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Preface This book is the second of a series of volumes to be published as part of an on-going project to record the history of the Exe Sailing Club from its formation as the Checkstone Sailing Club in 1912 to the present day. It is intended to produce a number of volumes, covering all aspects of the long and surprisingly varied activities of the Club and its many members over the years, to form a comprehensive historical record. The first volume, published in December 2017, looked at the early background to competitive sailing at Exmouth and the Club’s earlier predecessor, the Exmouth Yacht Club and follows through to the early post-war years after 1945. This second volume, from 1946 to 1983, was mainly collated by the late Peter Nigel Rowsell, variously known as Peter, Nigel or almost universally as Spud. Chapter 11, The Glory Years, was the first to be written and gave inspiration for a more detailed history of those years, due to this there is some duplication of the text. During this period both International 14s and National 12s were the dominant dinghy classes at the club, and together with the introduction of the Merlin Rockets in 1964, the club gained much local and national prestige and success. These three classes were development classes - meaning there were strict rules regarding length, beam, weight, sail area. In other ways the design could be changed within that set of rules, which made for interesting development. Exmouth became 2
known nationally for the quality of its boat building and excellence of its racing which was reflected in the results of club members at open events and national championships. (this was not recognised by many of us that sailed here at the time! Ed) This book is made up of a chapter of memories of some of the oldest members of Exe Sailing Club together with a series of chapters detailing each of the classes that were being sailed at the club throughout this period. Two of the foremost members during this period, Spud Rowsell and Francis Williams, were fiercely competitive and achieved remarkable national and international success. They also both worked hard to maintain the improvement of the Exe Sailing Club. Sadly, Francis died shortly after both he and Spud had written chapter 11. Their memories of ‘The Glory Years’ are included in this volume as a separate chapter. Spud died in June 2021. Hedley Saunders, Editor 3 Preface
A History of Exe Sailing Club Volume Two, 1946 – 1983: Seeking Success Copyright © Exe Sailing Club February 2021 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of the copyright holder. Layout by Jess Olmedo, Hedley Saunders and Jane Williams Volume Two, Edition One, printed by Exmouth Stationery and Copy Centre, 35 Exeter Road, Exmouth EX8 1PT Published by Exe Sailing Club February 2025 Mobile edition, re-set for reading on phones and tablets
Contents The Years 1947 – 1982 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Preface . . . . . . . . . 61. Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 – 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152. National 12s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203. International 14s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244. The Merlin Rocket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295. Cadets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536. Memories of Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597. The Mirror Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628. The Lark Class 1975 to 1979 . . . 639. The formation of the Laser Class at Exe Sailing Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6810. The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8411. Their Glory Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10712. The Loss of a Flag Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Timeline, 1946 – 1983
CHAPTER 1 Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 – 1983 In order to shed light on the history of the Exe Sailing Club during the period 1947-1982, we have drawn from the memories of two local sailors, who both grew up in Exmouth and raced competitively at the Club for many years. The stories of Geoff Holman and Derek Rowsell and their involvement and activities within Exe Sailing Club are documented here and paint a picture of life at the club at this time. Derek Rowsell and Geoff Holman 6
Geoff Holman Geoff Holman was born in 1929 and lived in Camperdown Terrace, Exmouth all his life. He claimed that he began sailing at a very young age because he got fed up with rowing and put a small lug sail up on one of his father’s 10 – 12 ft punts. There had been a great resurgence in dinghy racing post war and there were established fleets of Utility Boats, National 12s and International 14s, at the Exe Sailing Club. Geoff, then 17 years old and his friend, Derek Rowsell, aged 14, would go and watch the start of the dinghy racing, from under the Sailing Club start box. This inspired Geoff to start to sail against the Utility Boats. Helmsmen in Utility Boats at this time included Walter Knight, Doug Hedges, John Fletcher, Ray Towell, Bernard Bradford, Bill Sleeman, Bill Holman, Les Pithers, Joe Radgick, then joined by Geoff Holman. Geoff had persuaded his father to buy a Utility Boat from the outfitter Jack Creedy who was upgrading to a National 12. But, of course, he found that he couldn’t really compete satisfactorily because there were no class rules in the Utility Boats which were 10’6” – 12’ long with any size rigs. Racing these boats was a haphazard affair and results were not taken seriously, much to Geoff’s frustration. Despite this, he joined in and was generally first in the racing. By 1946 he had made good progress and won the Shorthouse Cup which was then the trophy for Utility boats. He clearly did well and his father suggested that to make even more progress in sailing Geoff too really needed a National 12. Flight (463), a Charles Curry design was bought from Tom Litton in 1948. 7 Chapter 1 · Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 –…
Geoff carried on sailing Flight until he had had enough of being beaten by Derek Rowsell in Arrow (539). Very often for club racing, to avoid the problems of the ebb tide around buoy 13, the course on the ebb would be from the clubhouse (then on the north jetty) to buoy 21 and return. Generally, if there was an evening course, it would be shortened to one round. If there was enough wind in the evening the fleet would press on and do the second round to a laid buoy near where buoy 19 is now and back to the finish off the club. At low water, in this period, there was a long Starcross Bank which ran from buoy 21 to buoy 14. This part of the course involved a lot of short tacking, which greatly helped improve boat handling. Arrow was a boat that tacked very well and Derek inevitably won those sorts of races. In 1952 Geoff decided to build his own National 12. Ivor Williams, a senior Club Officer, procured the drawings from Ian Proctor for a Proctor Mark 2 and within a few weeks Geoff had orders for five new boats. The first one was Fancy (1128), for Geoff himself, the second was Minnette (1143), for Patrick Pym and his father. These were followed by Howard Williams’ famous Dawn Star, (1151). These boats were built in solid mahogany, supplied by Claridges of Exeter. The timber was lightweight and dark in colour but had a habit of splitting in hot weather. It must be remembered that marine plywood was not sanctioned by the RYA for this class until late autumn 1953. 8 Chapter 1 · Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 –…
Geoff Holman sailing Rowena in 1971 In 1957, sadly Geoff’s father died, Geoff had to take on the boat building business and to sell Fancy and he never raced again. Geoff Holman, 27/12/1929 - 14/10/2021. Derek Rowsell From a similar background to Geoff and born in 1933, Derek’s early sailing took place in the Utility Boats. Derek has fond memories of the River Exe at high water and being able to reach up to Starcross and reach back which was wonderful. He also learned quickly about tides, HW, LW, slack water and tidal streams. By 1947, aged 14, Derek was an accomplished, self-taught, sailor. Bruce Banks was at the Exe with Westwind (National 12, 456), in 1947 and he chose Derek to be his crew for the season at Exe SC. Bruce was one of the top performing members of the National 12 and International 14 fleets and it was great 9 Chapter 1 · Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 –…
experience for Derek. At the same time Ivor Williams recognised the potential and wanted to sponsor the Rowsell family to allow them to extend their sailing experience. Ivor gave Arrow (National 12 539) to Brian Rowsell and younger brother Derek to sail. Ivor also very generously, gave his own International14, (408), Flying Cloud, to Brian, aged 15 years old, to campaign in 1948. Ivor Williams Ivor had no children of his own and recognised that the Rowsell family had a long tradition of fishing and sailing and would be a good family to sponsor. Arrow and Derek seemed to suit each other and in the early 1950s Ivor had a Mark 6 National 12 built for Derek, which 10 Chapter 1 · Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 –…
should have been faster than the much older Arrow. This turned out not to be the case, so Derek was pleased to return to sailing Arrow. In 1957, aged 23 years, with his brother Peter (Spud), aged 14 crewing, they finished 5th at the National Championships at Falmouth, against an entry of 200 boats. (Since sharing his reminiscences Derek passed away in September 2020 following a long and happy retirement during which he reflected on his long and successful dinghy racing days.) Spud and Brian Rowsell In 1958 Arrow, by now ten years old, was given to younger brother Spud Rowsell aged 15 years who spent the winter with friends stripping the hull, replacing the gunwales and refurbishing her. She was taken to Weymouth, by Ivor Williams, where Spud finished 36th with Geoff Skinner crewing. In 1959 aged 16 Spud left the Exmouth Grammar School to start work, joining brother Brian in his business, BL Rowsell, as an apprentice racing dinghy builder. At this time they were building OKs, as well as National 12s and doing repair work. Earlier in the year Uffa Fox was invited by Ivor Williams to Exmouth to discuss the new design for the National 12s. Brian then built the new Uffa Fox design Smuggler (1650). This was a turning point for the business as the orders flooded in for new National 12s. Over the next seven years nearly fifty National 12s were built in the workshop behind Camperdown Terrace to the Smuggler design. Brian and Spud had a loyal following largely due to the quality of the build and the service provided. 11 Chapter 1 · Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 –…
Spud and Geoff Skinner in Arrow 1959 Spud, Martin, Brian and Derek Rowsell 12 Chapter 1 · Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 –…
