Bourne End Week 2007

Record Turnout For Rater National!

The racing for the Thames Championship, the Rater national championship, saw honours and cups evenly spread. It did not look that way during the first race when Martin Hunter helming the GRP Spindrift quickly opened a massive lead to win by a country mile. Behind him Miles Palmer helming Vagabond, celebrating its centenary year, had a good battle with Martin Paul Collen in the 1909 Kingfisher, which overtook him late on to take second.

Race two for the 1885 Clayton Jackson Cup saw things change though. The 1898 Ulva, helmed by Ossie Stewart, led Spindrift off at the start, and had a good battle early on. However Vagabond, which had a poor start, saw a bravura display from Palmer who rapidly worked his way through the fleet and ultimately overtook Spindrift to take the cup, with the Paul Browning helmed Osprey in third.

The pleasant skies and light breezes of day one were replaced by gloom and slowly rising winds on day two. With both race three and four counting for the Scamp Cup Osprey had a good early battle with Spindrift to take the first race, with the Kevin Pearson helmed Lady Jane pushing Spindrift into third. Osprey proved an easy winner in the afternoon, followed by Kingfisher and Spindrift – a result that left Spindrift and Osprey battling for the overall lead.

On day three it rained and rained…and rained. It also blew very hard, and most crews decided to sit out the morning race. Those who did make it out sometimes paid the price with both Kevin Pearson, who was having a good series in Lady Jane retiring with mast problems. Atlantis, helmed by Julian Smith, lost a spreader, and almost the mast very early. The race itself saw another Spindrift/Osprey battle, won in the morning by Osprey. Of note was the brave sailing of Champagne, which despite less experience on the helm and the odd flirtation with a spectacular capsize made it around for a creditable third.

In the afternoon the wind started strong and ended light, giving the crews more and more problems with the steadily increasing stream. Hugging the banks usually pays at Bourne End but it became even more essential than usual. Once again it was the consistent Osprey that took the day’s trophy, the Commodore Cup, followed by Spindrift..

The final day for the Thames Championship saw blue skies, patchy wind and strong stream as Osprey competed with Spindrift for first and second and Vagabond competed with the 1906 Scamp, helmed by Johnny Smith for third and fourth. On the startline there were no less than 16 raters, almost certainly a record, and Spindrift got its usual excellent start to set the pace. Osprey ended up in the chasing pack with Vagabond and Scamp, and never looked like catching Hunter.

The afternoon proved something of an anticlimax as Spindrift made an early break and Osprey never showed. Vagabond had a good battle with Scamp which never looked like getting the lead it needed to close the points gap. So at the end it was Spindrift that took the Wokefield Cup and the overall Thames Championship, with Osprey second overall and Vagabond third.

Now it was the Queen’s Cup, the most prestigious race in the rater calendar with Martin Hunter in Spindrift seeking a third successive win. Presented by Queen Victoria in 1893 the race is set to be nine miles with a four hour time limit. This year it was raced in light winds, strong stream with leaden grey skies and steady rain, making it even more of an endurance event.

The racer set a more than usually complex course with a upwind, but downstream start, which caused some mayhem as the gun went, and forced several boats that hit the mark or had drifted over to struggle back to start again. But it was Scamp that had an absolute flyer to hit the front followed by a chasing pack led by the 1910 Caprice IV, helmed by David Lowry in second. Atlantis, Lady Jane, and Spindrift, Ulva and Rob Cage helming the 1902 Vanessa, all had their moments as the boats hugged the bank, and then dived out to try to round the upstream mark which seemed to have its own non-wind microclimate.

Behind, Vagabond, which had had a dreadful start steadily worked its way through the fleet to join the leading pack, where Spindrift had by now passed Caprice. Then as the chasing pack parked themselves trying to round the upstream mark Vagabond gybed off into the lesser current on the bank and then managed to squeak around moving from seventh to second.

But she was hunted down by the determined Spindrift and the two boats swopped second and third places as both closed on Scamp whose 20 minutes lead had been whittled down to just a couple. But as the race officer shortened course after 3.5 hours her lead was enough and took the gun, followed by Spindrift, Vagabond, and in fourth place Vanessa.

So at the end of the week no boat had dominated the championship with four boats sharing the cups, and several others, Kingfisher, Lady Jane, Caprice, Champagne, Vanessa and Tara all having their moments and a very welcome return from Geneval for Wings, which also showed flashes of speed. With 16 boats at the startline the rater fleet has never been bigger or healthier. It may be a record, but even this could be exceeded with other boats sailable or likely to be restored.

To read a personal account of a first BEW see Mel's Blog

Thames Championship Trophy

1. Spindrift – Martin Hunter, Jeremy Kearns, Mark Staite
2. Osprey – Paul Browning, Justin Dunn, Graham Bartholomew
3. Vagabond – Miles Palmer, various from Mark Ampleford, Paul Armitage, Paul Bradley, Mark Laity, Patrick Manwell, Louise Wilson

Queen’s Cup

1. Scamp – Johnny Smith, Jens Sorenson, Adrian Hart
2. Spindrift – Martin Hunter, Jeremy Kearns, Chris Downham
3. Vagabond – Miles Palmer, Mark Laity, Paul Armitage