The "Rum Tub & Bung" race

With the tide being out this weekend Stone S.C. are resurrecting one for the oldest and well-loved races on the river Blackwater.
This year with a planned course starting on the club start line at 11:00am to the Bench Head and back.16 miles approx.
For the old salts that keep the sailing club bars afloat around the Blackwater this is a challenging race with many tales being told of great races in days of old. For the younger crash and burn, three hop in and out racing of today, a first leg to a rounding mark you cannot see may well be a real treat.
With high-pressure building and an unknown fleet arriving this has the makings of a ‘race on’ event.Report to follow

Easter at Maylandsea Bay - River Blackwater

The MBSC Easter Regatta brought a wonderful variety of sailing talent arrived at the club slipway to take part in the Maylandsea Easter regatta.
This year the regatta had a mix of a 6 race series, Friday to Sunday, with Sunday’s 2 races counting for the Easter Cup and Monday being a pursuit race for the Easter egg, which hopefully catered for all sailors, some of whom only wished to sail on one or two days of the four-day event.
A total of 24 club boats came to the start line. To take part in handicapped racing is not that easy

with assorted boats and a huge difference in sailing skills, but as it turns out with 6 races sailed there were 6 different race winners. This was no mean feat; each race having an element of unbelievable errors being made by most of the competing boats. This is the way of sailboat racing and it is never over till it’s over. The mix of the older, wiser sailor against the new, not to sure sailors and sailing in the light fluky breezes was a joy to see.
It is still a wonder to see a sailboat racer turning up late with only half his kit, then starting late, sailing the wrong course, and hitting the race marks, smiling, enjoying himself and being late for the next race showing such endurability.
I have the utmost respect for the senior sailor, in days past he sailed in plimsolls and shorts, woolly gloves topped with marigolds, if a tad chilly, and a so'wester hat if it were to be damping. The boats were made of wood, nailed together, bronze fittings, timber masted, cotton sails, and weighed a ton. It was when men were men. Only two races - “you were lucky” but they have survived sailboat development and modern clothing and the odd new body part but they still can’t resist having a go at bashing their brains out with a flyaway spinnaker pole, presenting themselves to the support boat as a survivor of the chain saw massacre.
The race box with an understanding of the heart ache caused by such trauma maintained a soft degree of race control (as it ran out the back door) and pursued a policy of “Fun Sailing for all” in an all in one fleet format.
Ann Dyson ‘Laser Radial’ took the Easter Bunny’s Ears award for 1st overall; this was no mean feat with a score line 2,4,1,2,3,2, and showed consistency and little error in race tactics. The physical effort put in and boat handling was unmatched by the rest of the fleet.
Philip and Geoffrey ‘Sandhopper’ 2nd overall scoring (dnf), 3,3,1, (dnf), 3, put together some cool moves in difficult conditions. Recovering well from a tiny little error in the first race, but the boat handling and teamwork came together at all the crucial moments putting boat lengths between them and the following Sandhoppers.
Andrew Trembath and assorted crews as a “newbie” to sailboat racing, and having spent time in the winter sailing series, put up a splendid performance. Having been encouraged by race team Mayland and supported by the ‘Trembath Youth Team’ has started his moves on the MBSC trophy cupboard, scoring 5, (dnf), 5,3, (dnf) 1, to be 3rd overall. The 1st, being in the Monday pursuit race having a nail biting end of race happening (as it should be in a pursuit race), as the two leading boats failed to round race mark 4 to starboard (a race box error thanks to AJ) and sailed to the next mark Jetty. Andrew and Grace now faced with the question of “who got this right” and “what are we to do?” encouraged by Miss Grace, who with confidence kept a cool head and sailing directly towards race mark 4 won the race before they reached race mark 4.

It must be said that the racing rules are there to protect the competitor and the race committee/officer from errors in sailing and race management. We must try to have knowledge of the rules and to try and stick with the rules. Apart from the race committee having a nervous break down in the race box, they avoided being pelted with cream Easter eggs, competitors behaved exceptionally well, and fair play surfaced.
Andrew and Grace’s win is a joy to MBSC and should encourage the newbie sailors who are building up the Maylandsea fleet.
Notables: John Giles on his first outing this year sailed a good race to win the Sunday Cup. For the first time this year the combined crew age dropped below a hundred years.

The next big race is the Challenge Cup 9th May. It is an open race, details will be out soon and on the 10th it is the club open day with the Mayland Pico Flower race that takes place in front of the club house more details to follow

Full results and more info at www.maylandseabay-sc.org.uk/
Thanks to Teresa Giles for time sending in the photos

Easter Regatta overall
Easter series
1st Ann Dyson Laser Radial 5 points
2nd Philip Spillane Geoffrey Walkley Sandhopper 7 points
3rd Andrew Trembath Grace Trembath Xenon 13 points
4th Fenny Cook Laser 16 points

Sunday Easter Cup
1st John Giles Finn
2nd Rob Gray Laser
3rd Ann Dyson Laser Radial
4th Sarah Giles Laser Radial

Easter Pursuit Egg Race
1st Andrew Trembath, Grace Trembath Xenon
2nd Ann Dyson Laser Radial
3rd Philip Spillane, Geoffrey Walkley Sandhopper
4th Richard Lytheer, Mike Hopper Sandhopper

Best-improved sailors
Alex Anning, James Trembath Topaz

Splat The Duck competitionCharlotte Wright, Grace Trembath