In 1960 aged 17 years Spud was proud to have built his own first National 12, Spuddle (1886), to the Smuggler design and to finish 8th at the Torquay Nationals with Jack Lott and brother Derek, crewing. Spuddle N1886 Brother Brian was 6th overall in the same week in Smuggler. In the breeziest race of the week Brian, crewed by Mike Sydenham, won. Spud, crewed that day by Derek, came second. This was a huge achievement for the brothers and helped the Club win the Team Trophy for the first time. In 1961 in Plymouth, the team from Exe SC again won the Yachting World Team Trophy for the best placed three boats. Spud was 2nd in Thunderclap, Derek Rowsell, 7th in Smuggler and Ben Jennings, 15th in Evolution. In 1963 Spud designed and built a National 12, Imposter (2130), and finished third at the Weymouth National Championships with Chris Ellis crewing. Derek Rowsell 13 Chapter 1 · Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 –…
finished 7th in Smuggler with Geoff Skinner crewing. National Service stopped Brian Rowsell sailing International 14s but the Navy provided plenty of time off for other sailing. Ivor Williams provided Brian with a Finn for an Olympic campaign in 1955. Unfortunately, final trials held in Lymington harbour in light airs were not Brian’s strong point although Brian was the only helmsman to beat Paul Elvstrøm in the Finn in breeze. Paul Bert Elvstrøm was a Danish yachtsman. (He won four Olympic gold medals and eleven world titles in eight different types of boat, including Snipe, Soling, Star, Flying Dutchman and Finn. Ed). 14 Chapter 1 · Memories of the Exe Sailing Club 1946 –…
CHAPTER 2 National 12s Designed in 1936 to a design known as Uffa King, for years the National 12 was a design which other designers used as a benchmark. The rules of the class were based on the International 14 which was designed in the 1920s. The main rules related to length, plank width, weight, width of decking, rig height and sail area. There were many similar types of boat to the National 12 around the UK, but due to its clinker construction, it became a boat built by numerous boat builders. By 1950, a thousand of these boats had been built and if you were racing dinghies seriously at a national level at this time, it was either the National 12 or International 14 that were your best option. As seen before in the interview between Geoff Holman and Derek Rowsell it was in National 12s which they gained such prestige and success at Exe SC. In 1947 Geoff joined a fleet comprising of John Dixon, Peter Dixon, Ron Lavis, Brian Rowsell, Derek Rowsell, Howard Williams, Betty Williams, Tony Fulford, Jack Creedy, Patrick Pym, Iris Cowie, Bruce Banks, Bridget Bennet, Adrian Eve, Tom Litton, Peter Marshall-Lee, Glynn Eskel, Bill Holman, J. Hughes, C. Shaw, Les Pym, Ted Dowell, Jo Yorke (from Cockwood who, although disabled, was a fantastic sailor and a fine competitor, especially in shifty conditions). Club racing was strong and very competitive and there were a few open meetings within easy reach. A significant number of the fleet went to the 1947 Burton Week at Torquay, where the coveted Burton Cup was won by Howard Williams crewed by Bill 15
Holman in the famous Silhouette (N501). There were 150 boats entered for this event and Bruce Banks also an Exe SC member, who went on to become an Olympic sailor at Helsinki in 1952 and Melbourne in 1956 was second in the Burton Cup in Westwind (N456). Westwind is now in the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. Bruce went on to become a famous dinghy sail maker and an International 14 National Champion. N966 Y Wurry, John Dixon 16 Chapter 2 · National 12s
Betty Williams sailing Silhouette In 1955 terylene cloth became available and due to it providing better stability than cotton and because there were no rules in place the roach (trailing edge of the mainsail) was able to be made larger. Howard Williams was one of the first to have such a large mainsail on Dawn Star. The same design of mainsail was fitted by Ron Lavis on Moby Dick (1450) and proved to be beneficial when sailing downwind. Moby Dick was based on Dawn Star, but with curved side decks and very full cut sails supplied by WL Lucas giving good downwind speed. In 1955 Spud Rowsell and David Lavis borrowed Moby Dick to compete in the Torbay fortnight. She was sailed to the Royal Torbay Yacht Club from Exmouth with the cover and chocks in the boat. Each day the two of them would take the 17 Chapter 2 · National 12s
ferry from Exmouth to Starcross and the train from Starcross to Tor Station, Torquay with half an hour walk to the boat park. The event took place in multiple races at Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. Moby Dick won nearly every race and raised prize money of £15 1s 6d (£15.7½p) for each of the boys which was more than the average earnings in a week. Production of the National 12 by the late 1950s was extending to almost 200 a year and many sailors were now choosing the 12 instead of the International 14 and together with open meetings being held every weekend the International 14s were suffering from a lack of new owners. By 1960 the club had over 20 National 12s and many members attended Burton Cup week at Weymouth, Torquay and Plymouth. With good results the Exe won the top Club award. Y Wurry, Burton Week, Weymouth,1956, John Dixon and Ray Perry By 1963 the National 12s were slowly losing support due to the rise of the Enterprise Class in the club. In the 1963 championships Spud now crewed by Chris Ellis finished third 18 Chapter 2 · National 12s
overall with Peter Dixon and Ben Jennings also doing well. Spud and other ESC members at Torbay Burton Week 19 Chapter 2 · National 12s
CHAPTER 3 International 14s The International 14s were raced in the club before the war and were strong in numbers due to being known as a class sailed by the finest sailors in the country. International 14s were introduced to the club by Ivor A Williams, Howard F Williams, H Winter Sharp and Harold Deavin. After the war, these classic boats which were built mainly by Uffa Fox were joined by many others who purchased a new design using hot moulding technique which had become available from Fairey Marine on the Hamble. These boats were far from cheap but were available at a much lower cost than the Fox 14 and the maintenance was much reduced. H R Read, Peter Pulman, Charlie Budden, Freddie Durban and Ivor Williams purchased a new boat each, leaving Brian Rowsell to sail K408 Flying Cloud, the Uffa Fox design. Brian Rowsell and John Radgick at Prince of Wales Cup 20
The Exe SC was well known in the early years of dinghy sailing and the International14 fleet was in good health with strong turnouts for club racing. Other helms at that time were: Howard Williams, Harold Deavin, Bruce Banks, Dick Trafford (given 467, Lapwing, for winning a place at Cambridge University), Mick Martin, Peter Marshall-Lee, John Satchel, Peta Pullman, Phillip Denny, John Westell, Glyn Eskell, Tim Tapscott and Derek Rowsell. Three helms in particular achieved good results in the Prince Of Wales Cup Race which was sailed every year in different venues. In 1948 Tommy Litton crewed by John Westell (designer of the 505) in Show Girl finished 5th and in 1951 Howard Williams sailing Intrepid also secured a 5th place. In 1952 Mick Martin won the Prince of Wales Cup sailing Mordicus also with John Westell crewing. By 1954 Brian Rowsell was sailing a new 14 Silver Cloud and at the young age of 20 and finished a close 3rd at Weymouth. The class by 1955 was at its height of popularity but as the years went on the boat showed a steady decline in numbers due to cost and the introduction of other classes. By 1964 the club offered the Merlin Rocket and Enterprise classes (the Enterprise class was expanding by 200 boats a year) and both proved to be extremely competitive. In 1960 an interesting new International 14 design arrived which was built by Chris Tremlett in Topsham. It was based on one of his power boat designs and built for Peter Marshall Lee. The boat proved to be very fast sailed by the owner with Geoff Skinner crewing but appeared to be off the pace when sailed in lighter winds. By 1964 only four or five International 14s and a handful of National 12s were sailing regularly at the club. 21 Chapter 3 · International 14s
Harold Deavin, Ivor Williams, Winter Sharp, Howard Williams 22 Chapter 3 · International 14s
Black Star, Howard Williams off Shelley 23 Chapter 3 · International 14s
CHAPTER 4 The Merlin Rocket By 1964 the decline in the established restricted classes at the Exe SC prompted the search for a new class. The Merlin Rocket was growing in popularity as a development class and was an attractive option. The Merlin Rocket had been formed by an amalgamation of the Dick Wyche 14ft Rocket and the Jack Holt design of the Merlin. Both of these boats had different rig and deck layouts but the group who assembled to consider the combined design coming from both types amended the rules to suit. At this time the class was already established at Cheddar, Hamble, Parkstone, Bognor, Littlehampton and Shoreham and also had support at clubs all around the Thames. The class had similar rules to the National 12s and this allowed boats to develop which appealed to some members who could try their own ideas out on designs. The Exe group decided to adopt the Merlin Rocket class and the following bought new or used boats: David Reader, Tom Booth, Spud Rowsell, Frank Bryer, Peter Marshall Lee and Tony Fulford. At one of the early Championships held in 1964 at Poole Spud Rowsell was sailing with John Thompson (who the previous year had won the Burton in National 12s but was disqualified due to a black band measurement). They were having a disappointing week in their Ralph Savery Merlin Rocket design and on one of the race days a Proctor 9 was borrowed and managed a good result of 6th. This proved that the Savery 24
designs were not the fastest. By 1965 a small group was now established and due to the support from other clubs over 30 boats came to the 1st Merlin Rocket Open Meeting at the Exe Sailing Club. The most popular designer at this stage was Ian Proctor who Spud Rowsell knew well from his period in sailing 12s. However due to Proctor’s commitment to boat builders Wyche and Coppock, Chippendale Boats in Fareham and Bob Hoare in Parkstone, he felt unable to let Rowsell use the design. Tom Booth who was an “Admiralty Boffin” produced a few models in balsa wood and Rowsell built his first Merlin to one of these shapes (Rustler looked close to a Proctor 9 and he finished 7th in the Plymouth Championships in this boat). The Club fleet slowly gained in strength and started to attract other Merlin Rocket sailors to the Exe in particular Paul Seddon who travelled from Bristol. Rowsell Brothers were getting a good reputation for building high quality boats and orders were growing. Rage (2004) designed by Tom Booth was built in 1967 and with Spud at the helm and Tony Ayton crewing won the first Merlin National Championships race at Poole. In 1967 Jonathan Turner joined the team at Rowsell Brothers as an apprentice. In 1968 he crewed for Mike Davies from Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club at the championships at Falmouth. This year the Exe fleet was further strengthened by the addition of Chris Ellis, Colin Rowley and Paul Seddon. A Topsham sailor Peter Woolley built his own Merlin to join the group. 25 Chapter 4 · The Merlin Rocket
