'GYBE OH' - THE MAGAZINE OF THE METROPOLITAN POLICE SAILING CLUB

This Newsletter of the Metropolitan Police Sailing Club was originally circulated in November, 1981

Can I first of all bring to your notice the date of the Annual General Meeting for 1981. It will be held on Monday 14th December 1981, at 1500 hours, at the Conference Room, at New Scotland Yard. The Conference Room is on the 5th floor, opposite the Briefing Room There is a warm welcome to any of our County colleagues who are able to attend. If you cannot make it, then please try and send us your proposed dates for 1982, in order that we can try to avoid any date clashes.

Much water has passed under the bridge since last I wrote an editorial. M.P.S.C. members have been extremely busy, both in the dinghy and cruising world. To my knowledge, they have attended 15 police meetings ( for sailing dinghies ), including the P.A.A. Championships at Shoreham. The cruising section have taken part in several off-shore races, culminating in the Fastnet Race, itself. The P.A.A. Championships was won this year by two of our members, John Pierce and Alex Ross, sailing a 5o5 "Peacemaker", borrowed from the Hon. Sec. Dan Glen, who has won that title many times over the past years, came third. Ross Elliston was fourth, and the Burbecks came 5th. The one outsider in the first five places was the Albacore of Dave Sinnock and Alan Gimes, from Kent. You can read more about the championships and other police races further on in the magazine.

John Pierce and Alex Ross got a mention in the M.P.A.A. Chairman's Report. The only trouble was, they had the location down as Sunderland. It was quite a few years ago that the P.A.A.'s were held there. Messrs Bateman, Fillery, Stygal and Stickland also got a mention for their efforts in the Fastnet Race.

Another fine achievement was made by Alistair Glen, who crewed for his young brother, Duncan, in this year's Albacore National Championships, and came second. They beat many of the 'heaveys', and Dan must be very proud of his boys. Dan, himself, has been elected Commodore of the National Albacore Association. Congratulations Dan.

Congratulations also go to John Pierce who was granted his M.P.A.A. Colours for Sailing at this years A.G.M.

In the coming season Dave Abbott should be soon in yet another class of boat. The news is that he has bought himself a Contender. That very pretty Merlin Rocket that he sailed this year has changed hands, and should be seen in the capable hands of John Burbeck. A11 change ! By the way, if you want to contact John, he is no longer at Notting Hill. He is now the D/I at Holborn.

Ross Elliston has had a very good season, and lead most of the police Lasers for most of the time. But, he has a very good rival in Roger Glass (ZW). This was Roger's first season in police sailing, and he travelled far and wide to represent the M.P.S.C., and that includes the Laser National Championships. Ross had better watch out in '82.

Ross Elliston got his picture in The Job recently, and. a very good picture it was too, sailing his Laser flat out. The photograph was taken by that well known sports photographer, Stan Laurenson-Batten. Stan's name can be seen quite regularly in Yachts and Yachting these days. We wish him every success in his retirement. Although not completely fit, he still likes to sail at police meetings. We look forward to seeing him back on the water in 1982.

The sailing club has received quite a lot of publicity in The Job this year. That is mainly due to the efforts of our Press Officer, Clive Bishop. All his notes are taken 'at the time'. It is a rare sight to see him struggling with his 'Government Property' pen and a sheet of wet paper in a force 4. You can always tell if the weather was bad - the reports are quite short !

I must apologize for the mix-up with the dates of the Northamptonshire police regatta. The date that was given to me early in the year was the 25th September, and I publicised it. It was not until the 24th September that I was told otherwise. The meeting was in fact held on the 24th. It was only when no Met men turned up at Thrapston that Dick Sivers telephoned the Hon Sec to see what had gone wrong. I am sorry if any member was inconvenienced.

We had another date mix-up with the Sussex Pursuit. It had been advertised for the 30th September. But the British Police Laser Sailing Championship was to be held the day after. So the Sussex Hon. Sec. decided to change the pursuit race to the 29th. However, there was a breakdown in communication, and most of us did not find out about the change until, the 28th. There followed a lot of frantic telephoning, and the result was that only three boats, managed to attend this annual event.

For those of you who may be trying to buy bits and pieces for your cruiser: Peter Moore has sent me a couple of names that may be of interest. Barnet Camping and Marine, and Main Marine (in Kent), are two firms that can be contacted through the Met Police Trading Service. Why not give them a call before you part with your money. It pays to shop around these days !

If any of you do have any copy, adverts, points of interest, sailing news, or points of view, then please send there along to me at TDV. This is your magazine, not mine.

Eric Molyneux, a former editor of Gybe Oh, has at last finished building his cruiser. He has had it afloat in the Portsmouth area. It has since been slipped for the winter. But, come spring 82, the old sea dog will be back down to Pompey and eager to show you her paces. Well done Eric !

'Thames Valley -81' was held on 12th of May, at the usual venue at Maidenhead Sailing Club. The Race Officer was Jonathan Weeks, the Commodore of Maidenhead Sailing Club. The weather started off with an overcast sky and a faint drizzle in the air. But it did warm up later in the day when the sun came out.
The winds were very light, specially in the first race. Three races were held, two of them were handicap races and the last one was a pursuit race.

21 boats attended this meeting, and a third of those came from the Met. There were 4 of the Laser men, in the shape of Stan Batten, Ross Elliston, John Bayless and Roger Glass; there were Dave Abbott and Lesley Goddard in the' Merlin Rocket, 'Psychic'; Derek Coleman, the famous Mirror man; and that old Albacore sailed by you know who; The Sussex Police sent up 5 of their boats to support their Thames Valley colleagues.- I should mention that Stan Batten had broken one of his fingers a few days before attending Maidenhead. He sailed the first race, but the finger was playing him up, so he remained ashore for the other two races.

The first race was held on a 'figure of eight' course - and it was a drifter. But, wind or no wind, Stan showed them all how it was done and was the first boat to cross the finish line. However, his time was not good enough to beat the local National 12 sailed by Winson and Purdy, and he had to make do with 2nd place. Ross Elliston sailed this race with a water-proof camera slung around his neck. The slow conditions allowed him plenty of time to take plenty of pictures on the way round. This was 'Sidewinder's' first outing of the year - and it showed. You could almost hear the joints creaking (the crew - not the boat). The best they could do was to come 12th. Dave Abbott was not going too well either. He came 13th. One of

This meeting was held on the 23rd April at Chasewater. This year there was 38 entries. The Met was represented by Stan Batten, Ross Elliston, Dave Abbott.- in his new Merlin Rocket, the Burbecks - back in an Albacore this time, and a new member, Roger Glass ( ZW ) in a Laser.

The weather was very cold, and when we arrived it was actually snowing. The first race started in no wind, which then died away to less than nothing... The race committee set a cat's cradle course, but we thought that there was no danger of Stan losing his way as a rescue launch was going to lead us round. We rounded the first mark successfully, but the rescue boat then proceeded to lead us to Mark 4 instead of Mark 5, which we should have been rounding. Derek Westall, from South Wales, was the first to realize the error, and rounded the mark first. Stan lost about seven places and dropped back to about 10th, but slowly worked his way back up. Dave Abbott moved up through the fleet quite well until he missed Mark 4 out altogether and had to go back again. The race was shortened and we finished at the end of the first triangle, with the wind coming up a little bit, causing the later boats to close up and giving a close finish.

The second race started with a similar lack of wind. What wind there was suddenly filled in at the start from the committee boat end of the line, leaving Stan and the Burbecks stranded at the wrong end. Dave Abbott was doing well until he hit, a mark and had to re-round it. The Burbecks somehow collided with a Fireball and had to do a '720'. Derek Westall Managed to capsize his Laser twice whilst roll-tacking. After his bad start, Stan pulled through the fleet and led the way round, hotly pursued by a Solo. He was heard calling' plaintively, " Where's the next mark?", to boats behind him. He took line honours, but was beaten again on handicap. by the Solo sailed by Martin Walker from Avon and Somerset.

The third race started with a light breeze which promptly died. We drifted round with Stan well in the lead, hotly pursued by John Neaverson from Nottinghamshire, who was going well in his Merlin Rocket all day. His luck ran out in this race as the Burbecks ghosted past him, and Ross crept up close behind him. Dave Abbott was going fast (relatively speaking) at the front of a big raft of boats, lying about 5th, but then dropped back again.

For the first time Laser 2's made their appearance on the Police circuit. There Were 3 of them at Chasewater, but they obviously don't like light airs - they spent all their time at the back.

Thames Valley - 81. continued from page 4
One of/
the Laser sailors relaxed a little too much in those light airs, and capsized. It gave the rest of the fleet a good laugh, if nothing else. Patterson, in the Lightning managed to break his tiller extension, but nevertheless sailed on and finished 5th.

The second race was sailed over a similar course, with just a little more wind, but not much. This time Sidewinder made a better start and reached the windward mark first. They managed to fend off the opposition, although Ross Elliston did get close behind them at one point, and won the race. On their way round they did see Big John Bayless up to knees in mud, trying to push himself and his Laser off one of the small islands that dot this lake. John was not the only one to run aground during the day. Derek Coleman showed the fleet that the Mirror, when sailed by an expert, can do just as well in light conditions as it does in heavy weather. He beat all the 'faster' single handers and took 2nd place on handicap. He is a terror when he is roused ! He pushed Ross Elliston back into 3rd place, and the National 12 into 4th.

Having the last race as a pursuit race has become a tradition with the Thames Valley Police. It does make racing a bit more interesting. You can actually see the boats that you have to beat in order to win the race, and gives added incentive to keep concentrating that little bit more. It also makes it easier for the Race Officer to make up the final results. Each class of boat was sent off at various intervals, starting with the Mirror. The last boat to start was the Merlin Rocket, some 23 minutes behind the Mirror. The National 12 was trying very hard to uphold the honour of the local Force by winning this pursuit. But his chances were lost when he broke his tiller extension towards the end of the race. Winson retired in disgust. That left the three boats of Ross Elliston, Len Gooch and Dennis Langton fighting for the lead. Sidewinder tried very hard, but was sandwiched by the two Lasers when the gun went for the finish. Ross won the race. The fact that Sidewinder collided with one of the marks early on, and had to re-round it, did not help. Dave Abbott's chances in this race were brought low when Lesley, his crew, was catapulted right out of the boat. The things that poor girl has to put up with is nobody's business. I am surprised her Mum lets her go out with him !

The best two results of each competitor were counted towards the prizes. Thanks to their 1st place in the second race and their 2nd place in the pursuit race, the crew of Sidewinder, Len Gooch and Clive Bishop, had won the title. Not bad for a first outing ! They were tickled pink ! The second prize also went to the M.P.S.C. in the shape of Ross Elliston (who's David Bailey ?). Thames Valley won the 3rd and 4th prizes through Winson and Purdy in their National 12, and Dennis Langton in his Laser.

Queen Mary Sailing Club was once again the scene of the Metpol Regatta. The date was Wednesday 27th May. There were 33 boats on the entry list, and they came from 11 different Forces. There were 13 entries from the M.P.S.C., 4 from Sussex; two each from Bedfordshire, Thames Valley, Kent, Dorset, Hampshire, and Nottinghamshire and South Wales; and one each from Avon and Somerset, and Leicestershire. The Met. entry included 2 Wayfarers from the Cadet Centre at Hendon. The most popular classes were the Lasers, with 13 boats, and the Albacores and Solos with three each.

The weather was warm and calm to start with, but as the day wore on became windier, and then wetter, right at the end of racing.

This meeting was a Met. benefit, with the first four prizes going to members of. the M.P.S.C. The regatta was won by the Team Glen, alias Dan and Alistair, in their Albacore 'Monarch'. (Alistair is now in the Job, working on Y District.) Dan thought that he would not be sailing this season, but when he had the chance of having Alistair as his crew he changed his mind. They were only able to win one of the three races, but the 2nd position gained in the first race enabled them to take the title.

The second prize went to the Team Burbeck, John and Elizabeth, sailing a borrowed Albacore, number 6649. The boat was built by Woof Brothers, of Exmouth, and goes like a dream.

The third prize went to a Laser sailor, and a police pensioner to boot: Yes. You've guessed it ! It was Stan Laurenson-Batten. He was also sailing a borrowed boat, and was sporting a broken finger (said he shut it in a car door).. But it did not seem to handicap him very much. He still went like the proverbial wind.

There were three Albacores in the first 6 places, and 5 Lasers in the first 10 places. There were 5 M.P.S.C. boats in the first 6. The '(a politically incorrect saying.. [BB])' (or should I say an I.C.3.) was the black Solo sailed extremely well by Martin Walker, from Avon and Somerset. He sailed so well that he won the first race and came 8th in the last race, in the heavier going. These results were good enough to win him the 5th prize.

When the time came for the first race to begin, Eric Humphries, the Race Officer, was still chugging around the reservoir searching for enough wind to justify a line start. After several attempts to set a start line the wind did pick up sufficiently to get the fleet away on a simple triangular course. Charlie Jordan slid into the lead in his brand new Spearhead. He was closely followed by Stan Batten and Ross E11iston in their Lasers. Sidewinder came next, just ahead of the Glens. These two Albacores were neck and neck at the next mark, but on the third leg it was Monarch that pulled away and then overtook Batten and Elliston. The wind started to pick up now and on the second lap boats were actually planing. This helped the Lasers and the Solo chasing the leaders. The Burbecks started to move up through the fleet and overtook Sidewinder. Charlie Jordan then lost his crew overboard at the gybe mark, and he lost his lead. The race finished with Dan Glen in the lead, with the single handers pulling up all the time.

