Dylan Winter films the Three Rivers Race, Norfolk Broads, Part 1

Dylan Winter, who I rank as the best sailing/cruising videographer going on the Internet, has put some video shorts up of this years Three Rivers Race held on the Norfolk Broads, England, the first weekend in June.

From the Thames Sailing Club website , quoted here is a description of the race......

The ..........Three Rivers Race, is organised by Horning Sailing Club....... It is a unique and taxing event which is probably the most unusual yacht race in the UK.

Taking place over a 24-hour period, the Three Rivers Race is a handicap event with entries ranging from dinghies, half-deckers, traditional Broads yachts and modern production yachts......who paddled or quanted under bridges and short tacked up narrow rivers.

The course is about 50 miles in length set around three of the rivers of the Norfolk Broads, the Bure, the Ant and the Thurne, and includes four turning points which may be taken in any order. As the rivers are tidal a great deal of tactical planning is required from skippers and crews to choose the most efficient method of getting round all the turning marks as quickly as possible.

Dylan Winters most likely will combine these video shorts into something grander. I think he is trying to make a buck off his Internet videos (as the English say, Jolly Good..... as he is, after all a professional, and his quality is always superb). These links may eventually disappear as Dylan takes them down from YouTube. Enjoy for the moment.......

The first one shows the pre-start prep and the start of the gunter Rebel class. One can catch the occasional glimpse of some of the unique gaffer river cruisers anchored about. The starting commentator is a nice touch......

---

Sorry, video has been removed!

---

And the start of the Thames A-Raters, probably the most refined light air, small water sailboat in the world. Normally raced on the upper reaches of the Thames; it looks like a fair number of the A-raters made the trip up north to race on the Norfolk Broads. If memory serves, the hulls all date back to the early 1900's and now sport enormously tall carbon rigs with fully battened mylar sails. What looks like a stool fastened to the back deck is actually there to support the mast when the rig is dropped to fit under one of many bridges in this race.

---

Sorry, video has been removed!

---

More to come.......

Tip of the hat to Dylan.........

Three Bridges Race: 2015 Drone Video

I've covered the Three Bridges Race before on Earwigoagin, a 50 mile jaunt around winding narrow rivers, under low hanging bridges, in the English Norfolk Broads. Here is a drone video of this year's event, no sound, just bucolic images of classic sailing classes starting the race under typical English summer weather, alternating glorious sun with grey belly cumulus. From the text blurb accompanying this video:

"The 55th Three Rivers Race was the first time aerial photography was allowed by organisers, Horning Sailing Club. Richard Kemp of Skyhover used an octocopter to photograph the start of the race . The three rivers from which the race gets its name are the three northern rivers of the Broads (Norfolk, UK), the Bure, Ant and Thurne. There are numerous Windmills and pumps such as the white Thurne Mill along the route.

At first the race sounds simple, an out and back course, in which you must round four marks and return to the start. It begins to sound trickier when you discover the course is in the order of fifty miles in length. It requires great planning and skill to navigate in unpredictable tides and variable winds. Many of the classes are for historic boats built in Norfolk and Suffolk for the difficult local conditions: such as the River Cruiser (first built 100 years ago) Yare & Bure One Design, Norfolk Punt. The greatest outsider challenge comes from the extremely fast Thames A Raters."

Navigators & General Three Rivers Race 2015 from Skyhover Aerial Video Norfolk on Vimeo.

Three Rivers Race: I can't get enough of Dylan Winter!

If I had a bucket list (which I don't; I am more of the type to play it by ear, see what life offers up, and see what falls out), racing in the U.K Three Rivers Race on the Norfolk Broads would be at top. I have written several posts over the years about the Three Rivers Race, most of the posts featured the superb Dylan Winters videos which have since disappeared. However, this Dylan Winter video on the Three Rivers Race has resurfaced and is a perfect summery antidote for a Mid-Atlantic evening where we are bundled up in an early December cold-snap and the temperatures at night have been dipping well below zero.



