Scow Race 5, Junior Sailing Report & NEXT RACE

NEXT RACE Saturday, 13th August, 12pm

Starting Platform Ginna Gayner

Race Officer James McGill

Safety Team Tim Robinson & Charlotte Hosier

Tea Kindly hosted by Holly Chichester at Gins Old Farmhouse RSVP holly@short-films.com

You may have noticed that we have very smart new, fluorescent flags on all our buoys which make them so much easier to spot when racing. ‘Thank you’ to James Gedge, Peter Hayward-Broomfield and Jay Devonshire for sorting this out for us. To complete the job we need some lengths of chain to stabilise them. Kindly let Peter know if you have any chain going spare. Thank you.

There’s been a lot of club activity on the Beaulieu River this week. Down at Rope Factory Field, Charlie Bubear ran a very successful Junior Week with 55 children participating in the Oppie and Scow programme. It’s wonderful seeing our ‘home grown’ instructors coming back each year to coach the younger members. As Drummond McGinn said, ‘I remember learning to sail Oppies 11 years ago and here I am back on the river as an instructor’. Alongside sailing instruction there was the famous Pirate Day cork race, the sail up to Maria Stratton’s garden for ice creams and the Creek Picnic for the Scows.

Isaac Sopher reflects on his scow training week at Oxleys held by kind permission of Charles Morgan:

Thank you to Fraser McGinn, Cassie Strang, Lucy Markby, Victoria Bonham Carter, Ginna Gaynor and Frank McGinn for creating such a wonderful and successful week of scow sailing for Junior Week, with 15 boys and girls participating. We had amazing conditions on the Beaulieu River, beautiful sunshine and plenty of wind. We finished with two races on Saturday. Many congratulations to Oscar Nicholas for winning the Scow Trophy.

The evenings were filled with great socialising activities: barbecues hosted by the Mavors, the Aarvolds and the Liebats. A big thank you to all our hosts and huge thanks to our instructors for the week, for making it so much fun, and a very special and heartfelt thank you to Ginna and Frank, as it is their last year leading and supporting the Scows and they have given so much to so many.

Finally, thank you to Charlie and Alice Bubear for making this week so special, year after year.

To see photos of the week, please visit the website :https://brsc.site/recent-photo…

Next year, Lucy Markby and myself will be picking up the reigns and keeping on some of the old traditions of scow training week, set many years ago by Bunny Borthwick – Ginna and Frank will be a very hard act to follow.

RACE REPORTS

Last Saturday we held 2 scow races back to back.

Race 5a: Report from Camilla Sellars

A steady Force 4 greeted us at Needs Ore, where a dozen or so Scows were being hastily rigged ready to sail two races back-to-back, whilst the high water allowed. As the wind began to build, last-minute decisions were taken by some sailors as to whether to race at all, or take a crew. From the starting platform, Bill and Helen Vance set a short course with two laps, with the same to be repeated for the second race. One might think that four laps of the same course would enable us to learn from our mistakes, improving with each successive lap… but for me it all unravelled in the second race when I enjoyed an unexpected swim in the balmy waters of the Bay of Pigs!

For now though, back to the first race, in which I was blessed with better luck, (but not quite enough to avoid the race report). The first leg upwind to Withies was possible in one port-tack beat from the start line. Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter and Mary Montagu-Scott were slightly over zealous at the start line and had to go back across and start again. However, Tim Robinson and Red Johnson got off to a good start. Having left Withies to port, we crossed the river to Clubhouse. With the tide running against us, some chose to dash to the far bank before heading down to the buoy while others gambled on a more direct line between the moored boats. Then it was a run downwind, hugging the riverbank, where an inquisitive seal popped its head up to watch us passing by. After a tricky gybe at Pigs, we crossed to North Bank, dodging the weekend river traffic, (as some chose not to dodge us). There was a kerfuffle around the North Bank buoy with Scows approaching from different angles, and I did my best to keep well out of their way when rounding the mark. As a novice racer unwittingly immersed in the thick of the action, I found myself apologising repeatedly for getting in peoples’ way throughout the race, almost tacking directly into the Commodore at one point because I hadn’t thought to look over my shoulder. Fortunately BRSC members are either too polite to protest, or were being graciously forgiving of the newcomer on the scene!

Having managed to avoid any serious incident at North Bank, it was then an upwind leg with the benefit of the tide. Following hot on the heels of the leading boats, Simon Knott and I both sailed through the finish line with relief expecting to hear a gun, only to realise we were simply into the second lap of the course and it wasn’t time to relax yet! The racing was close, until the final upwind leg to the finish. The best course seemed to be a long port tack beat with the stronger tide in the middle of the river, which Victoria and Edward judged perfectly, sailing through the finish line some way ahead of the rest of the fleet and the shenanigans going on behind them. I followed in second, (almost certainly more by luck than judgment), with Red Johnson in third, Simon Knott, and Tim Robinson close behind.

Race 5b: Report from Nick Bentley-Buckle

Without wanting to repeat much of Camilla Sellars’ report. I will be brief, highlighting my own moments of anticipated glory followed by humiliation.

For once, my ancient Palace Quay scow turned into a thoroughbred. She is not suited to light conditions, so the steady Force 4 suited her well. A good start in the first race gave me clear wind to lead the fleet around the entire first lap, forgetting we had a second lap I crossed the line with a big grin, raised a cheer, only to see Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter planing past me and on to Withies. Too late, Tim Robinson and Red Johnson followed suite. My attempts to reel them in were in vain and compounded by a further lapse in concentration when, rounding North Bank, I fell into irons and was subsequently passed by Camilla, Red Johnson, Simon Knott and Tim Robinson. I eventually finished sixth.

Determined not to repeat the mistake of the first race, I again managed a good start, but this time trailing Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter, with Tim Robinson close on my port quarter. Another tricky rounding of Withies to port then down to Clubhouse. As we still had a strong tide to contend with, we again hugged the south bank past the platform on our run down to the Bay of Pigs. By now the wind had strengthened so the jibe around Pigs was tricky. We fought the tide across to North Bank and this time a clean rounding allowing me to sail close haul upriver followed by two quick tacks mid stream, catching the tide and onto the finish line. Finishing second, I allowed myself a brief smile, thinking, life is not too bad after all!

However, the ‘piece de resistance’ was the stunning tea provided by Miranda Knowles with homemade sausage rolls, doughnuts, carrot cake and much more, ably assisted by Pam Bettridge. If the weather puts you off racing don’t be downhearted, just turn up for the teas!

I certainly enjoyed the day and I know others did too. A steady manageable breeze suited my old scow which makes it even more enjoyable.

A big thank you also to Bill and Helen Vance on the platform and Rupert Scott and Peter Bettridge in the safety boat.

More of this type of racing please. The two race format was fun too.

Yours aye,

Victoria Bonham Carter
Captain of Scows