---"It's beginning to seem as if SW 5-7 is now the standard summer forecast."---

Nah, that's rose tinted memory kicking in Cathy.

I used to do a lot of sea fishing in the late 1970s and 1908s, mostly in my old 25ft clinker built boat. July was always the month for shark fishing and this meant travelling from my mooring in Porsmouth Harbour right round the back of the Isle of Wight, it used to take hours. From late June untill mid August I would plan on going every single weekend but my missus was never that upset because she knew that half of the trips would be blown off. 

6th June 1944; how long were the allied forces delayed for beacause of bad weather?

I bet it never rained during your school summer holidays and I bet it always snowed in the winter!

I can't remember what I did on the days my fishing was blown off now but I can sure as hell remember some good days shark fishing.

Cheers

Chas

Hi Cathy

Granted, last summer was bad but the summer before was a humdinger and the one before that as I remember! And as for "the ideal days being during the week" I can remeber that frustration well from 25 years ago.

Cheers

Chas

Strange what you do remember about the weather-1977 most remember was a "scorcher" but so was 1976 but 1977 fell right during school hols. wheeras  1976 was earlier and better for longer-and I was unemployed so was out and about for most of the summer.

What about 1959-there was drought conditions across the Peninnes yet if you speak to those who lived up here in the Highlands-it rained all summer.

Take the last week up here-whilst it was hot and sunny in London it rained and we had our central heating on-with high winds on Wednesday but for past couple of days its been over 30 C.and not a breath of air until a thunderstorm this evening-Loch Ness was almost mirror calm this morning which is very unusual.

Phil

1959, was at Grammar School in Colchester, we weren't able to play Rugby that Autumn until after Christmas as the Summer was so hot and dry, the pitches were too hard to play on.

The point about the weather in the UK, is that we get a lot of it, the problem is that in vitually every year we get good and bad days, these occur at random intervals, however for most people we can only do things on fixed days, so you have our fixed periods of availabilty cycling against a fairly random event - the weather, do the maths (if you know how) and you will see that it is actually very unlikely to ever get a nice day for a sail, so if one is only a fair weather sailor, take up golf.

Hi Cathy,

The photo says it all when it comes to safety and respect for the sea / water! Re: How many of the crew of the overturned yacht have inflated life jackets or are wearing them?

Race organisers / monitors should fine all crew regsitered and or disqualify the race entry for NOT wearing lifejackets and give the income to the RNLI in order to support the enormous rescue costs borne by the RNLI and others in order to protect and saves lives at sea.

The sailing instructions for specific races have specific rules re life-jackets.Each race is different as is each boat. But from your comment I suspect you would want to insist on crew members sleeping in life-jackets.

As with all these things it is about one's individual choice and the decisions of the skipper.

I believe we can do without yet another bout of nu-labour proscription on yet another harmless person activity!!1

And as for worrying about the costs imposed on Coastguards RNLI, yoou need to appreciate that actually there is virtually no cost in individual rescues, the costs come from the equipment training etc.

And these events keep these organisations on their toes and their training up to date!

As with all these things it is about one's individual choice and the decisions of the skipper.

Or peer pressure? Its one thing not wearing them during the racing - I remember a similar situation when I was a trawler skipper - 'they' wanted us all to wear lifejackets on deck - a potentially dangerous sitaution at the time due to the size of the jackets in those days.

Sorry but there is NO excuse for not having YOUR jacket available for immediate use whatever waterborne activity you re engaged in.

W.

Agree - its important to have your safety gear to hand and the racing regulations are quite specific.

The level of safety gear and the amount of checking/scrutineering that goes on would amaze those who don't race. Any boat that has been inspected (and for most events this is mandatory) has a far higher level of both equipment and crew traing/awareness than pretty well any cruising boat.

Perhaps Cathy can let us have a list of the things she had to have onboard and the level of training her crew had to participate in before she did the Fasnet Race last year?

The RTI race is a bit of an anomoly as for quite a lot of the boats participating it will probably be the only race they participate in. Also as it is such a family affair, more of a Jamboree than a serious race for most participants, lots of people are invited - it may be the only Yacht Race they ever do (NB did you notice Lewis Hamilton on TV - I doubt he had time to do much preparation!)

I would also hazard a guess that a lot of the "emergencies" were not really that life threatening, the rescue industry likes to make a big show of itself at these events. Plus if you think about it, there were 1800 odd boats out there so there was hardly a shortage of boats to effect a rescue.

I was servicing my engine on that day but I had the radio on and there seemed to be a constant stream of maydays and pan-pans.

Plus if you think about it, there were 1800 odd boats out there so there was hardly a shortage of boats to effect a rescue. True in theory but firstly they are racing so I don't suppose they would want to give up their chances unless the situation was potentially life threatening and secondly a sailing boat is unlikely to be able to help another competitor who had for example run aground where as a boat like mine could probably do it with ease.

Chas

This is the problem with events like this, who takes resaponsibilty to rescue others?

In some ways the presence of Rescue Boats etc means that competitors actually don't stop and help.

I am reminded that (and it probably needs elaborating on and more regularly in Sailing Instructions even though its astandard part of the Racing Rules) that competitors can seek redress (ie have a time allowance) for the time spent standing by or assisting another vessel - even if that vessel is not participating in that race.

In the 1974 One Ton Cup, Gumboots ( the prototype Contessea 35 designed by Doug Peterson) being sailed by Jeremy Rogers, was leading the offshore race, it heard a Mayday and stood by a disabled yacht (not a competitor) all night until the Lifeboat arrived.

He sought redress and was awarded a fair time allowance - he went on to win the Series, just shows you not only did he build lovely yachts, but he's a proper seaman and a champion!

To complete the circle and bring us back to the topic, he has also been winning the Round the Island Race rather TOO regularly recently in his beautifully restored (and optimised dare I add) Contessa 26!

Hi David, as you realise, we were Category 2 for the Fastnet, so we had the lot: lifejackets with crotch straps and lights, safety harnesses with short and long leads, liferaft, epirb, 2 VHFs, storm jib,  trysail, etc etc. Plus all necessary training certs...

RORC rules specify lifejackets must be worn a) at night, b) when wearing foul weather gear and c) when the wind is F6 or above. This seems entirely sensible, and we now try to apply those rules all the time, although I still think a harness, with short lead so you CAN'T go over the side, is probably more important.

We have stopped in a race to pick up a crew man from another boat, and so have one or two others we know. I think it is wrong to give the impression that racers are heartless idiots who would care more about winning than saving someone's life.

Incidentally Jeremy Rogers has now sold the Contessa 26 and now has the even more immaculately restored (and doubtless optimised) Contessa 32 GiGi.