The Merlin Rocket helms in 1968 were Francis Williams, Spud Rowsell, Paul Seddon, Colin Rowley, Chris Ellis, Tom Booth, Peter Marshall Lee, Peter Woolley, Dick Weeks and Tony Fulford. The racing was very tight and standards were rising year on year. Merlin Rockets on Shelley Beach The building partnership between Spud and Jon Turner lasted for 11 years and in 1969 the first boat built together was Outrage which finished 3rd with Jon crewing at the 1969 National Championships at Whitstable, with Michael McNamara and Alan Warren finishing ahead. The class was growing rapidly and attracting large fleets of 180 or so each year. The biggest fleet ever was at Pwllheli in 1970 where there were 220 boats on a line start in strong winds. (the editor was crewing Chris Ellis in one of only 70 finishers. Two boats were lost one ending up 15 miles away) The Club had great results with Spud 2nd overall and Francis Williams 6th overall. The strength of the class was at its peak in 1971 in 26 Chapter 4 · The Merlin Rocket
Plymouth when Francis Williams won the Championships crewed by Derek Sheffer and Spud and Jon were second. In 1972 at Falmouth Colin Rowley crewed by Harry Lee Warner was second and the top six boats were all built by Rowsell Brothers (an extraordinary achievement for the yard. Ed). Paul Seddon and Martin Handol from Exe SC were 5th overall. It is remarkable to think that between 1964 and 1990 three hundred and twenty-three Merlin Rockets were built in the workshop in Camperdown Terrace. Eventually in 1974 at Pwllheli, Spud and Jon finally won the Merlin Championships and in 1977 at Hayling Island they were second. They were first again in 1978 at Abersoch and 6th in 1979 in Falmouth which ended a decade of sweet success for the pair and for the Exe SC. Jon Turner then left, set up on his own as a builder and Spud moved on to Round Britain sailing. The last serious Merlin Rocket Championships for Spud was in 1983 at Whitstable with a second place finish. The event was won by Jon! Spud Rowsell, Chris Popham, Andrew and Caroline McAusland 27 Chapter 4 · The Merlin Rocket
After 1983 the fleet lost some key sailors and declined in popularity with only a few Merlin Rockets in the club after 1986. Spud Rowsell and Chris Popham, 1980 28 Chapter 4 · The Merlin Rocket
CHAPTER 5 Cadets with thanks to Kay Rhodes, Ted Draper, Andrew Weeks and Ben Jennings Wherever you find yourself in the world today you will undoubtedly be on the doorstep of some sort of dinghy sailing. There is a multitude of classes encompassing considerable variation in size, shape, performance and cost. In fact whatever a prospective sailor wants from a boat can be provided by one of the designs on the market. It is easy to forget that before the Second World War few dinghy associations and classes existed. Most people who wanted to sail a small boat were faced with the prospect of designing and building one for themselves. How many people today would have the skill and motivation to design (remember no plans) and build themselves a sailing boat? Group Captain E.F. Haylock had sailed his own creations and his first venture was the sponsorship of the Merlin class. This brought him into contact with people like Jack Holt and Beecher Moore who shared his commitment to the support of the sport and the encouragement of the participation by the general public. His experience with the Merlin reinforced his view that the traditional methods of boat building were too difficult for the inexperienced amateur and that an alternative would have to be devised. In the meantime, the Group Captain entered into discussions with Jack Holt about the possibilities of designing 29
a cheap, easy to build boat for young people to race. The development of marine ply opened up the possibility of strong, light, easily made hard chine boats. Jack Holt took the ideas that Haylock had been toying with and turned them into the Cadet, the GP, Heron and Enterprise. Many of Holt’s designs were one design classes. Assembly kits could thus be mass produced at low cost. Initially Haylock had difficulty in finding a firm willing to take the responsibility for supply. In 1947 he found an elderly man inspecting the Cadet on the trailer behind his car. Haylock explained what it was. Introducing himself as Dusty Pollock from the Bell Woodworking Company, the man asked for a set of plans to be sent to him. In 1947 Jack Holt finished construction of the first prototype Cadet and took it to Ranelagh for a test sail. Then it was taken around England from club to club for trials. The interest and demand for plans started flooding in and soon there were boats being built in America, Sweden and Egypt. The Cadet was featured in Yachting World which was read widely and so because of international demand countries were issued with identification letters. Later Dusty Pollock turned up and laid out an accurately made, perfectly finished, set of Cadet parts ready to be assembled complete with screws, glue, fittings, paint and varnish. Haylock had found his man and the association made possible the rapid growth of the Cadet Class. The majority of early Cadets were built from the surplus stock of aircraft plywood and youngsters were easily convinced to sail a boat from the wood that had been used to 30 Chapter 5 · Cadets
build Mosquito multirole combat aircraft flown in the (then recent) World War II. (A few Cadets were also built in hardboard but were reskinned in plywood when the hardboard was found to absorb much water. Ed) By July 1949 the YW Cadet had been granted recognition by the RYA and over 400 had been built. The Cadet was designed to be raced by two youngsters up to the year of their 18th birthday. It was imperative that racing was laid on for all Cadets dotted around the country and so Cadet Week was devised. Exe Sailing club was granted Squadron status on 11th May 1959 and Cadet Squadron 33 was formed with Tony Randall-Vining as the first Cadet Captain. The Cadet class was started at Exe SC by Francis Williams, Spud Rowsell, Jane 31 Chapter 5 · Cadets
Martin and Jimmy Law in 1950. They were soon joined by Snick, (David Lavis). By 1957 the regular fleet comprised Jack Lott, Alan Browning, “Bo” Musgrove, Rodney Nott and Ben Jennings. The Class lasted for 60 years in the Club and proved to provide a great grounding for many youngsters to achieve at national and international level, particularly after 1980. The Cadet was sailed in their youth by the following past Commodores of the club; Francis Williams, Spud Rowsell, Ben Jennings, Hedley Saunders, Symon Garrett and Ted Draper. By 1957 Flip C313 had been taken over by Alan Browning, Jack Lott was sailing Flap C314 and Ben Jennings had acquired Cormorant C893 from Starcross. Rodney ‘Bo’ Musgrove was now helming Snick C1242. David McMullen crewed for Alan, Phil Drummond for Jack, Geoff Skinner crewed for Ben and Mike Sydenham for Bo and later Phil Drummond when he got his own boat. Sailing Cadets inspired all this group to graduate to Senior classes later. In 1956 with some pupils already sailing Cadets the Exmouth Grammar School woodwork master established a School Sailing Club and with Spud's assistance set about building a Cadet dinghy. By May the following year the boat was completed. The Cadet was named Facta from the School motto Facta non Verba (Latin for Deeds not Words). Following a formal naming ceremony Facta was launched from Shelley beach and sailed away on her maiden voyage with Spud at the helm. Rodney Horn is credited with achieving a comfortable win in Facta’s first race. In collaboration with the Exe Sailing Club the School arranged junior training sessions on Tuesday 32 Chapter 5 · Cadets
evenings with the other Cadet sailors turning out in support. Over that season thirty novice pupils had their first taste of sailing in a racing dinghy. After nearly a decade since Jack Holt drew the lines the Cadet Association changed the rules to permit built in buoyancy and frameless construction as an alternative to the initial design which features frames with floorboards in the cockpit plus blow-up buoyancy bags under the fore and aft decks. Previously the spinnaker sheets had been led through the aft lifting handles. Now it became permissible to fit turning blocks. In the Summer of 1957 Dixon’s built Swift C2160 for Rodney Nott. This beautiful boat built using mahogany faced plywood newly available was the first at Exe to take advantage of the rule change. For the 1958 season the Grammar School borrowed a second Cadet named Pilgrim. This helped the Tuesday evening training but also with two privately owned Cadets enabled sailing races between the four School Houses; Athenians, Corinthians, Spartans and Trojans. The Trojan team won having Spud as their helmsman. Unfortunately Facta was moved to Topsham S C the following year. Another entrant that year was Phil Drummond in an old Cadet that had been rescued from a barn fire, the boat was called Cheetah C168. The decks had been replaced by Brian Rowsell but restoring the rest of the boat was due to Phil who recalled skiving off school on Fridays to get the work done. 33 Chapter 5 · Cadets
Exe Cadets on the National Stage For some years the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at Burnham on Crouch had laid on a Cadet Week which in effect became the class national championships. Later it became an International Week as competitors from overseas Squadrons came to compete against the British sailors. Francis Williams competed at this event in a revamped Flap, C314 in 1956. He came 12th a very commendable result in the 120-boat fleet having previously only raced in a small Club fleet. The following year with a new boat Silhouette C2037 he was 6th. For his 1958 campaign he teamed up with William Pym and might have won the event had not a rudder pintle failed whilst leading in one race. This setback dropped them to 2nd place despite having a score line of three firsts, two seconds and a fourth to count. In his final year Rodney Nott was in the front end of Silhouette and again Fra took the runner up slot. The Peter Scott Cup was one of the Trophies won that year and was presented by Peter Scott in person. Peter was a long-standing friend of the Williams family from Howard’s International Fourteen days. In his last two years Francis had been beaten by sailors from Belgium so was in effect the best British Cadet helmsman in those years. Over the early months of 1959 Patrick Pym built his younger brother William Dinky Doo C2427, also to the new construction rules. William chose Graham Rich as crew and refined his skills racing on the Exe. At Burnham on Crouch that year they came 25th. For Cadet Week 1960 he had Peter Woods as crew winning the Peter Scott Cup, bringing it back to Exe for the second year in succession. His finest year in Cadets was 1961 when crewed by a school friend P. Bearne 34 Chapter 5 · Cadets
