FOWEY CLASSICS 2012 Jul 31st - Aug 3rd
The 21st Anniversary RallyFowey Classics Newsletter January 2012
Those of you who watch the website will have noticed that with the New Year the logo has changed and the 20 on the mainsail has changed to 21. Last year of course was the 20th anniversary of Fowey Classics and the plain logo was duly modified to confirm this auspicious occasion. It was originally intended that we should return to the plain logo but of course 21 is an equally important year, conveying as it does a sense of maturity.
Roy and Janet Downes, having worked so hard over the past few years running Fowey Classics, may be said to have seen it through its turbulent teen age. He has now stepped down (and of that more later) and left the organisation in the hands of a senescent, though hopefully not senile, triumvirate. You will see from the contact address on the website that, as former Senior Concours judge at both Fowey and Plymouth Classics, I have taken over as one of the organisers for 2012 and am pleased to be joined by two former Commodores of the Royal Fowey Yacht Club, Gerry Williams and Gordon Coombs, who have both been involved with Fowey Classics organization in the past. We are all over 70 and in biblical terms are living on borrowed time so will be running it for this year only principally as a token of esteem to our predecessors Roy and Janet. So younger members of the Fowey and Polruan community look to your laurels and earn them in 2013.
Let me now pay tribute to Roy and Janet. Folklore has it that when Rusty Eplett first started Fowey Classics he ran the whole thing using only one sheet of paper. Modern communication is such that all that has changed and Roy has built up the event into what is now recognised as
the ‘must –do’ classics event on the South Coast. Year on year he has enhanced it by the addition of further events, almost to the stage of running out of days available to fit it all in. The crowning glory in 2011 was of course the never to be repeated Great Bombay Duck Race, the most bizarre piece of theatricality I have ever participated in. Dress of the day was ordered to be Number 1’s, Blazer, Yachting Cap and White Ducks. Not having the latter item and having just become allergic to my hive of bees I was able to cut down my beekeeping overalls to comply. Phew the lengths one went to, to please Roy! But didn’t everyone enjoy it.
The music on the water, the cultural classics, both features that were much appreciated, as were so many events that Roy introduced but in particular the picnic on the last day followed by the pursuit race home. For all the upgrades that you introduced to Fowey Classics and the tremendous amount of work and enthusiasm that you and Janet put in over the years, we give you our heartfelt thanks.
Now what of this year and the future. Feedback I have had over the years inevitably has included one or two minor criticisms, and in this “the year of maturity,” we will attempt to answer these. Noticeably, talking to people there were several occasions when they said No, they hadn’t been to such and such and there was too much going on to go to everything. Two corollaries to this were that some people didn’t like things being run as a whistle stop tour. So there will be no whistles this year. If you see me with a bosun’s call around my neck rest assured I can’t blow it very well and won’t use it to round you up.
The other major comment has been that it has become extremely expensive to participate in everything, especially if one is paying for a full crew. So, on the assumption that at 21 you are old enough to look after yourselves and don’t need to have your food put down in front of you, we have drastically reduced the formal laid on catering. Both the Yacht Club and Fowey Gallants will of course be open as in previous years and as per their constitutions to visiting yachts but there are other places in the town where you might like to eat or entertain your friends on board if appropriate.
I anticipate there will be an outline provisional programme on the website in the next fortnight and entry forms will be online by the beginning of April at the latest. We are of course dependant on negotiations in these times of austerity, to keep costs as low as possible. I should perhaps warn you that although we understand the Harbour Commissioners will give us a mooring discount as in previous years their overall mooring fees have gone up significantly.
One last event which will be added to the programme this year is what I consider to be the maritime heritage event of the decade. For those of you not aware of it a young couple at Southdown Marina, Millbrook are building a replica of an 18th century 3 masted lugger privateer. This is a vessel similar to the French biscquines such as Cancalaise and Granvillaise, with a hull length of over 60 feet and length over spars of 100 foot plus. The keel was laid down at the beginning of August 2011, she is already fully planked and bulkheaded and launch date is Saturday 4th August immediately following Fowey Classics, on the evening high tide. The plan therefore is to make the final event in Fowey Classics a cruise in company to the Tamar and Millbrook to see this spectacular event.
For full details of the build and progress so far Google ‘Grayhound Lugger Sailing’ for the blogspot or look it up on Facebook if you are into social networking.
So for now let me wish you a good springtime fitting out and some early summer sailing and I hope to see as many of you as possible at Fowey Classics at the beginning of August.
Michael Prettejohn
Ruses Mill, Trebullett, Launceston, Cornwall. PL15 9QH
Tel.No. 01566 782267
E-mail:
mike@prettejohn.net