3 Rivers Race 2018

[LizG]

The board we had on the boat had 93 boats listed but 13 DNS!

[BroadAmbition]

but 13 DNS!

Hazarding at a guess - They probably saw the wx forecast with regards to the lack of wind strength, in which case, I don't blame them!

Anyroadup, much respect to those crews that stuck it out for as long as they could do so and well done to the few that somehow actually managed to finish

Griff

[LizG]

Our guardship was allowed to return to Horning at around 7.30 but Thurne b remained until it was confirmed that the last boats in the lower Bure couldn't make it home in time. We had acquired a white boat needing a lift home so we were allowed to go. Several boats with engines picked up non powered boats on the way home!

[Londonlad1985]

Sounds like quite an event. As noob to sailing this is deffo something to aspire to.

[johnm]

For years I’ve watched it and talked about maybe doing it in my own boat but always with the proviso that I do it at least once with someone who knows what they are doing! Well this year 3 of us got together and decided to give it a go …

The mighty Clipper (H1) achieved an excellent start under the expert guidance of Skipper Churchy – we were the first hire boat for all of 30 seconds! As we rounded the corner the enthusiasm fell somewhat when greeted by the sight of what seemed like all the members of the second batch of starts locked together in The Street 

There followed a “short” period of good-natured interaction and banter as what seemed like 100, but was probably about 40, boats drifted gently down the river against the tide with no wind and being herded back into a solid log-jam by various stinkies (hire and private, dayboats and cruisers) whenever any gap seemed likely to open and allow the fleet to start to thin. We finally cleared the Waterworks at about 16:30 (the hire cruiser start was at 12:10!) and drifted gently on, revising the original plan as there was now no way of meeting Skip’s cunningly devised schedule.

New plan – push on! Acle next stop.

Proceeding with the tide and now just enough wind to actually feel as if we were sailing, the only dampener was the rain. At least there was variety: light spitting; gentle persistence; occasional clearing; irregular downpours – such fun!

South Walsham was a shorter leg than expected and rounded at about 1830. Still too early at current progress for the turn of the tide at Stokesby. Did we have time to head back for Ludham? Yes. New plan duly executed and managed to squeeze around the mark inside one of the production cruisers and just behind Martham Boats’ new cruiser “Jacinda” (launched on Friday, first sail Saturday 12:10 start!) who seemed to have been royally stuffed in the turn by lack of wind and a hire cruiser shooting the bridge at the wrong moment. After a ‘tense’ stern chase with Jacinda back down the Ant we sneaked ahead on the turn down the Bure. Jacinda turned off for South Walsham and we were then on our own for what became a very loooong time as the wind died away again. Stokesby plan for 22:30 eventually became 00:30 after losing all but the slightest (lol) breeze and crawling downwind over the early flood. Back towards Acle and the slight breeze could now hardly even be termed a zephyr but the tide was at least doing its best to help. I had never realised just how long that stretch between Thurne Mouth and Acle Bridge is until last night and this morning.

Having shot Acle again - tense stuff at 1mph - crew rest  started with Skip heading down first for a pair of hours, followed by our other crew member at about 03:00. Yours truly attempting to keep us moving and out of the reeds which was no easy thing in the mist with no moon even with many years of night watch-keeping experience to fall back on. At about 05:00 on the stretch before Womack and now making very slow progress, it was my watch below  What seemed like 2 minutes later and movement on deck and a comment about crutches woke me – OMG  had we reached the bridge already? Why had no-one woken me? Appearing as quickly as possible after wriggling back into various layers, boots and foulies – no easy thing in a space that seemed somewhat smaller than the average a rabbit hutch – I discovered that, in fact, nearly 1 ½ hours had passed and we had achieved the massive distance of 150 yards!   Skip and Julius had done the maths and worked out that there was about the same chance as a snowball surviving in hell as us making Hickling and then back to Horning in the next six hours! 

06:24 and the trusty iron topsail was coaxed into life and we ended our 3RR challenge.

