Spring Series Race 5

Thank you to everyone who has kindly volunteered for the Spring Series so far. Please keep volunteering and if you are not keen on getting your feet wet, we are very grateful for anyone ‘putting on the kettle’. Contributions to the tea table always welcome. Do come and join us.

Last Sunday we raced 2 back-to back races to make up for one lost due to bad weather earlier in the series. Karl Liebat gives us the report.

RACE REPORTS FOR RACES 5a & 5b Sunday, 21st April 11.00

Race 5a: As Ps Bp Fs

STARTING PLATFORM Frank McGinn

RACE OFFICER Andrew Duncan

SAFETY BOAT DUTY Peter Bettridge & Simon Gibbs

REFRESHMENTS Hicky Gibbs

Down at RFF it was a sunny, but cool 10 degree morning. The race started about 30 minutes past high tide and the winds were light and shifty, NNE, 8 to 12 knots. Another good turn out, 10 boats in all.

Race 5a had a clear startline with all boats getting a good start. Conditions were fairly consistent and a few boats changed places around A, P, and B. On the long downwind leg to F, Al Fothergil got his sails tangled with myself and Zoey who up until then had been going quite well side by side with Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter. ‘Hats off’ to Polly Savage for her first race at the helm with her daughter Aggie – they made a great team. However in the heat of the moment Polly sailed about three boat lengths past the mark, allowing Victoria and Edward an opportunity to grab the lead on a great mark rounding. Both Victoria and myself traded tacks up to the finish, but they finished about half a boat length in the lead by picking the favoured side of the finish line. Polly and Aggie finished third, about a boat length in front of Al who nudged Lizzy Anders out by only half a boat at the finish. Lucy Markby, Sam van Holthe & Karen Rogers in the ‘Dutch boat’, Tim Robinson and Kristin Branford rounded up the pack having had some seriously frustrating moments getting stuck on the mud just before the finishing line on the west bank.

Results – 5a

510 – Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter
421 – Karl and Zoey Liebat
449 – Polly and Aggie Savage
454 – Al Fothergill
545 – Nick Bentley-Buckle
550 – Lizzy Anders
152 – Lucy Markby
499 – Sam Van Holthe and Karen Rogers
530 – Tim Robinson
595 – Kristin Branford

Race 5b Same Course as above

A quick turn around after Race 1 finished had a few of the boats trying to figure out the timings – the final horn of the first race started the 5 minute count down for next race. Al Fothergil, myself, Sam and Karen, Polly and Aggie, and Lizzy all had good starts. This time, Victoria and Edward had a poor start and work to do.

Shifty conditions prevailed and few boats changed places before the A mark rounding. The wind suddenly dropped and all the boats tried to make it to P, with a very tight grouping. Lucy, who had forgotten about P, set off down river only to be called back and as luck would have it found herself on the best approach to P and steamed into the lead. Then followed Al, Karl and Zoey in third, Victoria and Edward were in fourth, Polly and Aggie in fifth, and the ‘Dutch boat’ just behind.

It was then a fast downwind leg down the river. Unfortunately I was not paying attention to the B mark and passed it to starboard, before being reminded to turn around and pass B to port. All the boats separated on the downwind leg, but Lucy sailed the deepest and moved from the second pack of boats into the front group. The real race started at the F mark. The wind was both gusty and shifty, (30-40 degree shifts), up the final beat. Many of the fleet missed big gains by being on the wrong tack. Lucy seemed to find all the shifts and pulled into the lead winning this race in the oldest scow by some margin racing in the fleet that day. Victoria and Edward were a very close second. Lizzy picked the favoured end of the finish line to beat us by a matter of inches. A ‘shout out’ for Kristin Branford for helming his first race on his own in his scow. Also a mention to Darren Firth in his beautifully restored scow ‘Pootle’ who comes out every weekend with us to gain experience, which on this occasion included plenty of bailing practice. Always handy! Darren is doing his RYA 1 & 2 courses at Lymington shortly and we look forward to him racing with us soon.

All in all was an exciting morning with a perfect course for the conditions set by Andrew Duncan. Many thanks to Frank McGinn on the Starting Platform, to the safety boat team Peter Bettridge and Simon Gibbs and to Hicky Gibbs who once again came to the rescue with tea and cakes.

Results – Race 5b

152 – Lucy Markby
510 – Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter
550 – Lizzy Anders
421 – Karl and Zoey Liebat
545 – Nick Bentley-Buckle
454 – Al Fothergill
449 – Polly and Aggie Savage
530 – Tim Robinson
499 – Sam Van Holthe and Karen Rogers
595 – Kristin Branford

RACE 6: Sunday 28 April 15.00

STARTING PLATFORM Gerry Marling-Roberts

RACE OFFICER Oli Stanley

SAFETY BOAT Lizzie Anders

SAFETY BOAT Lucy Markby

REFRESHMENTS. *** SLOT TO FILL ***

SUMMER SERIES RACE 1 Sunday 12th May 15.00

STARTING PLATFORM Ginna Gayner

RACE OFFICER *** slot to fill ***

SAFETY BOAT TEAM Bill Vance and ***slot to fill ***

REFRESHMENTS *** slot to fill ***

SAVE THE DATE! 7th/8th September 2024

The Royal Lymington YC is looking forward to hosting this year’s Lymington River Scow Championships over the weekend of 7th/8th September with entrants from all over the South Coast.

There will be separate classes for single handers, double handers and also juniors.

They are making strong efforts to make the event as easy as possible for Scow sailors from Clubs outside the Solent to join them at Lymington for the weekend. They plan to offer accommodation with local sailors and will also have a limited number of Lymington based boats for use by visitors from outside the Solent.

For more information contact Mike Urwin at mikejurwin@gmail.com.

Many thanks to everyone who volunteered for the hard scrub last weekend : Lizzie Anders, Edward BC, Darren Firth, the Duncan family, Vova Karavan, Peter Hayward-Broomfield, June Kirkman, Karen & Rob Rogers and Ben Savage.