Tideway National Championships at Bosham Sailing Club

2013 Tideway Championship at Bosham © Dean Sephton

2013 Tideway Championship at Bosham © Dean Sephton

2013 is the Tideway Owners Association's (TOA) 50th anniversary and all efforts have been made to ensure a memorable year for the Association and its members. Starting with a busy stand at the RYA Dinghy Show followed by a meeting hosted by Leigh on Sea S.C the spiritual home of the Tideway and then moving on to the second owners meeting of the year at Falmouth.

Last weekend was the pinnacle of the Tideway racing calendar with the Tideway National Championships held in Chichester Harbour, an event hosted by Bosham Sailing Club (BSC). The Tideway plays a significant part in BSC's Classic Day Boat fleet with over 20 Tideway's actively competing in their busy race schedule and last weekend the Bosham fleet was joined by the TOA travelling fleet to compete for the impressive Walker Challenge trophy presented to the TOA by Lew Walker the original Tideway builder which is awarded to the winning crewed boat and also for the Walker Rose Bowl awarded to the winning single handed boat.

The format is for three races with one discard and this year challengingly to be sailed back to back; it was a matter of some concern that these crews mostly of somewhat senior years could stay that long afloat without recourse to some shore side facilities!

BSC set the weekend off to a good start with a welcome meeting and supper for all the crews at the Bosham Club House on Friday evening which was well attended by BSC members and visitors alike.

On a bright Saturday morning the BSC Race Officer (Tony How) addressed the assembled crews of 33 boats on the Cobnor slip to outline his requirements and to detail his chosen course/s all of which would be a classic triangle/sausage wherever they were to be laid. The forecast was for F3, unusually from the NW going round to the SW which with a 13.00 start presented the RO with some problems. He outlined the likely courses and advised that it would have to be dealt with finally with a course notification from the Committee boat. One other complication for these PY1447 boats was the surprising tidal volume which was almost Spring tide like in its flow and this would likely limit the races to one lap only.

31 Tideways gathered around the Committee boat (two were lost on route for different reasons!) which was moored close to Chichester racing mark 'Peacock' where they suffered a delay to the start as the RO had to reset the course due to the shifting wind. Finally 31 boats got away to a clean start with the marks being hotly contested by all as it was a combined start for the crewed and single handed entrants sailing for their separate trophies with the fleet almost evenly divided between crewed and single-handed competitors.

Race 1 – The fleet set off down harbour against a strong incoming tide in a steady F3 from the NW with TW520 'Dunlin' Richard and Sylvia Colley setting an early lead followed by TW1 'Andante' David and Debbie Phillips and the single hander's of TW201 'Nimrod' Chris Welland and TW303 'Doris' Ken Moore in the mix. TW150 'Pickle' Izzie Lee was well up as was TW249 'Puffin' Tom Read. TW1 'Andante' was first over the line in the Challenge race and TW201 'Nimrod' took the honours in the single handed with the rest of the fleet in reasonably close company.

Race 2 – The course had to be reset as the wind had come round to a Westerly and picked up to a steady F4 but again the fleet got away cleanly and again TW1 the Phillip's and TW520 the Colley's were away to a good start in the company of TW201 Chris Welland and TW303 Ken Moore but this time TW457 'Cinnebar' sailed by Martyn Chase was with them as was TW352 'Mouse' sailed by Andrew Francis. The mark at the entrance to the Thorney channel proved particularly challenging in the now very strong running tide and there is a good chance that some of the field will be classified as a new harbour mark on future charts! However such issues did not hinder TW1 and TW201 who again led the field home.

Race 3 – Was slightly delayed by the slow return of the rather fragmented fleet so there was plenty of time to tweak the course for the now SW wind which had dropped back to a steady F3 and fortunately the tide had begun to slow a little. Away cleanly with the now familiar group of TW1, TW201 and TW352 joined by TW150, TW383 'Sandy B' sailed by Peter Barnett and Pat Thomson and TW457 was with them. This time for a change TW 201 Chris Welland led over the line followed by TW1 the Phillip's.

With the racing finished the fleet were very glad to run back to Cobnor for refreshments and a leg stretch after a very enjoyable day on the water.

On Saturday evening BSC hosted a splendid fleet supper attended by over 70 members and visitors followed by the prize giving of the two cups with TW1 'Andante' David and Debbie Phillips retaining the Walker Challenge Trophy and TW201 'Nimrod' taking the Walker Rose Bowl. Runners up received a specially commissioned TOA 50th commemorative mug for their efforts.

Bosham Sailing Club proved as always very hospitable and welcoming and with a weekend of weather better than for a long time the event was a great success. Monday saw the TOA travelling fleet starting their return to destinations as diverse as Cumbria, Yorkshire, Devon and Suffolk very satisfied at having taken part in a suitably grand 50th event.

Overall Results: