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How to make a perfect Bloody Mary!

Before the Day

  • If you enter online and you are over 18 then you do NOT need to register on the day at reception, so NO queuing as all your paperwork is completed. If you or your crew are under 18 you DO need to complete the NOR entry form with the signed parental consent and provide by post, by emailed scanned copy or on the day.
  • Watch the briefing online.
  • Thames Water have asked competitors to comply with the RYA Check/Clean and Dry Campaign to avoid the spread of alien species, details of which are published on the RYA website. 
  • Bring a painter for your boat, fully inflate your trolley tyres, clearly mark your trolley and remember where the trolley was left, this really helps as we are launching and recovering hundreds of boats!
  • Know your launching Colour - This you will be given on arrival and see here

Entering

  • Online entry will close at midnight on Wednesday 3rd January.
  • Entries will be accepted on the day until the entry limit is reached. 
  • The Entry desk will open at 8:30am on race day and close at noon, If you are planning to enter on the day please arrive early and head to the clubhouse to complete the forms. Please note there is a cap on entry numbers - once reached, no further entries on the day will be accepted. 

Arrival and Departure

  • The Bloody Mary gates will open 08:00 on Saturday and we encourage the first starters and Toppers, Lasers and youth fleets to get in nice and early. 
  • Please keep to the one-way system on the upper level as directed. The one way system will be reversed for departure.
  • Space is limited in the Club’s car park, so arrive early if you wish to park there. In the event of the Club’s car park being full, please follow the guidance of the Marshalls to the over-flow parking, 10 minutes walk away
  • Please note there is no option to walk your boat down to the carpark at this event. 
  • After the racing and prizes there is often some delay in getting cars and boats hitched up and out the gate so, if it suits you, avoid the crush by collecting your boat the following day or later.

GPS Boat Tracking!!

  • All boats will be provided with GPS tracker units with the action streamed live via the internet and available to analyse after racing.
  • On the day head to Training Room 5 to collect and return your trackers, this is the big room on the ground floor.

Launching and Racing

  • The course will be posted at many locations at 11:00 and tweeted one hour before the start. We will have plenty of reservoir maps and start lists available on the day.
  • The launch flag is planned to be raised at 11:15. Launching will then begin in strict order of launching colour groups, starting with the slowest classes. 
  • Please keep your boat in its allocated rigging area until your launch colour group is called and do not try to join the launch queues early.
  • Toppers (first start at 12.00) and keel boats needing to use a hoist will be encouraged to pre-launch before 11.15 and tie up to pontoons or buoys. 
  • Toppers taking advantage of this must sail off from the pontoons no later than 11.15 or as soon as the launch flag is raised.
  • Once you have launched and are sailing to the start area or waiting to start, please keep clear of boats already racing.
  • Remember that in a multiclass event like the Bloody Mary you are not permitted to use propulsion even if this is permitted under your class rules.
  • Keep energy up- We have more catering for snacks, hot food and drinks from the kitchen upstairs in the club house.
  • Please if possible back to where you launched, rather than closest bank, it will be easier to find your trolley.

Leaving 

  • Get your boat completely ready to hitch for towing, and join one of the queues for departure, making sure there is room for other boats to pass where you are waiting - you will see why below.
  • When your boat nears the front of the queue, you / your driver can go and collect your car, and bring it up the ramp into the hitching area. 
  • NOTE: The one way system from the morning will be reversed – follow the marshals’ instructions.
  • When you arrive in the hitching area, let a marshal know what boat you are collecting and we will call out so your boat can be brought forward from its place in the queue for hitching - this is why everyone needs to leave room for boats to pass them
  • If you're a singleton sailor and have to leave your boat to collect your car, one of the marshals will look after your boat for you, and can bring it to your car when you get to the hitching area.

Have a great Bloody Mary!

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