'GYBE OH' -
This Newsletter of the Metropolitan Police Sailing Club was originally circulated in Spring, 1982
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THE MAGAZINE OF THE METROPOLITAN POLICE SAILING CLUB
Hon. Sec: John Burbeck (Det/Insp) Holborn Police Station 70 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8SD |
Editor: Len Gooch (PC) Surbiton Police Garage Hollyfield Road Surbiton, Surrey |
OFFICERS and COMMITTEE
Commodore: | Deputy Assistant Commissioner J A Dellow, O.B.E. (Inspectorate) | |
Vice Commodore: | Chief Inspector Dan Glen | (Cadet Centre) |
Hon. Secretary: | Detective Inspector John Burbeck | (EO) |
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. | |
PC John Stickland | (IW) R.Y.A. Rep. |
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Editorial Spring 1982
The A.G.M. of the
Metropolitan Police Sailing Club for 1981 was held on 14th December at C.O. I,
for one, was surprised to hear that the club had only 29 paid up members last
year. All the club's officers volunteered to stand for the 82 season, and were
duly elected. John Stickland was elected onto the committee to re-place Stan
Batten, who retired from the job last year. John also volunteered to take over
the office of R.Y.A. representative.
The P.A.A. Championships was the first item on the agenda. The M.P.A.A. will be
asked to enter a team of 8 boats for 1982, 4 single handers and 4 crewed boats.
This years champs. are to be held at Rutland Water Sailing Club, to be organized
by the Leicestershire Police. Although it is an inland reservoir conditions
can become extremely rough. So those of you that do attend this event, be
prepared.
John Stickland has designed a club burgee, suitable for cruising rather than
dinghy racing. It has the Metropolitan Police Crest in white on a dark blue
ground, and has a blue And white checkered band down the left hand edge. It
looks very impressive on paper. They would make handsome presentation gifts. But
before
John can go ahead and get some made, a sample most be submitted to the job (as
it has the Crest thereon). If the go ahead is given, they will be about £4-50
each.
The club's Enterprise METROGNOME has always been a point of argument at A.G.M.s.
There have been many points for and against having it. Last year it was used
twice. It was suggested therefore that it be sold and a Laser bought instead. It
was felt that the Laser Would be more competitive and therefore more likely to
be used. A roof-rack would have to be purchased if the M.P.A.A. agrees to this
suggestion.
The M.P.S.C. are hoping to enter a team in the infamous THREE PEAKS RACE this
Year. For those of you that have never heard of it, it is a race Which combines
"yachting and climbing" (to quote the Daily Telegraph). The idea is to climb the
highest peaks in Wales, England and Scotland, in-that order, and to sail from
one to the other as close as possible. There is usually a team of 5, and 2 of
those have to do the actual climbing. Although it is an open event it has become
looked upon as an inter Services Competition, with the Royal Marines playing a
leading role. Last year the Merseyside Police took part, and are doing so again
this year.
The race begins at Barmouth, North Wales, on June 10th. From there the teams
have to sail to Caernarfon, which is about 60 miles. The climbers then have to
land and race to the to of Snowdon, 3560 feet high, and then back again. Their
boat cannot set sail again until both men have returned. When they do, they then
sail the 70 miles to Ravenglass. Here the climbers have to race over 34 miles in
order to reach the top of Scarfell Pike, 3210 feet, and return. They then have a
long sea passage of 260 miles to reach Fort William, over one of the trickiest
and hazardest stretches of water in the world. Ben Nevis has then to be climbed
before the teams can rest their weary bones. Not an event to be taken lightly.
Chief Inspector Beck and a dedicated team of runners (or should I say climbers)
have been training all winter for this race. They deserve all the support they
can get.
John Stickland has organized the sailing side of the event, and a tremendous
amount of work he has put into it. The M.P.A.A. felt that they could not support
the race financially, so it has to be self financing. The boat to be used is an
Oyster 37, and this has been chartered from Southampton for a month. It
therefore has to be sailed from Southampton to Barmouth for the start of the
race, and then from Fort William back to Southampton afterwards. The cost Of the
boat is about £15,000. To bring back some of that money it was suggested that
berths could be purchased for the long trips up to Wales and back from Scotland.
It would be ideal for anyone trying to obtain his Sailing Master's ticket, or
for just having a
jolly good sail at reasonable cost. If anyone is really interested, then John
Stickland is the man to see.
