The first event this year of the Enterprise Association’s Thames Valley Bowl was held at London Corinthian Sailing Club on Sunday April 6. The club hosted a whole weekend of racing, with Saturday seeing Enterprises racing for the Eyot Cup and Sunday for the John Livingston Trophy. Saturday saw nine boats out, including one visiting craft with Susie and Kevin Harris from Minima. The fresh north westerly wind provided some excellent racing and sailing, with Alan Beaney showing the rest of the LCSC fleet his usual clean pair of heels, Robin Johnson coming second and Susie and Kevin third.
Hopes were high for a bigger turn out on the Sunday – which, however, dawned to a covering of fresh snow with more snow falling and a bitingly cold wind. This deterred all but the most hardy, and the only extra visitor was Chris Rowsell from Lensbury in his brand new boat.
Only six boats made it to the start line in a fickle northerly/north westerly wind – but at least the snow had stopped (for the moment anyway). Two or possibly three races were scheduled to be run, and the first was a speedy 20 minute affair, again led from start to finish by Alan Beaney, with Robin Johnson and Kevin Harris again second and third respectively.
The second race started in similar fashion, with Alan ahead round the first two marks. The wind had now swung further to the north, making the trip back along Chiswick Eyot more of a beat. Quote from the safety boat driver, Peter Hopps, to his assistant: "Now you will see Alan pull well away from the rest – he’s much better at tree dodging and luffing." At which point a very clumsy bit of rope handling on a roll tack by his stand-in crew (me) combined with a gust to tip them in the water.
A strong incoming tide makes righting boats a challenging business on the Thames, and by the time Alan was sailing again, with a boat full of water, the rest of the fleet were well gone. Alan doesn’t normally do capsizing and so doesn’t have a bucket (or a wetsuit), but the self bailers, even close hauled, finally got the boat dry again.
With no shorten course signals forthcoming it became clear that there world be only two races, and that the only way Alan could win overall was to get back up the fleet. This he duly did, nursing a cold and embarrassed crew round to be right on the heels of second placed Robin Johnson by the finish. The race itself was won by Chris Rowsell, a great achievement for his crew for who this was her first time ever in a boat.
Proceedings continued with food and beers in the clubhouse, with the splendid trophies for both days presented by past president John Herbert. He noted that it was nice to see me, "back in small boats at last" as I normally sail a 52-footer. I suspect Alan wishes I’d stayed in boats with keels, but was far too much of a gentleman to say so.
Thanks were given by Beverly Beech to Gavin Robertson for being race officer both days and to rescue boat drivers Francis Brown and Peter Hopps and assistants.
Thanks were also given by Kevin Harris on behalf of the visitors for an excellent weekend’s racing, Kevin confirming he would definitely be back next year. Meanwhile he and Susie are set to race against LCSC again in the Rolex Giraglia and Rolex Middle Sea Race, in the somewhat warmer climes of the Med this summer.
Thanks were finally noted in the bar after to the PLA, who has recently chopped back many of the overhanging trees, much improving the sailing against the tide as well as the condition of the bank.
1st Bean 2 23048 Alan Beaney and Hilary Cook LCSC
2nd Maverick 22437 Robin Johnson and Beverly Beech LCSC
3rd Spirit of Artermis 22813 Kevin and Susie Harris Minima
1st Bean 2 23048 Alan Beaney and Hilary Cook LCSC
2nd Maverick 22437 Robin Johnson and Beverly Beech LCSC
3rd No name 23225 Chris Rowsell and AN Other Lensbury
Hilary Cook
The annual Enterprise Open Event took place over the weekend of April 14 and 15 2007. Only Sunday's(John Livingston Trophy) race counted towards the overall Thames valley cup, so even though racing on Saturday was officially "open" all of Saturday's 8 participants were LCSC members. It was therefore terrific to arrive on Sunday morning to see so many visiting boats rigged and ready to go one hour before high tide.
The weather on both days was more suited to sun bathing or canoeing than sailing. The sun was shining intensely and the temperatures reached the mid-twenties on both days. Sailors donned shorts and sunscreen for the first time this year. Unfortunately there was little or no wind to accompany the terrific sunshine and so the weather conditions were not ideal for sailing. On both days the races were postponed in the hope that wind would pick up.
Saturday's race was almost a warm up for John Livingston Trophy, reminding all the LCSC sailors of the joys of sailing against the tide, with a light shifting wind, coming from the North East. Given the postponement only one race was completed on Satuday, with Alan Beaney and Jess Holley coming in first place, impressing us all with their elegant roll tacks (and lapping a number of the other boats). Charlie Dixon (aged 2 and a half) participated in his first race, his boat needed to take a short break to get a cork for the buoyancy tank, but seemed to loose no time (an indication of the calm conditions).
