Norfolk Punt Club 3 Rivers Race Team for
Cancer Research UK in memory of Mark Sawyer.

ALISON SAWYER, MARK and LENKA LUCKHURST and ANDREW EDE
Yare and Bure One Design. Sail No. 46
What a journey: Team Camberwell Beauty faced our challenges at Ludham Bridge, the bend just before Acle, and in the morning by Horning Hall. At Aclewe were be-calmed over a full hour, which was frustrating, particularly when we were sailing against the tide and when we pulled from the bank into the river we went backwards, passing a boat or two... in the wrong direction. Fortunately they tried the same thing too, so we ended up evens!
It became so frustrating that we were close to giving up, and decided to go for a walk to the pub at Acle, (The OOD's briefing had given permission to use the facilities there) and we talked to people we knew on the guardship there - the Olliers, Daniels and Goodmans. After we had warmed up and had a team talk, there was a bit more breeze, so we got back in and carried on.
We finally finished the race at 5.40
It was a very emotional day for me, as it had always been Mark's event and so many of his friends were involved. I felt I missed him so much at the start and the finish lines. There were various moments when we were having a laugh, or a frustration, both of which he enjoyed and coped with so well.
We heard a wonderful dawn chorus including cuckoo and bittern, we saw a kingfisher, marsh harriers and so many of our usual waterfowl with their young.
The wonderful camaraderie of teams and fellow sailors on the water kept us going. The support teams on the riverbanks and bridges provided great encouragement. I have also learned a lot about myself too.
Thank you for amazing team support in fund raising. and finally, I want to salute Horning SC forrunningthis amazing spectacle.
Alison
TIM EDMUNDS and BART SAWYER
Norfolk Punt. Rhode Island Red. Sail No. 77
The lead up to this event was both exciting and quite emotional for me. It has been, and no doubt will continue to be, heart warming to spend time with Bart fiddling with Rhode Island Red. This was time I very much enjoyed with Mark and he and Alison I know are proud that he has many of the qualities of his dad.
The race is not one that ideally suits RIR but our fiddles during the spring have given us a chance of sailing nearer to our handicap then before. Bart and I enjoyed our time afloat and having decided to complete Ant and South Walsham before heading to Hickling so we stood a chance of the flood tide helping getting us home from Acle were pleased that at least tactically were made the right decisions. Most of the sailing went well. Our mast raising coming back through Potter left much to be desired resulting in a tangle with a White Boat (nothing serious for either of us) and twisted or unattached shrouds. We decided to press on until Acle, which resulted in a lower leg for us and a few more minutes at Acle heading down river to sort things out. The outer layer of our (nearly new!) main halyard gave way early on but thankfully the inner core held up.
Lower Bure to the finish was little more than a quick drift at times. It was lovely to catch up with our competitors during the race and to see Alison on a number of occasions, including during their spell fighting the tide at Acle.
The final leg along The Street in Horning was more interesting trying to stop a Rater beating us across the water. They appeared out of the gloom behind us and only just managed to pass us near to the finish line. We were forth punt back at 12:30 - a fantastic result and one no doubt helped by the hand of a great friend that we all miss.
Tim xx

RUTH and JAMES OWEN
Norfolk Punt. Gamecock. Sail No. 37
We've been so encouraged to read everyone else's stories of the race, and to see just how much money has been raised for Cancer Research. Such a tremendous achievement by all - and it was so encouraging to have so many people cheering us on from the bank!
We had a rather interesting start to the 3RR, with our sail popping out of the track as we were sailing aroundprior to the start. Not a problem we've ever encountered before, but it continued to do the same thingfor the whole race. As such, as our gunwent off, we were stillmoored up trying to put our sail up - hardly the best start!
