Hi all,
Arrangements for Hamble River Raid Saturday 16 May
Can as many rowers as possible please assemble at the boat park on Friday evening at 5:30 pm to load the boats. Please post if you are able to attend. We may be able to put some boats on trailers after Thursday morning’s row if we have enough muscle. The race on Saturday starts at 11:00 am and ideally we need to be there before 10:00 am when registration closes so we won’t have a huge amount of time on Saturday morning to hook the trailers up and do any last minute faffing. If any towers are able to take their boat on Friday evening that might help speed things up on Saturday morning (Dave?). Low tide on Friday is at 4:20 pm.
Please could everyone come to the boat park for 7:30 am on Saturday morning to get the trailers down the slipway and hooked up to the towing vehicles. Low tide is at 4:50 am.
There isn’t a huge amount of parking at Hamble so we should car share from Langstone to Hamble as much as possible. If you live much closer to Hamble than Langstone then just go straight there.
We will be launching the boats at Hamble Point Marina SO31 4NB (this is where we’ve launched from in recent years). In the past there has been ample space at the Marina for parking cars and the trailers. All crews will need to assemble here in order to launch the boats and, most importantly, row them up to the start point. The boats will then be positioned on the beach, close to the start, in number order. Lower numbers (starting first) closest to the start line, higher numbers downstream. Once the boats are positioned and secured on the beach we can wander around and get bacon sandwiches etc. I suggest we aim to get to the Marina at around 9:00am so we can launch our boats in quick succession.
Registration needs to be completed by 10:00 am and there may be merit in one person taking responsibility (any volunteers?) for registering all 4 crews which are:
Gladys
Cox Chris M
Chris W
Phil P
Keith Y
Dave C
SWeare Deep
Cox Liz W
Jackie H
Sarah S
Jo B
Karen B
Langstone Lady
Cox Frances
Josie
Lynn
Heather
Line
Sallyport
Cox Martin S
Julie C
Sue M
Joanna K
Marion
The competitor’s briefing is at 10:30 am and it’s important that all coxes attend.
The start time is 11:00 am, subject to river conditions.
The course appears to be the same as previous years and there is a course diagram in the website link below along with ‘rules of the road’ that coxes should read.
At the end of the race the plan is to immediately return to the Marina and load the boats back on the trailers before car sharing back to Hamble Quay for refreshments and presentations etc. parking in the Donkey Field (free but busy car park near the quay) or in the nearby lane. We can leave the trailers at the Marina, rather than struggle for space in the Donkey Field. At the end of presentations we will car share back to the Marina.
Full details of the event, including the course map, can be found on this link:
http://www.hambleriverraid.org/index.php
For those that haven't been before there is a cafe (the queues can be long) and other food and drink options including a beer tent. You are also only a few minutes walk from the pubs and shops in Hamble.
The weather should be good so remember to bring your water bottles, hats and suncream. Can everyone please bring their lifejacket. As far as I’m aware coxes will be required to wear lifejackets.
Remember, we do need everyone to come back to Langstone at the end of the day to get the trailers back into the boat park.
Cheers, Chris
Locked