Disappointed but pleased with our progress having managed to get and stay ahead of pretty much all of the hire boat start (only Jade was actually ahead of us and we knew she still had to do the legs) now was the time for a nice hot cuppa – note to self: next time, take a lighter as matches don’t seem to like being stored in a damp hire boat cabin! Coffee/Tea had to wait until we had formally informed the Potter Guardship of our retirement, handed over our ID boards and headed on upstream towards Martham to roust out SWMBO and our other crew member’s better half who had, for some reason, not remained on the quay-heading all night waiting to cheer their heroes on but retired to bed after much Prosecco and Gin

Overall, it was a shame not to finish but we are in good company as only 15 appear to have made it! The organisation was fantastic and the atmosphere was excellent.  The spirit of the race seems to be summed up in that 4 hour stretch from the Swan to the Waterworks with not a cross word (that I heard anyway) between any of the boats (both racing and not) and plenty of good humour being a pragmatic replacement for the letter of the racing rules!

Roll on next year ... maybe

[LizG]

Well done for getting as far as you did - I think you passed our guard ship when I had decided if no one else was going to take the opportunity of a couple of hours kip I would so apologies for not saying hello.  I might say that it was mighty hard seeing boats pass Thurne, we could only see nav lights, not sails so there were some going back to Horning and some going to Potter - not easy in the fog!

[KatieR]

Much respect johnm and crew, having seen first hand the standstill at horning at lunchtime, and then the rain followed by mist at PH in the afternoon and evening you were up against it 

[Wyndham]

I know nothing about sailing but respect to those who set off in less than favourable conditions, and to all the helpers along the course.

You have to have some sympathy for a great many who have looked forward to this annual event for many months only to have it dampened (no pun intended) by the great British weather.

I suppose sailors more than most just deal with it and go again.

[TheQ]

Morning All,

you may have noticed my sudden radio silence, at 11:00 Saturday morning, the gun went off, I reached for the tablet, it leapt off the area just inside the windscreen, down the companionway impacting on the latest metal step. Successfully committing suicide by smashing the screen.

I made a full list notes, which I'll turn into a race report later once we've been shopping for a new tablet., This is SWMBOs which I found had 47 outstanding updates hence no race report yesterday.. Also I was a bit tired having spent the night peering into the fog for anything arriving.

I can state, 93 entries, 80 starters, 15 finished, 3 A raters, 5 Norfolk Punts,. 7 broads cruisers. The provisional winner Lady Jane Race number 43, which is  a Thames A rater..

 

[TheQ]

Just now, TheQ said:

Morning All,

you may have noticed my sudden radio silence, at 11:00 Saturday morning, the gun went off, I reached for the tablet, it leapt off the area just inside the windscreen, down the companionway impacting on the lowest metal step. Successfully committing suicide by smashing the screen.

I made a full list notes, which I'll turn into a race report later once we've been shopping for a new tablet., This is SWMBOs which I found had 47 outstanding updates hence no race report yesterday.. Also I was a bit tired having spent the night peering into the fog for anything arriving.

I can state, 93 entries, 80 starters, 15 finished, 3 A raters, 5 Norfolk Punts,. 7 broads cruisers. The provisional winner Lady Jane Race number 43, which is  a Thames A rater..

 

[C.Ricko]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

 

not sure about 7 river cruisers.. 

 

[C.Ricko]

obviously i only took a photo of the sheet i saw so its not official and was probably provisional. 

 

[TheQ]

You're right,  I was going from a foggy memory, after almost  36 hours awake a lot of it stareing through the fog.

 

minor point I saw someone on a forum ( but now can't find the post) somewhere suggesting the race be moved to march avoid the build-up of non competing traffic.

1 he/ she obviously forgot about Easter which can be any time between 12 march and 25th April +- a week for the school holidays

2 before easter risks leaving the competitors out over night in snow and ice.

3 Early May, has its own Holiday,

4 16th June is the start of the fishing season.

5 all races on the broads are coordinated between clubs, having a moving date would cause massive programming problems, there are races every week thoughout the year often overlapping as it is..

[NorfolkNog]

Fascinating thread 

Please excuse my ignorance of all things flappy (although my Dad was a keen sailor) but could someone post me a picture of what an A Rater and a Norfolk Punt look like? I guess a cruiser is a Hunter type yacht or the new Martham one?