they took third place. With the same crew in 1962 they were 6th. Subsequently in 1964 William joined the Navy and became a Submariner becoming friendly with Rodney Pattisson (he of Gold Medal fame who won Cadet Week in 1960) as did Chris Ellis who crewed for Rodney in the Navy team. Like other Exe Cadets William became a sailing club Commodore first of Hill Head SC in 1998 and’99 then later of Saltash SC in 2012 to 2014. Rodney Nott returned to Burnham in 1960 helming Swift and crewed by David McMullen. He recalls capsizing in one race whilst lying second and lost his rudder. This dropped him to 27th overall despite being in the hunt on other days. 1960 By this year a number of Cadet sailors had moved on to helming or crewing in National 12’s. The dinghies were kept by the old sail store, between the bungalows or on the side of the dock near Dixon’s workshop. Amongst those were three Cadets, Snick owned by Bo Musgrove, Swift by Rodney Nott and the other William Pym’s Dinky Doo. The Cadet fleet had shrunk but these boats were all in excellent condition and a close match on the water. Unfortunately, William was not always able to get down to the Club or chose to compete in open meetings leaving the Club’s Cadet series more like match racing albeit still keenly contested. Andrew Weeks had arrived and managed to get a few crewing jobs mainly with Pat Pym in his National 12 plus a couple of open meetings crewing for William in his Cadet. 35 Chapter 5 · Cadets
1961 Ahead of the 1961 season, it was agreed that four of the Club’s cups, the Deavin, Davey, Hedges and Christening Cups would be added to the Shorthouse Cup (already allocated) to Cadets for the season. In the late 50s there had been a small handicap fleet which had taken over from the Utility Class, this made the Shorthouse cup so special. Much of the time Cadets were sailing against Rodney Horn in the Heron dinghy which the Club had built and could be hired. The Heron's generous handicap gave them the edge. The growth in the local fleet this year was due to the new Cadet captain and parent Dickie Weeks who enthused youngsters and their parents to acquire a Cadet dinghy. The regular racing fleet comprised Tony and Jackie Ayton, Andrew Weeks and Julie Bickford, Edward Williams and Ian Gardner. They were all old boats, mainly without in-built buoyancy. The youngsters greatly enjoyed themselves and the Club’s Cadet squadron was once again up to strength. Andrew, Jill and Dick Weeks 36 Chapter 5 · Cadets
1962 The fleet once again grew. The Aytons and Andrew Weeks both had new Rowsell built boats, Notyama (AM Ayton in reverse.Ed) CK3919 and Picador CK3920. Andrew’s old boat Lorna Doone CK1720 was bought and sailed by Chris and Pam Rowsell. Nichola and Maureen Speed acquired Swift CK2160 from Rodney Nott and later in the season David Patrick became the proud owner of Dinky Doo CK2427, Williams Pym’s rather light and fast boat. Mike Ellis with Julie Bickford as crew often sailed Flap (CK314) which was owned by Margaret Coles who had joined the National 12 fleet and went on to become a Commander in the Royal Navy. (Tragically Mike was later to drown when on passage from the Channel Isles in his yacht in the summer of 1969). Howard Williams presented the West of England Cup to be sailed for at an Open Meeting for Cadets on the Exe. The first winner was David Vine from Plymouth. (The Cadet Class had become recognised as an International class in 1958 and the “K” the predecessor to “GBR” as British boats was starting to be added to sail numbers.Ed) 37 Chapter 5 · Cadets
1963 Newcomers were Russell and Nicky Lee as well as Frank and Michael Lambert, brothers from Dartmouth. Perhaps the most amusing episode that year came when the Topsham Sailing Club hosted its’ At Home. They elected to have a handicap based passage race from Cockwood to Topsham. It was blowing quite hard but the race comprised a series of reaches many of which featured the use of the spinnaker. Andrew Weeks won both the Cadet Class and came first overall on handicap. To the great amusement of all as the Cadets prepared to be towed back to Exmouth some clumsy inter boat transfers resulted in our overall winner capsizing in front of the entire club. Need we say more? 1964 The intense rivalry between Tony Ayton and Andrew Weeks continued. The fleet expanded as a new generation of younger sailors joined the club. In 1964 the Cadet fleet consisted of: 38 Chapter 5 · Cadets
• Antony and Jackie Ayton sailing “Notyama” (Tony was a.m.aytoN Ed) • Andrew Weeks and Roger Ford/Linda Speed/ Hedley Saunders sailing “Picador” • Russel Lee and Nicky Lee sailing “Sea Nymph” • Ian Gardner and Hedley Saunders sailing “It” (Gardner I.T. Ed.) • David Patrick and Edward (later “Ted”) Draper sailing “Dinky Doo” • Maureen Speed and Jill Way sailing “Swift” • Chris & Pam Rowsell sailing “Lorna Doone” • Hilary and Joe Putman sailing “Silhouette” • Nick and Philip Webber sailing “Twinket” • Hedley Saunders acquired “Flap” and started racing again in July. First sail in "Flap" 39 Chapter 5 · Cadets
The races were every Saturday afternoon always starting at 1520. Depending on the tide times there was either a second race after tea on a Saturday or a race on the Sunday. There were Wednesday evening races in the school summer holidays which meant that in summer the day was spent at Tornado messing about under the guise of “preparing the boats”. Starts were always off the dock entrance and controlled from the clubhouse (at that time situated on the north pier). Races were controlled by the Commodore or a flag officer. The Cadet course was usually 3 rounds of a triangle comprising number 13 channel buoy, a club mark at the end of Shelley Gut and the home mark off Shelley Beach. It was named Course “G”. It was almost always sailed in reverse (Course “GR”) so that the Cadets went around the home mark in the same direction as the adult fleets who would often be sailing up to number 21 channel buoy and back via the channel. Commodore Winter Sharp, Race Officer 40 Chapter 5 · Cadets
When the tide was up courses “K” or “KR” were sailed, another triangular course comprising numbers 15 and 17 channel marks whilst the adults sailed “C” or “CR” comprising a club mark off Cockwood and another where 19 channel buoy has now been laid. The clubhouse was on the north pier of the dock entrance. There was a kitchen, communal area and toilets downstairs. Upstairs was the bar, a small lounge and the “bridge” from where all racing was controlled. Junior members were not allowed in the clubhouse unless an adult was present. At the current club site was the main dinghy park and “Tornado”, an old houseboat which had been run ashore and was used as a store and changing rooms. There was no “training” as such. The Cadets just went out and sailed. Inspiration was from senior sailors –Spud Rowsell, David Hemmings and Margaret Coles. They might say after a race why the eddy on the Warren side had today been favoured over the more direct Bull Hill route in the run back from buoy 13 against the tide, or why the wind shift coming through the Haldon Hill gap should have been spotted. There was no formal safety cover. Sometimes Ivor Cooke would come out in his open motor launch “Patience” and shadow the back of the Cadet fleet. If the wind dropped the boats were paddled home, often quite a long way, to avoid the main adverse tide. 41 Chapter 5 · Cadets
Ivor Cooke, safety boat "Patience" Special events were visits to the Lympstone, Starcross and Topsham clubs for “At Home” Meetings and the Squires Trophy Race which was then only sailed at Lympstone. The Cadet captain was Dickie Weeks. He and other parents organised visits to Babbacombe, Torquay and Plymouth for Cadet Open Meetings. 1965 Phil Coysh arrived to crew for Ian Gardner, Ted Draper bought “Dinky Doo” from David Patrick and Nick Lee took over “Sea Nymph”. Hedley Saunders had acquired “Flap” late the previous summer. It was very distinctive in that it had red sails. The next generation of Cadets was becoming established. Jan Jackson (who became Jan Morrison) arrived from Lympstone with “Shrimp”, purchased from a member of Pevensey Bay. She quickly gained a reputation as a competitive helm who drove her crews hard. One needed to, to get the results! Shrimp, CK2913, was featured on a commercial postcard sold in all the shops around the town. On the day the picture was taken Jan’s crew was Jill Weeks (who became Jill Mansergh and now lives overlooking the 42 Chapter 5 · Cadets
same beach Ed). When the Weeks family moved away from the area Tony Fulford became Cadet Captain. All the boats were wooden of course. Damaged hulls could be repaired either at Rowsell Brothers in Camperdown or Dixons on the dockside. New sails were purchased from national companies but could be repaired by Mr Black at the Camperdown Terrace sail loft. New innovations were slowly allowed into the Cadet specification such as larger spinnakers, self-bailers and jamming cleats for the jib sheets. These were the swinging sixties and a time of great change everywhere. The Club was no exception, both on and off the water. Ashore there was a growing feeling that the post of Club Commodore should not be “for life, unless voted out”. A stormy AGM passed a motion that Flag Officers would serve for a maximum of three years. Later the Club’s “Admiral” post 43 Chapter 5 · Cadets
was created to formally honour past commodores. The Cadets looked up to others within the club, in particular to Spud Rowsell. He became one of the very best sailors in the National 12 class and during the 60’s his achievements in the development and sailing of Merlin Rockets was the greatest inspiration. “Drip Dri” (CK 5014) 1966 Linda Speed took on “Swift” from her sister and was crewed by Rosemary Pennington. Philip and Martin Coysh acquired “Dreadnought”. Ron Lee became Cadet Captain. 44 Chapter 5 · Cadets
Hedley acquired a brand-new Cadet “Drip Dri” (CK 5014) built by his cousin who went on to teach woodwork at Exmouth School. His crew was Mike France. Hedley’s mother insisted that it should have red sails “so that she could easily spot him from the bungalow”. How everyone laughed. So could the race officer! “There’s a Cadet over the start line, can’t see the number but it’s the one with red sails”. (I was never over the line, the crew of Matthew Flinders can promise that! Ed) Cadets at Torbay Open 1966 (on the day England won the World Cup): Jan Jackson, Tony Ayton, Dick Weeks (Cadet Captain), Andrew Weeks, John Bickford, David Bagshaw, Nick Lee, Mike France, Jill Weeks, Claire Atkinson, Linda Speed, Hedley Saunders The last International (afterwards became World) Cadet Championships were held at Plymouth and were won by a Polish boat helmed by Błażej Wyszkowski whilst Tony Ayton was 9th. 45 Chapter 5 · Cadets
Hedley Saunders with Roger Ford at Plymouth International Cadet Week Jan Jackson and John Bickford at Plymouth International Cadet Week 1966 46 Chapter 5 · Cadets
1967 & 1968 The Cadet class had expanded hugely. Cadet sailors included Roger Ford, David Bagshaw, Ruth Williams, John Bickford, David Layton, Jenny Welby, Peter Ryan, Jane Dearsley, Nick Hookway, Leslye Mennell, Claire Atkinson, David Williams, Richard Baxter, Simon Skidmore & Tim Gilbert. Many boats from Exe attended the National Championships held at Burnham-on-Crouch. Exe Cadets and trophies at the Club's Annual Dinner and Prize Giving 1968 (Three Commodores-to-be pictured) 47 Chapter 5 · Cadets
