Tag: Passage Match

2013 Championship results

September 24, 2013 /

Cambria racing 2013; Picture by Susan Martin

I think it was Annie Meadows who first flagged this up in Facebook, that the Sailing Barge Association (link from this site) have now completed and published the results of the 2013 championship.

http://www.sailingbargeassociation.co.uk/championship2013.html

We did OK, coming 6th over all but, inevitably, could have done better, especially later in the season where I am told that some topmast rings (onto which are laced the tops’l) had become distorted in a bit of a blow during one of the charter trips and do not always slide up and down the topm’st properly, making it tricky to get a good ‘set’ on that sail. Excuses, excuses, I hear you say!

Whatever the case, the championship was won outright by Niagara with Edith May 2nd, both barges managing this by dint of scoring in every race bar one (the Passage Match for Niagara and the Blackwater for Edith May). Well done those crews and those barges! 3rd equal overall were Lady of the Lea and Repertor, with Edme 5th.

Our 6th was a score of 24 (Niagara had 40) , 6 from the Medway, 5 from the Passage, 5 from the Thames, 3 from the Swale and 5 from Southend.

Say the Sailing Barge Association, “Overall it was a good turnout at the Matches this year. 22 barges actively participated, with an average attendance of 10 barges per match and the 150th anniversary Mark Boyle Memorial Thames Match attracting an impressive 16 barges and other vessels following.”

Thank you to Annie and to the SBA and also to the racers themselves who give us such a cracking spectacle every year. I understand that the Thames Match may not happen in 2014 because in the absence of the late Mark ‘Nozz’ Boyle, there is not a viable committee, so if you know different and think you could take over the running of the Thames Match then please get in touch with the SBA.

Thanks too, to Susan Martin who took this lovely shot of Cambria doing her stuff in, I think, the Southend Match.

Passage Match on AIS

June 22, 2013 / / 4 Comments

It is not often that this blog is actually bang up to date and ‘real time’ but if you are reading this soon after I post it (i.e. by 11 o’clock on Saturday 22nd June) you will be able click on the links and have some fun with this the same as I am doing now. The Cambria team have had a rush of blood to the head and lashed out a bit of money on a shipping electronic system called AIS (Automatic Identification System). This is “an automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging data with other nearby ships, AIS base stations, and satellites. When satellites are used to detect AIS signatures then the term Satellite-AIS (S-AIS)is used. AIS information supplements marine radar, which continues to be the primary method of collision avoidance for water transport.” (says Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System ) but in simple terms we now have a box of tricks on our wheelhouse which transmits a signal to tell the world out there who and where we are.

Marine Traffic website screen-grab showing Cambria’s position at about 10 am this morning, involved in the Passage Match

The public can go in to a website called Marine Traffic and ‘find us’ by clicking on options like ‘select vessel’ (Use “SB Cambria”). So, rather superbly, you can follow the feed on Facebook where Dave Brooks is commenting that the start was held up by Lady of the Lea thinking the start was 10 am rather than 8 am and showing pictures and then you can nip into the Marine Traffic website

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

and ‘see’ us charging down past Canvey (now at 10:15 a.m.). Obviously you cannot follow the race over all as AIS is only fitted to some of the barges, but it will be nice into the future to check up on her where-abouts. This is a bit of fun for us but obviously deadly serious to the crew in terms of knowing that port managers and the crews of other vessels can always know our location and avoid any chance of collision. I will post the Marine Traffic link on our useful links page. Good hunting and, of course, best of luck in the Passage Match, the crew.

The Championship so far

August 29, 2012 / / 2 Comments

It is interesting at this stage, with just one race left to go in the Championship (The Colne Match), to check out the Championship positions. The maximum points for a barge in any one race are 8, which you pick up for all the ‘milestones’ round the course – starting, best away, first round the outer mark, class wins, overall wins and so on. This means you can actually win the course overall but not obtain maximum points. It is interesting this year particularly because there are so many barges in the running what with the returning racers such as Niagara and Thalatta. 24 barges make it to the points table all be it some with just the one race to their name such as Adieu, Centaur, Cygnet, Greta, Dinah, Orinoco, Lady Daphne, Thalatta and Victor. I’m not knocking them here, you understand. These are expensive, historic boats which are also, in some cases the family home or livelihood and the weather can make the risk not worth the pleasure of racing, or the need to make a living in a tricky season might preclude taking the 3-4 days out of work to get to, compete in and get home again from these matches. We all love to see a good turn-out but we understand when a barge can’t be in the Fleet.

Marjorie racing in the Southend Match 2012 where she scored 7 points, Picture by Dave Brooks.

Leading up to now is Edith May who scored points in 6 matches and did well in the Passage Match (7 points), the Blackwater (7), the Thames (6) and the recent Southend (8). Their total is now 34 points. The rules are such that you can discard your worst score for the year but that happens after the Colne when you know all your scores for the year. The discard would currently be the zero points from the Swale, for Edith May, so they’d still be leading. 2^nd in the Championship on account of consistent point scoring and being there in every race, is Lady of the Lea who did well in the Medway, the Passage, Blackwater and Southend. 3^rd is Repertor who get reasonable places in most races although never the highest scores and 4^th is Edme who scored maximum (8) in the Medway and also did well in the Blackwater and Thames.

Our own old girl, Cambria is down there at 7^th after picking up 6 points each in the Medway and the Thames. I believe we are entered in the Colne. New girl and class rival (Big mulie bowsprit rig), Thalatta also did well in her one race, the Thames (beating Cambria in the points) Total 7, leaving her 13^th equal with Pudge.

Looking ‘down the table’ in the other direction (per race), top points were as follows.

Medway : Edme (8)

Passage : Edith May (7)

Pin Mill : Mirosa (7)

Blackwater : Edith May = Edme (7 each)

Thames : Thalatta (7)

Swale : Cabby = Mirosa (8 each)

Southend : Edith May (8)

Full results table is on http://www.sailingbargeassociation.co.uk/championship2012.html

Thanks Dave Brooks for the lovely picture of Marjorie competing in the Southend Match where she scored 7 points, matching the score of Lady of the Lea, 2nd equal to Edith May (8).

Ryan’s Sunrise

June 24, 2012 / / 2 Comments

A beautiful sunrise photo posted on Facebook by Cambria Shipwright Ryan Dale

Ryan Dale’s sunrise over the Swale. Gorgeous!