Dylan Winter is asking those who enjoy his videos to consider contributing some cash. His website is over here.

Three Rivers Race at Ludham Bridge

I haven't done a post about river sailing recently. The Three Rivers Race on the Norfolk Broads is always a good one to watch. With this video you get a true sense on what a zoo this race can be. I assume the course has the competitors reaching Ludham Bridge, turning around and retracing their course. So you have these Classic Norfolk Broads cruisers running, and beating, and tacking, and avoiding clueless motoboaters, all in a very narrow body of water. The spectators are having a jolly good time taking all this in, laughing, offering up polite clapping when the boats make their turn and then adding some very vocal razzing onto the head of the motorboat mucking the racers up.

Three Rivers Race near Ludham Bridge River Ant Norfolk UK from dee moore on Vimeo.

Travelogue; Norfolk Broads Cruising

This blog vicariously visits exotic sailing locale mostly through YouTube videos. The blogmeister, not being particularly flush with cash, does most of his jaunts up and down the East Coast of the U.S.

Transplanted Englishman, Len Parker of the Mashed Minifish project, sends along a travel report of a cruise he and his mate, Ray, did on the English Norfolk Broads this fall. This past summer, I had done several posts on the traditional dinghies that race the Three Rivers Race on the Norfolk Broads, using Dylan Winter's gorgeous videos that, unfortunately, have gone away. As Len relates, cruising on the Norfok Broads is done in traditional boats with big rigs, on narrow rivers, with masts that can be lowered under bridges, and of small towns with pubs close at hand.

"In late September I flew over to England just a few days after getting back to south Florida from my adventures with the MiniFish at the Classic Moth Nationals.The plan was to land at Heathrow , rush down south to the Isle of Wight ... say a quick hello to my parents , say a quick hello to my kids , grab something warmer than shorts and flipflops , also make sure I had loads of tea bags , then a few hours later jump in Ray's van , back on the car ferry & 250 miles North up to the Norfolk Broads where we'd hire a classic sailing dinghy for three days and Ray would 'show me the ropes'.

We got to the famous Hunter's Yard in Ludham in the wee 'early hours , had a cup of tea or three and waited patiently for them to open. They hire a variety of lovely looking wooden classic sailboats and we hired "Sundew" , a 1950's Waverney One Design gunter rigged 22+n footer with 290 sq ft of main & jib. All the boats have high rigs , probably to get sail area above the high reed beds on the narrow river stretches.

We had 200 odd miles of the waterways to explore including Hickling Broad , Ranworth Broad and Barton Broad , plus the rivers Thurne and Ant. We followed some of the route of the famous 45 mile long three rivers race ( Thune , Ant , Bure). Areas of the rivers are really narrow , so no time for brewing tea , it was tack-tack-tack. Then it opens up into a Broad. Beautiful scenery and wildlife.
The original plan was to sail , camp , sail , camp , sail ... but seeing as it was late in the season , and what with my knee & jetlag as another excuse , we soon changed the plan to sail , pub , hotel , sail , pub hotel ... A much better plan ! We figured that as kids were long back at school there shouldn't be too many grockle families ( tourists ) clogging up the place in their large hire motorboats ... luckily we were right.

We had a mix of wind conditions varying from rowing in the doldrums , to gusts of over 25 knots , and after the rental lady mentioned that we ought to reef the main when the wind piped up Ray laughed , saying that only girls and poof's do that on a river.

Sundew was surprisingly nimble and easy to control but being the novice I am , I had my moments. We were hiked out as far as we could be a few times , great fun. It was brilliant to see some of the boats with their huge sails dwarfing us. The largest was named White Moth , very apt & I took a photo. It was fun to spot a sailing dinghy ahead of us , as we couldn't resist "hunting them down".