The second race, after lunch, also had plenty of wind towards the end. It was over a similar course as the first one. The Osprey of Malcolm Palmer, from Dorset, shot off into the lead and never lost it. Behind him the Burbecks and the Glens battled it out in their private little war. This time it was the Burbecks that triumphed. They were able to beat off Dan's challenge and won the race, with Dan pipped for 2nd place by the Laser of Stan Batten. Derek Coleman was unfortunate enough to capsize at the gybe mark and narrowly missed being run down by the following boats. The first 10 places in this race were taken by Albacores and Lasers, with 3 Albacores in the first 4, Malcolm Palmer was first to finish, but was 11th on handicap.

The third race was again a triangular course, but the wind had swung round somewhat, but was still quite strong. Strong enough to cause several boats to capsize. The Osprey took off on its lonely lead again, and was the first boat over the line at the finish. He left the three Albacores battling it out in his wake, with the Lasers.. This time Dan Glen was able to keep ahead of the others, but had Ross Elliston as his closest rival. Roger Glass and Charlie Jordan were amongst those to capsize during the battle. Stan Batten was ahead of Sidewinder until the last beat, when the Albacore managed to slip by him. Dan won the race, with Ross Elliston 2nd. John and Liz Burbeck were third, just ahead of Palmer's Osprey. Martin Walker, in the Solo, beat all but three of the Lasers, and Alex Ross, in the Mirror, was only one place behind Martin, and finished 9th.

This years regatta organized by the Leicestershire Police was held on Thursday 11th June, at Rutland Water Sailing Club. This has become a very popular event over the years and Rutland must be one of the best inland sailing waters in the country. It is certainly one of the largest.

The event was won by the inimitable Stan Batten, sailing a borrowed Laser, and complete with newly healed broken finger. The weather conditions were well to Stan's liking - very windy. Perhaps, not quite so windy as last year, but enough to cause many of the crews to enter the water. He was the winner of the first two races and came fourth in the last race.

The second prize went to a 2 man beat, a Merlin Rocket, sailed by John Neaverson and Simon Gathercole from Nottingham. They won the last race and were 2nd in the first race.

A GP14 took the third prize. It was sailed by Critchley and Cross from Lancashire. They showed the fleet what a good boat the GP is, especially in heavy weather, by coming 3rd in the last race, and 2nd in the second race. But it was their place in the first race that got them the prize. This was because Sidewinder also also ended up with a 2nd and a 3rd place. As the best two results counted for the final positions it meant that they each had 5 points. However, to break the tie the third results were considered. The GP had a 5th place and the Albacore had a 6th. So Sidewinder had to step down to 4th place overall.

Here are a few memories of what transpired during the actual racing :-

For the first race the wind was very gusty. This not only caused the competitors problems, but also the race officer. There was some delay at the start whilst he tries to set a good starting line. There were numerous capsizes, both before and during the race. One of the more spectacular was that made by Charlie Jordan and his intrepid crew, Bob Bruce. It one stage their Spearhead was seen creaming along on a reach with Bob skating along on his backside on the surface of the water at the end of the trapeze wire with his feet nowhere near the side of the boat, whilst his worthy skipper was being towed along behind the boat hanging on to the mainsheet. The inevitable happened eventually and the boat took a dive. Charlie's version was that they were going so fast that the bow wave picked him up and washed him over the transome. It was a great pity that we could not have had an action replay !

Sidewinder managed to capsize twice and turned turtle. On the second occasion the centre-board dropped down into the casing, which made it rather difficult to right the boat. There was only one thing to do. One of the crew had to dive under the up-turned hull and push the board back up the slot. The skipper looked at the crew

the crew /
and the crew looked at the skipper. Neither of them seemed very keen to take the plunge. After looking at each other for some considerable time the skipper remembered that Clive had ended up underneath the boat on their last visit to these waters. So, in order not to loose face, he decided that he had better try to do it himself. Some air does get trapped in the hull, but not a lot. In order to be able to breath under there he had to lay on his back with just his nose and mouth out of the water. He was able to see alright but the water turned the light green. It was all rather eerie and frightening, and the waves did not help. If he took a gulp of air at the wrong time he ended up with a mouthful of water. He did the deed and finally resurfaced coughing and sputtering. The Albacore was then righted and they continued racing. They finished a very wet 6th.

Dave Abbott found the conditions rather trying and capsized several times. After the last occasion he accepted a tow from one of the rescue boats in order to get ashore. As they neared the bank he let go the tow line a bit too early and his Merlin drifted to a stop short of the bank. He urged his pretty young crew, Lesley, to jump over the bow and pull him in the rest of the way. Dutifully she did so and promptly disappeared up to her neck in water. It was a lot deeper than they thought. Lesley floundered ashore even wetter than she had been already (if that was possible), and Dave had to call on the assistance of the rescue boat again to get him and his boat in.

John Neaverson and his crew, Simon Gathercole, had a dodgy moment when the port fairlead pulled away from the hull of their boat. Necessity is the mother of invention - or something like that. Anyway, John, was equal to the moment, and in a trice had transferred the jib sheet to the barber hauler, and they carried on sailing. Their initiative was rewarded when they managed to come 2nd in this race.

The wind had freshened for the second race, so the Race Officer set a short course to keep the boats nearer the clubhouse. There were inevitably many more capsizes. Both Sidewinder and Psychic were amongst those that capsized once. Sidewinder's crew did manage to keep the boat from turning turtle, and were therefore able to right it more easily. It was not until they had reached the boat dry of water that they found they had lost their alloy jib stick and Len's woolly hat. It was some small consolation that they found they had come 3rd in this race. They were one place behind the Lancashire GP14 of Critchley and Cross. Stan Batten won the race in fine style.

The Race Officer used the same course for the third race, but did let the race run a bit longer. The wind did moderate during the race, but there were still some crews taking to the water. Alistair Glen, sailing a Laser, was one of the casualties. He got cramp, or fatigue, in his hands and had to retire. Neaverson, with his refastened fairlead, sped into the lead and won the race. Sidewinder managed to stay upright throughout this race and pushed the GP14 of Critchley back into 3rd place. Stan Batten slipped back into 4th position.

BEDFORDSHIRE POLICE REGATTA - 1981
Position	Helm	Force	Class	R1	R2	R3	=	Pts
1st	C Lambert	Beds	Solo 3129	4	ž	ž	=	1˝
2nd	C Wilcock	Sussex	Laser 61738	2	2	2	=	4
3rd	Gooch/Bishop	Metro	Albacore 442	ž	DSQ	4	=	4ž
4th	T Tookey	Beds	Topper 6407	3	3	3	=	6
5th	R Jones	Beds	Solo 1176	6	5	5	=	10
6th	P Skerman	Sussex	Laser 72570	5	8	6	=	11
7th	B Hudson	Herts	Solo 2198	7	4	8	=	11
8th	Ford/Fosberry	Leics	Ent 5724	9	6	7	=	13
9th	T Neale	Beds	Ent 1822	11	7	9	=	16
10th	B Reed	Beds	Minisail 3745	8	9	10	=	17
11th	P Tookey	Beds	Ent 1863	10	11	11	=	21

This year's regatta was held on the 17th June, at Stewartby Water Sports Centre. The number of entries was low, and there was only one entry-from the Met.

At the start of the first race the wind was, blowing between force 2 and 3. There was a figure of eight course, with a start from the clubhouse. Sidewinder went ahead from the far end of the line, but Reg Jones made good progress by cutting across the lake. It was Chris Wilcock that was to lead the Lasers around this course. He finished 2nd. Reg Jones was later overtaken by Paul Skerman. At the finish the Albacore finished just 50 seconds ahead of Chris Wilcock. The two Solos of Lambert and Jones finished very close together. The other Solo, Barry Hudson, was sandwiched by two Enterprises. The Topper of young Tim Tookey did very well on handicap and came 3rd.

The course for the second race was hook shaped, with a Committee boat start. Once again Sidewinder managed a good start and went ahead of the fleet. But, as is their want when they are out on their own, they got lost, They headed for the number 3 mark, instead of rounding number 2 to starboard. On seeing their mistake, Chris Wilcock called out to them their mistake. The helmsman consulted the navigator and the navigator consulted his charts, and then they turned back for the number 2 mark. But even then, they still got it wrong, and failed to round that mark the correct way. This was pointed out to them later in the race, and despite finishing first, they were disqualified. The race went to Chris Lambert, with the other Chris 2nd in his Laser. Young Tim Tookey showed the older competitors how to sail and came 3rd again.

The Race Officer changed the course for the third race to a short 'square' circuit. Chris Wilcock went ahead at the start and remained there until the last lap, when he was overtaken by the Met Albacore. Chris Lambert had his Solo going like a train and was well ahead of most of the fleet for the first few laps. He went on to win this race on handicap from Sidewinder and Wilcock, who finished ahead of him. But that persistent Topper sailed by Tim Tookey finished 3rd yet again pushing Sidewinder back into 4th place. Chris Wilcock finished 2nd (he finished 2nd in all 3 races).

The results of only 2 races were to count towards the prizes. So with two wins to his credit, the first prize went to Chris Lambert. The second prize went to Sussex's Chris Wilcock, with his two 2nds. The Met took the third prize. The prizes were presented by Chief Superintendent Boothby, the local Divisional-Commander. And very good prizes they were too.

SIDEWINDER

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HAMPSHIRE POLICE REGATTA - 1981
Position	Helm	Force	Class	R1	R2	R3	=	Pts
1st	Gooch/Bishop	Metro	Albacore 442	1	dsq	2	=	3
2nd	R Glass	Metro	Laser 91527	3	dsq	1	=	5.7
3rd	R Burnside	Hants	Laser 68636	8	1	5	=	10.6
4th	J Loake	Sussex	Laser 42196	6	dsq	3	=	17.4
5th	S Batten	Metro	Laser 101	2	rtd	dns	=	21
6th	C Lambert	Beds	Solo 3129	7	dsq	4	=	21
7th	C Wilcock	Sussex	Laser 61738	5	dsq	6	=	21.7
8th	A Glen	Metro	Laser 42796	4	dsq	dns	=	26
9th	C Lewis	Hants	Solo	11	ftd	7	=	30
10th	P Skerman	Sussex	Laser 72570	10	dsq	8	=	30
11th	Jordan/Bruce	Kent	Spearhead 16	12	dsq	9		33
12th	N Woolgar	Sussex	Laser 32531	9	dsq	dns	=	33

The '81 Hampshire Police Regatta was won by the M.P.S.C. crew of Len Gooch and Clive Bishop, sailing Albacore " Sidewinder ". Second was another Met helm Roger Glass from Wallington, sailing a Laser. Roger is a newcomer to police sailing but has already shown his potential amongst the more established police Laser sailors. He is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Third place went to Dick Burnside, from the host Force, sailing another Laser.

The regatta was held on Monday 22nd June, at Eastney Cruising Club, at Southsea, right at the mouth of Langstone Harbour. The clubhouse is beautifully situated, and from its balcony you can see Langstone Harbour to the north, Hayling Island to the east, and the open sea and the Nab Tower to the south. The tides in the harbour mouth make sailing 'very interesting'. ,They vary all the time as the water ebbs and flows. When the there is a wind over tide situation it is even more interesting. The big advantage with this venue is that if the weather is too rough to sail out at sea, then you just turn the other way and sail inside the harbour.

The weather was very kind to us as befits a mid-summer day, and this Monday must have been one of the best sailing days of this very damp and cloudy year. The sun shone all day long, and the winds blew steadily off the sea, lightly to start with, and then steadily increasing to force 3 to 4 as the day wore on. There were enough waves out to sea, and in the Harbour mouth, to give surfing conditions, and these became so lumpy that the race officer set the course of the third race wholly within the harbour. Those competitors that did go felt it was worth the trip just for the sailing alone.

It was a great pity that more people did not take advantage of the perfect sailing conditions and attend this meeting, and support the efforts made by the host Force. They must be getting rather disappointed. Last year only 10 boats entered their open meeting. This year there was an increase of 2 and only 4 of those came from the Met. The classes of boats were restricted too. The Lasers were out in force with 8 boats; there were 2 Solos; and the only 2-men boats were the Albacore and the Spearhead. The Spearhead is a new class of dinghy with a radical rear end, and with a Portsmouth rating of 96. It is a very fast boat when conditions are right. It was sailed by that wizard of the Phantom, Charlie Jordan, from Kent.

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At least three of the Met crews were indisposed. Dave Abbott and John Burbeck were out racing in the Solent over the weekend, and due to the adverse tides were very late in getting back on Sunday night. But John could not attend anyway as he had a prior engagement at the Detective Training School, John Bayless was suffering from an ear infection that has upset his sense of balance, but he hopes to be fit enough for the P.A.A.s. John Woodhouse, from Hamshire, the Organizer of this event was hoping to sail. However, he damaged the mast of his 5o5 on Sunday and did not have time to affect the necessary repairs. So that was another boat out., Perhaps everyone was saving themselves for the 'big one' at Shoreham !

