Report for Race 5 and Next Race 28th October 2023
Last Saturday was so wet and ‘dreich’ that even my faithful old ‘dry suit’ failed to do it’s job and while standing on the river bank discussing various course options with Jay and wondering if anyone would turn up, I could feel the damp creeping in at the frayed seems. But as the rain trickled in, so the hardcore group of scow sailors trickled into Factory Field – come rain or shine, they valiantly turn up week after week, month after month. Rain or not, we will miss this. Symon Stratton picks up the baton for the penultimate race report of the year. Race 5 – 21st October 2023 The weather gods were out in full force on Saturday at the top of the river, showcasing all of what Autumn could offer, from crisp blue skies accompanied by dead calm waters, to torrential downpours, to almost gale force winds. I could therefore be forgiven for assuming for most of the morning that race 5 of the Borthwick Cup would almost certainly be cancelled, indeed in times gone by it could well have been for any of the above reasons, but I was pleasantly surprised when a handful of hardcore sailors started to appear out on the water with 15 minutes to spare before the start.At this stage it’s important to note that the weather roulette wheel had landed on ‘heavy gusting northerly winds and wet misty rain’, the only small dilemma was that I had agreed earlier, during the ‘dead calm’ phase of the day, that my 5 year old son, Sebastian, could join me for his first outing in a Scow race and his insistence remained undimmed despite the more testing weather conditions. With no time to spare I succumbed on the basis that there would be no ‘small sail’ and he certainly would not be helming, to which he reluctantly agreed.My earlier hesitation meant that no sooner had we hoisted our sail off the Friars Oak pier, the starting gun sounded and the fleet led by Mary were off, on their way up to the village green. As we approached the starting line I could see that Gillian & Jay on the starting platform, had seen fit to set two laps of a compact course up to A, then back down to C off Bignalls, before reaching further down and across to D. Fortunately the upper stretches of the river are often kind to those in a seemingly dire situation at the back and a few lucky wind shifts later we found ourselves right on the tail of the fleet as we reached the first mark. What followed was more or less a procession until the next upwind leg from D back up to A for the 2nd lap which was good fun with some interchanging of positions between Lucy & Beattie, Tim, Lizzie, Simon Gibbs and Sebastian & I. By the time we made it back to D for the final leg, Mary and the Bonham Carter’s were well ahead and fighting it out on the fetch back up to the finish line, well done to both of them. Victory in the end went to the Commodore, which I gather was rather apt considering she had taken time out from the Trafalgar Day celebrations onboard HMS Victory to join us! A special thank you to Gillian and Jay for their race officer duties, to Peter HB and Mike Doherty for braving the damp conditions in a small green tub of a rescue boat and to new member, Darren Firth for his first shore duty. Thank you also to Miranda and Gillian for their baking and hot cups of tea, which I expect were hugely appreciated and well deserved by all those who made it ashore. Alas not for me though, I remained afloat with my young taskmaster apprentice who was keen to finally have his turn at the helm! https://brsc.site/recent-photo… RACE 6 – Saturday, 28th October 1100 HT 1006 Starting Platform Frances Robinson Race Officer Frank McGinn Safety Boat Team Rob Rogers & Keith Hutton Tea Amanda Bentley-Buckle Sally Hutton Do hope you can come and join us for post race refreshments and to celebrate another wonderful year on the river. All contributions to the tea table welcome. New members do join us – we’d love to see you! Boats and equipment to be removed from Needs Ore & RFF We would like to get into the sail lockers at the Club House and the Donkey Hut at RFF to tidy and clean them before the weather closes in so please help us by picking up all your belongings as as soon as possible. All boats from Needs Ore to be removed by 29th October and from RFF by 12th November. Any boat or equipment left behind will be deemed to be abandoned and is liable to be disposed of by the Boatswain. The lost property bin at the Club House overfloweth – have you lost anything? AGM 18th November * * * at the earlier time of 1730 * * * If you have any old BRSC cine footage of ‘days gone by’ that you would like to share, please contact June Kirkman : kirkmanjune@gmail.com Very much looking forward to seeing you on the river on Saturday. Yours aye, Victoria Bonham CarterCaptain of Scows  Beaulieu River Sailing ClubThe Beaulieu River Sailing Club is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of all members, and to act in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR). We highly value the personal data you share with us. We promise to keep your information secure and only use your information within the Club. 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