I visited the show today. Seems to be busier than ever. As usual, the Sprint stand was especially welcoming. Farmer Hawkes was there and so was Jenny Ball. They had plenty of helpers including Steve Healy, George Love and Rob Bailey. And that was just in the first hour. It was good to see sailors fr...

About 45 years ago, I raced in a class that is now defunct. Among the class rules, was one that required boats to carry a cwt of movable ballast. In truth, the ballast was completely unnecessary. So one of the sailors removed it from his boat. Nevertheless, there were howls of protest from the other...

Until quite recently, I was of the opinion that weight was all-important. Indeed, there's a whole industry to make equipment lighter. Eg carbon fibre masts and tiller extensions. Even I resolved to have less beer in the cocktail cabinets. But when it came to underweight hulls, I was dismissive, beli...

I also drive like him. :) Chris, if you raced like him, I might have a chance! Congratulations for taking on the chairmanship. And thank you, Gordon, for your spell in the same role. You must have quaked in your boots when you assumed the mantle of Nick Dewhirst. But you stepped into his role just ...

Hi David,

Are you planning to man the stand in 'shifts'? If so, what time slots are you looking for?

Andrew.

Thanks, Keith. That was very helpful and instructive. Admittedly some bits were a bit technical for my modest scientific brain. Eg 'fatigue at the rate of 10 to the power of 5 cycles', whatever that means. Your own comment about re-cycling is interesting. It must be a difficult process. Just a thoug...

I was once in the bar with a few friends and we had a good laugh at what constitutes sport mode. Here are some of our conclusions. You're in sport mode if the following apply. Single-handed, two sails, with trapeze. Single-handed, two sails, without trapeze. Single-handed, main only, with trapeze. S...

I have a general question concerning fibreglass boats. I don't know whom to ask. So Sprinters can be the first to bite the cherry! Looking around our coasts, old boats are seen to be rotting away. Very often, just the stems rudder posts remain. In time, the wood and copper nails rot as they are, wha...

Dear Bob, I defer to the wealth of your technical data. Good job we have someone as yourself, on whom we can rely for this information. My contribution is more subjective. Judging by what you say, respective weights are but one part of performance. As you say, there are other criteria such as new bo...

There's an old saying that goes, "A good tennis player with a lousy racquet will always beat a lousy player with a good one". In other words, I'm fairly certain a new boat would make little, or no difference to my performance. The over-riding imperative is that the class continues to grow....

Happy new year, everyone. At Thorpe Bay, we look forward to welcoming you to the winter TT and the Nationals in the summer.

If this works, I'm back on the forum.

Dear Dave, It is a well established practice that, provided you belong to a sailing club elsewhere, you'd be welcome to use the facilities of another club. This practice emanated from the days when cruising yachts sailed from club to club. It would incur ridiculous expense to belong to all of them. ...

In defence of Gary, I think he has a point. Whilst we all like to receive our six-monthly glossy mag, there is sense in publishing it online as well. As things stand, the magazine is 'exclusive' to members that stump up £20 a year to receive it (plus a range of other benefits). If NewSprint is publi...

Thanks, George. Lovely mag with plenty of interest.