Chris_Rayner
Well-Known Member
Last Sunday arrived at HISC around midday. Parked on the causeway and started sauntering up the beach watching the boats leaving Chichester Harbour. There were a couple of tan-sailed gaff cutters leaving, a sight ever pleasing to the eye. The first one was rather large, and had a "Wn" on the mainsail. "Coo!" I thought. "A Westernman, like what his silverlocked eminence the seamanship guru sails. Worth a closer look. Oddly, she was carrying all her sails well sheeted in apparently sailing South against the flood in a light Northerly. I could not, however, make out an inverted triangle in the rigging, so thought this must be some subtle trick of boat handling unknown to a common yachty such as I. As she closed the western shore of the entrance I could clearly make out a white haired bonce in the cockpit amid a cluster of other figures.
"She must tack now." I thought to myself, still puzzled about the relationship between the sails, the wind and the tide and her evident southerly progress. Sure enough she began to turn slowly from her slightly west of south course to dead south. The sails collapsed gently and she continued to forge steadily on against the flood. The nameboard on the stern came into view. "Westernman" it said. Still there was no sign of a triangle in the rigging, and the truth was revealed when her engine exhaust was seen gently pushing out the cooling water and exhaust fumes.
Can there be two such boats and crews? Are they both called Westernman? Was there a triangle in the rigging invisible from my position on the shore not a biscuit toss distant? I think we should be told.
"She must tack now." I thought to myself, still puzzled about the relationship between the sails, the wind and the tide and her evident southerly progress. Sure enough she began to turn slowly from her slightly west of south course to dead south. The sails collapsed gently and she continued to forge steadily on against the flood. The nameboard on the stern came into view. "Westernman" it said. Still there was no sign of a triangle in the rigging, and the truth was revealed when her engine exhaust was seen gently pushing out the cooling water and exhaust fumes.
Can there be two such boats and crews? Are they both called Westernman? Was there a triangle in the rigging invisible from my position on the shore not a biscuit toss distant? I think we should be told.