SIDEWINDER
page 3
In addition to the help
the race-team gets in delivering the boat to Barmouth, and collecting it again
from Fort William, they will also require land-side support during the actual
'climbs'. This will be in the form of refreshment and encouragement, possible
first aid and then with hot food and drinks and transport at the end of the
race, Quite a lot of people are required to give the back-up in such an event.
It is no wonder that it has become the forte of the Armed Services.
Of the 80 teams that applied to enter the 1982 race, only 35 were selected.
Amongst those are two all-girl teams and two police teams. It will be
interesting to see which of them come off best. So when you read of the event in
the newspapers, or see it on the T.V., think of the effort that has gone into it
by all concerned, and wish them well.
The cruising section of the M.P.S.C. have two races off-shore lined up for the
near future. They are the De-Guingand Bowl Race starting from Gosport on 14th of
May, and the Cowes to Deauville Race starting from Cowes on 26th of May. Dave
Thomson is to skipper the boat in the former racer with Keith Bateman as
navigator. The details of the crew in the Deauville race are not to hand. The
boats will be carrying a crew of 7 or 8. There is obviously quite a lot of
interest in off-shore cruising and racing in the Met. This is shown by the
increasing number of cruising members joining the M.P.S.C.
One of the more famous off-shore sailors in the Police Service is Peter
Phillips, from the Devon and Cornwall Police. He has taken part in 2 trans
Atlantic races, and many other long distance events. He has a great experience
of the sea. I heard of his latest challenge on B.B.C. radio when he was
interviewed at the Boat Show. It would seem that he wishes to take part in this
years Round Britain Race. In order to do well he needs a fast multi-hull. These
craft are very expensive. He was unable to find a sponsor, so he decided to
build his own boat. John Shuttleworth, a leading multi-hull designer agreed to
draw up the plans for a fast trimaran of fibreglass and foam sandwich
construction. Peter then advertised in his local town of Exmouth for volunteers
to help him build it from scratch. The idea was to make it a local effort, both
boat and crew, to challenge the might of off-shore racers. It certainly touched
the imagination of the Devon people, and volunteers came from far and wide to
assist with the project. Their keenness was
severely tested by the very cold winter weather, but despite the snow and ice,
the work went on. All sorts of people came to help. He even got the boys from
the local approved school to come along and help with the rubbing down, etc.
Peter hopes to have the trimaran finished in plenty of time for the race in the
summer. So watch out for the results, and give our Devon colleagues your support
if you actually see any of the racing. Peter also enjoys dinghy racing and has
taken part in several events organized by the police.
This years Metropolitan Police Regatta will now be held at Queen Mary Sailing
Club at Ashford, Middlesex, on Wednesday 16th June. An earlier date was asked
for, but Queen Mary's were unable to help on that day. Dan Glen will probably be
the Race Officer, and will be very thankful to anyone that can assist him on the
day. Assistant Race Officers will be required, as well as a 'beach party' and
scribes to check and record the entries. So if you're free on the 16th but do
not wish to sail, then why not come along and support the club in some other
way. Crews will also be required to man the rescue boats. If you would like to
assist then please contact John Burbeck, Dan Glen or myself. The first race
should start at about 11 o'clock.
For those of you that have not renewed your membership for the '82 season you
will find a new style membership form in this magazine. Please send it to the
M.P.A.A. Office, not to the Hon. Sec. of the M.P.S.C. Someone did suggest at the
A.G.M. raising the fee to £5, but that was out-Voted. So it remains £3.
Dave Abbott has been selected to take part as one of the English team in this
years Contender World Championships. They will be held in Holland during the
month of June. Do well David!
