3 Rivers Race 2022

[The Q]

Entries for the 2022, 3 Rivers Race , on the Norfolk Broads, on 28th May - 29th May are now open.

50 miles, under 3 bridges( twice), on rivers down to 50ft wide, you have 24 hours to complete the course. Sailing Boats from 14ft to 40ft, minimum 2 crew.

The record is about 8 hours to complete the course, the worst only 13 boats finished..

Entry forms and further details here.. https://3rr.uk/

[Mike-in-Suffolk]

Thanks for that, TheQ. I shall put those dates in the diary and come up to watch.

[The Q]

Ok folks, comb your hair, polish your shoes and be on your best behavior ..


They are making a film about the 3RR this year, what form this will take, I have no idea, but you could be in shot on river or on the bank..

[Ted Hoppe]

that sound like a lot of fun. I see there is charter options related to this. It would interesting to do a charter or a buy back or an outright purchase if the price was right.

[The Q]

Entries close 24th April...

[The Q]

Entries are now closed, officially, unofficially a little bit of groveling will still get you in...

[The Q]

12 days to go and the long range forecast is in, Easterly 10mph for the whole race, with a maximum temperature of 13C.


Not that good on either count, an easterly is over the houses on the left of the first straight and you'd need to tack occasionally.. Very little tide for the start though. I could see 100+ boats tacking in the first half mile of river if the forecast doesn't change..

[Thad]

Too much fun. I was once involved in a mixed class start with 87 boats. Fun.

[The Q]

Too much fun. I was once involved in a mixed class start with 87 boats. Fun.

Our start line is only 180ft long, so we limit each start to around 10 boats, which still can be interesting if they're all over 30ft!!

The fleet runs from 14ft dinghies, to 40ft sailing cruisers, they try to keep similar sized boats in each start at 5 minute intervals, but also each year the starts are changed around. So eventually everyone has a go at being in the first start if they keep competing..
This does mean further on down the course, the faster boats may catch up with the slower boats and then life gets interesting..

I was lucky enough to be in the first start one year, and it was strong wind which our class (Yeoman and Kinsman) likes. We ended up with 10 Yeoman in the top 20 including the winner.. Had it been a light wind year we would have been swamped by other classes coming up from behind..

[John B]

Subscribing....
Makes me go all Arthur R.

[The Q]

Well, Horning Staithe is mentioned in Coot club and that's less than 100 yards from the start line...
I'll try and post some photos of the race, but whether That will be almost live will depend on whether I can get a signal from where the guardship gets moored...

just to keep you going
the-death-and-glory.jpg
no she hasn't entered the race...

[The Q]

https://youtu.be/ZKU4zTfdyHQ

[The Q]

Race is from 11:00 UK time tomorrow ,
We have 6 webcams round the course, https://www.horning-sailing.club/webcams/
The two a t Horning will show the starts from 11:00 to 12:30
The Potter Heigham bridge camera first boats maybe 14:00 but peak around 22:00
.the Acle bridge first boats 14:00 peak around 17:00.
Hickling broad me on the end of the pier from about 08:30, then putting a buoy out. The guard ship should arrive about 10:00, first competitors about 14:00, peak about 22:00..

[Touchatout]

"Slow motion" but fun to watch.

[John Meachen]

I did go along to watch a bit of it,I haven't participated for 30 years and said then that never again did I wish to indulge.It was cold and fairly breezy this afternoon.I did see some friends who had never sailed their newly acquired boat last Saturday and now seem quite comfortable with it.A few typical boats below.

20220528_143041.jpg

20220528_144615.jpg

20220528_143505.jpg

[John Meachen]

A few more.

DSCN3285.jpg

20220528_143735.jpg

20220528_143537.jpg

[Touchatout]

Nice pics. Great to have high rez view on the race after watching low rez webcam.
The first boat (with black "H1" on yellow panel) is really interresting.

[John Meachen]

That's one of the fleet from Hunter's Yard.They are available for hire for boating holidays on the local rivers and broads https://huntersyard.co.uk/ .

[Touchatout]

Thanks for the info. I'm actually surfing on the net discovering your beautifull area and its boats.
I gave now a new "place I must visit" in my vacation wish list.

[The Q]

Thanks for the pictures,
The H boards mean Hire, There were three of the Hustlers hired out to competitors to the race this year,from hunters yard.
Also Martham boats hired out some of their boats, including Jacindar, Zoe, and Lydia. https://www.marthamboats.com/hire/yachts
Martham boats also lent us a Janet 3 hire motorboat on Hickling broad to act as a guardship. I love their wooden motorboats and yachts but the amount of varnishing would put me off owning one..

There will be more videos posted later, including an "official" made by a volunteer professional videographer.

The results, https://www.horning-sailing.club/racing-results/ the fastest boat home was a Norfolk Punt, the winner on handicap a Wayfarer Dinghy.

The provisional date for next year's race, June 3rd and 4th 2023.

Horning sailing clubs next big event is regatta week, 30th 31st July club weekend on Black Horse Broad, 1st -5th August open regatta on the river outside the club.
100 boats are not unusual for the regatta, from optimists to 40ft broads cruisers, 4 one hour series per day, with up to 8 starts per series, plus special races at lunchtime and after the last main series. A social function every evening makes for a very busy week.

[The Q]

A race report in yachts and yachting,
https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/ne...g-Sailing-Club

[The Q]

The official film of the 2022 race.
https://youtu.be/8TgaFfSsLWI

[Alan71]

Hello Q,

Well!!!
That's a wonderful film. People having an awful lot of fun!!!
Must watch it at least twice.
Thanks for posting it.

Regards,
Alan