Inaugural Tideway Open at Bosham Sailing Club

by Chris Hichings 20 Jun 2017 18:36 BST 18 June 2017

Bosham Sailing Club's Tideway fleet continues to grow (37 boats now) and, while some may still ponder why we race a boat so spectacularly slow, the fleet marked its new status by hosting on Sunday its first ever Tideway Open meeting. Indeed, we believe it is the first sailing-club sponsored Tideway Open meeting since TEYC hosted a series in the 1970s.

It was timed to coincide with the annual "cruising and camping" visit by the Tideway Owners Association to Chichester Harbour so managed to attract 8 visitors from as far away as Yorkshire and Somerset and, with 11 BSC boats, there was a good fleet given the conditions: a gloriously hot sunny day but with a forecast of 2-5 knots.

In the event, the start behind the notorious Cobnor wind shadow was very slow but, once round the corner, there was just enough breeze to keep going and, although we abandoned the planned trip up to Star, the whole fleet managed to get to Thorney and back well within the 3-hour time limit.

Our visitors were then able to sail from their Cobnor base up to the clubhouse and join their hosts for a welcome beer, prize-giving and an excellent BBQ supper before drifting back on the ebb in time for bed.

BSC sailors took first and second place (Peter Shaw, followed by Jo Lorimer-Green, crewed by Cass Macpherson), Third was taken by visitors Jolyon & Jenny Pope from Stockbridge (Hants) and fourth was BSC's Locky McKenzie and Marian Thompson.

All agreed that this was an excellent event which should be repeated.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	Pts
1st	220	SHAW Peter		BSC	1	1
2nd	238	LORIMER‑GREEN Joanna	MACPHERSON Cass	BSC	2	2
3rd	54	POPE Jolyon	POPE Jenny	TOA/SCSC	3	3
4th	343	McKENZIE Locky	THOMPSON Marian	BSC	4	4
5th	488	VINCENT Christopher	VINCENT Lesley	TOA/Langstone	5	5
6th	383	BARNETT Peter		TOA	6	6
7th	557	LEE Richard		Rutland SC	7	7
8th	410	HITCHINGS Chris		BSC	8	8
9th	550	BUNKER Tim		BSC	9	9
10th	493	WHEELER Ian	WHEELER Tom	BSC	10	10
11th	283	LUSH Colin		Marconi SC	11	11
12th	521	GALTREY John		BSC	12	12
13th	507	BURSTON Dickie	BURSTON Rosie	BSC	13	13
14th	252	TATE Rob	SENIOR Martin	TOA	14	14
15th	375	TAYLOR Richard		Wakefield SC	15	15
16th	459	HELYER George		TOA	16	16
17th	477	ARMOUR Charlie	ARMOUR Christine	BSC	17	17
18th	501	FINDLAY Bob	FINDLAY Carol	BSC	RET	20
18th	487	WILDE Richard		BSC	OCS	20