1969 A BBC TV crew came to film junior sailing at Exmouth. They stayed for two days and shot from the shore, Andrew Herbert’s open motor launch and sitting on the bow of a Cadet under sail. A cameraman went overboard at one point (see Exmouth Journal article “Ducking for a TV Cameraman”) and wrote off his camera. The result was 6½ minute black and white film which was broadcast on a children’s TV programme called Tom Tom. The editing cleverly suggested that the wind strength went from force 1 to 5 within six minutes. The star of the film was Peter Ryan (was it a deliberate capsize?). (the editor disagrees, the highlight of the broadcast was Ted Draper’s interview, unfortunately not on the archive video, and yes, it was patently a contrived capsize) Ashore, waterfights were common. A bailerful of water has gone through the toilet window 48 Chapter 5 · Cadets
Nick Lee, David Layton, Peter Ryan, Jenny Welby, David Bagshaw, Briony Creedy in front of The Retreat (which later became a temporary clubhouse) The film is held in the club electronic archive (search https://archives.exe-sailing-club.org/ for “Cadets in the Sixties”). The next generation of Cadets, Chris Cooke, Gerald Fabian, the Pyatt brothers and others, were taking over. 49 Chapter 5 · Cadets
Cadet band playing in Tornado at the Cadet Open Meeting, (note Commodore to-be Draper on drums) The Sixties Overall During this entire period the Exe Cadets developed strong bonds and many of the friendships last to this day. Being the sixties they found time in Tornado for “rock and roll” and had their own band. On the water they sailed hard. They were self-taught sailors. They went sailing, (they didn’t get taken sailing). The 1970’s In the early 1970’s Cormorant (C893) Ben Jennings’ original Cadet was brought back from Lympstone and Robert Clifton sailed it crewed by Steve Pyatt and later by Les Arscott. In 1972 Robert Clifton finished third in the B fleet at Burnham. Others who sailed Cadets during this period included Martin Coysh, Stephanie Ellis, Gerald Fabian, Chris Cooke, Bridget 50 Chapter 5 · Cadets
Cooke, Tim and Steve Pyatt, Sue and Chris Popham and Peta Sowden. By 1973 the Cadet class was growing and Don Pyatt with family led a team of Cadet sailors to Burnham for Cadet Week in a rather dodgy Morris lorry, which he had bought from a gypsy scrap dealer on the Sowton industrial estate. The drive to Burnham took some time with a ‘crash’ (double de-clutch) gear box. They drove up the newly opened M5 Motorway and discovered that the truck only did 10mpg when it was empty by Gordano Services. There was a gloomy prediction that petrol would be 40 pence per gallon, (8 pence per litre) at the end of year due to the 1973 oil crisis. The Cadets were loaded on to the lorry and half a dozen of the kids travelled between the boats to Burnham. Health and Safety wouldn’t allow this today. Cadet sailors at this time were Edward and Hal Pawson, Martin Wood, Graham Cain, Rob Halfacre, Rodney Turner, Simon O’Leary, Pete Williams, Peta Sowden, Susan Popham, Tim Pyatt, Les Arscott and Derek Davies. Those that sailed Cadets in the late 70’s 51 Chapter 5 · Cadets
included Andy Dixon and Liz Davies, Martin Lane and Jason Jones, Vicky Caine and Mark Chandler, Howard Tucker and David Milburn, Simon Hewson and Keith Fletcher, Anthony and Simon Garratt, Richard Caine, Richard and Michael Jennings. Cadet sailors 1978/79, left Figgy Cain, centre Guy Rowsell 52 Chapter 5 · Cadets
CHAPTER 6 Memories of Enterprises with thanks to Brian Gill and Mike Saunders The heyday of the Enterprise Class was in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The Enterprise had been designed by Jack Holt in 1956 and was a one design class with strict measurement rules. The events for the Class quickly developed into International Championships, National Championships (three years planned ahead), Inland Championships, Regional and Club Championships. The Southwest Regional Championships were held at Exe in 1967 when, by permission of the Devon Dock, Pier and Steamship Company, dinghies were accommodated in an area outside the wall surrounding “Tornado” (then a beached houseboat) demarcated by scaffolding poles. This was the first time that dinghy parking was formally arranged on the beach. In addition a bulldozer dug a trench from just below the ramp over Tornado’s wall 200m out to deeper water to facilitate launching, possibly an action that would not be approved these days! Exe SC always gave a good account of itself, with members racing all over the country. Poole Week was an extremely popular regatta and the 24-hour race at Southport was very keenly supported. The top 20 helms were virtually professional, from boat builders to sail makers. 53
The top Enterprise boat builder at this time was always thought to be Billy Bacon. His waiting list was 18 months, with the bare hull costing £650. It was worth waiting for hence the name “…and Eggs” for Brian Gill’s boat. The Inland Championships were limited to 140 boats at Grafham Water. Lesley Gill (Brian’s daughter) timed one start to perfection “30 seconds to go, slip the jib, 10 seconds to go, pulling hard for the line. Go!”. Sadly it was followed by a chorus of ‘Go home! Go home!” as her start was exactly one minute early. How many others suffered this fate? Francis Williams won the Endeavour Trophy (Champion of Champions) at Burnham on Crouch in 1971 with Derek Sheffer crewing in Tony Randall Vining’s Enterprise. Joe Bertalossi bought an elderly Enterprise which had to be scrutinised and measured. It was taken down to the water and filled up. Up came the buoyancy bags, thwarts and all. That was the last that was seen of Joe for racing. 54 Chapter 6 · Memories of Enterprises
A light wind race at low water on the flood tide illustrated the roll tacking ability of the Enterprise. Paul McNamara, late as usual and last to round buoy 17 was heading into the light breeze along Bull Hill. Roll tacking was then allowed so Paul started at around 4 roll tacks per minute then straight up to 6 roll tacks per minute. Good teamwork got the boat up to 8 roll tacks per minute. Finally in second place he left Bull Hill at 12 roll tacks per minute. At one time there was an annual challenge of Town v Camp. To be fair handed the Exe team was usually Enterprises and Cadets against the Marines who sailed in Bosuns. Down the ramps came the marines with a youngster on a stretcher with his leg in plaster. He greeted us and was then lifted into his bosun. Out on to the water, straight to the start line, he backed his jib and spoke to his team mates. At the start he shepherded his team and “starboarded” all the Exe boats. It turned out that he had finished in the top ten in all the championships and this time was sailing with a broken leg. Exe SC Enterprise fleet from 1967: Derek Laverick, Tony Randall Vining, David Goodge, Martin Cockersole, Ivan Wilkinson, Bert Oliver, Guy Farrant, Brian Gill (Regional Rep), Malcolm Dodd, Alan Orpin, Michael McNamara, Tony Vincent (Association Chairman), Beryl Vincent (Association Treasurer), Cliff Vincent, Peter Vincent, Hugh Anderson, Paul Radgick, John Moorcroft, Peter Jones, Graham Legood, David Horn, Richard Cain, Bryan Davies, Dave Garratt, Drs Steve Price & Geoff Richmond, John Wheeler, Joe Bertalossi, John Robertson, Malcolm Cheshire, Steve Thompson, Colin Lee and many others. 55 Chapter 6 · Memories of Enterprises
In the mid 70’s the Enterprise fleet was probably the strongest class in the club regularly attracting over 20 dinghies Sailing on a Summer weekend and on Wednesday evenings. Michael McNamara, internationally renowned sail maker with his business based around the corner in Camperdown Terrace, and his brother Paul (a National Champion of the class but not a member of the Exe SC) were the gurus of the Class and Michael committed much time to helping aspiring Enterprise sailors to hone their skills in special training sessions on summer evenings. These embraced rig tuning, roll tacking and starting. We were enthralled watching him demonstrate light airs roll tacking, having removed the rudder and tiller, helming solely by weight and timing in perfect sync with his crew! No surprise then that he was a National Champion in several International Dinghy Classes. Whilst he came close on a number of occasions he never quite achieved the top Class honour in an Enterprise. In the early and mid-seventies the Vincent family were stalwarts of the Exe fleet with brothers Tony and Cliff Vincent demonstrating their frequent vociferous and competitive streak all too frequently ending in a protest meeting. Later Tony’s son Peter Vincent (who later in the 1980-90’s became National Enterprise Class Secretary and then succeeded his father Tony as Class Chairman) and a son in law Hugh Anderson joined the fray and were regular and key members of club racing. 56 Chapter 6 · Memories of Enterprises
Ivan Wilkinson became a very prominent and skilled Enterprise helm around the mid 70’s and seemed to have uncanny ability and especially in the lighter airs he seemed at times almost unbeatable. Ivan was a naturally highly competitive individual who was full of tricks when in close combat on the water. Questionably, the most infamous was yelling “starboard” when he was actually sailing on port tack tricking the combatant to instinctively react by tacking off when they actually had right of way on starboard and otherwise would have rounded the mark ahead! The tricked helm not only then suffered humiliation at being conned but had to look at Ivan’s broad aft grin in the Enterprise ahead on the following reach!! In the late 70’s and early seventies the club trophies were mainly fought out between Ivan Wilkinson in his infamous boat Genghis Khan, Alan Orpin, Richard Cain, and Mike and crew Jan Saunders, Guy Farrant and Paul Radgick. The Vincent family were not so prominent in the overall season results due to the fact they missed many weekends sailing on the Exe by attending numerous open 57 Chapter 6 · Memories of Enterprises
meetings and area championships around the country. Brian Gill was affectionately known as the “sly old fox “due to his habit of sailing a completely different course with an uncanny knowledge of the local tides and currents, particularly in the lighter airs, appearing towards the end of a race from nowhere and finishing in the top frame! Other regular Enterprise sailors during this period were David Radford, Malcolm Dodd (hardly ever missed a race), Brian and Mary Davis and Stuart Hills for a while before he graduated to a Merlin Rocket. The Exe SC were always well represented at the annual Enterprise National and World Championships which during this period were one of the largest of all dinghy championship fleets and regularly attracted 175-200 entries. Although the Exe SC had one of the largest club fleets in the country and produced some very commendable results the club could never claim to have a National Enterprise Class Champion. 58 Chapter 6 · Memories of Enterprises
CHAPTER 7 The Mirror Class with thanks to Paul Radgick Saturday afternoon racing, Mirrors, Cadets and Enterprises By the late 1960’s and early 70’s there were several ESC members with Mirrors in the club dinghy park. These were often sailed around the estuary by parents with children as crew. The club was approached by one such member, Peter Thorpe, the local Lloyds Bank Manager. The class was then adopted by the club and separate class starts provided. Peter became the first Class Captain for Mirror dinghies and later donated a trophy known as the “Thorpe Cup.” These early members were soon joined by other families and several teenagers, who although they had not come up through the club’s Cadet squad system, were keen to race. 59
