News

It didn’t look like there was going to be much wind early on Sunday.  The Kingston Royal Canoe Club held their marathon before we took to the water at 1130.  By that time the North Easterly  was strong enough to push us easily upstream against the current.  The sun was out which warmed a bit, and we had a glorious sail.

OOD Jon Redding sent us above Stevens Ait to a mark about halfway to Kingston Railway bridge.  There was some spectacular planing, with most merlins carrying their spinnaker.  The Lasers and lone 18′ National weren’t hanging around either.

Andrew Harris crewed by Mattie Key forged an impressive lead in the Merlins, and Matt Peregrine Jones had a very respectable lead in the Lasers.

Thanks to Jon, Valerie Hamill, Ian Ramage and Robert Blakebrough  for organising the racing and to Jo and team for keeping us fed and watered.

Photos: Ian Ramage

The Club hosted the annual Prize Giving Dinner on the evening of 23rd November.  As ever, the House Committee, headed by Nicky Johnson, created a convivial atmosphere in the clubhouse and attendees were all in good spirits as they sat down to a three course dinner prepared by our new catering team.

Commodore Chris Pollard and Rear Commodore Sailing Peter Johnson combined as an outstanding double-act presenting the awards from the last 12 months of series-based racing.

Chris and Peter shared some of the numbers behind the results which revealed Richard Harris’s dominance in the Merlin Rocket Winter Series, an outstanding 33 entrants for the Thursday evening Summer Series, and the mini renaissance of competition within the National 18 fleet.

The competitors in the club’s Topper Summer Series were all recognised for their participation and Matty Key received the first awarding of the new Mike Goldsmith trophy.  The club is committed to developing our existing group of junior racers and it was an opportune time to announce the purchase of a new Topper dinghy to join the Club fleet.

Henry Defries was a regular visitor to the trophy table, collecting prizes for his performance in his Laser and, latterly, his National 18.  A fact which suggests that the long-standing National 18 helms will need to hone their skills in the coming year!

Matthew Peregrine-Jones, Kaan Yargici and their National 18 crew’s travels around the country to compete were rewarded with the Ambassador’s Trophy and Tim Medcalf was awarded the Commodore’s Trophy for bringing several new initiatives to the Club.

A vote of thanks was extended to all those who had helped to stage the dinner, the staff who had kept everyone fed and watered and to Henry Medcalf for his photography.

While the dinner was attended by many of the faces familiar to the Club’s racing enthusiasts, it was also excellent to see many newcomers and their families.  The Club is keen to encourage more members to compete, regardless of their level of racing experience; look out for details in the coming Tammy Matters.

The series winners are:

Topper Summer Series – Matty Key

Firefly Summer Series – J Hamilton

Merlin Rocket Black Mark – R Harris

Merlin Rocket Winter Handicap – R Harris

Merlin Rocket Bridger Cup – R Harris

Merlin Rocket Summer Handicap – T Medcalf

Laser Frostbite Mug – M Peregrine-Jones

Laser Winter Handicap – S Colley

Laser Summer Shield – C Taggart

Laser Summer Handicap – C Taggart

N18 Winter Series – A Green

N18 Summer Series – H Defries

N18 Silver Boat – C Fox

Saga Trophy – C Morgan

GW Smith Trophy – T Medcalf

Handicap Series A – M Peregrine-Jones

Handicap Series B – J McLaughlin

Handicap Series C – H Defries

Handicap Series D –  H Defries

Hi all,

We’ve decided to make use of Thursday 5th December’s Club Supper and Talk night to have an informal discussion about all things Development and Tech at Tamesis Club.

Tamesis Club already uses many bits of technology but some of these we use really well and some of these we simply don’t use enough!

So we thought it would be a good idea to share what we have, talk about how we can use it better, and come up with ideas on what we could be doing in future. We’re sure there are many ideas out there just waiting to be tapped in to make the club even more exciting for members and future members alike.

Kaan will keep the evening ticking along and with the help of others will provide demos and discussions on the following areas:

• Dutyman, and looking at how we run it
• Race Results and The Smithy – can we bring race results to the clubhouse TV before everyone has packed away their boats?!
• Merlin class and Sailwave to calculate handicaps
• The website, including Google Analytics to see where in the world people are viewing and site and how often. We’ll have a mini quiz on the most popular pages on the website! (Not including the home page!)
• iZettle cashless vending, and the idea of adding iZettle eCommerce to the website. Could be very useful.
• WhatsApp, and how it can help us, e.g. Merlin Group
• Tamesis GSuite – where Tamesis Flag Officers write and keep club documents, or SHOULD keep club documents!
• Tamesis Weather Station – getting the most out of it
• …and more.

Lastly, this is a bit of a tester, and assuming we find it useful will be looking to do something similar again in February as we gear up to Spring and Summer seasons.

So please join us for this informal evening of looking in to the future, and of course dinner!

Many thanks.

We woke up on Sunday morning to glorious sunshine and … NO WIND together with a strong current.  We waited, and someone even rigged their boat, but to no avail.  There was a bit of wind at about midday, but that was it.  Better luck next week.

Thanks to David Baker, Jim Green, Daniel Gerber and Jim Hamilton for trying to run a race, and Jo and team for the enormous pile of sandwiches together with serving us the drinks at the bar.

It was a huge relief that the weather changed overnight from the downpours on Saturday to a crisp autumn day on Sunday with wall to wall sunshine, and a light easterly.  The current had built up due to the rainfall in the last week, and the combination of light wind and stronger stream made life very interesting for the competitors.

Thanks to Jonathan Key for the lovely pics.

Saturday’s wind and rain gave way to sunshine and a flukey wind coming mostly from the West.  Eighteen boats turned out including four from Lensbury SC.

Race Officer David Jerram laid a figure of eight course on the stretch in front of the club.  It took a long time for the faster classes to catch up due to the holes in the wind.  Richard Harris and Emma MacDonald in Merlin Passing Cloud sneaked a huge lead almost lapping the National 18s just before the finish at 1230.  There was a lot of close racing in several groups, the Merlins taking advantage of the shifts.

Thanks to Race Crew David Jerram Jenny Finlayson, John Storey and Robin Lince, and to the Catering staff led by Lauren.

Photos:  Jonathan Key

Results:

Several sailors braved the wind and the rain on Saturday, and where undeterred by the rain and fierce gusts.

The sailing was followed by the high point of the afternoon – the annual Cadet Bake Off! The cadets have to bake and decorate a cake.  The theme this year was Halloween.

The standard was very high, and Judge Nicky Chavasse had a hard time deciding.  The eventual overall best cake was made by Matty and Maisie Key – cake pictured on the cover.

This was the last Saturday sailing this year.  The sessions will start in April next year, date to be announced.

Many many thanks go to Andrew and Nim Harris for organising the afternoons together with various parents and grandparents.