RIVER CRUISER CLASS OPEN

20th - 21st June 2026

 

Photo above: Jamie Winter 

 

 

Way back in January, when I wasn’t quite paying attention, I found myself agreeing to Cally’s request to be OOD at this event.  Roll on 5 months and still wondering what I had let myself in for, I was collected by dory in Thurne Dyke and whisked off to the line.  I had two things in my favour: some excellent sailing weather for both days and an equally excellent support team, including Geoff and Cally, who made it all very painless.

Using times set up and supplied by John Aves, the pursuit race was soon underway, led by Daisy and followed at intervals by the rest of the 15 strong fleet.  With a course circling down to Oby and back and then up to the B mark just above Thurne Mouth and back again there was plenty of good sailing on all points and a few surprises (not least the unplanned running start) as the wind shifted around from the west to the east as the day went on.  Mystery worked her way to the front of the fleet and managed to hold off Swallowtail in the dying minutes of the race to take first place.  Evergreen came third.

Five “juniors” entered their bespoke race, which was run immediately after the pursuit race had finished.  With a simple single lap around the course, this was fairly straightforward, with the start direction switched to (in theory) make more of a beating start.  Except it was an easterly by then.  The race was won by a very happy Chris Davies on Stellar. George Davies was second on Shark, just 5 seconds ahead of Jasper Richardson helming Ladybird.

 

Photo right: Jamie Winter - Chris Davies in RC 417, Stellar, wins the Junior (under 25) Trophy

 

I imagine there was fun, frivolity and general enjoyment on the club moorings throughout the evening barbecue, but I went home to lie in a darkened room and recover.

Mostly refreshed, I came back for more on the Sunday.  The first task was to move the buoys, which had been left out overnight.  C (which had been wandering around on Saturday at times) was lifted and put into shallower water in Thurne Mouth.  A was taken downriver beyond Oby Dyke.  I wasn’t brave enough to take B further upriver, as the day had dawned with mist and very little breeze.  Fatefully, we decided to leave it where (we thought) it was.

Yachts could choose when to sail the Roundabout Race within a 150 minute time allowance.  Pickle set off very promptly and headed upriver; two more boats started and decided to go to Oby first.  More boats were approaching the start line when a message came through from Phil to say they were nearly at St Benet’s and hadn’t seen the buoy yet…..  What?!

Rapidly, Pickle was told to turn and the distance mark (Buoy 1) outside the committee boat was hoicked up and sent towards St Benet’s to be laid at the new turning point.  Buoy 3 was fetched from storage and laid as the new distance mark alongside Moondream on the line.  I now had the longer course that I had secretly wanted, but not exactly in a dignified manner…

The whereabouts of Buoy B remains a mystery.

Excitement over, for now, the race proceeded, with boats setting off at spaced intervals; Bewitched being the last to go.  Sabrina 2 and Evergreen both left soon after the mark kerfuffle was in hand and this was clearly a good move, as they finished first and second respectively with just 17 seconds between them on corrected time.  A near miss for David’s attempt to defend the Crystal Ball, but instead John gets to choose where it goes next year.  Mystery, who had started around 20 minutes earlier, was another 9 seconds behind in third place.  All very close.

The final race was a ‘normal’ round the cans, with the marks brought in to their Saturday positions and two laps set.  No-one commented on the course board still showing B instead of 1; nor on the fact that we couldn’t find a numeral one flag so had to use a substitute.  What the line crew couldn’t miss was Stellar, Shark and Swallowtail all line abreast at their reaching start and all very much early across the line.  Some rapid rotations from all of them and they were soon away properly.  At least this meant the rest of the fleet approached their starts with due circumspection!

We were then informed that C had wandered off again and the dory was dispatched to admonish it, narrowly avoiding becoming a mark of the course themselves.  No sooner had they returned to base than number 3 (the distance mark) decided to head off upriver.  After 2 escape attempts, it was firmly tied to the committee boat.

Meanwhile, the race proceeded, with all boats enjoying the reach downriver and coping well with the tack back against the flood tide above Thurne Mouth.  Daisy, last to finish, was given a resounding triple ring on the bell to celebrate her completed race.  The second start was clearly the place to be (the wind strength rising and falling at times) with Bewitched winning the race, Catspaw in second and Sabrina 2 fourth.  Evergreen, setting off in the final start, snuck into third which, along with her third and second places from the previous day, gave her the Moth Salver as overall winner of the weekend.

Margaret Kilner

 

Photo above: Sue Hines

RESULTS

 

Photo above: Sue Hines - Matt Ford in RC 218, Mystery, wins the Pursuit Race

 

Photo above: Sue Hines - Chris Davies in RC 417, Stellar, wins the Junior (Under 25) Trophy

 

The race below was also for the River Cruiser Class's Crystal Ball Trophy which will be presented at the RCC AGM in November

 

Photo above: Sue Hines - John Holmes in RC 152, Sabrina 2, wins Race 2 (Roundabout) and also takes the Crystal Ball Trophy 

Photo above: Sue Hines - Colin Chettleburgh in RC 338, Bewitched, wins Race 3 

 

Photo above: Sue Hines - David Thompson in RC 209, Evergreen, wins the event overall taking the Moth Salver