Cruiser Racing
Cruiser Racing, that great oxymoron. Surely you either go cruising or you go racing. Not so. Have you ever been sailing down the river or estuary, when you see another boat in front and start tweaking the sails to see if you can catch up? If so then you could well have the racing bug. It just needs developing.
How do I start racing?
If you want to dip your toe into racing then try the Montgomery Cruise in company which is definitely not a race. The next step would be the Medway Challenge as part of the Keelboat Regatta. Both are aimed squarely at cruisers who just use their white sails. No spinnakers or fancy brown or black sails unless you have an old gaffer! This would be a great introduction to Class 3, our “White Sails” class using the RYA’s NHC personal handicap system or the YTC system described below
What is the next step?
You might find the downwind legs a bit slow under just white sails, so you want the extra excitement of using a cruising chute or even a spinnaker to speed things up. This in turn leads to needing extra crew to handle the extra sails and you might even want to practice a bit. This would mean you move up to class 2.
Where does it end?
When the bug really bites and you get yourself a racing boat with fancy sails and a large crew to match you won’t like the personal handicap system so you fill in the forms and send a chunk of cash to the RORC and you have an IRC rating. You are now a bone fide racer and will be in class 1 using the IRC rating system.
Do I need a large crew?
It very much depends on how seriously you want to race. For white sails racing many people compete effectively with only 2 people on board. As you get more serious you need more and more people. The club has a Crew Finder Service on this web site that can help put you in contact with potential crew.
For more information email the Cruiser Racing Class Captain
Racing Season
Our racing season is from April to November and includes:
- Spring Series – short series with committee boat starts
- Medway Keel boat Regatta. 3 days of intense racing in conjunction with the one designs with committee boat starts and finishes
- Wednesday Evening Series.
During the long summer evenings we hold an informal “Allcomers” race series staring at 19:00 every Wednesday. A great excuse for a light hearted race to wind down after work followed by a meal and a drink in the clubhouse. - During the summer months we occasionally have ‘Trophy Races’
- For the less serious we have the annual Montgomery Race usually held in mid summer involving a simple course from the club to the infamous wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery and back to the club. Hitting the mark is not recommended. Results are worked out using the Class Captain’s secret formula.
- Name of the River Challenge. This is less of a race, more of a pilotage exercise. You leave the Club Line to start whenever you like and have to pass named buoys on the river in any order, returning to the club to finish. Time your start to make the best use of the tide for your boat but you have to make sure there is enough water round all the buoys for your boat.
- Autumn Series – short series with committee boat starts.
We end the year with this ever popular series – the biggest and best series on the East Coast in our opinion! - Full details of the race program can be downloaded from the documents in the class information section of this page.
Dates for Your Diary
2023
16th, 23rd & 30th April 7th May
Spring Series
Run from the Club Line a 4 race series with all to count. If numbers allow there will be separate starts for each class.
24th, 31st May
7th, 14th, 21st, 28th May
5th, 12th, 19th, & 26th July
Wednesday Evening Race Series
Weekday evening race series, open to dinghies, keelboats and cruisers of 10 races with 6 to count.
26th – 29th May
Medway Keelboat Regatta
Three classes for Racers and Cruisers as well as the Medway Challenge Race on Friday for the less serious racer who just wants to do one race. Committee boat starts and finishes as well as the famous social events ashore. For more details see the Regatta page
The 2022 regatta was sailed in almost perfect conditions with only a short wait for the sea breeze to fill in on the first day. After that it was steady easterly breeze and bright sunshine most of the way.
The winner in class 1 (IRC) was Reefer X while Class 2 was won by Zephros and class 3 by Amberjack. Well done to all of them. The family trophy went to the Leeming Family in Toucan.
18 June
Name of the River Challenge
Less of a race and more of a pilotage exercise. You start any time after the line opens at 10:00 and pass to the designated side of the named buoys in the river at least once. You can pass them in any order. For full details see the Sailing Instructions below. There will be a full briefing at 09:00
Bit embarrassing really. In 2022 we opened the event up to the one design classes and it was won by a Dragon. Well done to Edwin and Sue Hannant on “Gandalf” who proved they know the river better than anyone else.
19th – 20th August
EAORA Jane’s Cup & Thames Estuary Race
Jane’s Cup – Burnham to Medway YC, and Thames Estuary the return leg Medway to Burnham
10th, 23rd, 24th September
7th, 8th, 22nd October
Burton Series
Series of races organised by Medway Cruiser Club, open to all.
Entry via the Medway Crusing Club Website
29th, October
5th, 12th, 19th & 26th November
Autumn Series
Bring the season to a close with our open Autumn Series. https://www.medwayyachtclub.com/2023/07/autumn-series-2023/
2024
Here is the Cruiser Racing Programme plus nearby races for 2024 We are still waiting for information on additional East Anglia Offshore Racing Association, EAORA, races for 2024 and will add these when we can.
Spring Series – Sundays 14, 21, 28 April, 12, 19 of May
Wednesday Evenings Series – 29 May 5, 12, 19, 26 June 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 July at 18:50 for sailing dinghies and 19:00 for keel boats
EAORA Jane’s Cup – Saturday 15 June from Burnham to Medway and back to Burnham on Sunday
Marathon Race – Sunday 30 June for sailing dinghies with cruisers acting as guard boats
Medway Keelboat Regatta – Practice day is Friday 12 July followed by regatta on Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 July
Benfleet Yacht Club Nore Race This is a good race for MYC members to join as they usually hold it on a Sunday at 11 o’clock from Southend pier around a low tide so MYC boats can easily join it and return back to MYC after it. The date for 2024 has not been announced yet. https://www.benfleetyachtclub.org/boating/nore-race
Commodore’s Day some might like to help celebrate this on Saturday 3 August although it is not a race
Ramsgate Regatta 2024 will be run by Royal Temple Yacht Club 11 to 16 August https://www.ramsgateweek.com/
Wednesday Evenings Late Series at 18:00 on 21, 28 August 4, 11 September
MCC Burton Series The dates for this Series from Gillingham have not been announced by the MCC yet but it is normally Saturdays and Sundays in September/October https://www.medwaycruisingclub.org.uk/calendar/
Autumn Series Sundays 27 October, 3, 10, 17, 24 November.
Please let the Cruiser Class Race Captain know if you have any questions or suggestions.
New YTC Rating System
The NHC personal handicapping system with ratings adjusted after every race has not proved to be popular. As a result, the RYA, in conjunction with the RORC, is launching a new handicapping system for cruisers to replace NHC.
Called “Yacht Time Correction” (YTC), the new system is based on the one developed by a number of clubs in the South West. Like NHC the system is free, but unlike NHC there is no adjustment to handicaps after each race. It also issues two handicaps for each boat with and without a spinnaker so boats without spinnakers can race fairly against those that use them.
It is simplicity itself to obtain a handicap number you visit the web site here and fill out the online form. You will need to know basic dimensions of your boat and sail area. Most of this information for production boats is available online here. For those of you with something a bit rarer you may need to do some measuring. We can help with measurement if necessary.
For we intend to run all our races using this handicapping system. We will split the fleet so that bigger faster boats can sail longer courses while smaller slower boats can still get back in time for the bar!
Results
2017 
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Class Information
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Racing marks.pdf
PDF Document