We went under the 13th century Heigham Bridge. You have to lower the pivoting mast onto a brace on the transom & row under the little 6' high brick built bridge. No tides to worry about , sounds easy ... yeah right ! .. The current was ripping through the bridge. One person steers , one person rows backwards whilst straddling the mast , boom & sails. You duck and hope for the best. Luckily we did good , but it was knackering and then you have to row another 100 yards to clear another bridge before you can restep the mast, then have a cuppa and carry on your way ... I let rip about 50 unmentionable swear words in 30 seconds , thinking we were going to smash the hull , so hats off to those crews who do this whilst racing. Of course we had to do it all again on the way back , but at least we knew what to expect.

It was great fun exploring and after running aground in the deep mud a couple of times , you soon realize that the channel markers are spot on. The Norfolk folk are a friendly lot , but they really do have a funny accent as it's really rural and proper "carrot country". It was a great trip , and I'll be back for sure."

Len sent along some pictures. (Click on picture for higher resolution.)

I think this the large Broads Cruiser "White Moth".



Another traditional Norfolk Broads cruiser.



"Sundew" chasing down a cruiser in the narrow confines of the river.



Ray with "Sundew's" mast lowered for negotiation of the Heigham bridge.



"Sundew" at the dock.



Len skippering on one of the wider expanses of water.

Thames Raters in the English "Three Rivers Race"

Two Thames Raters, the ultimate river sailing machine, in close quarters during the Three Rivers Race. The little camp chair on the back deck is not normal gear but necessary in this race. The mast has to be dropped several times to get under bridges and the chair keeps the mast in place when down.

Dylan Winter films the Three Rivers Race, Norfolk Broads, Part 3

There were two more Dylan Winter videos of the 2010 Three Rivers Race that caught my eye; both of them featuring two local Broads dinghy classes.

The Norfolk Punt sailing class developed from gunning punts, but now the sailing Punt is so tricked out as a racing dinghy (double trapeze, assymetric, full battened sails) that the only traditional characteristic that remains is the canoe stern (very similar to the International Canoe!). Punt Number 19 seems to be a traditional model with a low rig, long boom, gunter rig. Number 69 and 96 are Wyche and Coppock hard chine designs (designed in the 1950's if memory serves); the most popular sailing Punt model going. The Norfolk Punt is a restricted development class with hull lengths approaching 22 feet. Some of the higher number hulls have probably had the hand of one of the modern English dinghy boffins, like Morrison or Howlett, in drawing up their lines.

---

Sorry, video has been removed!

---

And the Norfolk One Design. Designed and built by Herbert Woods, the first in 1931 and the last was built in 1968; 86 in all. The Norfolk One Design's very much look like an Uffa Fox International 14, though they are lapstrake, not smooth bottomed. They seem very comfortable short tacking up the river. A very pretty traditional design!

---

Sorry, video has been removed!

---

Watching the video of the Norfolk One Design, it occurred to me that one could take a Jet 14 hull, knock the deck off it, put in some seat tanks, add some wooden spars and gunter rig and get very close to the same boat. Oh no, not another mashup!

Tip of the hat to Dylan, my favorite sailing videographer, for this series.

Header Photo: Bucolic River Scene

The previous header photo to close out 2019 was of a dinghy (possibly a Wayfarer) and a vintage cruiser drifting in opposite directions on an English river, the sun setting. This may be the Three Rivers Race on the Norfolk Broads but things get jumbled up on my computer so I can't say for sure.

Dylan Winter films the Three Rivers Race, Norfolk Broads, Part 2

A continuation from the Part 1 Post ............

How to drop the rig and get under one of the low lying bridges..............

---

Sorry, video has been removed!

---

Short tacking up the river. We see several examples of the classic Norfolk Broads cruiser; low freeboard, boxy coachroof, long footed gaff or gunter main with tiny jib hung off a bowsprit. I like those small bent SS tillers........

---

Sorry, video has been removed!

---