page 4
WEST MIDLANDS POLICE REGATTA - 1982
1st | J & E Burbeck | Metro | Merlin 3065 | ¾ | 3 | 8 | = | 2¾ |
2 | D Westall | S Wales | Laser 75245 | 5 | 2 | 2 | = | 4 |
3 | G Norman | Notts | Laser 43330 | 4 | 4 | ¾ | = | 4¾ |
4 | R Glass | Metro | Laser 102722 | 3 | 8 | 3 | = | 6 |
5 | Gooch/Bishop | Metro | Albacore 442 | 7 | ¾ | 6 | = | 6¾ |
6 | R Sivers | Northants | Laser 83524 | 6 | 9 | 5 | = | 11 |
7 | R Bramhall | G.M.P. | Enterprise 10932 | 2 | 10 | 11 | = | 12 |
8 | C Lambert | Beds | Solo 3350 | 10 | 5 | 9 | = | 14 |
9 | J Nearverson | Notts | Merlin 2905 | 8 | 7 | 13 | = | 15 |
10 | J Nelson | G.M.P. | Laser 56240 | 9 | 11 | 7 | = | 16 |
11 | J Larson | W Mids | Laser 6329 | 12 | 14 | 4 | = | 16 |
12 | P Walters | Notts | Laser 3998 | 14 | 6 | 41 | = | 20 |
13 | R Jones | Beds | Laser 36094 | 13 | 17 | 10 | = | 23 |
14 | D Thursfield | W Mids | GP14 9952 | 16 | 12 | 12 | = | 24 |
15 | J Allen | Notts | Merlin 2927 | 11 | 14 | 31 | = | 25 |
16 | R Saunders | W Mids | Merlin 2513 | 17 | 13 | 17 | = | 30 |
17 | R Edwards | W Mids | Merlin 3273 | 24 | 16 | 14 | = | 30 |
18 | E Meadows | Humberside | Wayfarer 6932 | 18 | 22 | 15 | = | 33 |
19 | M Hudson | G.M.P. | Laser 46242 | 19 | 18 | 16 | = | 34 |
20 | J Humber | Lancs | GP14 11088 | 15 | 23 | 19 | = | 34 |
21 | J Benson | Lancs | Albacore 1294 | 22 | 19 | 20 | = | 39 |
22 | P Bashford | W Mids | Enterprise 6747 | 36 | 21 | 18 | = | 39 |
23 | T Frith | W Mids | Fireball 4675 | 20 | 20 | 23 | = | 40 |
24 | R Stone | S Yorks | Enterprise 18073 | 20 | 26 | 22 | = | 42 |
25 | J Kay | S Yorks | Fireball 12372 | 25 | 24 | 21 | = | 45 |
26 | J Savage | Leics | Enterprise 9417 | 23 | 25 | 31 | = | 48 |
27 | S Bates | W Mids | Laser 69022 | 27 | 26 | 25 | = | 51 |
28 | M Wood | G.M.P. | Enterprise 7451 | 36 | 28 | 24 | = | 52 |
29 | R Tutchings | W Mids | Enterprise 17166 | 28 | 30 | 26 | = | 54 |
30 | W Drew | Beds | Skipper 904 | 26 | 29 | 31 | = | 55 |
31 | D Abbott | Metro | Contender 346 | 31 | 36 | 36 | = | 67 |
As you can see from the list above there was a good turnout for this years West
Midlands Police Open Meeting. It, was held on Thursday 22nd April, at Chasewater
Sailing Club. The weather was almost too good to be true for this time of the
year, with sunshine and light winds. It was just right for the first police
meeting of the season, easy on those stiff muscles. However, there was some
early morning fog, and this caused problems for the competitors using the M6
Motorway. They were held up in heavy traffic congestion due to accidents in the
fog.
Eleven Forces were represented plus 2 police pensioners ( Chris Lambert and Bob
Saunders). Bob has only just left the job and is now working for the local
authority. He states that he hopes to take part in as many police meetings as
possible, but may not find it so easy to get time off. There would have been
another pensioner present, except that Stan Batten was in hospital having
an'operation on his troublesome ear. We hope that the operation will be a
success and that he will soon be up and about once more.
The Met contingent consisted of Elizabeth Burbeck, (who was taking a day off
from her studies for a Masters degree in Psychology) and her husband John,
sailing their Merlin Rocket PSYCHIC; Dave Abbott sailing the Contender he
acquired last year; Roger Glass with a brand new Laser (number 102722); and that
pair of old reprobates Len Gooch and Clive Bishop, still sailing SIDEWINDER:
page 5
Dave Abbott was out of
luck on this particular occasion. He arrived at Chasewater with the engine of
his Car, a Lancia coupe, badly misfiring. He suspected that one of the valves
had dropped (not a do it yourself job!). So he called in the AA. One of their
patrolmen duly arrived - looked - shook his head - and called for the A.A. Relay
Service. The Relay truck arrived far too promptly for Dave to get
in a day's sailing, and he left the club in the truck (with his Contender hooked
on the back) soon after the first race. Poor old David.
