Capsizes and collisions at Rye Harbour SC Rum Race
Eight boats launched for the Rye Harbour Sailing Club Rum Race on the River Rother. Winds were force four to six from the south, creating a testing upwind downwind course.
Even before the race started, the combination of strong southerly winds, the tide and the constraints of a narrow starting area led to fast close quarters manoeuvring and accidents.
Sailors tried to keep clear of each other but there were a series of bumps and capsizes as competitors jockeyed for starting positions. Once under way, boats tacked down river, initially still in close proximity and again trying to avoid each other.
Sailing distances were short on each tack, and boat speeds fast; cries of “starboard” and “room to tack”, and sounds of “boats meeting” filled the air and entertained observers on shore.
Hugh Ashford (Laser Radial) was the first to pull clear of the melee, find clean air and pull ahead on the downwind up river leg towards Rye.
Chasing hard were David Whiteman (Laser Radial), Jeremy Short (Laser) and Philip & Tristan Blurton (Buzz).
The Blurtons looked for a chance to hoist their spinnaker but the dead run for much of the downwind section hampered their plan. Only when the river curved and the wind angle changed would their spinnaker fly and, as soon as it did, they gained quickly on Ashford.
By the up river leeward mark they were close to Ashford and gained further ground on the long beat back. Nearing the clubhouse, they pulled ahead and maintained their lead for the final leg of the beat and short run back to the finish.
Ashford was in second and looked like he had the race sewn up as the Blurton’s Buzz was not far enough in front to win on handicap. However, a lapse in concentration, a gust of wind and some bad luck, saw Ashford capsize as he approached the finish.
Whiteman and Short sailed past, and the race outcome changed in the final moments. When boat handicaps were applied to race times, David Whiteman (Laser Radial, Rye Harbour SC) was first, Hugh Ashford (Laser Radial, Hastings & St Leonards SC) was second and Jeremy Short (Laser, Rye Harbour SC) was third.
Six of the eight boats finished, two having retired during the race. For those who had ventured out, it had been a hard race with so many short tacks up river in strong gusting wind, but for those who had seen it to completion, it had been a memorable occasion.