Thames Sailing Club
Three Rivers Race Report, 2006
Three Rivers Race Report, 2006
The crew of Lady Jane was had an early causality as our helm Kevin was withdrawn, under protest, by the ultimate authority, Sally. He was commanded to be in attendance and to undertake driving of a different sort, chauffeuring. So the hunt for a third member got underway. Miles accepted the invitation, but withdrew at the last minute with some feeble excuse of flying back into the country from the
We broke with tradition this year by breaking the mast before we got to Horning. Five days before in fact. We did a bit of tree surgery at Bourne End and broke our diamonds. We are thankful to Stuart for designing the repair to the diamonds with a mixture of metal tubing and jubilee clips. And now to the event itself ….
It started on a cracking day, sun, clear skies and a ‘bit of a breeze’. Four raters were taking part, Spindrift with a crew of Martin, Mark and Tim;
The start was at 12.35 and we kept Spindrift in our sights up until just before the river
When we got back on the river Bure we ran down to Thurne mouth, with the only the minor panic occurring when we gybed with the back stay on! Our planned route was to go to Hickling and then down to Acle. As we entered the river Thurne I handed Paul the tiller. After two tacks he wisely handed it back as he felt uncomfortable in the now stiff breeze. At one stage our centre board got stuck in the river bed. Paul and Patrick leapt into the shallow water to push us off. Well it looked shallow until Patrick went in up to his armpits and began to sink into the soft peat. I was about to help but told firmly that someone needed to stay in the boat. I didn’t argue. With a quick shove we were off again, as Paul and Patrick scrambled into the boat. We often felt our centreboard ploughing a furrow in the silt, even in the rivers and channels.
As we approached Potter Heigham bridges we had our first gear failure. One of the screws holding our brand new Harken jib track gave way and the track bent. Luckily we were on a broad reach and we planed the last part under main alone, while Patrick and Paul valiantly tried to move the jib car back into a stronger position.
We moored and dropped the mast without incident. The jib track was nearly straightened, the car moved and successfully jury rigged. We paddled uneventfully between the bridges and then tried to raise the mast. We had left the jib attached, which with hindsight was a mistake as the windage it created made it almost impossible to raise the mast. This was exacerbated by not having a tight enough piece of elastic to keep the luff of the jib directly in line with the mast. This caused the jib to keep filling and pulling the mast backwards. After an exhausting time we raised the mast, hoisted the main and set off for Hickling. Unbeknown at this time one of the runners had come off!
We tacked up to Hickling broad in increasingly heavy weather. It was basically survival conditions and we were over taken, all be it over about two miles, by a Yare and Bure One design. This was able stay on each tack longer due to its shallower draught. The official report, well that in the local newspaper, was that the winds were approaching force 4 on Hickling Broad. Well there were white horses of not inconsiderable size and if that is force 4 their anemometer needs oiling! On the river bank dogs were being blown off leads.
We rounded the mark at the top of the broad and Paul threw in our token into the bucket, only for it to bounce out! The reach back was spectacular. Fortunately we were on the tack where we had the one good runner. While the beat up to the mark had taken forever it took eight minutes to get back. As we left the broad there was an increasing amount traffic and we had the interesting hail of ‘port to port’ by a small motor boat as I desperately tried to avoid it. We were too polite to give the standard Paul Browning reply to a hail.
We moored at Potter Heigham bridges to drop the main, jib and mast. While this was slow it gave us a chance to sort ourselves out. We put the runner back and heaved a great sigh of relief. As we raised the mast the rope forestay we were using to hoist the mast up broke, so we had to use brute strength to get it up. This we managed and we set off towards Acle.
The reach/run after Thurne mouth along a wide stretch of river called New Cut was fast and fun, although we weren’t looking forward to the beat back. The drop and raise at Acle bridge went well and we sped down to the Stacey Arms. We were in such good spirits that we allowed Patrick to call out our entry number to the guard boats. This was a mistake. Unfortunately his northern diction was not always understood by the guard boats, with 47 being mistaken as 37. Perhaps it was the guard’s ears that were at fault.
The rounding of the lower mark went smoothly and we set off on our journey home at
The zephyr held for about half an hour before dying and we returned to the bank to moor. This became the pattern throughout the night, with zephyrs coming about every half hour and lasting about half an hour. That is until we reached Tall Mill Drainage Mill. We went past it at least four times before the wind dropped and we drifted backwards past it on the tide. It took us hours to get past it, let alone get it out of sight.
We managed to get to Thurne mouth and then moored in the company of river cruisers, keel boats and a merlin rocket until the dawn brought a light wind that we managed to use to creep back to Horning.
Just before the village we saw
The drive home was uneventful.
Nick Fribbins
Page last updated: 14/06/2006 18:16:34
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