Sailing on the River Medway

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South Kent Race

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19th March 2020

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The South Kent Race 22/7/2018

Another great South Kent Race. This is a long distance race

to the South Kent buoy just inside Garrison Point. Garrison Point is where the

Medway meets the Thames. There are a few buoys on the way to keep boat from straying

off up some of the creeks but that's essentially it and must cover about 20

miles in total. A unique feature is that the competitors can choose to start

when they want. Actually there are organised starts every 15 minutes and

competitors choose which one they want utilise. Strange you may say, but the

race is started on a falling tide and it's up to you to decide when you think

you will arrive at the South Kent buoy. The ideal is to go all the way down

with the tide and arrive at low water and then turn the mark and come all the

way back on a rising tide. Low water was supposed to be at 14:46pm. The wind

was light and from the NW and many chose the 12:05pm start. I reckoned they

would arrive with the ebbing tide but would turn and be beating back with the

tide still ebbing -against them. I chose the 13:20 start -the next to last -

that was considered very late and a risk but it worked out well for me.

All the other Blazes had gone as had the Wayfarers, the

2000s and the other odds and sods. Only myself and

Chris Ashby (with Ian) in an Alto chose this one and that left 3
class=SpellE>Musto Skiffs who had clearly decided to take the last start

at 13:35. Chris and I reached up and down the line ready to bear away on the

gun. As we did the wind died and I wondered if I had left it too late and,

"Oh, this is going to be a long race", filled me with dread. But it

filled in fitfully and we ran down river. I could see Chris couldn't really

blast away with his asymmetric it was just a bit light. I seemed to manage to

keep the boat going deep by heading up a bit and getting some speed and then

bearing down and by Hoo Ness the Alto was only a

little ahead. They did get away by 27 at the end of Gillingham Reach but I

reckoned I still had them on handicap at that point. Just after 27 I got

slammed by quite a gust and nearly went over. I felt very disappointed with

myself for not harnessing that gust but thankfully there were more and I
class=SpellE>planed down river on a broad reach to around the power

station where I had to bear away again onto a gentle but still planning broad

reach.

About this time I became aware of the Mustos

coming past; they had started 15 minutes later and were up with me already!

Chris was down at 16 our next mark and I became aware of some other boats down

there. I was gaining on the earlier starters.

Rounding up to a reach at 16 took me to 13 fast, sometimes

fully extended with the first third of the boat out of the water and then

sometimes sitting in on the side but still planning. At 13 I passed a 2000 and

way ahead I could see the South Kent mark and several other boats. Black Stakes

had to be left to port en route and that's a small

rusty yellow buoy only visible from less than a mile but a cluster of boats on

the return route helped me find it. Unfortunately it was a dead run for about 2

miles but I concentrated on keeping the boat going by always being 10deg above

a dead run. This gives me about 10% more speed but only 2% more distance. It

does require the occasional gybe though and it was lumpy out of all proportion

to the wind strength, so not without risk.

Approaching Black Stakes the Mustos

were on their way back, and over by the shore I spotted the other Blazes. They

were beating back in the shallows -a sure sign they thought the tide was

against them -a good sign for me. Approaching the South Kent progress

seemed very slow, perhaps the tide has turned I wondered, but no when I got to

the mark all the signs were that it was slack and just a light winds were the

responsible. Reaching across to the Queenborough Spit

buoy a transit suggested no tide. There in front was John Goudie's Wayfarer,

for me this was a decent target and this galvanised my efforts. John's no fool

and he played the shifts and along the shore near our turn southwards he pulled

away but when we turned south this freed the wind and I planed

up and past him by the dolphins at Bee Ness which is about halfway back.

Along the fetch to the power station which is appropriately

called Long Reach I could see boats ahead and by the time I got to the power

station I caught one or two. A well sailed Miracle was caught on Pinup

Reach and after 27 and along Gillingham Reach I caught a 2000. Approaching the

finish I could hear the hooter signalling finishers. There didn't seem much

tide helping me up the river but most of the fleet had finished by the time I

did, but then most of the fleet had started more than an hour before me. I had

taken 3 hours and 5 minutes; most of the other Blazes had taken almost 4 hours.

Unfortunately, Brian Lamb and Sam Pygall in their

Wayfarer had only taken 3 hours and 12 minutes which on handicap beat me and

the three Musto Skiffs did it in about 2� hours which

again, on handicap, beat me.

What a great race though. Sadly there were only 24 entries

which I can't understand. Next year I suggest, if the weather is good, that

those less experienced racers also enter. You can always turn round when the

fleet starts coming back and at least you'll have seen parts of the river you

haven't seen before. Also don't worry about recue cover, I think I always has a

safety boat in sight, there were loads of cruisers about (who'd love to have a

bit of drama) standing by a hapless dinghy racer and they all have VHF. Finally

you can always head for the shore and some of those shores are not as muddy as

they look, sort the boat and head out again, or just sit there until someone

comes and offers you a tow. By the way at this time of year the water is warm -actually

I noticed that this year its 20deg!