James had spent quite a bit of time prior to the race with a spreadsheet trying to work out by taking wind and tide in to accountwhich was the best route to take, however when we came to Ant mouth we were still somewhat undecided! We took a slight risk and chose to leave Ant until the end, however we did do the South Walsham leg. We missed the buoy at the first attempt, so had to go round again (much to the amusement of the guard ship!), but otherwise sailed on without incident. We headed towards Potter next, and hada nice reach up towards the bridge, interrupted only by a large lull that saw James get very wet on the trapeze and us nearly go over! Wecautiously stopped at the bridge, took the sails and mast down slowly...and as we did so watched all the other punts shoot the bridge! We decided stopping for the bridges probably wasn't worth it, so (in a slightly haphazard and sketchy fashion) did the other bridges without pausing on the bank.
We were lucky to get to Acle with enough wind to punch the tide to the mark, and drifted back with the tide towards Horning as the wind died. For the majority of the journey we were neck and neck with Grebe, which made things rather more enjoyable and more competitive, particularly as they too still needed to do the Ant buoy. It was beautifully dusky as we rounded Thurne mouth, a really glorious sight across the marshes.
Tacking against the tide, in the dark, in close quarters with Grebe on our way back from the Ant buoy was possibly one of my favourite (and mostchallenging)parts of the race - thankfully the adrenalin really kept us going until we were back to the main river. Our final drift home was slow and chilly - we had lost Grebe so it was just us, but we were both cheered by the music that we can only assume was coming from the Maltsters. I do hope our singing didn't carry too far, and that if it did no one was offended by it!
We arrived back in Horning at around 12:55, and I have never been as relieved as when we crossed the line - having been terrified for the last mile or so that the wind might die completely! I think we both actually really enjoyed the race, and we were very luckyto get in before the rain started.
I think a huge well done is owed to all involved - who sailed, who organised, who fundraised and who supported...a great team effort for a fantastic cause.
Best regards,
Ruth
PETER BAINBRIDGE, GEOFF PALMER, and PETER WALKER
Yarmouth One Design. Helen. Sail No. 5

Our weekend on Helen started with moving her from Irstead to Horning on Friday. The ‘senior’ member of the crew managed to fall in at Ludham Bridge, without spare clothes. The local shop produced 2 T- shirts and the art gallery a cup of coffee and thermal blanket so we resumed our journey. After some deliberation before the start on Saturday we decided that with a combined age of 321 years between boat(101) and 3 crew members that we should pace ourselves. Needless to say when it actually happened we were competitive as usual.
A modest start resulted in a Rebel and Reedling chase to Ant mouth which we decided to pass in order to clear our wind and catch the tides later in the day. South Walsham followed and then off to Potter. The 3 paddlers managed against the tide under the bridge and then up with mast and sail. Unfortunately the peak halyard was pulled from the wrong end, pulling it out of the mast, so down with the mast again to refit it.
A splendid sail to Hickling in the company of a few Punts followed and as a piece of good fortune an easterly sea breeze came up giving us a run back to Potter again along with 2 Punts,a Norfolk and another half – decker. Needless to say 5 boats don’t fit across the river so we caught our mainsheet on a moored boat and came to a halt. The helm jumped ashore nimbly to clear it but the other two failed to realise that he was still ashore and set off without him. A few words were said and he was allowed back on board.
With the wind dropping lighter it was quite an advantage to sail with the tide nearly all the way to the bottom bouy and ‘Helen’ was at her best running with a great white slab of a mainsail.
After Acle on the way back ‘Beth’ the eventual winner came past accompanied by a clink of glasses and a smell of bacon butties. (Mental note – IF you do the race again it must be in a cruiser). A run and beat along the Ant followed, again within shouting distance of a few punts and the final run back to Horning was done at a snail’s pace against the tide.
Well done to all the Punt Club team. I don’t know where we finished but it was fun having a go!