[LizG]

20 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

Fascinating thread 

Please excuse my ignorance of all things flappy (although my Dad was a keen sailor) but could someone post me a picture of what an A Rater and a Norfolk Punt look like? I guess a cruiser is a Hunter type yacht or the new Martham one?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_A-class_rater

[LizG]

1 minute ago, w-album said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_A-class_rater

I thought it might have more pictures so

https://www.thamessailingclub.co.uk/TSCsailing/thames-a-raters-1

[NorfolkNog]

Thanks Liz 

It looks like a surfboard with a huge sail. No wonder they did well in the conditions! 

So I guess a yacht has to be of a recognised construction type to enter? Assume a DIY job would not be eligible?

[Minifer]

1 hour ago, NorfolkNog said:

Fascinating thread 

Please excuse my ignorance of all things flappy (although my Dad was a keen sailor) but could someone post me a picture of what an A Rater and a Norfolk Punt look like? I guess a cruiser is a Hunter type yacht or the new Martham one?

For the Norfolk Punt, go to 1.21 on The Q's video on page 2 of this thread and you get a nice long shot of some punts getting ready - they have changed over the years so you get slightly different versions as the class has developed.   Here is a photo of one sailing from a few years back on Barton.

[NorfolkNog]

Thanks for that 

Again like the A Rater low, sleek hull and a lot of sail, no wonder they fared better in the conditions 

[TheQ]

I morn the death of my Tesco hudl2 , faithful tablet of 5  years, it took a suicidal leap from the “ dashboard” of the motor boat, falling  6 foot to the metal edge of a step, destroying the screen.

Long live the new tablet computer, this is being typed on, slightly. Less tablet shaped more phone shaped,. But it makes no phone calls…

 

And so for the reason for the typing, my report on the 2018, yachtmaster insurance 3 Rivers Race…

 

I got up at around 04:00 which is not unusual for me, breakfast at 5:00, then a semi snooze till 07:00 ish, make sandwiches, take the dog for a stroll round the garden, before departure For Hickling sailing club at 08:00.

15 minutes later arrive at the club and do some very careful reversing between boats to get the land rover near the jetty.

There was a club member already there preparing for their own event, happily they got a rescue boat out for me, saving me some work while I unloaded the land rover.

 

As I was now well ahead of schedule, I fitted the Ariel to the pole supplied by the 3RR, tied the pole, to the end of a gaff from my sailing boat, tied that to a fence, and tried a radio check.

No answer, but it was early, so I retired to the clubhouse for a very nice bacon baguette, and coffee. During its consumption, i sent the last messages from the ex hudl2, it was then told to me that voices were being heard from the radio.

So a successful radio check was carried out.

 

I then waited, for the loan guardship, from Martham developments boatyard, which was late, when it arrived they informed me this was a replacement, as the hirers were late back with the intended boat. As it was we were supplied with a very nice Janet class cruiser, https://www.marthamboats.com/hire/motor-cruisers/9-janet-3 .

The only problem for me was the most suitable place for me to set up was the aft cabin, but the only usb socket to keep the hudl2 charged was in the forward cabin. Hence it was placed on its extension cable above the companionway.

The radio was set up, everything laid out on the table, coffee made, and we waited a short time for the start of the race. The gun went,  I reached for the tablet, to type, they’re off!!! and the tablet, fell, without me touching it and the screen was destroyed.

 

Having set up in a very humid atmosphere, we rolled back the roof, and settled down for developments, occasionally hearing of the slowly mobile traffic jam that gradually moved from horning ferry  to Horning church.

 

11:00, first boats start,  13 are recorded DNS, did not start.

13:00 rain started, cockpit cover put back on.

13:05 Finally a sailing boat was seen entering the river Ant,

13:06, first retirement…

13:22 race officer shortens the course from stokesby to near acle boat dyke, just ¾ mile below  Acle bridge.

13:20 first boat Thurne mouth

13:23 A rater at Ludham bridge.

13:40 very heavy rain  ( later reports of flooding in Norwich and the airport having water coming through the roof)

14:00 punt under Potter Heigham bridge.

14:40 Thames A Rater at Martham.

15:00 reports of traffic jams of boats between cockshoot broad and the vicarage..

15:16, first boat at Hickling, Thames A rater Lady Jayne.

16:38 11 boats have retired.