19th March 2020

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The South Kent Race -

Medway 16^th May 2016

The South Kent buoy lies just inside the entrance to the

Medway from the Thames Estuary and is about 8 miles as the crow flies from the

Wilsonian Club line. The race is held at low tide so if things go right you

should go down on the ebb tide and come back on the flood and you can't blame

the Race Officer if it all goes wrong. The RO lays on a starts at 15 minute

intervals from about 11 to 1pm and it's up to you to choose which one and judge

how long it's going to take to get there and back. Low tide was due at about

2pm. I have reproduced the course thanks to Google Earth and I've chosen a view

at low tide so you can see the main channel.

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Starting at the club line, 25p, 23s, 16p,13s, Blackstakes p,

South Kent s, Queenborough Spit s, Blackstakes s, 16s, 22p, 25s, 30s, Finish

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The forecast was not good for this long distance race which

must be about 20 miles there and back with a 5 mph South Westerly switching to

a 7 mph Nor Easterly at about 12:30pm. That didn't happen of course. When I

arrived at the club it was a Nor Westerly of about 7 mph and as we found out

later full of holes and big wind shifts and variations in strength.

Charles West (Blaze 737) started early in the sequence and

was gone but Ian Foxwell (Blaze 715), Adam Hampton (Blaze 547) and myself

(Blaze 609) started at 12:30. An Alto and I believe some 2000s started with us

. All three Blazes were swapping places on the run down Gillingham Reach to 25,

but Ian prevailed and planed into a small lead when we hardened up. By 23 it

was Ian, Adam and myself. Ian stayed in front on the long run along what is

called Long Reach from 23 to 16 but there were moments when we nearly caught

him. Adam and I changed places often and there were occasional gust from a more

northerly direction which got us onto some nice fast planes. The Alto was not

that far ahead considering and from 16 to 13 we mostly planed flat out. I think

Adam came past on that leg but we were fighting each other again at Blackstakes

and again at South Kent where I managed to get the drop on him, and in his

panic to gybe back at me, he capsised. It was a brief one though and we were

fighting again as we turned the corner southwards in the vicinity of mark 14

which was not a mark of the course.

This too was a fast leg towards 16 and on the long beat

along Long Reach towards 22 it sometimes lifted to a planing fetch. One massive

header saw me roll in to windward and then get my mast stuck in the mud. This

took quite a while to clear and so I was resigned to a poor result. I sailed

back - following the course - but not really trying and saw Adam near the

finish. I thought he was out on a Jolly but in fact he had broken something and

I crossed the line ahead of him.

I came 10th, Adam 11th, Ian finished about 15 minutes ahead

and came 2nd, Charles West came 16th and there were only 17 boats who competed.

Such a small turn-out is a disappointment. There were no Slow Handicap boats

which surprises me. Because we had the tide with us each way it would mean a

particular advantage to them and a safe way of exploring the lower reaches of

the river with safety boat cover. Some of the fast fleet boats only took 2

hours 20 minutes, Ian completed in less than 3 hours. The event was won by Tony

Hunt and Suzanne Hall in a V3000 - one of the slower Fast Fleet boats and one

that is very light and gets planing very quickly in a gust. They also left on

one of the last starts (I think 1 o'clock) and in retrospect that was a good

decision.

19th March 2020

2015 South Kent Race. Report by Stewart Robertson:

Another of the Wilsonian Sailing Club big events. The Medway meets the Thames at Garrison Point and just inside Garrison Point is the South Kent navigation mark. The race is around that mark and back with very few other marks to complicate things.

One complication is you can start when you like – well actually on any of the starts which are held at 15 minute intervals. So it takes some thinking about since low tide at the South Kent mark was at about 2:30pm. You have to judge your start time so that you go down the river on the last of the ebb and hopefully arrive just when the tide turns and you can come back up the river on the first of the flood. I would guess it’s about 10 miles to the buoy and so if it’s blasting weather you could leave at about 1:30. It wasn’t blasting weather; in fact it was a little light and so the 3 Blazes left at 12:45. The Wayfarer (who is always a risk in the lighter winds) left at 12, and the majority of the fast asymmetrics left at 12:45. Some slower boats had left earlier and a V3000 (a light-weight Laser 3000) left later. My hope was that we would get the Wayfarer in sight after a while and that would give us a target to chase – but we never saw him.

