Mutiny!

[Concerto]

Is this you Roger

It certainly is.

For those of you wondering about the question, I have been chatting with Ian on the phone. He called me as he also owns a Fulmar and wanted to pick my brains about moving some winches. In the conversation I found out he was not on the YBW forum, so he has just joined.

 

[zoidberg]

There seem to be quite a few on the forum with aviation backgrounds, so why why not start a specific new thread in which people could indulge their, er, flights of nostalgia?

I suspect the Mods might be tempted to 'Cancel' such an infringement, so here's a 'wenwe' which has both a flying and a boaty significance.

A long, long time ago in 1973 I was based on an RAF base in North Cornwall, operating Canberras. One of the competitors in the original Golden Globe Race, Commander Bill King, was on his 'last lap' somewhere down in the Western Approaches well north of the Azores. There was considerable press/public interest, and our neighbouring resident Nimrod squadron was tasked with finding him during or after their sub-hunting patrols down that way.

Several of us were keen racing sailors and, when the 'Mighty Hunter' Nimrods reported No Sighting day after day, we fell to wondering where he might have got to. Armed with a last reported position more than 2 weeks old and a collection of daily met reports giving the surface winds, our navigators set to working out, from presumed best course and speed, a best-guess DR position. Then our Canberra squadron boss authorised a crew to head down that way, to see what they could find.

And yes, they did!

They were able to take a reel of photographs of 'Galway Blazer' way out 600nm to the SW, then headed for home. Before the day was out, we had a staff reporter from the local newspaper in the squadron crewroom clutching a sheaf of fresh prints of the now-famous boat and an interview with the successful flight crew about how the ageing Canberra had beaten the shiny new Nimrods at their own game..... which appeared in the local rag, then immediately in all the 'nationals'.

The Nimrod guys had to ask US for Bill King's position....

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I suspect the Mods might be tempted to 'Cancel' such an infringement, so here's a 'wenwe' which has both a flying and a boaty significance.

A long, long time ago in 1973 I was based on an RAF base in North Cornwall, operating Canberras. One of the competitors in the original Golden Globe Race, Commander Bill King, was on his 'last lap' somewhere down in the Western Approaches well north of the Azores. There was considerable press/public interest, and our neighbouring resident Nimrod squadron was tasked with finding him during or after their sub-hunting patrols down that way.

Several of us were keen racing sailors and, when the 'Mighty Hunter' Nimrods reported No Sighting day after day, we fell to wondering where he might have got to. Armed with a last reported position more than 2 weeks old and a collection of daily met reports giving the surface winds, our navigators set to working out, from presumed best course and speed, a best-guess DR position. Then our Canberra squadron boss authorised a crew to head down that way, to see what they could find.

And yes, they did!

They were able to take a reel of photographs of 'Galway Blazer' way out 600nm to the SW, then headed for home. Before the day was out, we had a staff reporter from the local newspaper in the squadron crewroom clutching a sheaf of fresh prints of the now-famous boat and an interview with the successful flight crew about how the ageing Canberra had beaten the shiny new Nimrods at their own game..... which appeared in the local rag, then immediately in all the 'nationals'.

The Nimrod guys had to ask US for Bill King's position....

Because they had better things to do!

 

[zoidberg]

Cdr Bill King DSO and Bar, DSC was in many ways larger than life, living it fully, finally popping his clogs almost a decade ago with an innings of 102.

Commander-Bill-King.html
bill-king-on-galway-blazer-1968-golden-globe-race/

Carved from much the same stuff as Miles Smeaton and Bill Tilman, he took his tough and innovative 'Galway Blazer' round the Five Great Capes.

And.... there's an important lesson for we others at 5:10....


(oh, and there's a 'deliberate mistake' )

 

[Slowboat35]

post deleted

 

[ProDave]

I was crewing in a local cruiser race, I didn't know the skipper very well. On the second time round the course, approaching low tide, I suggested to the skipper we might not want to take the direct course to the mark as it passes over the highest point of a local sand bank. I even suggested the course to take to go round it. I was ignored.

It was hard not to feel smug when 10 minutes later the boat shuddered to a halt...........

 

[underdog]

Having spent the night in KInlochbervie on a voyage North, my crew ,once we had reached Cape Wrath, indicated that it would be imprudent to proceed further due to the fact we had run out of my home made marmalade. In order to prevent a mutiny on board and placate the crew I decide to head South again.

 

[zoidberg]

I was crewing in a local cruiser race, I didn't know the skipper very well. On the second time round the course, approaching low tide, I suggested to the skipper we might not want to take the direct course to the mark as it passes over the highest point of a local sand bank. I even suggested the course to take to go round it. I was ignored.

It was hard not to feel smug when 10 minutes later the boat shuddered to a halt...........

I was, in a different incarnation, an airforce navigator specialising in inter alia low level tactical navigation.

I'm very glad to be here to tell you that my skippers ALWAYS followed my professional advice and didn't take the shortcut. The RAF ones, that is....

.