The class was soon seeing 10 to 15 boats on the water per race. The class staged its open meetings, where one would have seen over 40 of the Mirrors familiar red sails taking part. Tony Shute, Paul Radgick and Tim Pyatt with crews Sandra Shute and Sue Cain, 1979 Competition was fierce and it was not long before a group of 4 to 6 club boats were regularly attending open meetings and championships. Mirrors racing on the Plym 60 Chapter 7 · The Mirror Class
These were Tony Shute, Bill Dixon (later designer of many Moody yachts), Tim Pyatt, Paul Radgick, Peter Vincent, Dave Penn and Ted Moir. The standard of the racing quickly improved and as Exe boats arrived at Open Meetings the expression “Oh no! the dreaded Exe has arrived” was often heard. Exe Sailing Club was part of the Western Area which covered an area from Penzance to Lyme Regis and as far north as Bristol. Within this area there were approximately 20 clubs who offered Mirror events. In 1974 the Area Championships were held at Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club and from an entry of over 60 competitors the club’s Tony Shute crewed by his daughter Sandra Shute became Western Area champions. In the same year Messrs. Shute, Dixon, Pyatt and Radgick attended the National Championships at Mumbles Yacht Club. In a fleet of over 200 boats Tony Shute showed that his recent success was no fluke, winning one of the races. The Championships also staged a single-handed race which was held in a force 6 with spinnakers. Despite the carnage at the gybe mark Tony picked his way through to take a creditable top 10 finish. With some of the fleet members moving into other classes, university and away for work numbers started to drop with the class dying out in the late 1970’s. 61 Chapter 7 · The Mirror Class
CHAPTER 8 The Lark Class 1975 to 1979 Larks were a popular class in the mid 1970s and were seen as a two man spinnaker class which might appeal to youngsters once they had left the Cadet Class. There were 4 or 5 in the club sailed by amongst others Dave Radford crewed by Rob Masters, Tony Popham and Tony Shute. The introduction of Lasers and the continuing popularity of Enterprises meant that by 1979 Larks no longer raced as a class at Exe S.C. Chay Blyth opening the clubhouse with Howard Williams April 1975 62
CHAPTER 9 The formation of the Laser Class at Exe Sailing Club with thanks to David Hemmings “1 Orange Laser - Special Club Deal” This was the heading of Rowsell Bros. invoice dated May 1980 and marked the beginning of my time with Lasers and as far as I can remember the establishment of the class at Exe Sailing Club. I was looking forward to getting back on the water again and trying something different to the Merlin Rocket I had sailed previously. Nick Lee who had been campaigning to get interested members together was particularly keen to add another boat or two in order to qualify for the “Club Deal’. Nick Lee, Ted Draper, Mike Acred, Alan Orpin, Hugh Sutherland and I made up the initial fleet. There were few refinements added to the basic boat. A centre mainsheet jammer and a self-bailer were about the limit. There was no opportunity for a trial sail of any sort and so the first few trips were eventful with frequent capsizes and exhausting recoveries. Windward legs were quite hard going in a blow and extremely wet in anything of a chop. As the class grew, younger helms seemed able to short tack at such lightening speeds that I could not hope to match them. 63
There was one particular race in a light south-easterly air and a hefty spring tide when some prolonged short tacking ensued close to the Starcross Embankment. Completely out of breath, trying to keep up, I opted for finding a more sedate course in deeper water. As far as I remember there was not too much lost ground and the rest was worth it! This experience brought home the realisation that perhaps I was too old to be competitive at nearly 35. On reflection it was great fun and I’d love to have another go! Lasers became popular, David Hemmings and Alan Orpin Diary Of A Laser Novice 1982 (Deirdre Jennings) April 9th & 10th — Too windy! April 11th — Up with the dawn. Took too long plucking up the courage to go afloat. Late for the start. Started with Enterprises. 64 Chapter 9 · The formation of the Laser Class at Exe…
Made up a little ground on the other Lasers. Capsized whilst gybing. Started off again. Tiller came off in my hand. (Pin must have fallen out whilst capsized) Panic stations! Finished 1st round but wind getting up so decided to slip quietly ashore while no one was looking. April 12th — Again dragged from my bed at an unsociable hour. Afloat in time for the start. Watched for the Merlins to go. Informed by a Cadet that Lasers had started. (What a dirty trick, nobody told me Lasers were going first.) Started behind the Enterprises. The inevitable capsize eventually happened. Retired at end of round. April 17th — Started with Enterprises. Arrived at 19 Buoy in close company with Malcolm Dodd. To avoid collision decided to capsize, therefore only gave him a very gentle bump. Had to round the lifeboat - knew what the inevitable outcome would be! Whilst bottom-up drifted up river. When boat came up, on course for 13 so decided to continue. Finished 2nd round but decided 3rd time may not be lucky so retired. April 18th — Decided to take it easy - not sorry as it was Course 10. April 24th — Doing duty as recorder. April 25th — Left the beach in plenty of time. Failed to notice mooring buoy which caught round plate. Whilst clearing this mainsheet caught on moored boat. Upside down again. Drifted under another moored boat and could not right myself. Extricated by gallant Richard Baxter by courtesy of his helm Mike Saunders. Upright again, braved the charge of the Enterprise Brigade to get to the line. Started behind the 65 Chapter 9 · The formation of the Laser Class at Exe…
Cadets. Everyone so far ahead did not know which mark to aim for. Rounded Cockwood (should have been Spit!) Made for 19. What should have been an easy tack ended up with me in my habitual position. Got it up only to go in the other side. Repeated this manoeuvre several times. Eventually realised mainsheet was knotted around toe strap, but by this time had run out of pep. Called "Help" hoping for a rescue boat. An altruistic Brian and Leslie Gill stood by till it arrived. Hauled aboard and given coffee whilst hubby transferred from Merlin to Laser. Got another coffee at the club. Was it worth it!? May 1st, 2nd & 3rd — Exe weekend. Decided I would be a danger to shipping so would stay ashore. Too windy anyway. May 8th — Progress - started with the Lasers! Was only just behind the other 4 until nearly up to 17. They gybed so decided I'd better do the same. Lost several yards but stayed upright! Hit 17 with the boom. A nut and bolt on top retaliated by grabbing my main sheet. Did a 720 (should have re-rounded buoy) Still one Enterprise behind me. Beat down river against the full force of the tide (not for me the soft option of the slack water near the bank!) Rounded 13. A reach with a nice breeze to Home Mark. Overtook an Enterprise! Steeled myself for the gybe. Main sheet caught round the transom. Went aft to free it. Looked up to see the beach looming just before the centre board struck. Jumped nonchalantly out and waded back upriver. May 9th — Day of rest! Reports to write for Exe News. That’s my excuse anyway! 66 Chapter 9 · The formation of the Laser Class at Exe…
Aim 1 – To start with the Lasers – realised 8.5.82. Aim 2 – To finish a race – will I make it this season? Aim 3 – To keep the rescue boat crew on its toes. Much to my amazement I did win the Ladies’ Helm Series in 1983 and have a plaque to prove it. I must have learnt something! 67 Chapter 9 · The formation of the Laser Class at Exe…
CHAPTER 10 The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981 By Spud Rowsell In 1979 there was a loud noise like a chainsaw running at full pelt outside the workshop in Camperdown Terrace. On investigation I discovered, having walked up to the Dump, that a 35ft trimaran was being adapted by cutting off the bottom of the main hull fore and aft. It turned out to be Mark Gatehouse who had made the decision that his trimaran Mark One Toolhire needed more freeboard and that by cutting off the bottom and laying up a fibreglass belt about 18 inches of extra freeboard could be achieved. 68
Mark Gatehouse and his brother-in-law Mike Holmes were intending to do the Transatlantic Double-Handed Race in her. They completed this race having modified the boat and the rig, winning their class. The tri was transported back on a ship and sold. In 1980 Mark announced that he was interested in doing the Round Britain Race with me in a trimaran that we would 69 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
build ourselves. Mark had a J24 at the time and often entered the Club races, particularly cross Channel events and on one such race he tested me at night to see if I could steer a straight compass course. He also discovered that I never got seasick. When he proposed this to me the timing was good. I had finished ten full years of Merlin racing and was busy with the children’s Cadet racing. My daughter Steph and youngest son Frank were heavily involved in the Cadet circuit. The thought was to build a 53ft Trimaran and compete in the 1982 Round Britain Race. A meeting was set up to discuss Mark’s vision of how we were going to build this boat. It was a big boat although not quite as big as Colt Cars or Brittany Ferries who had entered 60ft trimarans and had big budgets. Mark’s plan was to build the boat using skilled men including myself, Mark Sansom and Richard Lovett. Mark managed to get the use of Chris Tremlett’s (formerly Bickfords) Yard at Odams Wharf on the River Clyst near Topsham. We had the use of the yard and we then needed a designer. The favoured designer at the time was John Shuttleworth who had designed the trimaran Brittany Ferries. We held a meeting with John who explained that he wanted £10,000 for working drawings for the hull and the rig. The design used fibreglass. At a further meeting there was some discussion about other designers. Mark’s ideas were to increase the width by at least 25% together with other details which were quite futuristic at that time. 70 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
Mark One Toolhire at sea Phil Morrison in his Merlin Rocket “Summer Wine” 71 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
Mark Gatehouse I said that I had an old friend who I had known for 12 years who was a dinghy designer who was keen and would like to talk about the design. Phil Morrison came down to Exmouth from Pevensey Bay. It was 12 years since Phil had designed China Doll his famous National 12. Phil by 1980 was becoming one of the top designers in the dinghy world in National 12’s, Merlin Rockets and International 14s. Phil came to stay one Saturday and after much drawing, drinking and smoking Mark got Phil to come to Exmouth for £5,000 to design the trimaran and become the manager of the project full time. That was the start of Phil’s real involvement in bigger boats. This was April 1981 and the race was to start 72 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