Stan Batten attended this meeting using Ross Elliston's Laser - Stan ae between boats at this moment. He was unfortunate enough to capsize at the start of the second race whilst trying to clear some weed from his rudder. In doing so he got some water in his damaged ear causing him considerable pain, and he was forced to retire for the day. It was a great pity because, in spite of being down to 10 stone in weight, he was sailing the borrowed Laser extremely well in the first race and only narrowly failed to win it. How do you do it, Stan ?

Two familiar faces amongst the spectators were those of Bill and Joan Holley. Bill is still a member of the M.P.S.C. and is now living in the village of Hamble, near Southampton. He was the man, that taught Dan Glen to sail Albacores. So you see, that he has a lot to answer for. Dan, himself, was not at this meeting, but his son, Alistair, was there to carry on the tradition. He was sailing a Laser, and very well too. If he had not been disqualified ( with 90% of the fleet ) in. the 2nd race he could well have been one of the prize winners, but more about that later.

If you have read the result lists carefully you must be puzzled by the points scored. We all were too, until it was explained to us that Eastney Club uses the scoring system recommended by the R.Y.A. for long series. In his the boat coming first gets '0' points; the 2nd boat gets 3 points; 3rd = 5.7; 4th = 8; 5th = 10; 6th = 11.7; 7th = 13; 8th = 14; 9th = 15; 10th = 16; llth - 17; and 12th = 18; and so on: Different isn't it ?

Charlie Jordan was there not only sporting his new boat, but also sporting a new moustache.. He and his crew, Bob Bruce, both seemed to have fully recovered from the soggy adventures at Rutland Water. The Spearhead looked as good as new, with its new mast and centre board. In the first two races they were travelling fast on the reaches and the runs, but they had difficulty in making the boat point on the beats. However, in desperation, he asked Stan Batten to run his eye over his craft and tell him what he was doing wrong. One of the suggestions that Stan made was that Charlie should open up the slot between the jib and the mainsail. So this he did and what a difference it made in the last race. The Spearhead just snot into the lead and was increasing it all the time , until they had the misfortune to get the spinnaker caught underneath the boat at the end of a run and capsized. They did not win that particular race, but watch out in the future!

The first race lasted for about 1ž hours and consisted of a long beat out through the harbour mouth to the open sea where the competitors had to turn at a large navigation buoy, and then do three loops in a clockwise direction around 4 other buoys and the navigation buoy again, followed by the final run in to the club line. With the tide flowing into the harbour quite strongly the first beat was a competition to see who could choose the best slack water in order to keep out of the adverse tide. Some chose the eastern shore, others chose the western side. The fleet was fairly evenly divided. But it became obvious as the boats reached the open sea that the boats choosing the western shore of the harbour mouth had the advantage, and were soon butting into the east-flowing current. The two larger boats headed the fleet with the Spearhead travelling faster than the Albacore, but also a lot further because of its poor pointing ability. Behind them the Lasers were having a right ding dong battle. Stan Batten, who had chosen to start on the east shore, was battling his way through the rest of his classmates, trying to make up lost ground. Roger Glass and

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Glass and /
Alistair Glen were two of the leading contenders. The pattern was set, The Spearhead gained on all the reaches and on the final run, whilst the Albacore was able to overtake it on the windward legs. The Lasers formed a procession behind them with Stan Batten showing his form and reaching the front and visibly gaining on the leading pair. On the final run back to the club it got quite exciting as Stan made every effort to get close enough to Sidewinder to benefit from the one figure different in portsmouth yardstick. It was so close that it could have gone either way. But, when the Race Officer had done his sums, Sidewinder had just enough lead to win the race with Stan an extremely close second. The other leading places also went to the Met. with Roger Glass 3rd and Alistair Glen - a chip off the old block - 4th. Not a bad effort for the M.P.S.C.!

After lunch, the second race was held over the course, but the loops, or loop in this case, was to be done anti-clockwise, with only one lap required. One of the hazards to contend with was a lot of surface weed washed out of the harbour by the tide. At the start Stan Batten fell foul of this weed and got some wrapped around his rudder. In attempting to clear it he was hit by a gust and capsized. Normally that would have been little trouble to him. But on this occasion some of the water got past his ear plug in his damaged ear and caused him considerable pain. It was bad enough to force him to retire from racing for the rest of the day. Meanwhile the rest of the pack had learned their lesson from the first race and were all crowded over on the west shore, and when I say crowded, It was crowded. It looked like Piccadilly Circus in the rush hour as the 11 boats short tacked in the narrow strip of slack water. Near the southern end of the harbour mouth, on the western shore, are two wooden structures which have a large pipe line running between them. At low tide it is impossible to cross that pipe. At high tide it is possible but not advisable. The Eastney Cruising Club have made it out of bounds and state on their rules that any boat crossing between the structures will be disqualified. The Race Officer did tell the crews at the briefing not to go between the 'dolphins', but either this was forgotten in the excitement of the race, or the crews did not appreciate the penalty, because 99% of the fleet took the shortcut between the dolphins in this second race. Only one boat sailed the correct course and rounded the second dolphin through the very choppy water. That brave man was Dick Burnside from the local Force. He not only braved the rough water at the harbour mouth, but also the wrath of the rest of the fleet when he put in a protest against them at the end of the race. His protest was upheld and he was made the winner.

The sailing in that second race was very good. The wind was building up the waves, making the beats very wet, the reaches very fast, and giving surfing conditions on the final run. Early on, Alistair Glen took the lead, closely pursued by his team mate, Roger Glass. Using its pointing ability and extra crew weight, the Albacore was able to pass them on the beat westwards, and then hold that lead on the planing reach
to the navigation buoy in line with the harbour channel. But then it was Roger that showed his downwind ability and slowly overhauled the Albacore, passing it just before the finishing line. Alistair was the second Laser to finish. It was only when the crews got ashore that the news of the disqualification became apparent.

The third race was held inside the harbour; as the O.O.D. did not like the look of the waves building up out to sea. In order to get a windward start, he used a club buoy, situated about a 100 yards south of the club line, close to the west bank, as the windward mark. This made the start very crowded, as everybody wanted to get as close to the western end of the line as the depth of water would allow. At the gun, it was every man for himself in the short sprint for that first mark. Sidewinder made a mess of things by getting his line wrong and tried to round the mark to starboard instead of to port, as indicated by the Race Officer. For his pains, he ended up at the back of the fleet. The boats then headed across the harbour mouth to round the 'quarantine' mark and then on into the harbour itself. One of the other marks they had to use was a large 'paint raft' (not the sort of mark that you would choose to run into ). However, by using the tide to good advantage along the east bank, and in the main channel, Sidewinder slowly started pulling up through the fleet. Before

page 14

Before/
the race was over he had overtaken everyone except Roger Glass. Roger was the leading Laser for the whole race, and was the first boat to finish. He was quite untouchable ! Charlie Jordan, in his Spearhead, seemed to be going faster than ever. He put this down to the tuning done by Stan Batten between races. One of the things that Stan had advised was to open the gap up between the jib and the main. It certainly seemed to have improved the windward performance of the boat no end. But then the Kentish pair spoiled everything by getting the spinnaker hooked underneath the boat and capsized. This allowed the pursuing pack to overtake them. Chris Lambert sailed a very good race, and on corrected time came 4th, ahead of most of the Lasers. Roger Glass was first. Sidewinder was second, and John Loake was third, by less than
3 seconds on handicap.

SIDEWINDER

- - - - - - - - - -oooo0oooo- - - - - - - - - -

THE POLICE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION NATIONAL DINGHY SAILING CHAMPIONSHIPS - 1981

The '81 championships were held on Monday and Tuesday, the 29th and 30th of June, at Shoreham Motor Yacht Club, in Sussex. They were organized by the Sussex Police, mainly in the person of Inspector Paul Skerman, from Crawley. There were 58 entries from 17 different police forces. The host force had the highest number of entries, with 11 boats. The M.P.S.C. were next, with 8 boats. Greater Manchester sent along 5 boats. Strangely enough, there were no entries from Essex or Hampshire both forces with a long tradition of police sailing behind them. The man that must have travelled the furthest to be there was K. Wilson, from the Lothian and Borders Police, sailing a Laser. The Laser was the most popular class of boat at this meeting with 21 entries. Albacores were next, with 8 boats, as were also the Enterprises. Toppers were next, with 5 boats.

The most successful force was the Metropolitan Police. They took away 4 of the first 5 prizes, including the championship prize itself. The former champion for so many years, Dan Glen, was deposed by his team-mate, John Pierce, sailing a 5o5 borrowed from John Burbeck. The new champion was crewed by Alex Ross, and a formidable combination they made. They are both experienced Fireball sailors, as well as many other classes, including the Laser. The spinnaker and trapeze, experience was a great asset. Their determination to win was quite obvious, and was closely matched by another experienced pair of dinghy sailors from Kent. They were Dave Sinnock and Alan Gimes. They were sailing Dave's new Albacore, and it was tuned to perfection. It was a real joy to see it on the beat, carving its way upwind. They were let down in the first race by a defective, securing ring, which came out of one of the shrouds. They were able to stop before the mast was damaged and effected a temporary repair. They then went on to finish 4th in that race. In the 3rd race Dave and Alan really got it all together and stormed home ahead of Dan Glen and John Burbeck to win the race. They took 2nd place in the second race . But this was not quite good enough to beat the lst places won by John Pierce and Alex Ross in the first and second races. So the title went back to the Met.

Dan Glen, crewed by his son, Alistair, had a rough ride in the second race. He just could not make any headway on the opposition in his boat, 'Monarch', and finished 6th. The Albacores of Sinnock and Burbeck finished ahead of him. But he did better in the other races and was able to discard that 6th position. He counted a 2nd place in the third race, and the 3rd in the first race to come 3rd overall.

John and Elizabeth Burbeck, sailing a borrowed Albacore, surprised us all with their speed and courage in the third race. The going was very rough, and their

page 15

their /
rivals expected them to have some difficulty in keeping the boat upright in the strong winds. On the contrary, they had no difficulty at all, and appeared to be thriving in the hectic conditions. Their speed on the reaches had to be seen to be believed, and they made up ground at the gybe mark by gybing round it successfully, whereas most of the fleet did not chance it. They came 3rd in that race behind two other Albacores. They had a good second race too, when they got ahead of Dan Glen, and stayed there, coming a good 4th. By discarding the result of their first race they took the 5th prize. Well done Liz !

Now that Stan Laurenson-Batten has retired from the Job it was left to Ross Elliston to uphold the leadership of the Met Laser Brigade. This he did most handsomely by being the first Laser home in each race. His best result was the 2nd place in the first race, and twice he finished ahead of Dan Glen. He won the 4th prize plus the Laser Trophy.

The other M.P.S.C. places were :-
Sidewinder = 13th, with a best result of 11th place in the 2nd race.
Derek Coleman = 15th, with a best result of 5th place in the 3rd race.
Dave Abbott and Lyn Goddard = 16th, with a best result of 10th place in the 2nd race.
John Bayless = 18th, with his best result of 16th in the 1st race.

Derek Westall, from South Wales, was in good form and was the only other Laser to challenge Ross Elliston for the number one spot. If you could not see his smiling face under a bright red scottish golfing cap, out on the water, you could certainly hear him. He was trying out his new ploy of screaming out " Oggy, oggy, oggy," whenever he overtook anyone, or was on a collision course. It was very effective ! He won the 6th prize, with his best result in the first race where he came 5th. He also won the new prize presented by the Northumbria Police in memory of Ian Dodds, who died during a sailing meeting last year.

John Neaverson, from Nottingham, crewed by Simon Gathercole, preferred the conditions in the second race where he was able to keep his Merlin Rocket ahead of everyone except the Met. 5o5. Only Dave Sinnock beat him on handicap, and he came 3rd in that particular race. That was good enough, together with the 12th place he gained in the first race, to win him the 7th prize.

The best position gained by a Sussex boat was the 8th prize won by John Loake, sailing a Laser. He did that in spite of a nasty crack on the head that he received on the first day of racing. He returned to the clubhouse with his face and buoyancy aid covered in blood. His individual results got better as the meeting progressed. He was 11th in the first race, 9th in the second race, and 7th in the third.

Another Laser sailor won the 9th prize. He was Geoff Norman, from Nottingham. He sailed consistently on the first day and came 8th in both races. He retired in the third race, but was able to discard that result.

The last of the prize winners was M Riley who had travelled all the way over from the Devon and Cornwall Police. He was 10th overall, with a 6th place in the first race.

A special prize for the leading boat in the 'Slow class' went to our very own Derek Coleman, sailing his Mirror (single-handed). He came 15th overall. His moment of glory came in the third race when he came a magnificent 5th. Well sailed, Derek ! In that last race he beat all the Lasers except his team-mate, Ross Elliston.

As you can see by the text above and by looking down the result list, only three races were held at this meeting, although four were listed. The last race was cancelled by the 0.0.D. because of the weather and the state of the sea. On the first day the wind had been force 2 to 3, offshore, with only small waves on

page 16

waves on /
the water. But on the Tuesday the wind was up to force 4 to 5, and coming from the west. This made the water very lumpy indeed. So much so, that many of the boats, having got out of the shelter of the harbour at Shoreham, took one look at the waves and promptly turned around and scuttled back in again. At least 24 competitors retired or did not sail in that third race.