18:30 boats are still only just getting to Ludham bridge/ south Walsham  broad. A distance at most about 5 miles from the start!!!

19:00 reports of heavy fog at Martham.

19:30 fog reaches us at Hickling sailing club.

20:00 a hire sailing boat departs the Pleasure boat Inn, Hickling, with half a dozen males of 20s age group. It to a couple of hundred yards down the channel, then curves of the channel and stops hard aground. We see them attempting to unstick, but then they retire inside, out of the rain/ drizzle and mist/ fog.

20:40 we cannot see much, even the buoy which is within hailing distance is mostly seen by its flashing light..

 

23:09 first boat to finish lady jayne…

01:16 the last boat we see, white boat 96 chalkhill blue..

02:30, everyone gets bored on the radio, a competition starts for songs, reflecting the race,  I suggest “ the fog on the Tyne is mine ALL mine ALL mine”...

07:00 we start clearing up, loading the land rover with everything but the race sheets and the radio kit,  shortly after we get the go ahead to pack up, with no wind and the tide going out nothing was going to reach us…

09:30 a very nice breakfast at Horning Sailing  club,

 

I decided to wait to see if Reedling RK4 will make it back… it didn't.

11:00 bed time….

 

We saw a total of, 33 boats, out of the 80 that started,

 

[TheQ]

8 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

Thanks Liz 

It looks like a surfboard with a huge sail. No wonder they did well in the conditions! 

So I guess a yacht has to be of a recognised construction type to enter? Assume a DIY job would not be eligible?

In Norfolk Broads terminology, there are, 3 groupings of boats , dinghies, keelboats and yachts.

  A dinghy which normally no ballast, a lifting keel or centreboard, they fall over if the crew doesn't balance the boat.

A keelboat, which is larger and has a ballasted keel but no cabin and won't fall without its crew.

A yacht which has a ballasted keel and a cabin.

There are two main groups of yachts on the broads,  Broads cruisers, which, have a fairly strict set of rules. http://www.rivercruiser.org.

And as 3 rivers race puts it, production cruisers. either can actually be home made.

There are of course boats which bend those general outlines, both the Norfolk punt and the Thames A rater, are much larger than boats that would be normally described as a dinghy, but effectively that's what they are. Giant dinghies.

Much of the sailing including the 3 Rivers Race, on the Norfolk Broads is allcomers or handicap racing, sailing in one of the above classes,  a home built boat would be assessed as to its class and performance and issued a handicap which it would then race, if it performed much better or worse than its handicap, it would be adjusted. All Norfolk Broads cruisers, a type of yacht, have their own handicap as very few are alike.

There is the famous case of mock turtle, a home built / designed that looked as though it would sail like a pig, and was initially given a generous handicap. It turned out it sailed exceedingly well and won or did well in a few races before it's handicap cap was adjusted.

Meanwhile I have my own home built / designed boat, under reconstruction, to change it from one grouping to another. Careful consideration is being taken as to what I do with it and how it would affect its handicap.

This boat also bends the " rules" as it is so small it will be racing in dinghy classes, but is actually built like a keelboat and won't fall over if I fell out...

 

[ChrisB]

For anyone in my old neck of the woods ie Chilterns and South Oxford and Bucks Thames Raters can be seen at the Upper Thames Sailing Club at Bourne End.

It is a very beautiful Stretch of river and makes a good day out. Marlow and Henley being very close.

[NorfolkNog]

Aw thanks Mr Q  That's really helpful, much appreciated! 

[ChrisB]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

 

Meanwhile I have my own home built / designed boat, under reconstruction, to change it from one grouping to another. Careful consideration is being taken as to what I do with it and how it would affect its handicap.

This boat also bends the " rules" as it is so small it will be racing in dinghy classes, but is actually built like a keelboat and won't fall over if I fell out...

 

Sounds a bit like the International 2.4mR

Always wanted to try one and an affordable racer. Probably because how can a boat so short look so good in the water?

[TheQ]

11 hours ago, ChrisB said:

Sounds a bit like the International 2.4mR

Always wanted to try one and an affordable racer. Probably because how can a boat so short look so good in the water?

Yes it based on the idea of the 2.4M  but with a hull design more "Norfolk" keelboat in shape and 16ft long instead of the around 14ft of 2.4Ms