Maidstone Small Boats Head 2023 – Race report

The Maidstone Small Boats head 2023 can be compared to Marmite: you either lap it up or sniff at it. It’s a winding 2,500 metre narrow course along the Medway River offering plenty of 90-degrees bend and some hazards, including moored yachts, protected by a row of buoys and several wooden pylons and overhanging weeping willows on alternating sides.

Memorable moments: Waiting to start during which time a man in his yacht sailed passed while telling me that he used to belong to PBDRC and good luck; I didn’t quite catch his name, but his encouragement lifted my spirits. A junior asking race number 91 if that was her age (I reminded her she certainly didn’t look that old) and another junior attaching a GoPro action-camera to her stern to inform her A-level in P.E. The same person later crashed into a bank (that’s an A+, sweetheart).

This was my second attempt at the Maidstone Head and my main priority was not to hit a bank (easily done). All I had to remember was, if an umpire called out: “Poplar hard right [or left]”, I was heading in the direction of a buoy or bank but I had time to avoid a collision. If the umpire repeated this statement twice, then swift action was necessary. But if the umpire repeated statement three times, then I was headed to a collision or abrupt stop.

Fortunately, I managed to avoid the bank and buoys and finished the course in 12:25:05. This put me in second place in the combined women’s masters single D/F category (before handicap applied) and I managed to shave off a whopping one minute and 18 seconds from the previous year. I guess, I must be doing something right? My thanks go to Vicky for taking part and to Paddy for getting us there and back. Do join me next year.