During the race itself many boats capsized, and some were left floating upside down after their crews had been picked up by the rescue boats, until the race had ended. They were then collected and towed back to the clubhouse. One unfortunate helmsman, S Roberts from South Wales, was hit in the face by his boom so hard that he was knocked right out of his boat. He was picked up by the rescue crew very dazed and allegedly suffering from hyperthermia. He was promptly returned to the clubhouse and then rushed off to hospital.

Another casualty that was taken off to hospital after that race was young Leslie Goddard, the crew of Dave Abbott. She fell over in their Merlin Rocket during a capsize hitting herself rather badly on the thwart. She cracked the thwart and damaged her shoulder. Fortunately there were no bones broken and she was released from the hospital after treatment.

Nick Woolger, from Sussex, was brought ashore by the rescue boat, minus his Laser. He had ricked his back and was in too much pain to continue sailing.

For many others that third race was a real trial of strength and survival. Many helmsmen, especially the single-handers, were spotted just sitting hove-to trying to get their breath back. Full credit must therefore go to Laser 88687, which was sailed by the only lady helm, Barbara Selby, from North Yorkshire. She finished in all three races - and that was more than a lot of the men did, even a couple of the prize winners. She came 28th overall. Good for you Barbara!

Charlie Jordan, from Kent, had a most frustrating time. He has recently abandoned his well-known Phantom (single hander) for a new, super fast, 2 man boat called a Spearhead. He has only the 16th one that has ever been built. It has a Portsmouth Rating of 96, and should be capable of competing with a 5o5. But its performance showed it to be in need of some tuning. One of its main problems is that it will not point well upwind. Charlie and his crew, Bob Bruce, with the advice of all and sundry, spent many hours tightening and adjusting various fittings without any real success. In the end, the boat was damaged in the third race, and it will have to go back to the makers. Better luck in the future Charlie !

Two familiar faces that appeared at Shoreham, but who were not actually sailing, were those of Stan Batten and Peter Moore. Stan had come down to give the Met team some moral support and to take a few photographs. Anyway, you cannot keep Stan away from boats and sails for very long ! Peter Moore had come down in his official capacity as the M.P.S.C. rep. to the P.A.A. Sailing Committee. He was secretly hoping that someone would require him to crew for them. But there were no crewing places vacant. However, he did, offer his services in one of the rescue boas on the second day, and did some valiant work in the rough third race.

On the whole the Met team did well. They had all 8 boats in the first 18 places, and 4 of those were in the first 5 places. They also had two new champions in the shape of John Pierce and Alex Ross. We look forward to retaining the title next year when the P.A.A. sailing championships will be held on the 24th and 25th of June at Rutland Water Sailing Club. The organization will be in the capable hands of the Leicestershire Police.

SIDEWINDER

page 17

RESULTS OF THE P.A.A. NATIONAL DINGHY SAILING CHAMPIONSHIPS - 1981

1st	J Pierce/A Ross	Metro	5o5 6871	ž	ž	11	=	1˝
2nd	D Sinnock/ A Gimes	Kent	Albacore 7145	4	2	ž	=	2ž
3rd	D & A Glen	Metro	Albacore 6403	3	6	2	=	5
4th	R Elliston	Metro	Laser 75119	2	5	4	=	6
5th	J & E Burbeck	Metro	Albacore 6649	10	4	3	=	7
6th	D Westall	S Wales	Laser 75245	5	7	8	=	12
7th	J Neaverson/S Gathercole	Notts	M Rocket 2905	12	3	R	=	15
8th	J Loake	Sussex	Laser 42119	11	9	7	=	16
9th	G Norman	Notts	Laser 43330	8	8	R	=	16
10th	M Riley	Devon & Cornwall	Laser 78377	6	12	12	=	18
11th	G Nelson	Gtr Manchester	Laser 56240	13	13	6	=	19
12th	R Sivers	Northants	Laser 83524	7	19	14	=	21
13th	L Gooch/C Bishop	Metro	Albacore 442	15	11	13	=	24
14th	C Wilcock	Sussex	Laser 61738	9	18	16	=	25
15th	D Coleman	Metro	Mirror 43150	21	31	5	=	26
16th	D Abbott/ L Goddard	Metro	M Rocket 3065	19	10	R	=	29
17th	C Goodman/Serase	Sussex	Albacore 6678	14	16	R	=	30
18th	J Bayless	Metro	Laser 61695	16	17	19	=	33
19th	Jones	Beds	Laser 36094	18	15	R	=	33
20th	Larson	W Midlands	Laser 63296	20	14	R	=	34
21st	K Wilson	Lothian & Borders	Laser 54587	17	24	18	=	35
22nd	Braide	Gtr Manchester	Laser 6338	22	23	15	=	37
23rd	M Caukwell/Richards	N Yorkshire	Enterprise 19857	28	47	10	=	38
24th	Stafford/Spencer	N Yorkshire	Albacore 792	23	26	17	=	40
25th	Round	Kent	Mirror 26428	36	40	9	=	45
26th	N Woolgar	Sussex	Laser 32513	25	22	R	=	47
27th	Saunders	W Midlands	Laser 16102	33	20	R	=	53
28th	B Selby	N Yorkshire	Laser 88687	30	33	26	=	56
29th	R Bramhall/Todd	Gtr Manchester	Enterprise 10932	35	21	R	=	56
30th	P Skerman	Sussex	Laser 72570	29	27	R	=	56
31st	Benson/Cannon	Lancashire	Albacore 1294	34	38	25	=	59
32nd	Outhwaite/Berry	N Yorkshire	Enterprise 20038	41	39	20	=	59
33rd	J Sturdy	W Midlands	Laser 65022	24	35	R	=	59
34th	J & C Humber	Lancashire	GP14 11088	43	36	24	=	60
35th	S Roberts	S Wales	Laser 75333	31	30	R	=	61
36th	C Jordan/B Bruce	Kent	Spearhead 16	37	25	R	=	62
37th	R Fosberry/Hancock	Leicestershire	Enterprise 6907	44	45	22	=	66
38th	Nicholson	Beds	Solo 1968	26	40	R	=	66
39th	Jones/ C Waddell	Sussex	Graduate 2511	27	40	R	=	67
40th	B Tucker	Dorset	OK 1356	39	29	R	=	68
41st	M Albrow	Sussex	Topper 17553	46	48	23	=	69
42nd	Hudson	Gtr Manchester	Laser 46242	32	44	R	=	76
43rd	Thornton/Devine	S Yorkshire	Osprey 804	42	43	R	=	85
44th	Roberts/Hopkinson	Lancashire	GP14 10358	38	47	R	=	85
45th	Frith/Duncan	W Midlands	Fireball 4675	48	37	dns	=	85
46th	T Briggs/Harding	Northumbria	National 12 2978	R	32	R	=	86
47th	Allan/Drury	Notts	M Rocket 2527	R	34	R	=	88
48th	Read	Sussex	Minisail 3745	45	49	R	=	94
49th	Ford/Favell	Leicestershire	Enterprise 5724	40	R	R	=	94
50th	Childe/Owen	S Yorkshire	Enterprise 18073	49	46	R	=	94
51st	Hodkinson	Lancashire	Laser 18894	47	50	R	=	97
52nd	East	Sussex	Topper 10445	51	51	R	=	102
53rd	Savage/Harby	Leicestershire	Enterprise 9417	R	46	R	=	108
54th	Thomas	Sussex	Topper 17554	50	dns	dns	=	108
55th	Bowen/Parker	S Wales	GP14 4114	R	R	R	=	111
56th	Mason	Gtr Manchester	Topper	R	R	R	=	111
57th	Jones/Hawkins	S Wales	Albacore 6859	R	R	dns	=	114
58th	Desborough	Sussex	Topper 17920	R	R	dns	=	114
SIDEWINDER

page 18

DORSET POLICE REGATTA - 1981

1	Dayboat 544	Eddie & Nora Hind	Dorset	2	ž	2	ž	=	3˝
2	Osprey 1175	Malcolm Palmer & Andy McGregor	Dorset	ž	3	ž	2	=	3˝
3	Laser 101	Stan Batten	Metro	6	2	4	5	=	11
4	Solo 3129	Chris Lambert	Beds	5	10	6	3	=	14
5	Laser 91527	Roger Glass	Metro	8	4	3	9	=	15
6	Laser 61738	Chris Wilcock	Sussex	7	6	7	4	=	17
7	Laser 68638	Dick Burnside	Hants	11	7	5	7	=	19
8	Topper 6315	Colin Nicholson	Beds	3	13	11	6	=	20
9	Albacore 442	Len Gooch & Clive Bishop	Metro	10	5	8	8	=	21
10	Mirror 43150	Derek Coleman	Metro	4	12	10	13	=	26
10	Laser 72570	Paul Skerman	Sussex	9	8	9	10	=	26
12	Laser 16102	Bob Saunders	W Mids	13	9	12	12	=	33
13	Laser 65022	Jim Sturdy Howard Nicholson	W Mids	14	14	13	15	=	41
14	Solo 1968	Howard Nicholson	Beds	15	16	23	11	=	42
14	OK 1356	Bryan Tucker	Dorset	12	17	14	16	=	42
16	Fireball	Ted & Ian Frith	W Mids	17	15	23	14	=	46
17	Topper 17928	Martin Albrow	Sussex	R	18	15	21	=	53
17	Dayboat 562	Chris Read	Hants	21	11	21	22	=	53
19	Minisail 3745	B G Read	Sussex	16	20	21	18	=	54
19	Wayfarer 6570	David Bailey & Brian Harding	Dorset	18	19	21	17	=	54

For the second year in succession it was the Dorset Police that had the winning combination for this popular police regatta. It came in the form of a rather old fashioned looking 14 foot Dayboat (one of the local classes sailed at Poole), and the skill of Eddie and Nora Hind. Eddie sailed so well that he made the portsmouth yardstick of 128 seem ridiculously low. He won two of the races and came second in the other two. The only other boat that got anywhere near the Dayboat's performance was the Osprey of his team mate, Malcolm Palmer, who was crewed by Andy McGregor. This boat was a real flyer and shot off at the start of each race and was only seen in the distance by the remainder of the fleet. Malcolm also won two of the four races and came second and third in the other two. As the best three results counted towards the prizes he finished up with the same number of points as Eddie Hind, but his discard result was one point higher. So the title went to
Hind.

The best the M.P.S.C. could do this year was the third prize. This went to that ever skilful old pensioner, Stan Batten. He was sailing Ross Elliston's Laser. His best result was a second place in the second race.

Another pensioner, Chris Lambert, from Bedfordshire, used this meeting as a warm-up for the Solo Nationals, being held the following week further along the coast in Sussex. He took the fourth prize. His best result was a third place in the last race.

The other two prize winners were Roger Glass, from the Met sailing a Laser, with a best result of a third place in the third race when he was first Laser to finish, who took the 5th prize; and Chris Wilcock from Sussex, also sailing a Laser, who took the 6th prize. Chris gave all the other Lasers a shock in the closing stages of the last race when he took the better line on the last short beat and overtook Stan Batten and Roger Glass, beating them both to the finishing line.

page 19

The racing was very close, specially amongst the Laser fleet. Only a few seconds separated many of the boats on both elapsed time and corrected times and that was after more than two hours sailing in the case of the second race. Derek Coleman ( Mirror ) and Colin Nicholson (Topper) had their own private battle, and were no more than two places apart in all the races. Each of them beat the other twice, but the Topper had the edge overall and finished 8th, to Derek's 10th.

The weather was not very seasonal. The sky was mainly covered in cloud, and on the first day those clouds just opened and down came the rain. So oilskins, or something similar, were the order of the day. The Thursday remained dry until the racing had finished, and then there was a mother and father of a thunder storm over the harbour. From the safety of the clubhouse we were able to watch the heavens open and see the rain just flatten the waves, and blot out all sign of the Purbeck Hills in the distance. Poole Harbour at that point became a study in grey. All colour seemed to fade away. We were all very thankful that we were no longer out on the water.

The winds were moderate, mainly force 2 to 3, westerly. This was ideal for the single handers, who were able to plane that much earlier on the reaches than the heavier boats. The Lasers revelled in these conditions.

For the benefit of those of you that have never attended the Dorset Police Regatta I will explain that it is always a two day event, with two races held on each day. This year it was held on Wednesday and Thursday the 22nd and 23rd July, at Poole Yacht Club. The club is situated on the north side of Poole Harbour, just west of the Truckline berth, which in turn is just west of the Quay. The views from the clubhouse have to be seen to be believed. The whole of the Purbeck Hills are spread out before you, as well as Brownsea Island and Corfe Castle. It is a magnificent panoramic view. You can launch from the beach at all states of the tide, and sailing in the harbour is second to none. The fixed club line is used for all starts and finishes, and most races are held in full view of the clubhouse. So it is a good place for spectators as well as competitors.

The Race Officer for this event was Jim McGregor, one of the members of Poole Yacht Club. His younger brother, Andy, crewed for Malcolm Palmer in the Osprey.

The entry list for this year was down a bit, possibly because of the additional man-power required at Brixton and other parts of the country rocked by riots and other disturbances. However, 20 boats and their crews did attend. Four of those came from the M.P.S.C., four were from the local Force, four others came from the Sussex Police, three came all the way down from the West Midlands and Bedfordshire, and another two came across from Hampshire. The most popular class of boat, as usual, was the Laser, with 7 boats. There were two of each from the Dayboat, Solo and Topper classes.

