nicholsons were a long way ahead having managed to get past the fluky conditions around Dock Head’s jetty before the rest of us could catch them. Once past this point and clear of the trees there was a decent breeze for the fetch across to Oxleys where poor Sophia Moore seemed to be stuck in irons, having retired from the race and was just heading for tea. After rounding O, Victoria was on my tail and helped by her chief tactician Ed, managed to get ahead, with Lizzie also hot on my heels. The Nicolsons with Ned at the helm, although now a little closer were still a few too many tacks ahead and comfortably crossed the line at the Brickyards to take a very well deserved win. Next up should’ve been the BC’s but they very kindly overstood the last tack (perhaps another tactical call by Ed in avoiding the write up!) and let me back through again. We were closely followed by Lizzie and Karl and Zoey Liebat.
A special thank you to Ginna and Gerry for their race officer duties and to Ian Strathcarron and Bill Vance in the rescue boat who were kept on their toes late on when Peter MB decided to go for a swim, caught out by a sudden strong gust. Most importantly a huge thank you to Christoph & Sarah for so kindly providing refreshments and hosting the fleet at the beautiful Brickworks, which sadly I could not stick around for, but at least I had a few slugs and earwigs to keep me company for the lonesome sail back home.
Peter Marling-Roberts recounts his experience of capsizing
Sunday afternoon on a warm spring day with little wind sailing or drifting down river what on earth could go wrong. Well it happened to me after a gentle tack I lost control of the tiller and in slow motion my scow capsized slipping me backwards into the river. Two safety boats were quickly to my rescue, firstly righting my scow and then hauling a 13 stone wet me into one of their boats.This all took place in minutes and my huge thanks and praise for the BRSC for all the training of the volunteer safety boat team. So thank you to Bill Vance, Ian Strathcarron and Robert Gayner but not forgetting Christoph Brooke who lent me a shirt and a gave me a large glass of rosé on dry land to warm up!
1. 585 Ned Nicholson with crew Charles Nicholson
2. 273 Symon Stratton
3. 510 Victoria and Ed Bonham Carter
4. 550 Lizzie Anders
5. 421 Karl and Zoey Liebat
6. 589 Red and Cleo Johnson
7. 352 Iain Rawlingson
8. 600 Mary Scott and Claudia Downes
9. 152 Lucy Markby and Simons Gibbs
10. 263 Nick Burge
11. 443 Elizabeth Gedge
12. 464 Fiona and Alexander Duncan
358 Sophia Moore retired
414 Peter Marling Roberts retired
DOWN RIVER RACE for the Phipps Oar Saturday 25th May 1300 HW 1300
STARTING PLATFORM Ginna Gayner
RACE OFFICER Frank McGinn
SAFETY BOAT TEAMS Peter & Angela Hayward-Broomfield Ian Strathcarron & Bill Vance Vova Karavan & Simon Gibbs
TEA Hicky Gibbs – all contributions to the tea table gratefully received!
SHORE TEAM Peter Bettridge
Vova Karavan has very kindly offered to deliver our trollies to Needs Ore so if you would like to take advantage of this please have your boats off their trollies an hour before the race. Kindly ensure your trolley, cover and ‘drainpipe’ are clearly marked. Land lubbers are welcome to join us at Needs Ore for a post race picnic. All contributions to the refreshment table welcome. Thank you. Please be aware that there are rare birds nesting around the club house so tread carefully and please proceed at a snail’s pace past the Needs Ore cottages. Thank you.
RACE 2 Saturday 8th June 1200. HW 1300
STARTING PLATFORM Miranda Knowles
RACE OFFICER Frank McGinn
SAFETY BOAT TEAM Bill Vance & Keith Hutton
BBQ Kindly hosted by Benji and Christian Scrimgeour. Please arrive by foot, boat or bicycle!
FUTURE DATES
Monday 24th June The Keyhaven-Beaulieu-Keyhaven Potter. All details from Nick Griffin : nc.griffin@btinternet.com . Keyhaven are happy to take you as crew in their boats should you prefer. Or trail your scow to Keyhaven and sail there and back.
Saturday 1st June BRSC SUMMER PARTY kindly hosted by Amanda and Nick Bentley-Buckle at Gardiners Ground gathering at 15:00 – 20:00. RSVP social@brsc.org
Please bring picnic rugs, drink &food and enjoy one of the best views on the river.
Sunday 9th June The Junior Spring Regatta details from June Kirkman : kirkmanjune@gmail.com
Very disappointed to be missing the Down River Race this year – but hope you have a wonderful race and look forward to hearing all about it.
Yours aye,
Victoria
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