60 years of competitive sailing for Peter (Spud) Rowsell
by Mike Rice 22 Aug 2011 14:47 BST
60 years of competitive sailing for Spud Rowsell © Mike Rice /
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Exmouth boat builder and sailor Peter (Spud) Rowsell celebrated his 60th year of competitive sailing by winning the Salcombe Regatta last week. The event also marked his return to competitive sailing after a major heart operation last year.
Rowsell, 68, won his first sailing prize in a Cadet dinghy in the Festival of Britain regatta at Starcross Yacht Club in 1951. In the intervening years he has won many major sailing championships, including the prestigious Merlin Rocket nationals in 1978. He is also a former commodore of Exe Sailing Club.
Of the 56 Salcombe Yawls in the regatta, 11 were built by Rowsell. His own boat, Red Rooster, was designed by former business partner Phil Morrison and built in Beer by Kevin Driver, who crewed the boat during the Salcombe regatta.
Rowsell and Driver started the regatta the hard way. Sailing in over 20 knots of breeze and in second place, one of the mast spreaders broke, threatening major damage to the mast and forcing a retirement. Rowsell said "Starting the regatta with maximum points from a "did not finish" was not the best way to do it and used up our only discard. But we managed to repair the damage overnight and sailed well for the rest of week."
On the Monday, a big breeze gusting over 30 knots resulted in six dismastings in the Yawl fleet, but Rowsell's repaired mast stayed up and he posted his first win of the week. With two further wins, a second and a third, and the maximum points from first day's disaster in the discard bin, Rowsell and Driver won the regatta by 3 points from Simon Gibbens and Andrew Reed.
The Salcombe Yawl is a classic boat, built by hand from wood. Raced only at Salcombe, the class has nevertheless attracted top sailors from other classes, and world famous designers such as Phil Morrison and Ian Howlett. At the regatta the fleet is split into four groups, with the latest designs sailing in the Red fleet, where the standard of sailing is very high.
Rowsell said "Out of all the championships I have won over the years, this was the best of them all. Last year's operation and the complications during recovery were a major setback for me, but now I can really feel it is behind me."