The Met entry consisted of Stan Batten and Roger Glass in their Lasers, Derek Coleman in his Mirror, and the Gooch/Bishop team in their Albacore " Sidewinder".

For the 1st race the wind was between force 1 and 3, and the tide was flowing. The course was a triangle, sausage, triangle, using 'Balls Lake' as the windward mark, 'Piccadilly' as the wing mark, and 'C can' as the leeward mark. Immediately after the start the 'Recall' signal sounded because one or two boats were over the line. Sidewinder was one of the boats that turned and restarted, just in case ( They found out after the race that they were not one of the offenders after all.). The Osprey of Malcolm Palmer shot off into the lead which he held to the end of the race. He was followed by Ted Frith's Fireball. Ted, in turn, was chased by a pack of Lasers, lead by Stan Batten. The Dayboat of Eddie Hind. last year's winner
of this event, was in amongst the Laser fleet in the early stages. At the back of the fleet the smaller boats were doing well, specially the sole Mirror, sailed by Derek Coleman, and the Topper of the young Bedfordshire helm, Colin Nicholson.' The Solo of the very experienced Bedford man, Chris Lambert, was also doing well in the middle of the fleet. Paul Skerman, that well known Sussex lightweight, somehow managed to cap-

page 20

to cap- /
size twice in this race, but in spite of that he still came 9th. He was the 7th boat to cross the lino, only 16 seconds behind the Albacore, close enough to beat it on handicap.

The Osprey took line honours and won the race, but only by 5 seconds from Dayboat 544, which was the 12th boat to finish - some 22 minutes behind the Osprey. The Fireball crossed the line second but was relegated to 17th. place on handicap. Stan Batten was third to finish and ended up 6th overall. The three giant killers who finished 3rd, 4th and 5th on handicap were Colin Nicholson in the Topper, 15th over the line, Derek Coleman in the Mirror - 18th over the line, and Chris Lambert in the Solo - 11th to finish. Chris Wilcock and Roger Glass were the 2nd and 3rd Lasers. They were followed over the line by Sidewinder.

In the second race the wind was between force 2 and 3, westerly. The course was a triangle - sausage - triangle, using navigation mark '53'as the windward mark, 'Piccadilly' as the wing mark, and Can Buoy 'B' as the leeward mark. The tide. was on the ebb. It was felt by many of the helmsmen that the tide was to be a big factor in this race. So some of the crafty ones thought that they would keep an eye on the local wizard (in a certain Dayboat) and go the way he went. Eddie Hind duly set off from the start line heading inshore. Sidewinder, Stan Batten and a few more boats headed in the same direction. Most of the other members of the fleet headed directly for the mark, out in the tideway. The inshore bunch were so busy tacking amongst the moored boats and watching each other that they all failed to see that the offshore bunch had reached '53' mark first. (It was discovered later that Eddie Hind had mistaken the position of 53 and was heading for 57 instead. It just goes to show that you should not always follow the locals. They can make mistakes just like the rest of us). So the inshore bunch had a lot of ground to make up by the time they had reached the windward mark themselves. Fortunately this was to be a long race, and Stan Batten and Sidewinder were able to overhaul most of the others and cross the finishing line 3rd and 4th respectively, behind the Osprey and the Fireball. Stan finished about 15 minutes behind the Osprey, but it was close enough to beat him on corrected time by 22 seconds and push him back into 3rd place. Stan, himself, was pushed back into 2nd place by Eddie Hind who finished over 15 minutes behind him (11th over the line). Sidewinder was 4th over the line, only 11 seconds ahead of Roger Glass, who in turn was almost one minute ahead of Chris Wilcock. These three ended up 5th, 4th and 6th respectively. After over two hours of racing there were some extremely close corrected times. Palmer beat Glass by only 1.2 seconds. Gooch beat Wilcock by only 1.2 seconds. Wilcock beat Burnside by only 4.3 seconds The other Dayboat, Number 562, sailed by Chris Read, beat Coleman by only 1.4 seconds.

Sidewinder, Stan Batten and Roger Glass were all able to make good ground on the second long beat by keeping inshore out of the tide, Sidewinder was able to round the windward mark about 200 to 300 yards ahead of the Lasers, but was overtaken by the leading pair on the reach across to Piccadilly, and then. by Wilcock on the other reach to B Can, But Sidewinder was then able to overtake Glass and Wilcock on the short beat to the finishing line. The Dayboat Sailed by Hind showed its superiority in these waters yet again in spite of the early mistake. Derek Coleman managed to turn the tables on his Bedfordshire rival, Colin Nicholson and finish just ahead of him in 12th position. It was all good clean racing, with some beautiful beats and reaches. It was enjoyed by all that took part, and there was not one complaint to the Race Officer about the length of time it took to run this race.

The third race was held on the morning of Thursday the 23rd. The weather conditions and the course was similar to the second race, except that the tide was flooding. The weather forecaster on the television on Wednesday evening had promised winds along the South Coast would increase to 30 mph. But in fact, they did not go above force 3.

Stan Batten and Sidewinder were amongst those boats that decided to start at the southern end of the line, thinking that the tide would help them to fetch the first mark. But they found that they were swept too far south and had to make a tack to reach '53', whilst the boats that started at the north end of the line

page 21

the line /
reached that mark without tacking. The Osprey went off on his own, with the Fireball vainly trying to catch him. But all the latter's efforts were in vain anyway as he was over the line at the start. Roger Glass headed the Lasers, and this time be meant to stay there. Nothing Stan Batten could do, or any of the others too, made any difference. Roger had the bit between his teeth and he went like the wind. Dick Burnside and Stan battled for the 2nd Laser spot. Dick tried so hard that he capsized on his way to Piccadilly, but was soon up again and still in the fight. Chris Wilcock and Paul Skerman had sandwiched Sidewinder between them. But the Albacore was able overtake Chris on the beat. The Lasers were untouchable on the reaches. There was just enough wind to keep them planing down the whole length of the reaches. On the way round Jim Sturdy somehow received a bump on the head, and after the race he was proudly displaying his 'egg' to all and sundry. The Fireball was not alone to find that he had been over the line at the start. The Solo of Howard Nicholson was also disqualified for the same reason.

At the end of the race Malcolm Palmer's Osprey finished 19 minutes and 13 seconds ahead of the Laser of Roger Glass, and 31 Minutes ahead of the Dayboat of Eddie Hind. The Osprey won the race by 32 minutes from the Dayboat on handicap, and Roger was placed 3rd, only 20 seconds behind the Dayboat. Stan Batten took 4th place finishing 2 minutes and 28 seconds behind Glass, and 48 seconds ahead of Dick Burnside. Chris Lambert, who finished 14 seconds ahead of Eddie Hind, was placed 6th. Chris Wilcock finished 5th over the line, 45 seconds ahead of' Sidewinder, who in turn was exactly one minute ahead of Paul Skerman. In his turn, Paul finished exactly one minute ahead of Bob Saunders. But on handicap, Derek Coleman and Colin Nicholson crept in between Paul and Bob, in 10th and 11th places, although Colin had finished 5 minutes and 41 seconds in front of the Mirror. The corrected times were only 6 seconds apart. 11th and 12th places were only split by 10 seconds.

The fourth and last race was to be the shortest one of the series. This was to allow the results to be worked out and the prizes to be presented at an early hour. The course was the usual triangle - sausage triangle, but was in fact shortened at the end of the sausage. The windward mark was moved up to '57', the wing mark was 'Balls Lake'', and the Leeward mark was 'Cakes Mark'. The wind remained between force 2 and 3, westerly. The tide was just on the ebb. On the first beat the crew of Sidewinder got things just right, for a change, and beat up amongst the moored boats and actually got to the windward mark first - even ahead of the Osprey, but only just. But then, they went and spoiled it by not being sure where Balls Lake mark lay. However the lead was soon taken over by Malcolm Palmer, with spinnaker flying, and Sidewinder tagged along behind them. On the reach from Balls Lake the leading Lasers and the Fireball slipped past the Albacore. Sidewinder picked up a couple of places on the beat back to '57', and held that position on the run back to Cakes Mark. As the leaders passed the clubhouse a 'shortened course' signal was sounded. At Cakes Mark Sidewinder turned just behind Stan Batten and Roger Glass. Then all three of them headed inshore for the final short beat for the line. But Chris Wilcock and Dick Burnside, who were next round the mark, went the other way and headed straight for the southern end of the finish line. It was these two that made the better decision as it turn out, because Wilcock finished 2 seconds ahead of Stan Batten, to be the first Laser to finish, and the third boat over the line, behind the Osprey and the Fireball. He was 4th on corrected time, missing 3rd place by only 1.2 Seconds. The' Osprey finished 5 minutes and 32 seconds ahead of the Fireball, and 14 minutes and 22 seconds ahead of the Dayboat of Eddie Hind. It was the Dayboat that took first place, by 39 seconds. Chris Lambert was the 11th boat to finish, but was ahead of the Lasers on handicap by 13 seconds. He took 3rd place overall.

This race was short, and in consequence the times were all very close. The Osprey finished the whole race in 56 minutes, and the last boat crossed the lire after 85 minutes. On handicap, less than 2 minutes separated the first 10 places.

The prizes were presented by the Chief Constable of the Dorset Police, Mr David Owen (ex Metropolitan Police).

SIDEWINDER

page 22

FASTNET - 81

On Saturday 8th August 1981 the crew of MEON MAID II were keyed up and waiting to go after the long wait since January, when the plan to go in for the Fastnet had started to roll. Since April we had trained and raced in the qualifying races. "De Guingard Bowl", where the plans nearly came to grief with our retirement due to a case of food poisoning. The "Dryad Cup", Southsea to Fe Camp, The "Morgan Cup" weather, wind mainly north but variable in direction and speed, with some calm. But despite it all, here we are on the line at Cowes for the Class 5 start at 16:45. I was tense and feeling the strain of the occasion. All of us were keyed up. The gun! - and we started on our adventure. Over the line on the port tack, heading towards the Isle of Wight with all the Class 5 yachts. We then tacked onto the starboard and down towards the Lepe Buoy. We tacked down the western Solent and finally out of the Needles Channel on the port tack, heading for Anvil Point.

By now the 'big boys' were coming through, making us feel that we were standing still. By now the crew were feeling elated and we settled down to our watches which we knew would be for a few days. Into the night we sailed and the fleet started to thin out. Soon the light of Anvil Point came abeam and we headed on for Portland and the Race. Here was our first choice:- (A) To go inside the Race or (B) give it a wide berth. The navigator and I agreed to do the latter. We fetched Portland abeam after midnight, and on we sailed to Start Point.

The crew and I were settling into a routine. Larry Lambert, our chef was doing doing sterling Work giving us two good, hot, meals a day, besides keeping watches. Towards the afternoon of Sunday the wind started to fade, and by 15:00 we were becalmed. Visibility was poor. The weather was warm, and so was the beer. A pleasant evening meal in the cockpit was most welcome. Towards late evening the wind started back with light airs. So, with ghoster and main set, we edged our way forward. By 22:00 we were under way, and the breeze was strengthening, so we were able to change up to the No.1 jib. By morning we were off the Lizard and going well, and pleased to see it. Later we got fed up with seeing it!

Out over Mounts Bay and towards Lands End, we passed Wolf Rock and fixed our position by vertical sextant angle. Then on to the Seven Stones lightship and into the Irish Sea, with the Scillys on our port beam. Then, as the afternoon came the wind dropped and by 17:00 we were just drifting. So, with a couple of cool beers from the bilge, we had a happy hour, and then supper. By 19-30 the very light airs began to come back and we started to move at ˝ knot, and by 22-00 we were sailing at 4 knots towards the Fastnet Rock. All through the night, changing sail as the wind gathered strength. Moving into Tuesday we held our course and the navigator and I managed to get in some sun sights using the sextant. The wind continued to strengthen and we reduced sail and changed to No.2 jib. By now it was late Tuesday evening, and during the middle watch the night sky treated us to a magnificent natural firework display.

Soon the loom of the lights on the Irish coast started to appear as we closed the coast and got near our goal, Fastnet Rock. Soon it became light and the coast was visible. Then we caught our first glimpse of the Rock. Our hearts pounded with excitement. The middle watchmen went to bed with a promise that they would be called for the rounding. As we closed, so the excitement turned to elation. We had made it thus far, at 07:17:05 ! We rounded the Rock using a vertical sextant angle to miss the outlying rocks. After we rounded- with much clicking of cameras, I went to the radio and called Mizzen Head, but without success. I tried the emergency aerial but still without success, nor was Mornington receiving us. I decided to alter our course and try to run past Mornington's position and that of Breakaway M. We sailed on and the wind was force 4 to 5 south-westerly, with heavy swells running. I was unable to find either of them, so we shaped up a course for Bishop Rock.

page 23

At 01:06 on Thursday morning the port shroud bottle screw came adrift and fell over the side (who forgot to put the pin in ?). We hove to for 40 minutes and effected a jury repair. More time lost ! By the forenoon we had Bishop Rock in sight. As soon as we passed it, up went the spinnaker and we headed for the Lizard, going well at 7 knots, with the wind on the quarter, in glorious sunshine, with a blue sky. Real cruising weather ! Steve and I started on the radio, and eventually managed to get it going (how, I don't know). With the emergency aerial I managed to raise Lands End Radio, who offered to inform R.O.R.C. of our whereabouts.