MATTHEW and PHOEBE SCOTT
Norfolk Punt. Woodpecker. Sail No. 99
Phoebe and I had a good run to start with, just staying ahead of the other punts except for comet, and doing the short legs before reaching potter. We put off using the spinnaker until near potter and then found the downhaul wrapped under the bowsprit which dragged the spinnaker under the bow so gave up using it after that. Having faffed around sufficiently in getting ready for the start ( you probably saw us getting in the way coming out if the dyke just as you were starting - sorry for that) our intended practice mast drop before never happened, so we took our time mooring up at potter getting the mast down and untangling our reams of double purchase/length self tangling main halyard, plus availing of the only public facilities on the course. A tack up to Hickling from Martham followed by a 180 windshift requiring a tack back to Martham tested our sense of humour, but Phoebe kept us going with an unending supply of nautical songs including rock the boat ( don't rock the boat, baby) and are we going to see a whale today? ( no).
Wind dropped off down towards Acle but kept up just enough to get us round the lower mark before really falling away and tide carrying us back up to Thurne mouth. Next hour or so of being pushed back home was filled in with some loud music from somewhere near Ranworth? Banging tunes, apparently, according to my crew who knew every word of every song and needed to share the joy with someone close by.
Coming past Ant mouth we saw a large white sail ahead and eventually caught up with and briefly overtook Peter and crew in Helen who then forgetting he was in a slower boat soon overtook us back again and disappeared into the gloom. We got our finishing bell around 0115, some time after the faster boys and girls but still happy enough to get home to bed around 2. Woke up at 3 am thinking I should have signed in and had to get up to check the paperwork. Nothing mentioned so quickly back to sleep again.
Many thanks to you and Alison for getting the team together and coming up with such a good idea, it was great to be part of it and help raise some funds along the way plus the loud support as we all went round really made a difference.
All the best
Matthew
ANDREW and ROBERT FRIEND
Yare and Bure One Design. Frosted Orange. Sail No. 104
Well done!
It was a long old slog of a race and that was just in the Whiteboat....! beautiful sailing across Hickling under the full moon though... We came 35th in the end... I think stars from the team must be Ali and Mark though second punt pretty good! On our boat it was fairly uneventful apart from a couple of amusing moments drifting under the current up to Martham with the boat spinning forwards, sideways and in reverse all at the same speed as the adjacent river cruiser heading the same way....thanks for organising and motivating the team, I think next year I want to borrow a fast Punt or Thames Rater....!
Andrew.
ALISTAIR DREW and MARK ELSON
Norfolk Punt. Greyling. Sail No. 81
We had a great time. The two dykes were tackled by first. I managed to capsize on top of the bouy at South Walsham (In my head I can still hear Mark shouting at me)…. After much bailing we managed to get our boat speed back up. A lovely spinnaker run down to Potter followed by a lovely spinnaker run back again (thanks to the sea breeze shifting the wind 180 degrees). Just managed to sneak round the lower Bure mark as the tide was flooding back in again. Wind died as we hit Thurne mouth but the tide mostly brought us back home to Hicking. 4th boat home and 2nd Punt finishing at about 11.20. We could see Comet (first punt) in our sites near Acle bridge coming home, but she must have sneaked away from us in the lighter stuff (Grayling is a bit of a heaving old girl).
Good fun, good banter with other boats and I can barely walk today having seized completely up. There was a certain amount of jealousy looking at all the river cruiser sailers chugging beer and wine round the course. Never mind a race for them… more like a booze cruise….
BILL and ALISON GLOVER
Norfolk Punt. Prawn. Sail No. 19
Paying attention to all the weather forecasts, including at the race briefing, we started with a reef in!
Soon pulled up somewhere on a private mooring to take that out. We were grateful to have it at one point though, running, when the wind suddenly whisked the boom over and we lurched from side to side, dipped the boom in the water but managed to stay upright, just!
We went to South Walsham first, missed the basket and had to go round again, and then up to Acle. Brief food and 'facilities' stop at the bridge and then on and round the buoy, a long way down, and back to the bridge. Like others have said, nice to have the sea breeze kick in for a while.
A bit embarrassing at Potter, I tried to get as close to the bridge as possible so as not to have to paddle too far. I rounded up towards the quay heading just before the bridge but forgot to take account of the tide and whacked the boom on the bridge! Oops!