On Sunday members of Minima YC, Lensbury SC, Southbank SC and Datchet SC joined London Corinthian SC members for a second frustrating morning. Amongst the LCSC members it was lovely to see Liz St.Clair and Peter Hallett launch Guinness for the first time. Following a lengthly waiting period, 16 Enterprise dinghies were launched and there followed two hours of entertainment for the hundreds of people sunning themselves outside the Ship with the site of boats sailing backwards. Two races were run.
In the first race the tide was still rising and the key decision was whether to risk crossing the river to the south side, away from the two markers to try to progress downstream. Unfortunately a few boats needed rescuing as they drifted backwards from marker number three to the island, giving the safety boat driver (Trevor Davies) and his assistant a bit of work. One dinghy drifted a bit to close to the shore at the steps near the Black Lion' luckily the two sunbathers there could be persuaded to step into the Thames and give the frustrated sailors a bit of a push. Meanwhile even leisurely canoeists seemed to whiz by effortlessly. Only 8 boats completed the first race. The struggle against tide and wind was too painful for two of the LCSC boats, so only 14 boats started the second race.
Watching the second race (from the shore) was initially frustrating, as by now the tide had rise and started to turn, and the boats sailed relatively effortlessly downstream, and it seemed that we had given up too soon. However things were not so different from race one. The struggle now was to move upstream, and again the safety boat was put to work, this time rescuing people from the Dove Marina and Hammersmith Bridge.
All the sailors returned to shore looking a bit hot and bothered. Overall first place was awarded to Alan Beaney and Jess Holley sailing Bean2 (LCSC). The Beaney family dominated the results with 2nd place awarded to David Beaney and Margaret Beaney sailing Hurray2 (Datchet SC). Martin & Vian Dixon (LCSC) sailing Or this One came in third (Charlie abandoned his racing career in favour of ice-cream) And in 4th place were Steve & Kathy Collins sailing Old grey Fox (Minima YC). Thanks to Rhys Triffitt for acting capably as race officer, with assistance from Robbie. Special congratulations are due to Alan and Jess for representing our club so well in the face of the opposition.
Catherine O'Sullivan
Racing was split over the two days of the Enterprise open meeting at London Corinthian Sailing Club on 8th/9th April. Saturday saw racing for the Eyot Challenge Cup while Sunday�s was for the John Livingston Trophy.
Only Sunday�s racing counted towards the overall Thames valley season�s trophy, and despite Saturday promising perfect sailing conditions only 4 Enterprises, all home boats made it for the 945am start. A westerly force four and bright sun made for some sparking sailing in a remarkably � for river sailing � true wind. A neaps tide was another bonus while Easter training camps had reduced the number of rowing boats at that time of day to a more manageable level than normal. Add to this the excitement of seeing the Thames porpoise off Chiswick Eyot and it was hard to believe we were in central London.
7 legs of a figure of 8 were set for the race, with Terry Dawson and Hilary Cook in his 30 year old boat Veloce leading from the start closely followed by the Rear Commodore Jeremy Whiting with Jenny Drie in hot pursuit. Alas Jeremy�s tiller extension was to part company on the second lap leaving Terry to enjoy the sailing from a half lap lead. Father back Robin Johnson and Beverly Beech were having a good tussle with Simon Maddison � very recently returned to the club after a 30 year break. The tussle ended when a strong gust coming down towards the leeward mark saw Robin luff up inadvertly � forcing Simon to capsize and the race ended up in a procession with Terry, Robin and Simon in that order.
Sunday, with the start an hour later, dawned rather cloudier and with the brisk westerly replaced by a lighter and much flukier northerly wind. But 13 boats turned up to race including Alan Beaney and Jess Holley in bean 2 � all three freshly back from finishing 14th in the World Championships in Thailand. The first race saw Alan duly take an impressive lead up the fist leg, with only Robin Johnson in near pursuit. Reaching/drifting back against the tide down the trees on the southerly bank, these two quickly put on bigger gains away from a large pack of 8 boats busy getting in each other�s clear air or slack water, or both. But even allowing for this advantage the speed with which they returned back up the course took us by some surprise/sufficed to depress us all further as we inched our way down, finally crawling over the line together in pretty much a blanket finish.
Race office Hugh Kemlo managed a second race that day, by when the wind had freshened slightly. But yet again Alan and Robin showed the rest a clean pair of heels finishing in that order, with Terry third and Steve and Kathy Collins fourth. It looked as if the results were done and dusted with only 3rd place up for grabs until we learned that Alan and Robin had missed a leeward mark on the first race and had retired on learning this after the finis � leaving Steve and Kathy the well deserved overall winners.
