Saturday 3rd May was the match against the Royal Navy Sailing Association, sailed in J70s in Cowes. Last year the Navy had been able to transport the Bar team over to Cowes in one of His Majesty’s ships. When I enquired about a similar arrangement for this year, I was told that “the commercial contract for boats has been adjusted and may not facilitate the transport of either of our teams”. Read what you will into that and its implications for the defence of the realm…
Seaview Yacht Club came to our rescue and provided transport from Gunwharf to Cowes to get the majority of the Bar team over in time for breakfast at the RYS at 0930. Michael Briggs’ Kingfisher was already moored in the RYS Haven (although he and Beverley had spent an uncomfortable night at anchor in Osborne Bay, apparently because the Haven was full of J70s).
We were met by glorious sun, light winds and the spectacle of the near 100 boat fleet participating in the RORC Cervantes Trophy race ghosting their way out of the Solent on route to Le Havre.
We were lucky to have two excellent International Umpires in Bruce Hebbert and Nick Devereux, who ensured the racing was clean and civilized. The Navy team was very strong and included a lot of regular J70 sailors: a combination of superior boat speed, better team communication and impressive team racing tactics resulted in a 7-0 whitewash.
We returned to the RYS for a rather one-sided prizegiving before some of us retired to the Globe on the seafront for drinks with our opposition whilst others set sail for Seaview onboard Kingfisher.
Our dinner at the SVYC coincided the SVYC fitting out supper which was accompanied by a lecture (complete with slides) titled “Scuppered in the Indian Ocean”. Commodore Alex had wisely omitted to mention this, and the release of the cat from the bag was met with groans and general disbelief. However, the doubters were soon silenced. We were treated to a fascinating talk about a terrifying experience of a dramatic Indian Ocean rescue, by the crew of a vast Chinese merchant ship, of a SVYC sailor and two friends having lost the rudder of their small yacht. Once rescued they had to make the heart-breaking decision to scuttle the yacht.
Bar Team:
Michael Briggs, Will Knatchbull, Gretel Scott, George Penny
Rory Caslin/Crispin Winser, Andrew Venables, Janet Yennusick, Elizabeth Garcia
Adam Farhadian Griffiths, Michael Levenstein, Michael Magier, Ruth Dooley