Mer vintersegling | Queen Mary Race

I cant honestly say that I was looking forward to competing in the Bloody Mary. This dinghy pursuit race is the biggest event of the winter calendar in the UK, but it can be a brutal event. The past few weeks, southern England has looked more like Finland, having been covered in thick snow. The difference is that when it snows in Finland, the country doesnt grind to a halt. In the UK, snow brings chaos. It also threatened the cancellation of the 37th Bloody Mary, something that Queen Mary Sailing Club would only ever do as a last resort.

Looking at the forecast, under normal circumstances there would have been no way that I would have bothered to get out of bed that Saturday morning. With sub-zero temperatures, and a wind chill from a strong northerly breeze threatening to make a freezing day feel Arctic, the prospect of competing in the Bloody Mary was not my idea of fun.

Andy Rice

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