Towards Thursday evening we were closing the Lizard rapidly, and all feeling good. The navigator had worked out our ETA on the finishing line as 09-00 Friday. As we had heard on Radio Devonport that the first Maxi-yacht was over the line at 02-30 Thursday, and with our handicap, we might not only finish, but place reasonably well. With this news the crew took on a happy mood, and excitement was in the air. But by 22-00 the prospects looked poor. The wind was dropping, and at 23-00 we were 2˝ miles south of the Lizard when disaster struck. The wind died, as did all our hopes. During Thursday night we drifted with the tide, watching the phosphorus in the water, and by 06-00 the fog came and the mournful note of the Lizard fog horn could be heard. Spirits started to wane all during Friday as we made little way towards the finish line, 47 miles from the Lizard.

The day was hot and airless and the sea was covered with red algae. After lunch the fog cleared and a fickle, light wind came, but not enough to move our heavy yacht. The hope of making the party at the Guildhall faded. But by now we had the spinnaker set and moving at 4 knots. By 20-00 we had 6 to 7 knots, and as the light faded, the Eddystone Light could be seen unlit, as the light-ship had replaced it. As we neared the shore, fighting to get every ounce of speed out of her, the wind strengthened and the lights ashore twinkled a welcome. We had been at sea for 6 days and into our 7th. At 8 knots we crossed the line at 02-06-14. We had completed the course. We had done it. Yes, the Metropolitan Police entry had completed the course! In my locker was a bottle of Moussec. Larry got it out and we had a well deserved drink. By 03-30 we motored into Mill Bay Docks, amongst the sleeping yachts. Here we moored and drunk beer and chatted, happy, contented, if not a little disappointed yachtsmen. The talk was of boats and 1983. Can we come back again? I hope so. We all enjoyed our adventure and thank all those who helped to make our dream, Fastnet 81, come true. My special thanks to the Captain of HMS MERCURY and his Yachts Officer, Lt Cdr E WAGGET, and CPO Bill SCRIVIN, who was with us on board, and has taken a very special place in our hearts and will always be remembered over many an ale, as we retell the tale of our Fastnet 81.

APPENDIX

Crew:	John Stickland .. .. .. .. .. .. ..PC 425 IW. Keith Bateman .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Inspector XS CFO Bill Scrivin .. .. .. .. .. .. RN HMS MERCURY, RNSA Larry Lambert .. .. .. .. .. .. .. SO CO, Met Laboratory Steve Fillery .. .. .. .. .. .. .. PS XS Dave Stygall .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .DC FD
Times:	Start at Cowes .. .. .. .. .. .. ..16-45, 8th August 1981 Fastnet Rock Distance.. .. .. .. .07-17, 12th August 1981 Distance.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 354 miles Time.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .86 hours 53 minutes Average speed .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 4.1 knots
	Fastnet Rock to Lizard.. .. .. .. .23-00, 13th August 1981 Distance.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 204 miles Time.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .39 hours 43 minutes Average speed .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 5.13 knots Lizard.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..23-00, 13th August 1981 Finish time.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 02-06, 15th August Distance.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 47 miles Time.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 27 hours 6 minutes Average speed.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1.7 knots

John Stickland
Skipper Meon Maid III

page 24

SUSSEX POLICE REGATTA - 1981
DIVISION A:
1	C Jordan	Kent	Phantom	ž	2	=	2ž
2	R Elliston	Metro	Laser	5	ž	=	5ž
3	Gooch/Bishop	Metro	Albacore	3	3	=	6
4	Goodman/Scrase	Sussex	Albacore	2	4	=	6
5	C Wilcock	Sussex	Laser	4	5	=	9
6	P Skerman	Sussex	Laser	6	rtd	=	18
7	C Waddell	Sussex	Laser	7	rtd	=	19
8	J Loake	Sussex	Laser	8	rtd	=	20
9	R Burnside	Metro	Laser	9	rtd	=	21
10	Glass/Taverner	Metro	Fireball	10	rtd	=	22
11	D Wardrop	Herts	Laser	11	rtd	=	23

DIVISION B:
1	C Lambert	Beds	Solo	ž	ž	=	1˝
2	M Albrow	Sussex	Graduate	2	6	=	8
3	T Ball	Sussex	Topper	3	6	=	9
4	B Read	Sussex	Minisail	4	6	=	10
5	P Desborough	Sussex	Topper	5	6	=	11

Only three boats went to Bognor Regis for this meeting this year from the Met. You can see the details in the list above. The weather was warm and sunny and more to the liking of the spectators than the competitors. The early morning mist gave some indication that there was not going to be a lot of wind, and that proved to be true.

The first race was sailed east of the pier in light winds between force 1 and 2. It was a committee boat start, with a triangle, sausage, triangle course. At the start most boats tacked in shore. Charlie Jordan, with his faithful old Phantom, lead the pack with Roger Glass in a Fireball, close behind. The two Albacores from Sussex and the Met were having their own race, with Peter Goodman taking an early lead. Paul Skerman showed his light weather skill by creeping through and becoming the leading Laser. But, before the race: was shortened, Ross Elliston managed to get past him. Charlie Jordan however, was able to keep his lead, and won the race. Peter Goodman was second, but only just. Sidewinder was closing with him all the time. On the last leg they headed for the line almost neck and neck, be it ever slowly. The Sussex Albacore crossed the finish line only half a boat's length ahead of his Met rival. The next over the line was Chris Wilcock, who had managed to get ahead of both Ross Elliston and Paul Skerman.

The second race, after lunch, was held on the west side of the pier, in full view of the clubhouse, as there was then enough water to clear the rocks that lay offshore. Whilst waiting for the 10 minute gun to go, the competitors were kept entertained by Ross Elliston and Chris Wilcock who were trying to see which of them could stand on the very tip of the foredeck without falling in the water. Needless to say, Ross did fall in complete with 'waterproof' camera. He than tried to take some pictures from underneath his boat. With all this frolicking going on, most of sailors failed to notice that the wind had now dropped so much that they were now unable to stem the tide. When the start gun went only one boat was actually anywhere near the line. The rest were struggling to make any progress at all. Peter Goodman

page 25

Goodman /
was the one helmsman that kept his mind on the job and crossed the line first. He headed out to sea in search of some more wind. But there was little to be had. Roger Glass in the Fireball, Ross Elliston and Charlie Jordan all crept over the start line, heading right into the shore, to get out of the tide. They were tacking slowly right in amongst the bathers and making good progress. But that was more than could be said for the rest of the fleet, many of whom had still not reached the start line half an hour after the gun had gone. In fact some were being carried further and further away from it. The progress made by our three stalwarts mentioned above was spotted by Goodman, who had failed to make much ground further out. So he headed in towards the beach as well. Those four boats eventually reached the pier, but then came to a stop as they fell into its wind shadow. Everywhere now boats wallowed, and sails flapped on the smooth, clear sea. It was so still that you could see the stones and weed on the bottom, quite clearly. But, we had not come here to study the ocean floor. We had come to sail, and you cannot sail when there is no wind! After ž hour there was till no sign of any wind and many crews decided that they had enough and gave up the struggle. They just let the tide carry their craft back towards the club. Some of those that had been swept past the club got out their paddle and propelled their boats back to shore.

Chris Lambert and Sidewinder were well west of the Bognor Regis Sailing Club when the others packed it in. But they decided to wait for a little longer before throwing in the sponge. Their patience was rewarded. For, about an hour after the start of the race, there was a stirring on the surface of the sea. Was it wind, real wind? Or was it a mirage come to torture these frustrated helmsmen ? No, it must be wind. The Solo and the Albacore had stopped drifting backwards. They were actually moving through the water, against the tide. Then they actually crossed the start line. They were soon heading towards the pier. Having seen that there was no wind in the shadow of the pier itself, they headed for the end of it, and for the windward mark which was situated just south of the pier. Ross Elliston and Charlie were also trying to make the windward mark, chased by Goodman, who had turned for home, but then changed his mind. Ross managed to slip through a gap in the pier. The other two sailed alongside, and then round the end of the pier to reach that elusive first mark. Those three reached the mark just ahead of Sidewinder, Wilcock and Lambert. Those 6 boats were the sole survivors of a fleet of 16 . The race had to be shortened and Charlie lead the way for what was left of it. Ross was the next to finish, but won the race on handicap. Sidewinder managed to overtake Goodman on the reach, and then covered him down the short beat and finished about 10 seconds ahead. Chris Lambert was the only boat from Division B to finish the second race. He won the cup for that Division.

SIDEWINDER

page 26

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE POLICE REGATTA - '81

1	Burbecks	Metro	Albacore	7	ž	ž	=	1˝
2	Lambert	Beds	Solo	ž	2	7	=	2ž
3	Aklam/Mitchell	W Yorks	Nat 12	2	5	2	=	4
4	Norman	Notts	Laser	3	4	4	=	7
5	Bramhall	G.M.P.	Enterprise	4	3	10	=	7
6	Glass	Metro	Laser	6	6	3	=	9
7	Gooch/Bishop	Metro	Albacore	16	7	6	=	13
8	Ford	Leics	Enterprise	5	10	14	=	15
9	Hudson	Herts	Solo	8	8	8	=	16
10	Neaverson/Kennedy	Notts	M Rocket	13	13	5	=	18
11	Nelson	G.M.P.	Laser	9	11	11	=	20
12	Saunders	W Mids	Laser	10	14	20	=	24
13	Allen/Dean	Notts	M Rocket	18	17	9	=	26
13	Edwards/Sturdy	W Mids	Enterprise	11	15	19	=	26
15	Marshall	S Yorks	Mirror	24	16	12	=	28
15	Roberts/Humber	Lancs	GP 14	R	12	16	=	28
17	Childe/Kulmbacker	S Yorks	Enterprise	21	9	21	=	30
17	Kay/Hurstwaite	S Yorks	Fireball	12	22	18	=	30
17	Hudson	G.M.P.	Laser	15	16	15	=	30
20	Hancock/Fosberry	Leics	Enterprise	14	20	17	=	31
21	Blackburn	Leics	Solo	22	19	13	=	32
22	R & E Anelay	W Yorks	M Rocket	17	18	23	=	35
23	Thornton/Loxley	S Yorks	Osprey	20	24	22	=	42
23	Harby/Savage	Leics	Enterprise	19	23	R	=	42
25	D & K Chapman	Herts	GP 14	23	21	dns	=	44

For the first time the Nottinghamshire Police Regatta was held at Retford Argonauts Sailing Club, at Newark. The date was the 7th of September. Previously these regattas have been held on the River Trent, in Nottingham, but the numbers that attended were very poor. So they looked around for a more attractive venue. The idea certainly seemed to have worked, because this year they got twice as many entries as they got in the past. There were 25 boats representing 10 different Forces. There were 3 boats from the M.P.S.C. They were the two Albacores of the Burbecks and the Sidewinder combination, and the Laser of Roger Glass. The two Albacore crews travelled up to Nottinghamshire on the Sunday and spent the night in the clubhouse.

Chris Lambert was the first to arrive on the Monday morning. At that time the water was as still as a mill-pond. The only movement was made by the herons and geese flying over the lake. The surface of the water was bright green with some kind of weed growth. We found out later that it was like sailing through a large bowl of pea soup. When the time came for the first race to begin there was little or no wind. The course was a zig-zag one around 7 different buoys. The weather was very warm, but there was no sign of the sun. All the boats got away to a very slow start and by the time they reached the second mark of the course many of them were trying to round it locked together in a large raft. More by luck than judgement, Sidewinder managed to squeeze through on the inside of the largest raft and made up a good many places. But he then took the wrong line in the search for wind, and sailed into a hole. He then had to watch most of the fleet sail past him. The Burbecks had to do a 720° penalty when they were in collision with two other boats. John said later that one of those boats had its centreboard up, and it drifted into him. But all in all it was a race for the lightweights. At the front of the fleet could be seen the Solo of Chris Lambert and the Laser of Geoff Norman. The National 12 of Acklam and Mitchell was well up too. Mercifully the race was shortened at the end of the first lap. That lap took about 1˝ hours to complete. It was won by Chris Lambert, with the National 12 second, and Norman in third place. The best the Met could do was 6th (Roger Glass).

There was still a shortage of wind at 2 o'clock, when the 2nd race was due to start. The fleet were having difficulty in getting to the line in time, and the Race Officer postponed the start for 10 minutes in order that most of the competitors

page 27

competitors /
should have a fair start. When the gun went it was Sidewinder that went into the lead, from the far end of the start-line. They managed to hold that lead for the first lap of the simplified 'figure of eight' course. On the second lap it was the two Johns that went to the front, John Burbeck and John Neaverson. From then on the wind began to pipe up. The whole fleet came alive. Crews appeared as if by magic from below the gunwales of their craft. Sails filled, and boats tilted. This is what they had all been waiting for! The Lasers soon picked up speed, and Geoff Norman and Roger Glass also overtook Sidewinder. The smaller boats were doing well too. Acklam's National 12 and Chris Lambert's Solo were up amongst the front runners, as was the Enterprise of Bramhall. The race ended in a shower of rain, after 3 laps. It was won by John and Elizabeth Burbeck, with Chris Lambert second, and Bramhall third. Roger Glass was 6th, and Sidewinder 7th.

