Annual Dinghy Pursuit Race
Published 16:21 on 28 May 2024
TCYC Annual Dinghy Pursuit Race

Coombe Cellars hosted 12 dinghies at this year's pursuit race, 3 Laser Radials (oops ILCA6), 1 Finn, 1 RS Q'ba, 1 RS Tera, 1 Solo, 1 RS Aero7, 1 Kestrel, 1 Laser, 1 Wayfarer, and 1 K1, so quite a menagarie of different boats. We had almost a whole family taking part with young James Upton in the Q'ba, his Mum, Allison in the Tera and Dad Rob in the Finn - just missing Emilia who had been at the Netball National school championships for the weekend in Sheffield so we'll let her off for not sailing!
The aim of a pursuit race is that all participants sail exactly the same course over a set time, in this case 100 minutes, with the slowest boats going off first and the faster boats starting a little later as dictated by their handicap rating. So for this race James Upton in a Tera lad the fleet off and he had to sail the whole 100 minutes. He was followed by his Mum in a club Quba nearly 13 minutes later with the fastest boat, the Kestrel, being the last boat to start some 28 minutes after James set off. The theory being that if everyone sails at the optimum course at the optimum speed then all boats will cross the finish line at exactly the same time. Of course that never happens in practice, or at least I've never experience it.
Race Officer, Ray Potter, set a fairly straightforward course, basically triangular, right in front of the clubhouse which suited the westerly breeze blowing straight down the river. Being a westerly we all expected this to be pretty steady but far from it, there were constant shifts to contend with, some of which caught the unwary out - like Martin Wark in his Kestrel who fell unceremoniously out of his boat leaving wife, Faye wondering where he'd gone. Others, like myself had gear failure when the jib fitting broke. Shame really as I'd been pulling away from the eventual winner, Paul Bartlett in his Aero and was lying second at the time when the fitting broke. Rob's Finn was chasing down Paul but couldn't catch him and just 4 boats finished the course, final results being:
- Paul Bartlett, RS Aero7
- Rob Upton, Finn
- Brian Tucker, ILCA6
- Richard Bryant, Solo
Thanks go to Ray Potter as Race Office and our safety boat crew of Richard Myrens and Audrey Peters for looking out for each and everyone of us and keeping us safe on the water.
Author: Mike Commander
Photos: credited to Garnett Showell















Last updated 16:58 on 14 July 2024