Rivers are different again, because of the one-way tide you can often find yourself crawling along the banks and making many tactical manoeuvres such as avoiding pleasure boats. ‘A key moment within a race situation on inland waters is the approach to a mark, you need to make sure you’re sailing in with speed as the mark might be in an area of little or zero wind. The legs of an inland course are so much more compact that this approach is crucial, you need to make sure you have everything in place by the final quarter of the beat as you might only get one go at it! ‘Inland sailing is not just about boathandling, it’s a mindset, almost a different discipline within our sport. You need to be able to change gear more frequently and be open minded about throwing tacks in. The more venues you sail at the better you become at working out the rights and wrongs of a place.’ Geoff Carveth is a multiple inland champion in Enterprises, Solos and RS200s. Having grown up at Littleton SC, sailing a British Moth at the age of 12, Geoff was self-taught all the way. Littleton SC, where his dad has always sailed, taught him a lot about ‘nip and tuck’ sailing.
Article by Toby Heppell, sailing today 2011.
Geoff carveth and Harvey Hillary clash horns back in the 90’s.
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