Racing Reports
Royal Thames at the Southern Nichols (New Orleans) 6-7th March 2010)
I write this in the departure lounge at Louis Armstrong International waiting to board the plane for London, via Atlanta, and I begin to recount the most enjoyable days past that I and the team of the Royal Thames have enjoyed.
The team was made up of:-
Peter Bainbridge (helm)
William Edwards
Chris Griffiths
Richard Hill (helm)
Jilly Allenby-Ryan
John Dallimore
Margo Taylor (helm)
Thomas Brennan
Michael Varvill
Most of the team had arrived by Thursday evening to enjoy an informal dinner with our friends at Southern Yacht Club in their new clubhouse.
On Friday we had a practise in the morning to attempt to familiarise ourselves with the Flying Scots (or flying boardwalks as they are affectionately known as). John Dallimore was substituted by Mrs Brennan as JD awaited his luggage which was still in transit.
Following lunch in clubhouse we contested the fifth running of the Borgne Cup. This was a close competition and could have gone either way but Southern prevailed to narrow the gap to 3:2 overall. At the prize giving Southern Yacht Club kindly presented RTYC with a pictured depicting the battle at Lake Borgne after which the trophy is named.
So to the main event of the Southern Nichols. For information the Southern Nichols was presented to SYC by New York Yacht Club after Hurricane Katrina had destroyed the SYC clubhouse and all of their trophies.
The other teams taking part in this event were:-
Southern YC 1
Southern YC 2
NYYC
RTYC
Buccaner YC
Bay Waveland YC
New Orleans YC
Boston YC
The racing was close in many races but our day of practise was not enough to get us up to speed with the Flying Scots and results did not go RTYC’s way. The competition included many national champions in the Flying Scots. The Flying Scot is the boat of choice and sailed by sixteen yacht clubs in the Gulf region. The wind was also very light - 5 knots on Saturday and a little more on Sunday – and boat speed in these conditions is crucial, something the other teams were better at.
On Saturday evening we attended the Commodores Ball – where flags are exchanged between the incumbent and new Commodore, Dwight LeBlanc. This was not a ball as we would expect in the UK but more of a buffet albeit a five star buffet one. The free bar was also welcome.
The three teams to stand out were Buccaneer, Bay Waveland and Southern YC1. After two days of racing these teams were tied with 9 wins each, The Southern Nichols therefore had to be broken via the rule 4.2(b) with Southern taking the honours.
The entire RTYC team were kindly hosted by SYC members and on Sunday evening, we invited our hosts out to dinner at Galatoires and we all had a fine meal to conclude our trip to New Orleans.
We look forward to seeing our friends from SYC at the Cumberland Cup in May and returning to New Orleans in the near future.
Click here for an interview with Jilly Allenby-Ryan http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236425-southern-nichols-cup-team-race/314060-royal-thames-jilly-allenby-ryan-back-in-the-states
Click here for racing photos http://picasaweb.google.com/java46mail/Nichols10#
Click here for prize giving team pictures (the prizes were embroidered bathrobes!) http://picasaweb.google.com/java46mail/Trophy#
Click here for video of the racing http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236425-southern-nichols-cup-team-race
Thomas Brennan
Captain of Racing.
Norfolk Punts
RTYC V’s NPC – Three Boat Team Racing 19th September 2009
The chance to go and race against the Norfolk Punt Club (NPC) in the classic ‘White Boats’ was an opportunity not be missed.
The majority of the team attended a dinner held on Friday at the Bure River Restaurant – RTYC members joining on the Saturday were a little envious listening to the stories of the evening.
The Saturday was a warm September one with not very much wind (gusting force two). RTYC mustered and headed out on Barton Broad to join the NPC on their pontoon in the middle of the Broad.
The event would take place over five races with a points system that meant that the event would be kept alive until the end with points worth more for the latter races.
Racing in all five races was very close however RTYC ensured that we had winning combinations come the finish line in all five races – which was not always the case at the final mark.
An excellent dinner was held at the nearby Wayford Bridge Hotel on Saturday evening and on Sunday, RTYC members enjoyed a day cruising on Broads which finished off a most enjoyable weekend.
Finally, thank you to the NPC for inviting us to race and to Peter Bainbridge for organising the RTYC team.
The RTYC team was:
Peter Schroder HELM
Helen Schroder
Thomas Brennan
Peter Tracey HELM
Keith Gwynne-Jones
Michelle Joseph-Brennan
Ben Field HELM
Roderick Walker
Caroline Robertson
Thomas Brennan
Captain of Racing
12th October 2009
2009 Carmela Cup
Team Captain Andy Cornah reports from Queen Mary Sailing Club. Click here to read
Southern Nichols
Captain of Racing Thomas Brennan reports from New Orleans. Click here to read
BA Cup
Team Captain Leo Dixon reports from the BA Cup. Click here to read
Jackson Cup
Read team manager Thomas Brennan's entertaining report here
Farr 45s David Diehl Regatta 1
Read the report, see the results, view the video by going here