GP14 Open at Erith Yacht Club

The first ever GP14 open at Erith © David Innes

The first ever GP14 open at Erith © David Innes

The first ever GP14 open at Erith © David Innes

A new adventure on the Thames

Following an invite to join Erith YC for a first GP14 open, ten Southern travellers arrived at EYC's superb new club house for round 9 of the series.

Built on stilts right on the waterfront the conditions looked idyllic from the balcony at both ends of the day but what we experienced as the tide and wind picked up during the racing became rather challenging and exciting. It was their regatta weekend with lots of youngsters racing along with the historic Hamble Star dinghies and also some cruisers taking part.

The starts (fast handicap, slow handicap then GP14s) were in Anchor Wharf Bay, out of the tide and close under the shore and a large wind turbine; the wind was fluky to say the least. The windward leg was short and we then turned down river, it generally paid to stay inshore (on the Kent side) as there was less tide and even an eddy, however, with the gusts backing to the south the temptation to bear off into the tide was too great for some. The beat/close reach up the Essex shore was very fast and with the wind and tide increasing the water was getting steadily rougher. We then had to re-cross the river back to the Committee boat before beating in the bay back up to the windward mark.

As teams broke out the sandwiches and Mars bars it slowly dawned on us that the fast handicap fleet was spread around the Thames in various states of chaos and the slow handicap fleet seemed to have retired back to the balcony. Eventually the race officer gave up waiting for the high speed plastic fantastics to get back to the start line and sent us on our way. With race 2 life began to get interesting with shipping beginning to appear along with rain squalls and more wind. The safety RIBs started to act like safety cars! Obviously it is unsafe to blast across under spinnaker in front of fast moving bulk carriers so the RIB blows whistles and you are held back (or returned) until you can pass through the wash under its stern (DSQ if you ignore all of this). This is great if you are at the back but must be really annoying for the speedsters at the front. It was difficult to judge relative speeds so the RIB driver has quite a responsibility deciding whether to let the boats cross the river. The first race was won by Richard Lord closely followed by Steve Cooper and Mark Wolf. In race 2 Andy Wadsworth took the bullet from James Ward with Richard Ham in third.

Richard has recently returned to the GP's after a 20 year sabbatical! Race 3 got even more interesting with yet more ships (including an RN corvette and a German frigate passing through) and some inevitable capsizes and retirements. Race 3 was won by Roger Walton followed by Mark Wolf and Richard Lord. One intriguing aspect was that the two capsizes were both from our two coast based representatives from Tollesbury while all the pond sailors managed to avoid a swim in the murky waters of the Thames estuary!

Packing up in the rain was a bit grim but tea and cake in the club revived us. This was our first ever visit to Erith who could not have been more welcoming and helpful. We all enjoyed flying the flag for the GP's allowing us to show off the versatility of the boats as compared to more modern designs.

Overall Results:

1st Richard Lord & Hannah Rose (Seahorse SC)
2nd Roger Walton & Norman Brown (BTYC)
3rd Mark Wolf & Steve Browne (BTYC/Leigh on Sea)

Thanks to George Rogers and all at Erith Yacht Club.