A lot of drifting with the tide up the Thurne and on towards Hickling. Dark now.Hickling was the bit Alison was dreading the most, but it turned out to bethe best bit. A lovely stable breeze, long tacks back and forth in a watery moonlight. Following stern lights, until we overtook them, and red and green lights coming towards us.
Out onto the Thurne again, only the Ant left to do. The tide was against us but not too strong. On the short tacks we drifted back but had enough wind to progress over the tide on the long tacks. Oh yes, we ran aground a couple of times, including getting the rudder stuck, trying to edge creep. The dawn chorus with so many birds and the Bittern booming and an otter popped its head up right beside us, magical.
The worst bit was that last few miles up to and through Horning. Alison was now very cold, almost hyperthermic and as we crossed the line she said 'get me off this xxxx boat'!!
It is hard to express how grateful we are for such support and amazing team spirit. The Punt Club at it's very best.
Raising money for Cancer Research UK, the icing on the cake.
Well done everyone.
Bill and Alison. x
HUGH MARSTON and MAX DIXEY
Norfolk Punt. Rushlight. Sail No. 27
Our 3 Rivers Race was certainly a bit of a baptism of fire for me as it was my first one. Whilst standing around at Horning SC waiting for the briefing to happen I was a little apprehensive about the wind strength with people around us saying things along the lines of ‘If it’s this windy here, imagine what it’s like at Acle!’.
However, my fears that I was in for a bit of a sleigh ride down the river holding on to Rushlight more than sailing her were soon dispelled about 30 seconds into the race when the shelter of the trees slowed us down significantly. In spite of this, we made pretty good progress down towards the Ludham and South Walsham turning marks whilst having a great battle with a 5O5. This was followed by some relatively comfortable deep running down the Bure towards Thurne Mouth. We were relieved to see that Jane Pye followed us up towards Potter Heigham, seemingly vindicating our ‘Plan A’. The sail up towards Potter was fantastic and we had some great close reaches in clean air. Our first mast drop went reasonably well aside from breaking our shear legs almost immediately leaving Hugh to hold the mast off the deck on his shoulder.
The wind continued to diminish and making our way up river required some patient tacking - a theme that was to become all too familiar. The journey back towards Thurne Mouth was quite fast and we were confident that progress continued to be fast enough to finish at a reasonable time. A close reach past Thurne Mouth in the afternoon sun, fully trapezing was the highlight of the race for me.
Past Thurne Mouth, we were sailing against the tide as the wind continued to dwindle making progress slow. The sea breeze then over powered the gradient wind giving us at least a little wind to work with and we got to Acle bridge still in good spirits. Making our way under the bridge proved to be quite a challenge as the boat was getting pushed back by the tide which was accelerated by the narrowing of the river underneath the bridge. To make up the time lost here we went for a somewhat audacious mast hoist whilst still on the water. Fortunately the wind was coming from behind us and assisted in the hoist so we were back underway. Much to our dismay, the Lower Bure mark was a long way downstream and at this point the wind had almost completely disappeared. Added to this, the tide was at its strongest.
As we passed the pub at Stokesby, it stopped completely and we had to make our way over to the reeds and hold on to avoid getting carried back upstream. It took us around 4 hours to get to the mark and back to Stokesby. Almost the minute that we went round the mark, the tide changed so that we were against the flow again. We passed back under Acle bridge at around 00:30 and had our fastest and most trouble free mast lowering and hoist in almost complete darkness (I had a torch between my teeth so that I could see what I was doing).
The wind had picked up again slightly and so we had a nice sail in the small hours back up river listening to the surprisingly vocal wildlife. The rain began just after Ant Mouth although at this point I was beyond caring. I just craved a dry pair of socks. After some tricky light (read: no) winds sailing we finally made it back to Horning at 4:30am almost exactly 17 (seventeen) hours after we had set out. Nonetheless, I’m extremely glad that we did it and for such a great cause.
Whether or not I’ll be back next year depends on when my quads finally stop hurting.