The course for the third race was similar to that used in the second race. The weather had turned a bit colder, but there was more wind. It's strength was variable depending in which part of the lake you were. The Burbecks took an early lead, and were only overtaken on the last lap by John Neaverson, in his Merlin Rocket. Roger Glass lead the Lasers. Acklam's National 12 was again doing very well, and was having a fine old battle with Geoff Norman and Sidewinder. The National eventually finished in between the Laser and the Albacore, but beat them both on handicap, and also Roger Glass. The race was won by Burbeck, with Acklam second, and Glass third. Sidewinder finished 6th. It had come on to rain during this last race, but it did not dampen the enthusiasm and enjoyment oaf the competitors.

The first prize went to John and Elizabeth Burbeck, with their two Wins. The second prize went to the police pensioner from Kempston, Chris Lambert, with a first and second place. The third prize went to West Yorkshire; to Acklam and Mitchell sailing an Enterprise. Roger Glass finished, 6th overall and Sidewinder was 7th.

SIDEWINDER

- - - - - - - - - -oooo0oooo- - - - - - - - - -

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE POLICE REGATTA - 81, at Middle Nene C.C.
ON 24th September, 1981

1st	R Sivers	Northants	Laser 83524	ž	2	2	=	2ž
2nd	G Norman	Notts	Laser 43330	4	5	ž	=	4ž
3rd	D Acklam	W Yorks	Nat 12 3109	8	ž	5	=	5ž
4th	J Nelson	Gtr Manchester	Laser 56240	5	3	3	=	6
5th	D Westall	S Wales	Laser 75245	2	6	6	=	8
6th	C Lambert	Beds	Solo 3129	6	4	4	=	8
7th	B Hudson	Herts	Solo 2198	7	8	7	=	14
8th	R Bramhall	Gtr Manchester	Enterprise 10932	12	7	8	=	15
9th	P Walters	Notts	Laser 3998	3	RTD	DNS	=	18
10th	J Humber	Lancs	GP 14 11088	9	11	RTD	=	20
11th	B Patterson	T Valley	Lightning 68	11	9	RTD	=	20
12th	R Fosberry	Leics	Enterprise 6907	10	10	RTD	=	20
13th	P Gordon	Northants	Seafly 332	13	12	RTD	=	25

Due to a mix-up with the dates, there were no Met entries in this year's meeting. We have to thank Dick Sivers for the above result list. He has also sent along a provisional date for the 1982 Northamptonshire Police Regatta - 23rd September, so make a note of it in your diary and make a point of being there.

SIDEWINDER
for DICK SIVERS

page 28

KENT POLICE REGATTA - 81

1	Elliston	Laser 75119	Metro	2	2	=	4
2	J & L Burbeck	Albacore 6649	Metro	5	ž	=	5ž
3	Glass	Laser 91527	Metro	ž	6	=	6ž
4	Gimes	Laser 85367	Kent	3	4	=	7
5	Loake	Laser 42199	Sussex	7	5	=	12
6	Lambert	Solo 3129	Beds	6	7	=	13
7	Gooch/Bishop	Albacore 442	Metro	9	8	=	17
8	R Jones	Laser 36094	Beds	8	10	=	18
9	Bayless	Laser 61695	Metro	10	9	=	19
10	Skerman	Laser 72570	Sussex	4	16	=	20
11	Jordan/Hyland	Albacore 7152	Kent	dns	3	=	21
12	Sutton	Laser 35472	Kent	11	11	=	22
13	Nicholson	Solo 1968	Beds	12	14	=	26
14	Desborough	Topper 17928	Sussex	13	15	=	28
15	Wardrop	Laser 75198	Herts	16	13	=	29
16	D Jones	Laser 48155	Sussex	dns	12	=	30
17	Round	Mirror 26428	Kent	14	18	=	32
18	Read	Minisail 3745	Sussex	15	18	=	33

In recent years Hampton Pier Sailing Club has become the home of the Kent Police Regatta, and this year was no different. The 15th of September found the Motorways and other roads down to Herne Bay speckled with cars roofing or towing sailing dinghies. 18 boats from 5 different Police Forces took part in the meeting. The single handers well out-numbered the two-man boats, by 15 to 3. In fact, the only two-man class represented was the Albacore. Two of those were from the Met and one from Kent. The Kent one was a brand new boat that was recently purchased by the Kent Police Sailing Club. It was sailed on this occasion by Charlie Jordan and Tony Hyland. They arrived too late to take part in the first race, but did well in the second race. Only two races were sailed. The weather was fine and sunny. The wind was blowing a force, 4 at the beginning of the day, but dropped as the day wore on, to a force 1 to O.

This regatta was won by Ross Elliston, sailing a Laser. He came 2nd in both races. The second prize. went to Liz and John Burbeck, sailing a borrowed Albacore called "Ruined Dude". They came 5th in the first race, and won the second race. Roger Glass, from Wallington, won the third prize by coming first in the first race and 6th in the second race. He was sailing his Laser. That gave the M.P.S.C. the hat trick. The other Met entries came 7th and 9th.

The first race was set for four laps around a simple triangular course. The start was from the clubline. The racing marks were large inflatable orange 'humbugs'. The windward mark was set west of the Hampton Pier. At the gun it was the Burbecks that slipped into the lead, but they were soon overtaken by Ross Elliston and Roger Glass. These two Laser rivals were having a real ding dong battle, and exchanging places on every lap. They were closely followed by two more Lasers sailed by Alan Gimes and Paul Skerman. Sidewinder was doing his best to catch 'Ruined Dude', but with little success. Some 'of the other Lasers were harrying Sidewinder, John Loake being one of the main contenders, even though he had capsized once. Reg Jones and John Bayless were hard on the heels of Loake. Se toe procession went round and round the circuit. After the third lap the race was shortened, with Roger Glass well ahead of the others. At the finish line he was over a minute in front of the next boat, Ross Elliston's Laser. Ross, in turn, finished just under a minute ahead of the third man, Alan Gimes. Alan had just scraped in front of the Burbecks. Paul Skerman was next, and was close enough to the Albacore to beat it on handicap: Sidewinder was unable to finish far enough ahead of John Loake to save the handicap, giving John the 7th place. Reg Jones also crept through on handicap, pushing Sidewinder back into 9th place. John Bayless finished 10th.

page 29

finished 10th./
By the time the second race started the tide was ebbing quite strongly. The wind was very light, blowing from the west. In order to give a good long beat the start was from a committee boat: the committee boat being the Kent Police patrol boat 'Alexandra II'. Once again the Burbecks made an excellent start and slipped into the lead, from the middle of the line. Then they spotted Charlie Jordan sailing well in towards the shore. Realising, that Charlie knew these waters a lot better than they did, John and Liz decided to follow him shorewards. It was soon obvious that the Albacores had done the right thing. They, and the other boats that had followed them, were making good progress by short tacking right along the shore, whilst the boats that stayed further out were finding it a struggle to beat the tide, especially when the wind started to drop off. The leading pack tacked their way past the clubhouse and then right up to the stone pier before tacking seawards to reach the windward mark, which was set just off the end the pier. The strength of the tide was felt by those boats once they poked their bows out beyond the end of the pier, and many them were swept to leeward of the mark before they could get round it. Once downstream of the mark they had the greatest difficulty in fighting their way back. Those boats that stayed offshore for the whole of the first leg were slowly tacking backwards and forwards and making very little headway.

Two Albacores and four Lasers managed to negotiate that illusive windward mark, but the rest of the fleet were really struggling to reach it, let alone get round it. Big John Bayless reached it OK, but was then swept down onto the mark by the tide. The wind then dropped and he was unable to re-round it. Chris Lambert was doing well until he got within spitting distance of that mark. He then stopped dead in his tracks, with no wind. He was then seen trying to get back into the shelter of the pier. From there he was able to gain sufficient speed to counteract the force of the tide, and eventually rounded that first mark. Sidewinder had sailed the first leg away from the shore and paid the penalty by being amongst the back markers. The wind did pipe up a little eventually, but by that time the leading boats were half way along the windward leg for the second lap. So they were almost lapping the tail-enders when the race was shortened. The Burbecks finished almost 4 minutes ahead of Charlie Jordan and Ross Elliston. Alan Gimes was next home, about 12 Minutes behind Elliston. John Loake and Roger Glass came in almost neck and neck, with Loake just in front. Sidewinder was the next boat to finish, but over 6 minutes behind Glass. He had managed to overtake Chris Lambert and Desborough just before the finish line. On handicap the two leading Albacores were split by Ross Elliston. His second place in this race was good enough to win him the title for this regatta.

The prizes for this event were later presented by the Kent Police A.C.C., Mr.Hallett. Although the first prize went to an Albacore, the Lasers did very well and had four boats in the first five places.

SIDEWINDER

- - - - - - - - - -oooo0oooo- - - - - - - - - -

P.A.A. SAILING CHAMPIONSHIPS 1982
The 82 Championships are to be hosted by the Leicestershire Police. They have arranged to have a two day meeting on the 24th and 25th June, at Rutland Water Sailing Club. There is plenty of room for everybody that wishes to attend, and there is no restriction on launching times (as there is at some seaside sites). Camping will be allowed adjacent to the club. Book those dates now.

page 30

BRITISH POLICE LASER SAILING ASSOCIATION CHAMPIONSHIPS - 81

1st	Elliston	Met	ž	2	3	=	2ž
2nd	Glass	Met	3	3	ž	=	3ž
3rd	Westall	S Wales	4	ž	4	=	4ž
4th	Wilcock	Sussex	2	5	5	=	7
5th	Sivers	Northants	5	7	2	=	7
6th	Gooch	Met	8	4	8	=	12
7th	Skerman	Sussex	6	6	10	=	12
8th	Woolger	Sussex	7	11	6	=	13
9th	Jordan	Kent	10	10	7	=	17
10th	Stott	Met	9	8	11	=	17
11th	Bishop	Met	11	9	9	=	18
12th	Gerrard	Met	12	12	12	=	24

This years Police Laser Championships were held on Thursday, 1st October, at Queen Mary Sailing Club, Ashford, Middlesex. It was organised by the founder of this event, Stan Laurenson-Batten. Stan has recently retire and has therefore handed over job of Hon. Sec. to Dick Sivers of the Northamptonshire Police. So this will be the last meeting actually organised by Stan. Though no fault of his, the numbers were down this year. But nonetheless, the meeting is still a popular one, well enjoyed by all those that took part. More publicity in the future is sure to bring the number of entries back up. Next year it will probably be held at Pitsford Reservoir Sailing Club, near Northampton. But more about that in the future.

Five different Forces were represented, the most distant being South Wales. The Met team produced six boats, two of those were helmed by 'new faces' in the shape of PCs Stott (Staines) and Gerrard (Brixton). Gerrard is better known on the athletics field, and has represented Great Britain in the 110 metres hurdles against Sweden, Germany, Norway, Belgium and Scotland. We welcome them to police sailing and hope to see more of them in the coming year. There were one or two helmsmen to whom the Laser is an unfamiliar vehicle. As expected, they managed to get into all sorts of difficulties, but had a whale of a time in between. Fortunately for them the wind did not get above force 3. Otherwise they would have got very wet indeed. The weather remained warm and sunny during the racing.

The first race was a battle between Ross Elliston, Chris Wilcock and Roger Glass. Ross lead at the end of the first lap. Chris then overtook him and lead for laps two and three, but was overtaken by Ross just before the finish. Roger Glass was unable to get past the leading pair and finished third. But he did manage to fend of the challenge of Derek Westall and dick Sivers, who finished 4th and 5th respectively.

At the start of the second race Charlie Jordan was over the line and had to re-round it. It was Derek Westall that got the better start and lead at the windward mark. He was harried by Ross Elliston and Roger Glass throughout the race but was never overtaken. Len Gooch, a novice at Laser sailing, decided to tag along behind Ross Elliston, to see how it should be done. However, he did become rather confused when he actually overtook Ross on the reach. This confusion did not last long, because Ross soon got back in front again, and Len was happy to follow in his wake. These tactics seemed to pay off because Len finished 4th ahead of Chris Wilcock, Paul Skerman and Dick Sivers. Roger Glass kept ahead of Elliston for two laps, but slipped back a place by the finish to be third. During the race Chris Wilcock managed to collide with Clive bishop and had to perform a 720ş penalty.

page 31

penalty./
In the third race Ross Elliston made a good start and was the first on to reach the windward mark. But then he spoiled it all by capsizing. Len Gooch also spoiled things for himself at the start by getting his mainsheets caught around the corner of the transome of his Laser (you never have that trouble in an Albacore!) and almost capsized. But Ross did not let his ducking get him down. He gradually picked his way through the fleet and finished up 3rd, behind Dick Sivers. It was Roger Glass that got everything together and lead from the second lap onwards. The wind was swinging round to the north during this last race and the Race Officer caused some confusion when he moved the wing mark after the second lap. The 1eading boats set off in the wrong direction and the Race Officer had to signal the rescue boat to redirect them to the correct mark. The wind also caused some excitement at the Gybe Mark. Paul Skerman and Len Gooch were seen tearing past this mark, side by side, both unable to gybe. Len tried to go the other way, by wearing round. He got round somehow, but was completely out of control. He than found himself heading straight for Clive Bishop and a bunch of other boats. But a capsize was averted, and eventually control was regained, and the race carried on. It was no wonder, after that performance, that Gooch could only finish 8th, just ahead of his team-mate Clive, The three 'W's', Westall, Wilcock and Woolger, finished 4th, 5th and 6th.

