The Bosham Pursuit

Published 23:49 on 29 Aug 2022

Sadly the Classic Boat Revival is not going ahead this year, but in true Bosham style we won't be denied our weekend sailing fix. On Saturday 3rd Sept we'll run a no-pressure pursuit race. We haven't run a pursuit race for some years, so this will be a lot of fun.

For those who don't know, a pursuit race is like a handicap race in reverse. In a handicap race, everyone starts together, sails the course and has their elapsed time adjusted for their boat handicap. A pursuit race is for a set elapsed time. The slowest boats (Optimist) start first and faster boats start at one minute intervals, depending on their handicap. Everyone sails the same set course, which ends in a loop with no fixed finish line. In theory, if every boat sails to their handicap, at the end of the set time, everyone ends up at the same point on the course. In practice its nothing like that, but it is a sailing version of the tortoise and the hare.

There's more information here. Don't forget to enter - pre-entry is essential.

Thanks to Barry Colgate for pushing this event forward and for being race officer on the day. It should be great fun.

Last updated 14:49 on 2 April 2025