Please select your home edition
Edition
Leaderboard new launch 2023 Spring

Sharing your capsize photos - part 4

by Steavenson, Mander, Pritchett, Wilkinson & Gruitt 4 May 2020 11:47 BST
Firefly landing at Priors Haven through surf in 1963 © Robin Steavenson

We start our fourth capsize celebration article with this wonderful vintage shot sent in by Howard Steavenson of a beach recovery at Tynemouth, UK, in 1963. What a way to come ashore!

One of my father's photos of a Firefly landing at Priors Haven through surf generated during a week of SE gales.

I am reliably informed that the crew (the one astride the port shroud) went on to enjoy a happy married life!

Next up is a potentially painful gymnastic manoeuvre in which Stuart Mander surprised even himself.

This was Sunday club racing in an International Moth (Magnum 6) at Greensforge Sailing Club.

I didn't know my legs did that!

Now we have a romantic story from Gray Pritchett concerning the World Masters in Sydney.

We were sailing in the Tasar class and a squall came through that looked pretty bad. When it hit I decided to run with it and head into Rose Bay for shelter, but unfortunately the rudder broke - you can just see it behind my wife.

So we're sitting on the upturned boat waiting for the squall to pass and she says, "Take a photo." (I had a waterproof Panasonic camera in my pocket.)

It was a great series. We sailed against Prince Frederick of Denmark and I managed to convince the bride to sail the last race in really miserable conditions after she had expressed unwillingness. I noticed the Prince had retired, so I explained all we have to do is finish and we will beat him overall. That's all it took; we did finish and ended up one place ahead of him overall. The closest I've ever got to royalty!

Daryl Wilkinson and Ben Brown have shared this brilliantly-timed photo from the 2006 Cherub Inlands at Queen Mary SC.

The boat was 2685 Loco Perro, the first Cherub to adopt the 2005 rules rigs which increased sail area and formalised twin wires.

From memory it was quite a gusty day and we got caught out close to the leeward mark. I [Ben] was helming and had come in from the wire ready for the drop and had missed the gust. Daryl is being particularly flamboyant in his exit over the back, whereas my instinct was to cling on and pretend that everything was fine!

Our video entry this week comes from sailing photographer Tom Gruitt who had the chance to test a Hadron.

She was planing along beautifully, but I took my eye off the ball...

Related Articles

AC75 launching season
Love 'em or hate 'em, the current America's Cup yachts represent the cutting-edge of foiling Love 'em or hate 'em, the current America's Cup yachts certainly represent the cutting-edge of foiling and are the fastest windward-leeward sailing machines on water. Posted on 15 Apr
All Hands on Deck at sailing clubs
To fundraise for the RNLI in 200th anniversary year The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is marking 200 years of saving lives at sea in 2024, and the charity is inviting sailing clubs to celebrate with them. Posted on 9 Apr
America's Cup and SailGP merge designs
Cost-saving measure will ensure that teams only have to purchase one type of boat In negotiations reminiscent of the PGA and LIV golf, an agreement has been come to by the America's Cup and SailGP to merge the design of the yachts used on the two high-profile circuits. Posted on 1 Apr
Thirteen from Fourteen
Not races in a sprint series - we're talking years! Not races in a sprint series. We're talking years! Yes. That's over a decade. Bruce McCracken's Beneteau First 45, Ikon, has just won Division One of the Range Series on Melbourne's Port Phillip to amass this most brilliant of achievements. Posted on 27 Mar
Sailing Chandlery's Founder Andrew Dowley
Interview with Andrew as the business has gone from strength to strength The business has gone from strength to strength, but never moved away from its ethos of getting sailing gear to the customer as fast as possible. Posted on 27 Mar
Shaking off the rust
Sunday was what I'd count as the start of my 'sailing season' While I had sailed a couple of times already this year, Sunday was what I'd count as the start of my 'sailing season'. It's been a pretty grim February in the UK so the days getting longer and a bit drier is welcome. Posted on 18 Mar
Remembering the early days of sailing races on TV
Finding old episodes on Youtube, starting with the Ultra 30s Do you remember when certain classes managed to make the breakthrough into television coverage, and have a whole series filmed, not just appear briefly on a single show? Posted on 17 Mar
Winning at last!
How did the Firefly class come to be at the 1948 Olympics in the first place? We'll get into detail on Firefly 503, Jacaranda, later on but maybe an even bigger story is how the Firefly Class came to be at the Olympics in the first place. To put things into perspective we first have to go back even further to the early 1930s. Posted on 15 Mar
The Maiden. A Triple. Four Bullets
I kind of like our Managing Editor's name for 18-footers: The Kings of the Lowriding World The JJ Giltinan Championship is often referred to as the unofficial World Championship of the mighty and majestic 18-Footers. I kind of like our Managing Editor's name for them – The Kings of the Lowriding World. Yes. That most definitely suits. Posted on 11 Mar
Taking a look at the Nacra 570
We chat with Rogier Voetelink the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show The Nacra 570 is designed to bridge the gap between a holiday beach cat and a high performance catamaran, making exhilarating multihull sailing more accessible for those who don't want the hassle of a daggerboard cat. Posted on 6 Mar