TAVISTOCK sailor Rob Burnham achieved a long held ambition recently, when, crewed by son, Jerry, he competed in the Flying Fifteen class at Cowes Week, in their lately acquired boat Mockingbird.
This famous regatta has a limit of 1,000 keel boats, divided into approximately 33 classes, ranging from the large Maxi class down to the National Squib at 19 feet.
Each class starts ten minutes apart, all sailing different courses not known by the crews until each class flag goes up in turn, making it a navigational exercise as well as a sailing one.
The fleet is further divided into a Black section comprising the large boats and starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron outer start lines by radio, and the White fleet starting on the inner start lines by flag and gun.
Mockingbird,the boat owned by Rob, was obtained from Norwich, but was built in Cowes by Dennis Print at Souters in 1964 for Michael Souter, and in his hands scored, it is believed, several wins.
Mr Print, who is now in his 80s, came to the club to inspect his work, and was able to provide much interesting information about the boat. She is still fast and overtook several much younger boats.
An overall position of 12th out of 21 was achieved in the total of eight races, overtaking several local boats. This was felt to be very creditable, considering she was the oldest in her class and with a crew not used to her, or to racing in the Solent which has tricky winds and tides.
During the week, four boats sank and 12 masts were broken due to rough weather on the Wednesday and Thursday.
However, the week was very much enjoyed, including the social side and it is hoped to make another visit next year.