in June 1982 so time was tight. The first thing we got together was a Fund Raising Committee. This Committee was based around Exe SC Club members who were keen to help and included Ted Draper, Nick Lewis and Ivan Wilkinson. The committee also included Nick Gough from Starcross Y.C. and many others who showed interest. In addition we managed to get the support of the Exmouth Journal in the quest to raise sufficient funds. It was agreed that surplus funds following the sale of the boat after the race would be donated to the Exmouth Indoor Swimming Pool Fund, a project that was very popular in the town. It was also intended that the build would train youngsters on the Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP) in the skills of boat building. In addition to myself, Richard Lovett and Mark Sansom, help would come from one or two of Chris Tremlett’s employees and YOPs youths. By September 1981 Phil Morrison and family had moved down to Exmouth and I had found them a bungalow in Shelley Road through Robin Carter. By then we had agreed on how this construction would take place. The hulls would be built from western kiln dried red cedar machined by Sharps Timber of Exmouth in a strip plank way sheathed in epoxy. Behind all this there was a real problem of funding. Mark Gatehouse had put £10,000 in. I was contributing my labour at weekends and evenings. An account had been set up for the Exmouth Challenge with Lloyds Bank and the fund raising committee was starting work. With these assembled skills, this motley crew started work on the first outrigger. It was finished beautifully, fibreglassed and hung in the roof. The second hull was 73 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
completed quite quickly using the same moulds. The bottom of the main hull was also constructed of strip cedar until a chine was reached. Plywood was then used from there to the topsides to create the main hull shape. At the same time the crossbeams were produced using laminated Douglas Fir. The formers were linked to plywood top and bottom. By February the components were ready. One night Mark and I went to see the components of Livery Dole (later Travacrest Seaway) the trimaran built for Peter Philips and Andy Herbert. We managed to lift one of their front beams which was much lighter than our own beams. Phil Morrison by then was at a Fireball World Championships in Sydney as defending champion. Mark made the decision to put the rear beam onto the front. With a chain saw we cut the front beam in half which was now to become the after crossbeam. On his return Phil Morrison inspecting the progress that we had made was informed by Mark about the decision on the beams. Casually Phil said, “They will probably be OK”. The main hull planked up, awaiting the plywood topsides. Outriggers aloft, crossbeams under manufacture 74 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
By March all was moved outside. The main hull was finished with gaps where the main beams would be fixed. The rudder had been built by one of Chris Tremlett’s best employees. The mast was underway at Proctors under a special deal. We had negotiated an arrangement with Haywards Sail Cloth for the sails. They would provide the sailcloth at no charge. Michael McNamara would make the sails also at no charge. The sails were so large that they had to be laid out in the hall at Exmouth Community College for inspection. Michael’s comment was having got us all to pull it out, “It looks quite full”. Following a lot of late nights and working all weekends the boat was finally launched in early May. The plan was that she 75 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
would be berthed here in Exmouth on a mooring in the Pool behind Bull Hill. Before the acceptance of an entry into this race we were required to sail 500 nautical miles non stop. The plan was to deliver Phil Morrison to his Pevensey Bay beach where he would jump off the foredeck! As it happened when we got to St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight the three of us decided that it was a bridge too far and we would complete the 500 miles up and down the coast of the UK. At night 12 miles SW of Portland Bill the boat was travelling very well to windward when suddenly all went quiet. The mast was broken. It took the three of us four hours to disassemble the genoa, mainsail and all the rod rigging. Finally having a rest from the process, it was agreed that we would stand the boom up using the reefing lines as forestay and shrouds to make a jury rig to run back to Poole where my brother Martin was the chief pilot. This was quite a fast trip achieving 10-12 knots. Having arrived at Poole my brother Martin was there with the Pilot Boat and we were towed alongside. We were able to stay to repair the mast which was returned from Proctors in two weeks. In the meantime the organisers of the Race Committee in Plymouth had met about our situation and due to endeavour and good seamanship we were accepted for the race. Once repaired we sailed the boat back to Plymouth and lots more work was completed on her ready for the start. 76 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
The race started on July 10th 1982 and shortly after the start one of the genoas ripped and was thrown overboard. Luckily for us one of our supporters picked it up. Once the sail was repaired Clive Jacobs in his own aircraft flew the genoa to Crosshaven to be used for the rest of the race. We arrived in Crosshaven in 5th place using a storm jib. The next leg to Barra involved a dead beat. We had listened to the forecast and had decided that the wind was going to veer. Unlike our competitors ahead of us who we could see were tacking out to sea we tacked inshore until we finally cleared the south west tip of Ireland. On our next approach on port tack into Dingle Bay the boat suddenly stopped. We were caught by salmon nets. Mark who was brilliant in this 77 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
situation dived overboard with a knife and cut away what he could. We used a technique which I had learned sailing in Cadets to sail the boat backwards by furling the genoa and setting up a block and tackle on the boom to back the mainsail. We were then able to break free of the netting. Having broken free we discovered that very slowly we were being lifted on starboard tack as was forecast and we fetched Malin Head and straight on to Barra where we discovered we were leading the race. We were met in the Barra Hotel on the west coast of Barra by Mrs Gatehouse, Mark’s mother. Barra has a very barren landscape without a tree to be seen. The following day we worked hard on the boat and in the evening we ate a good meal with very pleasant company, Chay Blyth and Peter Bateman, Clare Francis and Mark’s mother. We were now ready for the next leg which was around 250 miles to Lerwick on the Shetland Islands. It was a fast port fetch to the unmistakeable island of St Kilda. We left the island to starboard and bore away onto a breezy port run to Muckle Flugga north of Lerwick. We hoisted the spinnaker and off we set into an increasing breeze and sea state, until by 10pm it was too breezy for us to handle. With the spinnaker halyard jammed and Spud helming Mark went up the mast and had to cut the spinnaker free from the halyard. We retrieved 3000sq ft of spinnaker under the boom. This made the boat much easier to sail and we had to square run goosewinged with a preventer on the mainsail. The speed was between 12-20kn. We settled down for the night and changed watches at 0200. Mark came up on deck. We had the usual conversation about how things were going. The preventer holding the boom out had broken and needed replacing as soon as possible. One of the problems was that as we were 78 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
sailing the boat on a dead run down big waves the boat speed at times almost reached wind speed. This meant that there was little load on the mainsail. Occasionally this almost brought the boom to the centre of the boat together with an immense amount of slack main sheet. A few minutes later I shouted to Mark “Look out, here’s another one”. He said “OK”. 79 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
Mark Gatehouse and Spud Rowsell 80 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
The next thing that happened was that Mark was overboard. Obviously the slack in the main sheet had caught underneath his arm and the load on it had lifted him out of the boat. By extreme good luck he managed with his other arm to get hold of the unused running backstay. He was able then to climb back onto the boat over the sugar scoop transom. I said to Mark “That was a close shave” and with typical aplomb, he announced “My time isn’t up yet. Give me a fag and a coffee”. On our arrival in Lerwick we discovered that the bigger boats had enjoyed superior boat speed to us and we were third in behind Brittany Ferries and Colt Cars. The next leg to Lowestoft passed without incident. It was mainly a light air beam reach. Again we lost time to the big 81 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
tris by about three and a half hours. By then Mrs Gatehouse had travelled from Barra to Lowestoft and met us and arranged accommodation. Several Merlin Rocket sailors also turned up to celebrate our safe arrival. There was not too much work to be done on the boat but on the morning of our departure we were in the hotel having breakfast watching our opponents on the start line in no wind whatsoever. By the time we started they were still in sight. The last leg was to Plymouth and during the first night we passed the big tris. We reached St Catherine’s on the Isle of Wight and then had to decide on our tactics for the next leg to Plymouth. This is about 130 nautical miles and we faced a dead beat. I looked at the chart – did we head south, go up the middle of the channel, or stay inshore? During this discussion I said to Mark “Do we agree on the course of action?” He said, “It’s up to you, I’m writing the winners speech.” We decided to stay inshore because I had made up my mind as I know Lyme Bay we would probably get an offshore breeze during the night. This did happen and our approach to Plymouth seemed fast. At the eastern entrance Mark got on the VHF to the Royal Western Yacht Club to announce that we would shortly be finishing the race. Was there any news of the other competitors? The reply was that the winner was Colt Cars sailed by Naomi and Rob James who had finished an hour ahead of us. They had chosen to tack up the middle of the Channel. Second was Chay Blyth with Brittany Ferries. We were both bitterly disappointed that after 2,000 miles we were only third overall. We were so close and yet so far from winning the race. 82 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
The later life of Exmouth Challenge Exmouth Challenge had impressed by her performance. One admirer, Yvon Fauconnier, submitted a successful offer to buy the boat at the end of the season. Having paid all the bills a cheque for £19,000 was made out to the Exmouth Swimming Pool fund which kick-started the building of the pool by East Devon District Council. Yvon upgraded the rig and sails and went on to win the Single-Handed Transatlantic Race of 1983. After this a friend, Andrew Ball, expressed a wish to buy the boat in order for him to compete in the Three Peaks Race of 1985. Also in 1985 Mark and I borrowed it for our second Round Britain Race. We again finished third. 83 Chapter 10 · The Exmouth Challenge Story, 1981