Hilary CookAlan Beaney and son Michael won the John Livingston Trophy at London Corinthian Sailing Club on Sunday 18th April. Alan used all his skills and experience of sailing on the River to ensure that he was first past the end of the island known as Chiswick Ait and then make a dive for the bank to get out of the worst of the current. The rest of the fleet got to know Chiswick Ait very well (although there was no sign of the seal that is rumoured to live on it) as they made good speed through the water with jib sticks out to make the most of the following wind. Unfortunately, their speed through the water was matched exactly by the speed of the tide coming the other way.
Another father and son combination, James and Joseph Armitage were the next ones to make the breakthrough, and then the tide released the rest of the fleet one by one. And so the pattern of the race was set, with the fleet tacking upstream with a flood tide underneath them and then a long run against the tide with an occasional dash across the river to go round a mark on the other bank. The wind was variable with gusts of up to force 4 in the showers.
Alan and Michael continued to build his lead and were first over the finish line followed, a few minutes later by James and Joseph. Then a raft of five boats came over the line more or less together. However, the race office decided that Bulgarian Olympic team aspirant, Val Nedyalkov, crewed by Lex Woodley, had pulled through from 8th to 3rd place in the space of 100 yards.
The John Livingstone Trophy is a Thames Valley Bowl qualifier and also the second open meeting in the subsidiary River Series. It was good to see support from the local river clubs including Strand on the Green, South Bank, Lensbury, and Minima. The next open meetings in the series are at Twickenham (6 June), Henley (20 June) and Hampton (5 September). For more details, go to the SailEnterprise web site.
Steve CollinsIt was a warm and sunny Spring outing for the sixteen boats that entered The London Corinthian Enterprise Open Meeting - part of the Thames Valley Bowl series. Most of the Corinthian Enterprises took to the water along with a good number of visitors from around the region.
In true British fashion, as soon as the sun appeared, the crews responded by throwing off their winter garb of thermals and woolly hats, treating spectators and passers-by on the banks of the Thames at Hammersmith to the disturbing sight of acres of pale blue flesh in shorts and t-shirts.
There was not much wind, perhaps a Force two or three, but what there was had swung round from the previous day's easterly direction to provide the first race with a good beat up to the far buoy at Barnes Bridge followed by a long run back to the clubhouse.
Steve Collins, a visitor from Minima Yacht Club, initially took the lead but once the boats rounded the windward mark, superior knowledge of the river kicked in and brothers David and Alan Beaney battled it out for first place. Eventually, David and his son Alex, from Broadwater Sailing Club, pipped Corinthian's Alan and crew Debbie Thomas at the finish line. London Corinthian's Hugh Kemlo and Beverley Beech took third place.
In the second
race - as the sun started to set and the cheers and suggestions from drinkers,
spectating from the beer garden at The Old Ship, grew ever more outrageous - the
course was shortened as the wind had dropped a little further. There was a scramble
to the first mark at Chiswick and then the fleet split into two as an evenly matched
front pack of four boats fought it out on the run with each boat making the most
of each tiny lift to gain advantage where they could. In the end, Steve and Kathy
Collins took first, Hugh Kemlo and crew Beverley Beech took second, Alan Beaney
and Debbie Thomas took third and David and Alex Beaney took fourth.
The
winning boat was clear: David and Alex Beaney, but with three boats on five points
there was a little mathematics required to separate out second and third. Overall
Hugh Kemlo took second place and Alan Beaney took third, with a pint and hot homemade
soup from the Corinthian's kitchen ending a throughly enjoyable Open event.
Photos: Simon Ashenden
Debbie's article also appears on the Y&Y website click
here.
Saturday: Eyot Challenge Cup (15.30 Start)
Sunday: John Livingston Trophy (16.00 Start)
(Qualifier for the Thames Valley Bowl)
Entry fee for each race: �5
Bar and hot meals available afterwards
Parking, changing rooms available
Further details: christopher.bassett@seymour.co.uk
The weather should be nice by now! Dust down your sails,etc.. and come and make this an exciting weekend. One cup each day!
The fleet spread out very quickly with Dave Berger Leading. Not noticing the second mark was a bit of a glitch and he let through a number of boats before getting back accross the river to number three. Martin Dixon lead for a few moments but John Armatageslipped by on a roundin and maintained a good lead. The next three had more of a tussel with Dave regaining positions and Bill Simpson slipping in at the end for third place. A good day for Strand on the Green Sailing Club with first and second.
Results: 1. John Armatige / Josheph Armatage; 2 Dave Berger / Sheila Mullin; 3. Bill Simpson / Terry Dawson; 4. Martin Dixon / Vian Eisnaes.
Copyright © London Corinthian Sailing Club, 18 Apr 2007