Most of us believe that the essence of living lies in a three-sail reach with a decent breeze, but how many of us know that the stuff that actually keeps us alive was discovered in this month two hundred and fifty years ago. In August 1774 Joseph Priestly published his findings about “dephlogisticated air” (Swedish readers, if there are any, will want a shout out for Carl Scheele). Like me, you’re probably more familiar with the term, ‘oxygen’! It was only realised sometime later that this substance, that became an element, was combustible! If you’re kind enough to read on you’ll discover who else was on fire this month.
The race of August 2nd was notable for a number of reasons. It was, of course, the first race of the month, and for Steve and Lisa it was their first win of the season. And then, there was the great conspiracy. A more rational explanation might be that several unlikely events coincided to give Ian Z the opportunity of writing his amusing (libellous?) report! Check it out if you haven’t done so already. The four retirements can be explained, but Chris and Nadia letting someone get the better of them at a mark warrants further examination!
I don’t know if any of the six crews that made it out to ‘Rig Shop’ buoy on the 16th are David Bowie fans, but as far as I’m concerned they were all heroes for that day! Top spot must go to Rob W who saved his helm, Steve R, from leaving the boat without permission, thus gaining the dreaded Rasputin award. Chapeaux to Andy and Chewey who made it look like a Sunday stroll from what I could see on Richard Ledger’s excellent video. When I tell you that a rib couldn’t make headway through the East Looe channel, you’ll probably agree that sailing videos (like skiing ones) can be deceptive. 25+ kts of breeze from the east with a flooding tide made for a very challenging sea state. To misquote Shakespeare, this day was a feast for Crispin, and his happy band of brothers had the greater share of honour.
To save us all from endless reworkings of an author’s ideas, Crispin made the inspired decision to employ the services of a ghost writer for his report on the race of the 20th. The reporter in question was none other than Mark Stubbings, a predecessor of our own Pete Allam at Weymouth. Not for the first time, two things happened.Firstly, a visitor to our fleet had a great time, describing it as his best sailing experience of 2025, and, secondly, the race was interrupted by the passage across the course of a bird: not the large-winged Condor this time but the capaciously mouthed Pelican. Had they been real birds, I, for one, wouldn’t have been complaining!
And then there was Poole Week! Nine races were scheduled for this year’s club regatta. The first of them presented us with a conundrum that would have perfectly suited Hamlet with only a slight change of letter! The fitter, stronger, and more confident sailors were lucky that we were blessed with two brave race officers because I’m sure with less confident officials we’d have had fewer races in the winds that prevailed for the latter part of the week. Congratulations go to Martin Cooney and Mike Barton who sailed very consistently. We should also commend those hardy souls who braved the windiest race of the week on Thursday. My personal salute goes to the visiting Bartholomey brothers who both suffered the same fate as I had on Wednesday (minus the loss of hat and glasses), yet they retained an equanimity and sense of humour that took me an infusion of various alcoholic beverages and a day off from sailing to achieve: chapeaux to them!
Although Poole Week was a fantastic event, it did have a rather negative effect on our series races since we were restricted to three Saturday races and two Wednesday ones in this majestic month. Nevertheless, I am able to report to you that we have two teams who are very worthy winners of the sailor of the month award. On Wednesdays, Roberta and John managed to put a total of twenty-five boats behind them. On Saturdays, Ian and Kim Linder managed to go one better with a total of twenty-six scalps on their belt! Meanwwhile, Ian Zimmerman will be receiving the coveted Reporter of the Month pencil for his retelling of Saturday 2nd August.
Most of the fleet can feel proud of themselves, because we had an average turnout of 15.5 boats. You may think that this is a little below par for us, but don’t forget quite a number of our brethren went to the Nationals at Weymouth and slightly fewer stayed on to sail in the Worlds. Not only were their achievements on the water extremely creditable, but we were also lucky to see Pete Allam starring in an FF association interview, we had another member of our fleet, Nick Gibbons, quoted in ‘Yachts & Yachting’. In case you’ve been too busy (or idle) to follow the exploits of our fellow fleet members in both these events, I can assure you that they were bloody hard races. Those ‘superhuman’ souls who finished off with the ‘easy jaunt’ of Poole Week have my total admiration!
To my knowledge, no-one has earnt the Rasputin Cup this month (I’m writing this wearing my judges’ white gloves!). However, I do know, to my personal cost, that the Fleet Captain is very eager to hand out his ‘Open Swimmer’ awards (the Bartholomey Brothers left with one also). One might be coming your way soon!
Well, that’s it for August. If you didn’t see the ‘Perseid Shower’ you’ve probably missed your chance. However, you have got a trophy you can win in September: the Bob Hoare trophy is to be sailed on the 27th. Good luck.
I’m off cycling in Portugal for the month where I might possibly drown in a vat of Vino Verde which I hope will taste nicer than Poole Harbour!
JK
| with
0 comments