It was touch and go whether the Rye Harbour Sailing Club’s Rum Race, sponsored by Skipper Rum, went ahead on Saturday January 14. Building work had begun on the new shower block extension on January 3, with contractors Tolletts using part of the main clubhouse – the event venue – for their office. On Friday evening a tidal surge of 1 metre above the predicted height of tide was forecast and of course there was always the risk of bad weather.
After a sleepless night for the organisers, Saturday morning arrived and although there was a bitterly cold wind from the north west, the clubhouse remained intact from the tidal surge. Despite minor water ingress to some edges of the building the volunteers rallied round to get the clubhouse ready to welcome members, visitors and sailors from other clubs.
Nine boats took part in the Rum Race, raising a total of £110 to pass onto the RNLI. The start of the race was delayed until 12:30pm due to some commercial shipping movements but soon the boats were lining up to try to get a good advantage point at the start line. With the wind from the north west gusting at times upwards of 22 knots and entrants heading up river on a course that would have them sailing upwind and at times against an ever increasing ebbing tide, the race was shortened. First over the line as well, as in first place overall were Margaret and Philip Blurton from Hastings sailing a Tasar; in second place John Powell sailing a Laser and in third place Hugh Ashford from Hastings sailing a Laser Radial. A special prize of a £10 PC World voucher went to Lucy Thomas, 17, the youngest contestant, for braving the cold.
After being presented with the first prize of a bottle of Skipper Rum, Philip Blurton, Sailing Secretary of Hastings and St Leonards Sailing Club said: “Thank you for the great hospitality and for the invite to take part in the Rum Race here at RHSC – it’s nice to get out and compete against another local sailing club in different sailing conditions to those at Hastings and it would be great to see you at our Rum Race on March 18.”
To keep out the cold we were supplied with a wonderful selection of hot food cooked by Jen Tomkinson, with the help of Claire Powell, from bacon baps and sausages, soup and baked potatoes with chilli along with endless cups of tea and coffee with cake and biscuits. Finally after the bar opened a tot of Skipper Rum helped warm us all up.
Thank you to everyone who, despite the bitter cold, helped to make this a very successful and enjoyable event. John Powell pointed out that special thanks needed to go to two other entrants, Anna Knight and Sue Saich, sailing a Mirror dinghy, for playing Abba music loudly on their boat which helped to keep up everyone’s spirits!
Photos: RHSC
Small correction. The Hastings and St Leonards Sailing Club Rum Race will be on Sunday 19th March and not the 18th as mentioned in the article.