So the title want to Ross Elliston, with another M.P.S.C. helm second, Roger Glass. The third prize went to South Wales, Derek Westall. Each of them won one of the races.

SIDEWINDER

- - - - - - - - - -oooo0oooo- - - - - - - - - -

THE SUSSEX PURSUIT RACE - 81

After two years the Sussex Pursuit, a team match between the Sussex Police and the Metropolitan Police sailing sections, was held on Tuesday 29th September, at Chichester Harbour. It had originally been due to be held on the 30th. But, due too the British Police Laser Sailing Associa4tin Championships being held on the 1st October, the Sussex organizer thought that it would be a good idea to move it forward by one day. But there was some communication difficulties about the announcement of this change, and some of the Met entries were only told about it one day before the race was due to take place. There was some panic telephoning done on the Monday and some very short noticed changes of duty arranged for a Met team to attend at all. Even then only three boats from the M.P.S.C. were able to get there. They were the Laser of Roger Glass, the Mirror of Dick Povey, and the Albacore of Len Gooch and Clive Bishop. In order to even the teams up a bit, one the Sussex Toppers sailed as a member of the Met team. So there were four boats against four.

The weather was perfect. The sun shone and the wind blew strong enough for the crews to make some effort to keep the boats level. The race started from Cobnor Hard at about 11-30 hours. From there the boats had a hard beat down to East Head, against the tide. The Lasers were the first to show in the lead, but
once out in the middle of the harbour it was the two-man boats that had the advantage of the extra crew-weight. By the time the teams reached the East Head Racing Mark, Sidewinder, the Albacore, was well in the lead. The Lark against which it was matched was finding the wind a little too strong. Roger Glass was leading the Lasers. From East Head they had to head back upstream past Cobnor, Itchenor and Birdham to Dell Quay, there to finish at the local hostelry. Slowly but surely, Roger was making ground on Sidewinder. At Dell Quay itself, they were neck and neck, and as they rounded the quay the wind shadow caused the Albacore to stop dead, and the Laser slipped by and reached the beach first. Dick Povey found the wind too much for him in his single handed Mirror and was just beaten by the Topper he was matched against. The Topper won his match. So the contest was won by the Met team by 3 to 1.

SIDEWINDER

page 32

SOUTH WALES POLICE REGATTA - 1981

1	D Westall	S Wales	Laser	ž	ž	dns	=	1˝
2	Gooch/Bishop	Metro	Albacore	4	3	2	=	5
3	R Sivers	Northants	Laser	R	2	3	=	5
4	C Lambert	Beds	Solo	2	4	5	=	6
5	R Jones	Beds	Laser	R	6	4	=	10
6	M Riley	Devon/Cornwall	Laser	D	12	ž	=	12ž
7	Nordquist/Phillips	Devon/Cornwall	Lark	R	7	7	=	14
8	R Glass	Metro	Laser	D	5	9	=	14
9	S Batten	Metro	Laser	3	12	dns	=	15
10	S Roberts	S Wales	Laser	R	12	6	=	18
11	Jones/Hawkins	S Wales	Albacore	R	12	dns	=
12	Bowen/Acton	S Wales	GP 14	R	dns	dns	=
12	G David	S Wales	Laser	R	dns	dns	=

Last year the South Wales Police held their first sailing regatta at the end of September. he venue was the sailing water of the Steel Company of Wales Sailing Club at Margham, near Port Talbot. 'This is a large lake that runs alongside the M4 Motorway in that area, near junction 38, just north of the steel works, themselves. They had only 9 boats enter for that meeting, mainly due to the weather forecast which promised force 8 gales. Of those 9, only 2 came from visitors.

So it was with some trepidation that the date for this years regatta was fixed for the 8th of October. Mike Jones and Derek Westall did a lot of advertising to make sure that the '81 event was fully supported. However, the weather seemed determined to play a dominant role once again, and strong winds Were promised. In spite of that, this years entry list went up to 13 boats. This time the visitors outnumbered the locals by 8 to 5. There were 2 boats from Bedfordshire, 2 from Devon and Cornwall, 3 from the M.P.S.C. and one from Northamptonshire. Many of the visitors travelled over to Wales the day before the race, but the Met contingent arrived et Margham at about 9 o'clock that Thursday morning. It was raining, and the wind was whistling off the Bristol Chanel at force 7, gusting 8. None of the crews seemed to be in any hurry to get changed into their sailing gear, or get their boats rigged. Instead they sought the comfort of the small clubhouse, and a cup of hot tea or coffee.

One by one the boats, crews and officials arrived and viewed the conditions With quizzical eye. Would they sail in that wind, or not? The Race Officer Mr John Lockett, of the local club, eventually made his decision. He would start the first race at 11-30 hours. Boats were rigged by reluctant skippers and even more reluctant crews. They eyed each other, hoping that someone would be brave enough to refuse to go out. However, most of them had travelled a long way to get there and they had come to sail, and sail they would. The hardened West Countrymen were dead keen to get on the water, and the Met men would not loose face by staying on the shore. Chris Lambert was not too keen to risk his boat, but if the Lasers could do it, then so could he. In the end they all got ready to sail. Sails were raised with some difficulty, as they began to flog about the minute the wind got to them. Sidewinder, the Met Albacore, decided to be discrete and kept his jib furled and sailed on the mainsail alone. This made the boat more difficult to point and to tack, but at least they could hold the boat upright. Stan Batten had arranged to borrow a Laser from the local club, and seemed to be quite at home with it, and was soon thrashing backwards and forwards on the start line. Roger Glass too seemed well

well /
able to handle these conditions. But many of the crews were find life on the water a little trying. When the race got started it was Stan Batten, Derek Westall and Mike Riley that set the pace. However, Stan's lead was short lived. On the second leg he capsized and managed to get his mast stuck in the mud. Try as he might he was unable to free it. As it was a borrowed boat he did not try his usual trick of jumping up and down on the dagger board. He just sat there on the end of his boat waiting for for his weight to overcome the suction of the mud. So he had a grandstand view of the rest of the fleet sailing past him on that first reach. He told us afterwards that as he started that reach he went to raise the dagger board but it came right the way out of the slot. He then lost control and went in. It was the local boy, Derek Westall that lead from then on, with Riley hard on his heels. Roger Glass was trying hard to catch them. Eventually Stan freed himself from the lake bottom and took up the challenge once again. George Bowen was forced to retire when the shroud pulled away from the top of his mast and his mast was broken. Nordquist and Phillips also retired when they found that their buoyancy compartments became water-logged after a capsize in the Lark. They had forgotten to put the bungs in! There were capsizes galore and one by one the field was reduced. By the time the Race Officer shortened the race there were only 6 boats still sailing and two of these were disqualified for not sailing the correct course. They were Roger Glass and Mike Riley. The race was won by Derek Westall with Chris Lambert 2nd. Stan Batten pulled back up to 3rd. Early on in the first race Sidewinder collided with the rear of Roger Glass's Laser at the windward mark. The Albacore admitted liability and pulled over to do the 720 degree penalty turns. Normally that can be done without too much delay. But not in that weather and not with only the mainsail in use. They got into all sorts of trouble and took ages to sort themselves out. They ended up at the back of the fleet for their sins.

After a much needed rest and a free lunch of sausages and mash, the competitors felt better to face another race. The wind had reduced a little but not much. 11 boats took to the water just before the start. The crews were only going afloat at the very last minute in order to conserve their energy. The Lark of Devon & Cornwall Police was sporting a reefed mainsail and jib. Sidewinder was still playing it cool with their jib still furled. The course was the same as for the first race. Derek Westall took the lead at the start and stayed there for the whole race. Mike Riley was trying to make up for his mistake in the first race, but his luck was out. The strong winds flicked the battens out of his sail and he retired. Stan Batten was doing well until he started to get cramp in his hands because he felt so cold and he too retired. Dick Sivers, last year's winner of this event showing better form in this race and finished 2nd. Sidewinder managed not to collide with any boats this time and in spite of a near capsize they finished 3rd - and they actually used their jib on the last lap.

Only 8 boats braved the last race. The winds had reduced to force 5 gusting 6. Derek Westall, with two wins under his belt did not have to sail. That left it clear for Mike Riley to show the fleet what he could do when the battens stayed in the sail. He took an early lead, hotly pursued by Dick Sivers and sidewinder. Roger Glass was unlucky when the mainsheet coupling came apart from the end of the boom and he had to stop and make a repair. By using both sails Sidewinder overtook Sivers and managed to finish just far enough in front to beat him on handicap. Mike Riley finished first, Sidewinder 2nd and Dick Sivers 3rd.

So there it was! Three wild and windy races. All very exciting! All those that had taken party really would know that they had been sailing hard when they woke up the following day. But it was good to finish this last police race for 1981 on a high note.

The title went to Derek Westall of the local force. The second prize went to the combination of Len Gooch and Clive Bishop. The third prize went to Northampton's very own, Dick Sivers (ex Met you know!). The prizes were presented at the police social club at Bridgend by Mr Norman Chappell, the ACC of South Wales Police.

If anyone has a hard copy of this or other old MPSC 'Gybe Oh' newsletters, please contact 'Barnacle Bill'.

Commodore:	Deputy Assistant Commissioner J A Dellow, O.B.E. (Inspectorate)
Vice Commodore:	Chief Inspector Dan Glen	(Cadet Centre)
Hon. Secretary:	Inspector John Burbeck	(EO) also Treasurer
Asst. Secretary:	Inspector Dave Thomson	(FF)
Press Secretary:	PC 480 Q Clive Bishop	(QD)
Information Officer:	PC 679X Derek Wyeth	(XR)

Committee Members:	PC 295 Q Ross Elliston	(QH)
	PS 13 X Steve Fillery	(XW) Cruising Rep.
	PC 907 TD Len Gooch	(TDV)
	Ch Inspector Peter Moore	(FS) P.A.A. Rep.

RESULTS
	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Final Result
1	Martin Walker, Solo Avon & Somerset	Walker	Batten	Walker
2	Stan Batten, Laser Metro	Batten	Burbeck	Batten
3	Derek Westall, Laser South Wales	Bramhall	Elliston	Bramhall
4	R Bramhall, Enterprise Greater Manchester	Norman	Westall	Westall
5	John Neaverson, Merlin Nottinghamshire	Westall	Bramhall	Burbeck
6	Roger Glass, Laser Metro	Nelson Gtr Manchester	Neaverson	Neaverson
7	John Burbeck, Albacore Metro	Sturdy West Mids	Roberts South Wales	Elliston
8	Ross Elliston, Laser Metro	Burbeck	Norman	Norman
9	Geoffrey Norman, Laser Nottinghamshire	Larson	Abbott	Glass
10	Ian Larson, Laser West Midlands	Glass	Tucker Dorset	Roberts
The team prize was won by the Met team.

METROPOLITAN POLICE REGATTA - 1981
Position	Helm	Force	Class	R1	R2	R3		Pts
1	D & A Glen	Metro	Albacore 6403	2	3	ž	=	2ž
2	J & E Burbeck	"	" 6649	4	ž	3	=	3ž
3	S Batten	"	Laser 10101	3	2	6	=	5
4	R Elliston	"	" 75119	9	6	2	=	8
5	M Walker	Avon/Somerset	Solo 2813	ž	12	8	=	8ž
6	Gooch/Bishop	Metro	Albacore 442	7	4	5	=	9
7	D Westall	S Wales	Laser 58010	6	5	10	=	11
8	S Gathercole	Notts	" 43302	5	8	21	=	13
9	M Palmer	Dorset	Osprey 1175	22	11	4	=	15
10	C Wilcock	Sussex	Laser 61738	14	10	7	=	17
11	D Langton	T Valley	" 54470	8	9	11	=	17
12	R Glass	Metro	" 91527	13	7	14	=	20
13	J Bayless	"	" 61695	10	13	18	=	23
14	D Jones	Sussex	Graduate 2511	11	15	34	=	26
15	A Ross	Metro	Mirror 48732	18	21	9	=	27
16	H Nicholson	Beds	Solo 1968	16	31	12	=	28
17	B Tucker	Dorset	OK 1356	19	19	13	=	32
18	N Woolgar	Sussex	Laser 32511	24	17	15	=	32
19	D Abbott	Metro	Merlin 3685	12	20	21	=	32
20	B Hudson	Herts	Solo 2198	17	16	34	=	33
21	P Skerman	Sussex	Laser 72570	15	18	34	=	33
22	S Roberts	S Wales	" 75333	20	14	34	=	34
23	D Coleman	Metro	Mirror 43150	23	27	16	=	39
24	A Round	Kent	" 26428	26	24	17	=	41
25	C Jordan	"	Spearhead 16	30	23	21	=	44
26	C Nicholson	Beds	Topper 6315	27	28	19	=	46
27	W Lacey	Metro	Wayfarer 6528	32	30	20	=	50
28	J Glayley	"	" 6527	21	29	34	=	50
29	B Stott	"	Fireball 189	29	22	34	=	51
30	R Fosberry	Leics	Enterprise 6907	25	26	34	=	51
31	J Allen	Notts	Merlin 2527	34	24	34	=	58
32	R Varley	Herts	Laser 67116	28	31	34	=	59
33	N Pain	T Valley	GP14 11192	31	31	34	=	62