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I'm new to the 15 and from what I've seen, Bob is a bit of a star.Everybody may or may not know this (they will now), but Bob sailed a Condor at Shanklin S.C. way back in the mid/late 70s. This was after he'd built and sailed a Phantom.If you read this Bob;Hello agian. It's good to see you are obviously fit and well. To jog your memory; I was about 18/19 then and sailed a black OK no.1211 (still got it plus another). My dad,Mac,built a Phantom too, no.592. I also remember Erling Holmberg sailing a 470 then. A big hello too Erling. I very much hope there's a chance of meeting you both during 2001 especially as I live just over the Solent in Portsmuoth.Best wishes.
HiAlan, You are unlikely to get a reply from Bob for about 6 months. He is prematurely rich enough to spend the entire winter in Mexico & the southern states of the USA (Oct - April) where he has this massive pantechnican RV with a Dart 15 on top. If you want to meet him again, get your ticket booked for the Sprint Nationals at Gurnard in May (you can sail across from Lepe Beach)where he will be wiping the floor with us if it is windy!
Cheers
Bob Carter
Nice to hear from you alan. Your dad was responsible for
geting me sailing a Laser for 20 years at Shanklin till I saw the light three years ago and started sailing the Dart 15. I plan to do the first four events on the 2001 programme and hope to meet you at one. sail number 1704
Hi Erling, Does that mean you will be doing Filey? I'm impressed!
Cheers
Bob
PS. Have a look on the map folks - that's Shanklin on the South side of the Isle of Wight to Filey in North Yorkshire
Notice I've been keeping my head down....in the absence of finding time to type for the mag........next time...
Haven't even sailed for over 2 months.....travelling around Singapore in October, month in HK and now based in Bangkok. New Zealand over Xmas and New Year, then Singapore again....then I met get chance when back in HK over Chinese new year...if the kids will let me..or I feel like going sailing!
Keith as you have been travelling you may not have seen my earlier note. I'm coming to live in HK from end Jan, and intend to bring Dart 15 no 1000 with me.
Whats the Dart scene like. ? Have found the Lantau Island web site, are there any others?
Great to hear from you,Erling. It looks as if we'll meet up in 2001. I'm looking forward to that. Dad sends his regards and said something about getting dressed up as fairies and a xmas cracker race(?!). He gave up sailing in the early 80s for no good reason but,despite this,has grown up into a fairly sane OAP ,lives in Herefordshire,is restoring a Triumph Herald and flys a microlight. See you soon.
Keith...........spooky....two "Keith in Hong Kong's"...that'll keep old Bob on his toes when it comes to pestering for mag articles.
Lantau boat club is the 'unofficial' Dart club for Hong Kong. The majority (99.9%) of boats sailed are 18's, with a few 15's/Sparks, of various abilities that go out. I just burn around with the 18's and shake 'em up whenever possible.
A few questions, and maybe I can give more advice.......
Have you worked out how much to ship the boat out...there's a few on the beach that are unused and we can make enquiries as to whether they are going begging. Depending upon your stay it may be better to buy an old'un.
Where are you going to live/work.....Lantau boat club is a 25 minute fery ride from Central, in Discovery Bay - a bit of an ex-pat enclave, but 60% chinese. A few guys sail that are not from Discovery Bay, so have to get the ferry.
How long are you going to be here.
The club needs new keen blood (though you'll get pressure to get an 18) and membership is dirt cheap compared to every other club. We have a few good regatta weekends during the year.....and the season last almost all year. A few guys have done the trip from Hong Kong to Macau across the Pearl estuary which is a 10 hour sail in an 18, and next year we are going to trial run a round Lantau race....in stages over 2 days....assuming the airport authority will let us take some shortcuts through the flight path!
By all means get in touch when you land in HK, or before, and I'll drag you over to the club....maybe have a sail and sniff out some boats.....may be worth mothballing 1000. Brian Phipps can do a good deal on some new sails if thats all that's wrong (normally) with a boat thats been left to fester.
http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/
Posh stuff......but I crew a Sonata for free......so it's accessible and good racing in keelboats Saturday afternoons......Dart's on Sunday.....what a life....
Hi Keith, Glad to hear you are still about. One threat of a magazine article and you go to ground for months!!
Sadly you have missed the deadline for the Christmas edition of our magazine. Happily we will be doing another one in the spring!
Hope you can manage the article over the Christmas break.
Cheers & Happy Christmas
Bob Carter
PS With Keith Bartlet bringing out #1000 you will have Dart 15 Class racing at Hong Kong soon. #1000 was the first Dart 15 I ever sailed - it was the Laser Centre demo boat in 1988. It had an old orange sail in those days. Now it has a flash blue & pink sail.
