Back
in January this year, at Tom Moore’s 70th birthday
party, I apparently mentioned that to take part in the Three Rivers
Race was on my bucket list! My words were probably that I’d like
to do it before I got too old! As far as I was concerned it was just
a throwaway remark but one of our friends, name of Steve Burton,
remembered it. I was therefore quite taken aback when, a few months’
later, he asked me if I would like to do the race on Wandering Rose
(WR) with his crew! After a few minutes consideration and a quick
discussion with R2 (my other half), I agreed!
I
have a bit of history with Wandering Rose as in September 2011,
whilst on the river at Cantley in Lady Louise, we responded to a
shout from the bank and Gary (Cantley) asked us to pick up WR and tow
her up to Coldham Hall to be in position for the Yare Navigation
Race. We agreed, tied her alongside and safely delivered her and her
crew (Hungry Dave) to Coldham Hall. The evening before the race we
ate at Coldham Hall with the crew of WR and got to know Hungry Dave’s
dad, Robin and his dad as well. The next day we watched the race at
Cantley and I took the now famed “bacon butty” photo!
The
same year, on our way back up north after the race, we came across WR
stuck in the mud on a bend on the Bure, having sailed a bit close to
the bank with a falling tide, so what could we do? We had to offer a
tow off the mud, which we did three times, each time WR blowing back
into the putty! Eventually the suggestion was made that perhaps the
jib should be backed and at the fourth attempt, it worked! I learned
a bit about how to tie a towing rope that day!! #figureof8
Our
next encounter with WR was in September 2012 when we headed down to
the southern rivers in Lady Louise in preparation for watching the
Yare Navigation Race again. We were quite late crossing Breydon and
by the time we reached Cantley, the moorings appeared to be full. In
the dusk, we could just see one space where two fishermen were
packing up their gear. R2 said we could get in this space, although I
was doubtful! However, he manoeuvred wonderfully and, with the
assistance of the fishermen (who were very impressed), we got into
the space! In the morning, when we inspected our mooring we realised
the actual size of the space! WR’s bowsprit was marginally under
the bow of LL and the bowsprit astern was almost climbing the ladder!
Shortly
after, one of the crew members (David Radley) arrived and we
discussed our previous night’s mooring with him! He seemed to be
impressed as he invited us to sail on WR the next day in the Cecil
Howard Memorial Race with the owner, Graeme Salt and other crew of
Robin Sermon. We were delighted to accept and even more delighted to
come second – although not sure Graeme was keen on the trophy!
Our
association with WR ended there, apart from a subsequent sighting in
the Three Rivers Race of 2013.
We
were therefore pleased to learn that WR had been bought and was being
restored by an excellent team. We were at her launch in April 2019
and were delighted to see her looking in such good shape.
It
was therefore with delight that I prepared for my first ever Three
Rivers Race (3RR)! Duplicate preparations took place as R2 was
sailing, as usual, on Sabrina 2 and an element of competition started
to enter our preparations! Rather than helping R2 with his prep, I
was leaving him to it and if he forgot something, it was tough luck!
The
day dawned well, with forecasts of very warm sunshine and light
winds, perfect for me!! The crew of WR were Steve Burton (skipper),
Lisa Burton, Claire Markham, Jamie Bennett, David Calder and myself.
We left our mooring at Horning Sailing Club, tied up to a riverside
mooring and sat in the sun waiting for our start, slapping on sun
block and sipping coffee from insulated cups - too hot to drink, and
anticipating the day.
As
well as the occasional visits from race stewards keeping us up to
date with proceedings, we were entertained by a flasher on one of the
boats which sailed past, standing on the foredeck and shamelessly
weeing into the river, exposing all, for those of us interested
enough to look!
The
starting order was different this year, with the slow river cruisers
going first, mainly I think to give them a chance of finishing the
race. However, when the wind died after the first couple of starts,
the remaining starts were postponed which meant that WR in the
penultimate start was 55 minutes late starting!
WR
had a good start. Steve was on
the helm, Claire on the mainsheet and Lisa and Jamie were on the jib
sheets,
with David as spotter in the forepeak – it
was also his first 3RR! I was
on the camera!! We soon passed
Arundhati, with only Joy in our start in front of us. We had a
lovely sail downriver, negotiating Horning with no problems and
keeping pace with Joy until we swooped past her and sailed away from
her. There was the odd quiet
“OMG” from Claire on the main when she saw a bunch of small boats
ahead of us and a louder one when the deck block came off and running
repairs had to be made. We all
remembered David’s look of concern (not quite panic) when he
thought we were going to hit another boat whilst tacking! It must
have looked awfully close from his position in the forepeak!
