admin Date , May 31, 2026 Sailing Previous Blog Bourne End Week 2026 Comments (0)
You might wonder why Paul was lying on top of an ok for 5 minutes - a strange ritual in sailing perhaps?
We were late getting on the river. We helped other boats in front of us, so we were only getting the mainsail up as the horn went. Then of course we had an on shore wind so it was hard to turn the boat and get off the bank.. So we started the race as the other 3 boats were half way up the river, but we made good progress, catching the wind gusts and gradually overtaking the Ok and then the Topper on the down wind leg. We made no impression on the wayfarer which won the race.
There were only two boats in the second race, us racing an OK with Gary. He made a better start and put on an early lead , but over the first lap we started to get closer. By the start of the second lap we were crossing just behind his boat, then for him disaster struck and his OK capsized - a rope had cleated and when he turned the boat went over. So we slowed made sure he was safe and the safety boat was approaching, then we rounded the mark and finished the 5 lap race after two laps.
Gary made two attempts to right and get in the boat, but the sail was still cleated and so the boat capsized again. With the safety boats help they tried again and again, but the cleated rope would not uncleat. Eventually the other safety boat came to help and still unable to uncleat the rope the boat was dragged back to the pontoon and Paul Gary and I hauled the laden boat out of the e=water and then we opened the self bailers and with Paul leaning on the boat, we managed to empty all the water.
