I’m told that May, in the northern hemisphere, means an end to cold, wintry winds and the rains of spring. It’s certainly been dry and relatively windless, at least for the first part of the month, but the mornings have retained a whiff of winter if you ask me! May used to be known as the month of three milkings due to the increase in daylight hours. As well as being lucky for cows, it’s also a month of good fortune for US Presidents, since none of them has died in the month of May (every other month has seen the death of a least one). Nothing as serious has afflicted us thank goodness, but there has been a mixture of good and bad fortune throughout the fleet, as you will see if you read on.
An extra opportunity to sail has been offered to the fleet, which has been taken up by several boats on Monday evenings. If you haven’t joined in yet, Patrick Keats’ report gives you a flavour of what you’re missing. He writes, “Monday night racing was lovely. The club has a great atmosphere and there is no place better to be on a beautiful summer’s evening.”
It has been an eventful month with a number of trophies having been won. However, things have never been straight forward. Crispin’s comments about the race of the 7th, “The vagaries of the wind meant that some benefitted from being in the right place at the right time, while others saw their efforts sabotaged by sudden holes or shifts”, proved to be prescient. Peter Biggs will appear in this report twice. On this occasion, it’s to celebrate (dubious word choice), his achievement of losing the biggest lead imaginable through no fault of his own. This was in the race of the 21st, which turned out to be two races in fact, since the wind stopped the entire fleet in the region of the box. Steve and Lisa were the first to skilfully remove themselves from the doldrums and crossed the line as victors. The fact that we all finished under spinnaker endorses John Lyon’s report that the conditions were tricky!
Continuing this theme, Steve Randle's very informative report about the ‘Arripaye’ pursuit race contains further confirmation of what Poole Harbour racing has been like this May. He writes, “Harry must have been proud of the trouble caused by the tricky conditions he had ordered for the day!” I’m impressed that English historians refer to him as a privateer- I’m sure the French and Spanish had other words for him!
Other reports this month have taken on a poetic slant. The limerick is a much-maligned art form, which at its best gives a very full picture in very few words. Chris and Nadia’s version is a good example. “There once was a fleet of fifteens who twice failed to start clean,” their poem began. Indeed, I think Fi, in her role as Race Officer was heard to remark in her guise as Lady Bracknell, “To make one false start is unfortunate, to make two looks like carelessness!” Our inexactitude was rewarded with the display of a ‘U’ flag for our third attempt, which many of us considered to be a lenient punishment, but my spies tell me, it was only because the black flag had gone absent without leave! As their pithy report shows, it was a long and fun race in which Ian and Mike finished as far from the madding crowd of following fifteens as you could ever want to be.
I mentioned earlier on that several trophies had been won this month, but before we get on to that, I must mention another achievement, this one of a non-sailing nature. You will have noticed that Graham and Homfray have been showing a clean pair of heels to the fleet on a regular basis this month, which make the fact that the latter celebrated his 80th birthday even more laudable. His feat was commemorated with the consumption of wonderful cake provided by Crispin. A bottle of wine was presented to Homfray, which, I’m fairly certain was younger than him! As Andrew Currell pointed out in his report, “… it was a perfect afternoon for the Flying Fifteen fleet at Parkstone.”
And so, we’ve reached the stage where we should announce the various winners this month. In an attempt to master the art of brevity displayed by Chris and Nadia (a skill in which I am conspicuously lacking!) I’ll present them in tabulated form:
| Race Winners |
Wednesday Sailors of the Month |
Graham D & Homfray |
| Graham D & Homfray |
| Richard W & Chris J |
Saturday Sailors of the Month |
Graham S & Ben/Jack |
| Steve & Lisa |
| 3966 FFFS |
Phil Owen Cup |
Richard W & Chris J |
| Ian & Kim |
| Richard W & Jack |
Sea Horse Trophy |
Graham S & Ben |
| Chris & Nadia |
| Graham S & Ben |
Basil Ellis Trophy |
Richard W & Jack |
| Richard W & Jack |
Top Ten Sailors of the Month:
May Saturdays 2025 |
| Pos |
No. |
Team |
Boats Beaten |
| 1st |
4020 |
Graham S & Ben/Jack |
54 |
| 2nd |
4115 |
Ian & Kim |
52 |
| 3rd |
4114 |
Richard Et Al |
46 |
| 4th |
3537 |
Bob & Huw |
43 |
| 5th |
3922 |
FFFS |
36 |
| 6th |
4054 |
Andy & Simon |
35 |
| 7th |
3936 |
FFFS |
31 |
| 8th |
4101 |
Crispin & Steve |
29 |
| 9th |
4088 |
Geof & Nick |
29 |
| 10th |
4058 |
Phil & Martin C |
27 |
Some other sailors deserve a mention for their efforts:
Top Ten Sailors of the Month:
May Wednesdays 2025 |
| Pos |
No. |
Team |
Boats
Beaten |
| 1st |
3934 |
Homfray & Graham |
56 |
| 2nd |
4016 |
John L & Roberta |
54 |
| 3rd |
4101 |
Steve & Crispin |
41 |
| 4th |
4054 |
Simon & Andy |
41 |
| 5th |
3936 |
FFFS |
39 |
| 6th |
3922 |
FFFS |
39 |
| 7th |
3901 |
Yung/Steve & Peter |
36 |
| 8th |
3758 |
Sara & Graham L |
31 |
| 9th |
4019 |
Lisa & Steve |
31 |
| 10th |
4058 |
Martin C & Phil |
31 |
Lastly, in this catalogue of successful endeavour, I must mention the efforts of Peter Biggs and Richard Ledger who both completed the course, on separate occasions, sailing with the invisible man! Knowing what a mess we’ve ended up in sailing two-handed in 3974, I can only marvel at their competency. Whether their sanity is up to the mark, I’ll leave to you to judge, I couldn’t possibly comment!
You will have noticed (if you’ve read this far) that I haven’t mentioned the Reporter of the Month for May. The standard this month has been way off the charts making it very hard to pick a winner. The committee are fighting hard for their particular favourite; watch out for fumata bianca emanating from the club house roof!...........smoke can be seen; the reporter of the month is Pope Kim!
Well, that’s it for May. Ladies, if you haven’t had your dance around the Maypole, you’ve missed your chance. But, there is a crew swap on Monday 9
th June and Adam Bowers training on the 15
th to which you can look forward!
As an homage to all the poetic efforts this month, I’ll leave you with a favourite piece of graffito (authored by Kurt Vonnegurt) found on a toilet wall:
To do is to be- Sartre
To be is to do – Socrates
Do Be Do Be Do – Sinatra
My last word is to plagiarize Bob Alexander’s report: stuff happened!
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