We
were full of optimism at that stage and
when we reached the turning to the Ant, a decision was made to do
this leg first. We could see a few sails up the river, but no
congestion. We got up to the turning point without huge difficulty,
made a great turn and headed back downriver. This is when we met the
carnage! We got wedged between
a moored boat and a hire motor boat and were then hit up the back by
another competitor and Jamie
came to the rescue by unhooking us off the back of a cruiser where we
had briefly got jammed! It could all have ended an awful lot worse
but
seemed to take ages to get
clear and out of the chaos!
One or two boats changed their
minds and turned back as we left the Ant behind.
After
that, we flew round, doing Fleet Dyke in record time. The
turning point was just beyond the mooring bends so we didn’t have
to negotiate the dyke with the drawback of tall trees blocking the
wind. I was given the task of calling out our race number to the
guard ships and soon realised that I needed to shout louder! I can
do that!
We
reached Thurne
Mouth and decided to turn left. Had a good sail up to Potter Heigham
Bridge and managed to find a space to tie up to lower the rig. This
went well, with the team knowing what they were doing and the
paddling through the bridges was
achieved by a great effort from the crew, amid cheers, clapping and
encouragement from the spectators. Friends on the riverbank knew it
was my first time and made appropriate comments! I was encouraged to
put my back into the paddling on more than one occasion! Claire felt
guilty because she was steering which she felt was the easiest job
but in my view she was the one who kept us out of trouble. All we had
to do was keep the paddles working!
The
rig went back up quickly and efficiently despite
hearts in mouths as Jamie, who had volunteered (?) to hold a mooring
rope on shore whilst de-rigging took place, launched himself from the
shore on to the boat to avoid being abandoned on the shore! We knew
we had to end up with the same crew we started with so when Tom Moore
shouted to ask if I was alright, I had to say “yes”! Actually I
was more than alright and was thoroughly enjoying myself. We
had a clear run up to Hickling
with very few other boats on
the route. There
were many friends moored along the way, shouting encouragement and it
was a good sail.
By this time David had taken over the starboard jib
sheet so Jamie had been volunteered to drop the token in the basket
and did so wonderfully well, although he wasn’t 100% convinced that
it had gone in! We assured
him that it had!
The
sail back to Potter was good
and the rig again came down efficiently. It was raised on the run and
that seemed to work okay with the team working well to make sure
there were no bits caught or tangled. Our
timing from below Potter bridge up to Hickling and back to below
Potter bridge was almost exactly 2 hours.
Another
good sail down to Acle but
unfortunately,
as we were 55 minutes later
than anticipated due to the
delayed start, the tide had turned so it was a hard paddle through
Acle Bridge. We were encouraged
by Phillip Martin and Claire Calder here and they had been following
us round the course checking on our progress. Well done to them for
perseverance – I know what it’s like, guessing where the boat is,
almost breaking speed limits racing round to the next vantage point,
finding somewhere to park and then having to give encouragement to
crew members, as well as take
photos!
We
managed to hang on to empty
moored boats to lower and then
raise the rig
and made slow but steady
progress down towards Stokesby until we got into the village itself
where the tide was running in so fast that it was one tack forwards
and two back! Although there
was still a slight breeze which would have been enough for WR without
the tide, we were getting nowhere despite trying for
well over an hour. Beth had retired and Glyn and Hilary were
obviously enjoying a party! Others were in the same position and
had dived for the reeds so we
did the same,
next to Papillon (a small
production cruiser) and had
supper. Sausage casserole was
wonderful – thanks to Lisa for making it and Jamie for being in
charge of food production. Cake/chocolate followed,
then we had to decide what to
do.
The
tide was running even faster then and we discussed waiting until it
slowed or turned,
heading to the Stracey mark but would then be pushing the outgoing
tide on the way back up, in the early hours when we were all tired
and there was no wind at all.
I think what
helped make
the final decision was seeing Melinda (Paul Howes) and
Skylark (Chris Bunn) motoring back having retired, being unable to
reach the mark at Stracey! We had three more go's at tacking
downriver and then regretfully called it a day. The
spectators at the pub gave us a cheer and 10 out of 10 for
perseverance!
We
had a lovely sail back to Acle, lowered everything and motored back
up to Potter where WR was ending up ready for the
following week. I then got a
lift to Horning (around midnight) and waited for R2
to come back on Sabrina 2, which he did at 03:15!! He then told me
he had to take S2 back to Thurne whilst I drove home at 05:00! He
was dropped off at home around
08:30. Sunday
was virtually written off, dozing and trying to sort out bags etc. We
went to bed around 10:30 and I slept through until 07:00 Monday.
Still felt
a bit spaced out and checked
out the minor bruises (no idea how I got them!).
When
the results came out it was a bit annoying to see that Papillon did
finish the race in 17:11:40 hours! A few more of the slow river
cruisers than usual (including the hire ones) did finish with Grace
being the fastest in 12:27:23.
I
should just say what a pleasure it was to sail with this crew and how
much I enjoyed it. What a wonderful way to celebrate my 80th
birthday year!
Sue
Hines
June
2019
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