Throwback to the last week of August and the end of a fantastic Burnham Week! We are pleased to see nearly the whole fleet has Dolphin sails and from what we’ve heard there was some great and close racing. Congratulations to all the winners and well done to everyone that took part – don’t forget to give us a call to talk about new sails for next year!
See the full report from Will Dallimore below:
Burnham Week 2019 will be remembered fondly for many reasons not least for the exceptionally good weather, the close racing, good courses and the healthy number of youngsters enjoying the unique formula that makes the RBOD fleet so special. There was way too much action to give a detailed report of each race but here are some highlights:-
We were delighted to have ARIEL back in action having been admirably maintained in race ready condition all season by Phil Plumtree. Team Warren, fresh from Formula 1 & Formula E, took on ARIEL for the week and introduced the stunned fleet to Formula RBOD when they burst off the grid and sailed exceptionally well to take 3rd and 1st in races 1 and 2. We were delighted to see Fiona and others enjoy their first sailing experience on the Crouch and hope to see much more of this team in the future. An anecdote from ARIEL concerns one of the less race-experienced crew asking just 5 minutes into the race what time the finish will be. The Warren brothers worked as a well oiled team with younger giving instructions to elder – ‘do what I tell you and don’t take your eyes of the telltales, so a few mins into the first race he was doing as instructed and wanted to know how they were doing, didn’t want to tell him we were leading!’
Going into race 3, ARIEL and RED JACKET, leading contenders for the Bank Holiday weekend series, were exceptionally eager and found themselves OCS allowing MANDARIN to pounce on her favourite Straker Cup and the series.
AQUAMARINE continues to deliver and is always in contention for the podium places when not on the mud. We don’t like to single out individuals but mention must be made of a crew member who, rumour has it, lures boats aground with dubious lead-line calls (a modern day RBOD siren?), immediately drops his shorts to push off and then poses on the foredeck in his pants for the remainder of the race. This pattern is repeated even when on loan to other boats as ARIEL discovered – “No bottom” was the call followed immediately by “were aground!”, but Tally Ho, the shorts were off in a flash and Aquapants man burst into action.
We were delighted to see ONYX helmed (very well) by Gary Sims midweek with Mike enjoying more time back on the boat and seeing ONYX win the Bert Clark Memorial Trophy. On returning to the boat for Saturday’s race, Roger became aware of Gary’s aversion to modern gadgets as he untaped the tiller extension from the tiller.
ONYX’s groupies were in good voice from their camouflaged duck hunting kayak as Barty and Anna supported the boys before beating a rapid retreat to base when the Prosecco ran out.
A particularly memorable feature of this week was the number of youngsters enjoying the cut and thrust of RBOD racing. GANNET was in good hands with Lily, Jack P, Vincent and Helen getting the boat going well despite a near sinking during a vicious gust on Wednesday’s race after which they had to bale out using their cool box having given up with the bucket with a hole. Rory and the team had a great day on Thursday with a second place – come back soon!
The Hobdays were a strong presence with all 5 family members scattered around the fleet at various stages of the week. BLUE JACKET had an excellent day on Tuesday leading from start to finish to take the Cyril Sweet trophy. It was good to see early morning exercise being taken on the paddle boards in preparation for the racing.
The young Dallimores were in action mid week with James, Clare & Sarah getting MANDARIN going well to finish second in the mid-week series. Clare, Sarah, Billie Q and Alex collectively gave the fleet a taste of Girl Power on Friday and Saturday and RED JACKET’s blushes were only saved by 40 odd years of experience as Steve cleverly wriggled through on the last leg of each race. As an example of two worlds meeting, here is a snippet of conversation between the girls on MANDARIN during a tense inshore leg ….. Crew to Helm ” Clare, that boat behind – they keep throwing something over the side”. Evidently this 29er sailor had not seen a lead line in action before – strange that!
If there was a pointing trophy PHALAROPE would have little competition as the Pinky Blinder can sail at speed virtually into the wind. An unfortunate navigational error in race 1 allowed AQUASHARK through at the finish line as PHALAROPE elected to gybe and finish south of the committee boat on her own private line
After years of dominating this blog, BERYL strangely provided little material other than some topless appearances by the owner which were unfortunately captured by the official BW photographer. Speaking of which, Roger Mant took some great pictures which can be seen here
https://burnhamweek.com/2019-gallery/Thanks as always to Sylv and the team of helpers that once again produced a very successful RBOD BBQ which raised substantial funds for the restoration of SIMONETTA.
Well done to all competitors for making it such a great week and Congratulations to RED JACKET for winning the week but, watch out, the next generation are getting closer….!
Comment from Class Captain Steve:-
Burnham Week was blessed with amazing weather this year with lots of sunshine and sea breeze enhanced winds giving us a lot of windward starts.
I’ve had great feedback from many saying how much they enjoyed the courses and the later starts, giving more recovery time from the night before as well as no postponements waiting for wind.
The RBOD racing was very close with the lead changing many times giving everyone a chance on the podium.I was delighted to see so many young people joining the fleet adding new vitality and competition to the class. I overheard the Dallimore girls saying “ let’s keep MANDARIN and Dad can get another one “. It has to be said they sailed brilliantly and on several occasions, after doing all the hard work, they should have won but sometimes in racing there are cruel twists of fate near the end. Better luck next time girls !
At the RBOD and Elite class dinner, Will Dallimore announced our goal to repeat the success of the RBOD 80th anniversary, (when all RBODs were on the water ), in 2 years time for our 90th anniversary!
This is already gathering enthusiasm and I’ve heard from more than a few they intend to return for our 90th as well as from people like Charlie Pitcher who says his sons James and Freddie want to do it with him !
The RBOD class continues to attract a great group of Club members and friends and is definitely the best and most fun class on the river !
Steve ( Class Captain)
Ahmed