It was to be a three race meeting but this was slightly changed when the race
Officer decided to alter the course for the third race. One of the marks he
included was number 4. The trouble only came to light after the race had started
when the leading boats were unable to find the number 4 buoy. The one that had
been pointed out to them as number 4 had a number 5 painted on it. This caused
no end of confusion. The leaders went in search of the missing number 4, whilst
most of the other competitors treated number 5 as number 4 and carried on
racing. The Race Officer eventually realised that the race could not go on like
that and called a halt. When all the competitors had been contacted the race was
re-run, using the number 5 mark, and all was well.
The racing was very close, and in the final results only one point separated the
first three boats. Only ¾ point separated the next two boats. A different boat
won each of the three races. One of the outstanding. boats, although not a prize
winner, was Rod Bramhall from Greater Manchester, sailing that well known
Enterprise PEN-Y-LESS. He was up amongst the front runners for the whole of the
first race and beat the whole field save one, on handicap. Dick Sivers gained a
5th and a 6th place in his Laser to come 6th overall. Chris Lambert, sailing a
brand new Solo, gained a 5th and a 9th place to come 8th overall. 7th was the
Enterprise PEN-Y-LESS.
The meeting was won by the Metropolitan Police crew of Elizabeth and John
Burbeck in the Merlin Rocket PSYCHIC. They sailed impeccably in the light
condition, making full use of their spinnaker. They won the first race and came
third in the second race. They discarded an 8th place.
The second prize went to Derek Westall from South Wales, sailing a Laser. When
he greeted us on our arrival in the morning he was telling us now poorly he had
been sailing at his home club during the winter. (Was it all porky pies, or does
he have some very good Laser sailors at the Steel Works sailing club ?). At
Chasewater he sailed consistently well, gaining two 2nd places and discarding a
5th.
The third prize, was won by Geoff Norman from Nottingham, sailing another Laser.
Geoff revels in light weather conditions. He showed his skill by winning the
last race and coming 4th in the other two. (If there had been no discards he
would have taken the first prize !)
The fourth prize went to the Met in the form of Roger Glass, sailing a brand new
Laser. Roger is a born competitor and puts his heart and soul into trying to
win. He was the leading Laser to finish in the first race, and gained a 3rd
place He also gained a 3rd place in the last race, but had two other Lasers
ahead of him.
The last of the prizes went to yet another Met boat, that ancient Albacore.
SIDEWINDER, sailed by Len Gooch and Clive Bishop. In the second race they
somehow managed to keep close enough to the Burbecks, and far enough ahead of
Derek Westall, to win the race on handicap. They were 6th in the last race, and
discarded a 7th place.
SIDEWINDER
page 6
APRIL | 22nd | West Midlands Police Regatta | Chasewater S C |
MAY | 11th | Thames Valley Police Regatta | Maidenhead S C |
14th | De Guingand Bowl Race | Gosport | |
28th | Cowes - Deauville Race | Cowes | |
JUNE | 9th | Hertfordshire Police Regatta | Grafham Water S C |
16th | Metropolitan Police Regatta | Queen Mary S C | |
10th | Three Peaks Race | Barmouth, North Wales | |
24/25th | POLICE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION SAILING CHAMPS | Rutland Water S C | |
JULY | 8th | Hampshire Police Regatta | Eastney C C, Southsea |
21/22nd | Dorset Police Regatta | Poole Y C | |
AUGUST | 4th | Sussex Police Regatta | Bexhill S C |
4th | South Yorkshire Police Regatta | Ogston Reservoir, Clay Cross | |
25th | Bedfordshire Police Regatta | Stewartby S C | |
SEPT | 6th | Nottinghamshire Police Regatta | Retford Argonauts S C |
6th | Sussex Pursuit | Cobnor | |
16th | Kent Police Regatta | Hampton Pier S C | |
22nd | British Police Laser Sailing Association Champs | Middle Nene C C, Thrapston | |
23rd | Northamptonshire Police Regatta | " | |
OCT | 2nd | Devon & Cornwall Police Open | Mayflower S C, Plymouth |
Every endeavour is made to print the dates as given to me by the various sailing clubs concerned, but they are subject to cancellation or change (and mistakes). So please do check before travelling a long distance to any of the above events. May you all have an enjoyable years sailing. |
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Newsletter scanned December 2011