Race 6 - GW Smith Trophy - Thursday 6 August 2026

Published 11:48 on 8 Aug 2026

Handicap racing is always interesting. According to our N18 Captain, at a delicious salmon dinner after the racing, final results are a very simple matter of applied mathematics, not much different from the concept of percentages.

For those less gifted numerically, what really matters of course are places on the water. Let's face it, that's where the action and fun is found.

Just ask Chimp, who managed a good start, placing themselves near the bank then reaching to the first Lensbury mark, carefully laying it on starboard for the port rounding. This smartly closed the door on mark room against the closing pack. With a fast reach from the bank Chimp also managed a smooth turn on the mark and quickly accelerated away up river. From there David Baker and Carolyne Vines improved their position into a steadily buidling margin of lead to take the gun (we wish) at 8.04.50 seconds after 5 laps.

Racing was on Course K, set by OOD Mike Adams and Jennifer Adams in the box. Marks to port, Lensbury - Canbury with a W/NW wind of variable speeds that fell away as twilight came.

War Horse was crewed this week by Toby SH. With a 5:1 ratio of movement in the top of the jib leach to the turning block the correct tension in the sheet is vital to set the sail properly. Before the race we removed the cleats on the jib sheets, which proved to be a revelation. No longer tangling, the thinner sheet now runs cleanly, allowing the crew to exert much finer control with a more rapid response.

For most of the race War Horse held second place. Helm Peter currently holds the Saga Trophy, a magnificent seagull trophy, which is awarded for the first of the two Thursday evening summer Handicap series. But that was won in an ILCA. So it was gratifying to be ahead of Tom Bull, holder of the Laser Barometer (ILCA Open), the Brian Evans Cup (ILCA in the Annual Regatta), the Trafalgar Trophy pursuit race, the GW Smith 2025 and with two firsts and two seconds current leader of the GW Smith.

We know that sailing racing is about avoiding mistakes. You cannot suddenly go faster. Not going slower is the key. Our big mistake came when on the final run to Lensbury on lap 5 before heading upstream for the final time.

About 150m short of Lensbury tacking up wind in front of a pack of chasing and lapped boats, we tacked from starboard to port, to avoid crossing in front of a larger boat that was running on port tack upstream in the middle of the river. We should have held on, crossed in front and tacked behind in more space. We hadn't appreciated that the Toppers and ILCAs behind us were also tacking, bouncing off the bank and heading into the river, from port onto starboard.

It was right about then, we knew, we *&^$£%=ed up.

The ILCAs and Toppers acquired right of way under Rule 10. They were lined up in a stacked line. It felt like the Red Arrows were heading towards us from the bank, while a Jumbo jet was heading towards us from Lensbury.

We had no space to duck the Toppers and keep clear so we tacked back, but were subject to Rule 13: from the moment we passed head to wind until we were close-hauled on our starboard course we had to keep clear of all other boats.

Because we acquired the right of way through our own action (tacking), we were also limited by Rule 15: we had to intially give the running boat room to keep clear. Ultimately the running boat has the primary obligation to keep clear under Rule 10, but we had to ensure that when we tacked we didn't complete it so close that they were unable to keep clear. We wanted to avoid breaking Rule 15, but keeping clear meant pausing head to wind. We lost all our speed and stalled out.

Tom, in his ILCA, seized the opportunity to pass into second place on the water, finishing at 8:11:40. War Horse didn't lose much more ground, but the failing winds meant the whole fleet slowed, and we lost a lot of time. We finished third on the water at 8:13:50.

With 17 boats out racing, 10 managed 5 laps the rest were lapped, at least once. As a reference point, in the early days War Horse used to get lapped twice. It was fantastic to see several Juniors on the water. Two Laser 2000 were in use, completing three and four laps.

Two Toppers battled their way around the course managing three laps each. With eight ILCAs racing there was a lot of action on the water and the bar was lively afterwards.

Thanks go to the duty volunteers OOD Mike and Box Jennifer and to Patrol Driver Chris Wade and his crew.

With three races remaining the GW Smith series remains to be won. Results are here.

Last updated 12:28 on 8 August 2026