Sailing fifty years ago

[bobgarrett]

Just noticed that for Cowes the CA Handbook 1961 says "beware of floating bridge" so they were more advanced then!

 

[Robert Wilson]

I have just done the maths, and realise that puts this thread's time-line at 1967 - I always cr*p at keeping up in maths lessons.

Anyway, in 1967 photos of me on the boat would show hair on my head, and fluff on my chin

 

[Judders]

Presumably everybody would be dead?

Sailing on small boats with low freeboard without guardwires and AIS and PLBs and nylon webbing harnesses and hydrostatic etc.

If what we are told by World Sailing, RORC and the RYA is right then basically sailing in 1967 was probably akin to generously dousing oneself in petrol and lighting up a badly rolled joint.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Well, I was sailing 50 years ago - can't quite make it 60 years, though! No radio, few instruments (really only a depth sounder), much less complex sail adjustment, glass fibre boats that were still modelled on wooden designs, a lot of small plywood boats, converted lifeboats and other contrivances. And as has already been noted MUCH smaller boats on the whole - a 27 footer like my Dad's was what most families aspired to; a 31 footer like my Moody was shere luxury!

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

Twas like this! Note not a lifejacket in sight and the pontoon was from WD surplus!

 

[alahol2]

Jumping back 50 odd years I would discover that the Solent had become a Midlands reservoir and my sailing cruiser had reverted to being a Cadet dinghy. After a school's sailing week I would do odd jobs at the centre in return for the chance to sail. I can blame it all on them...

 

[scottie]

I think that if you went back 60 years you might actually find more things changed in that decade
Stuart turners and Vire 2 Strokes were being replaced by the Albin (Volvo Alisa Craig) 5 and 10 hp side valves along with the penta MD1/2 bukh and sabb all with electrics that worked alternators just coming into fashion
GRP for production boats albeit overbuilt in wooden fashion
Alloy masts head foils along with Dacron sails that you could put away wet.
One off and racing boats cold mounded
Americas cup still sailed in 12metres
Rubber exhaust systems and single lever (Morse) controls and cables.
Boats very much smaller in volume with long overhangs
Fewer winches and more block and tackles
No outdrives!

 

[Wansworth]

Chichester harbor somehow managed with Commander Hard in charge .And there was a bus service to Chichester....I wish there was one today!

 

[johnalison]

Fifty years ago I hadn't taken up sea sailing. that didn't happen until 1971. We often went on the Broads and by now always hired (not chartered) sailing boats. In this picture you can't see our boat "Gay Lady" - another sign of the times. It does show how peaceful the Broads were, and how attractive with only wooden boats around.

In 1971, the first thing you would have noticed would have been that starboard-hand buoys were black. You would also have been able to drift up the Blackwater on a Sunday evening with the last of the tide and a dying wind on perfectly smooth water with no wash from powerboats.

 

[doug748]

Here we go:

I've got a jumper like that, must dig it out, retro very rare.

 

[johnalison]

Here we go:

Brilliant. Don't they look young?

Things haven't changed that much, perhaps, from 2014:

I should add that there was a turning mark just out of shot and I wasn't in their way.

 

[RupertW]

Engines that wouldn't start if warm or just wouldn't start anyway. Bilges full of water half the time, crossing the channel a real adventure with a lot of guessing in your navigation - and a 17 foot boat considered nearly as safe as a forty foot boat doing it.

Food - generally all down hill after the fry up breakfast and milky coffee having either a drop of formaldehyde to keep it fresh (but disgusting) or served in the traditional boaty way with hundreds of white dots floating up. Boat either cold and damp or warm like a tobacco filled and beardy smelling steamroom the size of your dog kennel.

Everybody knew what a mantle was and who was supposed to have bought a replacement before the weekend. Pubs had neon lights that could be seen from the mud bank you'd be stuck on until 3am thanks to trusty engine failing.

 

[Robert Wilson]

Here we go:

I've got a jumper like that, must dig it out, retro very rare.

Thanks for that.
I wonder if any forumites recognised themselves?
Come on, own up!

 

[ex-Gladys]

<Snippage>
In 1971, the first thing you would have noticed would have been that starboard-hand buoys were black. You would also have been able to drift up the Blackwater on a Sunday evening with the last of the tide and a dying wind on perfectly smooth water with no wash from powerboats.

Disagree, in Mounts Bay in 1967 the stbd hand wreck marker that we raced around (along with a number of beacons) was a curved conical green buoy... The nearest PH was a can but chequered red & white.

At that time Penzance was still a TH depot with the tender being "Stella", obviously very busy with the number of manned light houses that were manned. Many of the Enterprise fleet still had wooden masts and booms, and it was before the days that glass fibre was permitted

 

[Tranona]

Here we go:

I've got a jumper like that, must dig it out, retro very rare.

My wife knitted me one like that when we got our first boat and later a blue Guernsey.

Rite of passage - becoming a real sailor! Still have them somewhere.

Had the Seagull (well I would as I earned my living working for them) and the wooden dinghy, but home made ply/epoxy rather than that posh cold moulded one.

 

[DownWest]

Blimey, I was first out sailing in the Thames Estuary at the age of three. So that is over 60yrs. Seen all the above stuff in those days. We crossed the channel from the east coast to the C Islands in '63. Nav was inspired guesswork, with two F6s on the nose. No electric at all, except Consul on an iffy radio. Depth by lead line (my job) Lights off dodgey battery and virtually invisible, so big torch to light up the m/sail. Bit different then...

 

[Heckler]

Imagine we went down to the boat and to our astonishment passed through a time port on the shore. We still went out sailing - but found that time had moved back to fifty years ago. Hey, make it a hundred years ago if you like.

We would have a good sail - but there would be many surprises to reflect on.

What do you think would strike us the most?

Yellow wellies!
S

 

[Poignard]

Yellow wellies!
S

Is footwear something you take a particular interest in?

 

[Blue Sunray]

My wife knitted me one like that when we got our first boat and later a blue Guernsey.

Rite of passage - becoming a real sailor! Still have them somewhere.

Ditto. Different wife obviously but same jersey (somewhat later than the film though and I wouldn't want to be called a real sailor).

 

[Blue Sunray]

Is footwear something you take a particular interest in?

Don't mock the afflicted, it's not nice.