I had a good start in the very variable wind, one minute sitting in the boat and the next fully out on the rack. Ahead I noticed a couple of the asymmetrics having to bear away very deep with spinnakers flapping in some of the gusts. Once onto Gillingham Reach it was broad and the asymmetrics who had now pulled out a lead over the Blazes were gybing back and forth – I was simply heading up a bit in the lulls and bearing off when I could in the gusts. Martin Jones (Blaze 719) caught a gust just before the bear away around Folly Point where we must have been about equal but I held higher and into the tide and pulled out a little gap by the power station. I’m not sure what had happened to Adam (Blaze 547) who had dropped back.

The next reach (called Long Reach) followed the same pattern as Gillingham Reach – very broad and so I tried to stay in the tide but not get drawn too high. I think I may have just pulled a little more out from Martin by the time we bore away around 17 and ran down Kethole Reach. All this deep reaching meant we were unlikely to bring the Wayfarer into view, the asymmetrics were gone and it was a lonely section with just Martin and myself running deep. Almost an hour had passed and I thought it was time for a drink. Unscrewing the bottle top was a 2 handed operation, the main was out against the shroud and the kicker was well off with the top of the sail twisted. Just at this moment I got caught by a gust. The boat pushed its nose into the water, the top of the sail went forward of the mast and I nearly rolled in to windward. I went quite a way with the windward rack in the water, flat on my stomach and my head over the leeward side looking down at the centreboard, praying not to capsize. Somebody was listening as I managed to get the boat upright, sheet in the main, get a bit of centreboard down and I still had the bottle top in one hand and the bottle in the other. “Typical”, I thought, “the only bit of decent wind so far and I couldn’t make use of it”, a welcome drink though.

A gybe next onto a deep reach along the container port, I could make out the colourful spinnakers of the fast boats all coming together a long, long way in the distance. This, I took to be Black Stakes the mark before the South Kent. It was a gentle reach and I took the opportunity to sail close to a few mooring buoys and check the tide – still a strong ebb flow. I could not see the Wayfarer at all and was getting worried. Eventually I arrived at Black Stakes and I felt the tidal flow was now weak, so I gybed out towards the middle of the river hoping for more. Looking back Martin was still a threat and I should have seen the Wayfarer coming back – but no sign.

A couple of gybes to keep the optimum angle, a short reach to Queenborough Spit and I was heading back home. The tide hadn’t turned and so was now against me and the wind was very light, so light I couldn’t settle. Was I pointing too high, missing shifts and what was the tide doing? I decided it was still against me and tacked inshore, I deliberately tried pointing high, sailing low, easing the sheet, it all felt wrong and with a look over my shoulder I saw Martin was gaining. It was horrible, when I sailed for the shore I got lifted so the next tack was horribly headed. I eventually settled down to tacking along the shore and not over sheeting. I went shore side of some huge barges and Martin went outside and was even closer when we came back together, but I stuck to my tactic of along the shore because it seemed to me there was more wind along the shore. In the main channel the tide was still against us and Martin did much the same thing. There was no sign of the Wayfarer ahead, but there was a Musto Skiff and he was taking some great big tacks right across the river and not pulling away, however where the river turns south he had ended up on the western side of the river and he seemed to have picked up speed.

Now a little digression, whilst this was going, further back around the South Kent buoy the other Blaze and the V3000 were becalmed. The sea breeze had tried to make an impression on the prevailing south westerly and had only got that far up the river. Those boats were eventually towed back to the club.

Meanwhile Martin did what I would have done and tacked at the corner and headed south but seeing the Musto going so well I held on and crossed the river and then tacked. I immediately had enough wind to get out on the rack and then I got lifted and was planing towards the beginning of Long Reach. I couldn’t see Martin but knew that as I rounded up, at the jetty at Bee Ness, this must put him well behind me and it did - big time. However the Musto was now becalmed ahead of me – I almost caught him and I was concerned that I was about to sail into nothing. I had no choice and luckily as I arrived so too did some wind. The Musto picked up and went and I looked back to see I had pulled out a big margin from Martin. Long Reach is long but as I progressed the wind increased. It was inconsistent in direction and at times it didn’t look like I would lay the far end but I resisted a tack and even resisted pointing and drove the boat to what used to be called “full and bye” – this got me planing and that might have been a crucial part of the race for me. I suspect I was making ground on the Wayfarer but I couldn’t see him, and had given up challenging him. I was thinking I should at least just get as good a result as I could – after all there was a Musto Skiff not far ahead and a RS700!

There were lots of cruisers racing as well and I had to thread my way through them on Gillingham Reach, but again I was planing and I was planing all the way from Mears (also called Hoo Ness) to almost the club line where I had to harden up a bit. I had no idea of how I had done although I knew I was first Blaze.

What a pleasant surprise to find I might have won it and this was later confirmed. I never did see the Wayfarer. I now know they finished 20 minutes before me and had come second. The margin was 13 seconds on corrected time – not much for a 3½ hour race – but enough.

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