Christchurch Sailing Club Boxing Day Race
by Ela Miller 31 Dec 2014 11:57 GMT
26 December 2014
Christchurch Sailing Club's Boxing Day race usually marks the end of the annual sailing programme. With a tricky course within the confines of the rivers Stour and Avon near the clubhouse, the event attracts an assortment of misfits, from the hardy few who feel the need to purge themselves after the excesses of Christmas day, to the strange folks who actually enjoy sailing in rivers.
The 2014 event was due to start at 10:30 and our assembled sailors were greeted by chilly conditions and a shifty breeze that fluctuated between zero knots and, well, zero knots. After a 45 minute postponement, waiting for the forecast increase in breeze, Finn sailor, Simon Percival took the initiative and wheeled his boat back to its dinghy park space. We waited for him to leave in the hope this would prompt the arrival of more wind, but the smoke from the clubhouse chimney suggested the only breeze was blowing straight up.
The sailors were in good spirits, however, and it was suggested we hold a single lap race around the river circuit, ignoring the usual "illegal propulsion" rules. Surprisingly, given the relaxation of rule 42, no Finns took part. although our solitary Finn sailor, Jack Arnell, decided to team up with Optimist helm, Drew Barnes, to rock and roll a Laser dinghy around the course. Having loaned his Laser to the boys, Drew's father, Rory, was left with no choice but to borrow Drew's Optimist dinghy with a very handy orange paddle.
Amongst the other sailors were Jack Acton, borrowing Jenny Barnes' Radial, Jeremy Ground in a Splash (with a paddle), Jenny Barnes, borrowing Jack's Topper, Gary Mehson in his Laser and Nick Woolley, sporting a Scow with a pair of oars.
We used the traditional 5,4,1,"go" start sequence. Jenny managed to achieve her trademark start, being slightly over the line and facing the wrong way. Early leader, Rory, in the Optimist, managed to paddle the wrong side of the first mark, allowing Team Arnell/Barnes in the Laser to wobble past. In hot pursuit were Jack Acton and Jeremy Ground with Nick Woolley deciding to forgo his oars and wiggle the Scow's rudder instead, to good effect.
Team Arnell/Barnes led around the Stour mark but a crew mutiny took place shortly after, resulting in a rather cold and wet Drew being deposited on the bank before Jack continued the race alone. In the building breeze (by now gusting 1 knot), his Laser regained the lead from Rory who was finding the orange paddle rather tiring as he attempted to propel his Optimist into a headwind. Further back, Jenny was recovering lost ground from Jeremy who was having steering problems trying to paddle his Splash down the river.
As the breeze filled in Jack Arnell actually managed to tack around the Steepbanks mark and sail back upriver towards the line. Jenny was confused by the sudden appearance of wind and lost valuable time going slowly backwards with a flapping sail while Jack Acton made a late charge towards the front of the fleet, by now fully "powered up" in the Radial.
Rather unusually for a Boxing Day race, there were no retirements and no complaints.
The finishing order was 1st – Jack Arnell (disqualified for starting with 2 crew and finishing with 1), Jack Acton (10 minute time penalty for being under drinking age), Gary Mehson, Jeremy Ground, Rory Barnes (disqualified for being too old to sail an Optimist – we checked the Class rules and his birth certificate), Nick Woolley, and Jenny Barnes.
As the original race had been abandoned, there was no official winner – although we felt Nick Woolley was probably 1st. Well done everyone who took part and made for an enjoyable morning, and good sailing in 2015 from the Christchurch Sailing Club race team.