CHAPTER 11 Their Glory Years Memories by Francis (Fra) Williams and Peter (Spud) Rowsell Spud and Fra as they were known in the club raced dinghies against each other from 1950 when they both started as crews in the new fleet of four Cadets which soon became eight. Spud sailing with elder brother Martin and Fra with Bridget Bennett. The Cadet designed by Jack Holt in 1947 was at the start of the dinghy racing boom and its success was based on home construction. The Yachting World magazine backed Jack Holt and plans were made available to the public. Fra’s first Cadet ‘Flap’ (314) and Jimmy Laws ‘Flip’ (313) were based on these plans and both were built in the carpenter’s workshop of Francis Williams Ltd in South Street. The choice of using hardboard for the panels in these Cadets proved 84
heavy and too flexible. The hardboard was later replaced by marine grade plywood. At the same time Ivor Williams, a huge supporter of the Exe Sailing Club and sponsor of the Rowsell family, purchased a Cadet kit from the Bell Woodworking company at a cost of £37 10s 0d which included all the timber cut out and machined, centreboard, rudder, spars, Jeckells Sails, fittings and rigging. The Exe Sailing Club at this time had a store and a small dinghy park behind Shelley Road opposite Belshers Slipway. Behind these facilities three sheds were owned by prominent Sailing Club officers who used them as stores and changing rooms. In these early days the course for the handicap fleet to which the Cadets were allocated was a start from the club line off either the pier or the jetty, 13 buoy, Shelley Gut and back to the finish. Three rounds to be sailed in the direction signalled by Winter Sharp the longstanding Commodore who commanded the bridge on the old wooden clubhouse just behind where the starting box is today. The Cadets sailed against a variety of mainly clinker 11 to 12-foot heavier Utility Dinghies. The Club now began to run Cadet racing on Sundays for the Shorthouse Cup. These early races were noisy affairs with advice from senior members watching. It was in the shed owned by Ivor Williams that Spud’s Cadet C956 was built by his brother Brian aged 16 who had just started a boat building apprenticeship with WF Holman and Son in Camperdown Terrace. 85 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
Walter Holman and Brian Rowsell The fourth Cadet to be built was from a similar kit and “Imp” was built by Mick Martin for his daughter Jane to sail. Three Cadets were built in Topsham in the same year 1950 to be sailed by Pete Woolley, Ricky Gardner and Trevor Greenslade (who would a few years later become Hornet World Champion). Within a year Bridget Bennett and Martin Rowsell had moved on leaving Fra and Spud to helm their Cadets at the young ages of 9 and 8 respectively. So began a (usually!) generally friendly rivalry. They were soon joined by Jimmy Law, Jane Martin and David (Snick) Lavis (brother of later Commodore Ron Lavis Ed.). Spud remembers winning a medal aged 9 years at the Festival of Britain 1951 Regatta held at Starcross YC which at that time was located in a small hut by the railway line in Starcross. 86 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
Spud then won most of the encounters until after about two seasons some serious measuring was undertaken. Fra’s mainsail had an extra one-foot section added just above the boom and he also found his boat to be at least 50 pounds overweight. It had been originally built in his father’s joinery shop of tempered hardboard but when Fra hit one of the groynes it pierced the hardboard which was then replaced by marine ply. Results were then closer. The fleet of four was increased in size by the addition of Alan Browning, Jack Lott, Rodney Nott and Ben Jennings. A great deal of summer holiday sailing was spent with trips to the Warren, many open afternoon sessions to attract beginners and they all learnt to sail forwards, backwards, with or without rudders and with the variety of tide in the Exe. It was a great start to boat handling. In the era of the early fifties there were hot fleets of 14ft Internationals and 12 ft. Nationals with more than one winner from Exe Sailing Club of both the Prince of Wales (PoW)Trophy (14s) and the Sir William Burton Trophy (12s). Both these trophies were awarded for the extra-long principal race held during the Championship Week. In the early days of dinghy racing these two fleets were considered the premier classes nationally and many Olympic sailors emerged from them. Because of the lack of buoyancy and self-drainage in dinghies at that time one of the key lessons learned was to try and avoid a capsize at any cost. A capsize usually meant the end of the race and a need to be rescued. One of the Olympic sailors was Bruce Banks who was a member of Exe SC both before the 1939 -1945 war and for a few years after. There were no RYA courses then and the only 87 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
help given was from the seniors. Comments were made like “you have a lot to learn” but being self-taught, the lessons of trim and balance soon became second nature. On a couple of occasions when maybe the wind freshened during a King Cup race suddenly the leader board was topped by the younger members and some of the seniors began to take notice. In their teenage years Fra was sent to a boarding school and Spud soon started crewing one of his brothers in a National12. Then there were few open meetings and by the age of 14 they had hardly sailed away from home but Fra was taken to the Cadet Championship week at Burnham-on-Crouch. He soon realised that the early training had stood him in good stead, progressing up through the fleet from 12th out of 120 boats in 1956, aged 14 years, to 6th then 2nd in his final 2 years (first British boat the winner was Belgian Ed), aged 16 and 17 years, with fleets of up to 180 boats. It was probably the biggest upset or regret of his life that the second place was not a win as in the important race when he only had to place in the top ten a rudder pintle failed when he had already established a good lead. His main competition then was from a Belgian Jacques Rogge who many may remember as the president of the International Olympic Committee during the 2012 Games in London. Jacques represented Belgium in the Finn class at more than one Olympics and also his country at rugby. Having had several close battles Fra could honestly say that Jacques was a very fair sportsman who on one occasion during the week actually signed Fra’s end of race declaration in conjunction with William Pym (Fra’s crew) as he said he did not wish to win the week other than on the water. Fra had had a panic as his mother’s car would not start and he had gone off for help. 88 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
William’s father raced 12’s at the Exe for a number of years as did his elder brother Patrick, who became the second Olympian from the Exe SC when he sailed a Finn at Kiel in1972. The Finn being the class in which the British have led the world for many years. By the late 50’s the Cadet class was spawning many top and Olympic sailors. Keith Musto and Rodney Pattison were amongst them. Rodney Pattison was the most successful British Sailing Olympian, until Ben Ainslie came along. All the Rowsell boys Derek, Brian, Martin and Spud had the benefit of learning to sail when very young with their father Frank who was a fisherman and owned a Utility Dinghy kept on a mooring at the rear of his shed in Camperdown Terrace. 89 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
They all learned how to row, sail, scull and generally gained knowledge of wind and tide by trial and error. Sailing schools and training centres had not yet been invented. Ivor Williams who was a Bristol businessman had been coming to Exmouth since the 1920s when the International 14 dinghy became established at Exe SC. Together with H Winter Sharp and Howard Williams, Ivor was the inspiration and driving force in the success of the Club. Ivor did not have children so to help develop the fleets, he took to sponsoring all the Rowsell boys making an International 14 available for Brian, a National 12 for Derek and the Cadet for Martin and Spud. In 1953 the Club racing was dominated by the Rowsell brothers. Winter Sharp in his speech to 150 guests at the Annual Dinner claimed that the results of the Rowsell boys were astonishing. Alan Belsher as Chairman of the Dock Company and principal guest claimed to know the Rowsell’s grandfather and in addition to praising their achievements he paid tribute to the sportsmanship of one member who had provided this opportunity for young members to develop their talents. This anonymous member was Ivor Williams. 90 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
Spud’s and Fra’s sailing lives were virtually preordained by their background. Fra’s father Howard had been a member of the club since the 1920’s and first sailed an Exe 12 then National 12s, International 14s. He was joined by his wife Betty who forsook being a Devon tennis champion to go sailing (one of her earliest crews being Jenks Hughes in Alouette N366). Howard went on to be one of the prime movers in the building of several club houses culminating in the design and build of the existing one. He won the Burton Trophy in 1947 in front of several future Olympic sailors and had other Burton week wins as well as the class Silver National trophy in ‘Dawn Star’, a boat of his own design and built locally by Geoff Holman and Brian Rowsell. He won races at PoW Week (one of them with Brian as crew). He 91 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
finished his competitive sailing in an International Dragon and captained the British Dragon team who went to Deauville and beat the French. He became Commodore after his good friend Ivor Williams died in harness at a time of great change for the club when the purchase of the Tornado site was being negotiated with the Dock Company. Fra’s mother Betty (later Admiral of the Club) was also highly regarded and raced 12s for many years and crewed for Bruce Banks (Exe’s first Olympian) when they won the overall National 12 Championship Week at Calshot in 1948. Howard Williams’ Dragon, Camperdown Terrace After Cadets Fra then won the Schools Keel Boat Championships on the Clyde in 1960 and in 1961 before heading off to university to study Civil Engineering at Trinity College, Dublin. Meanwhile Spud was building boats and making his way to the top of the National 12 fleet. The Cadet Class by 1955 at the 92 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
Club was expanding but Spud moved on to crew for brother Derek in the National 12 ‘Arrow’ (539) and they competed in the Falmouth Burton Week in 1957 with the now much out of date boat and finished 6th overall. At Exe SC the senior fleets of National 12s and International 14s were strong numerically and competitively. It must be remembered that these classes, plus the Firefly, were the mainstay of British dinghy racing. The Clubhouse built on the dock side behind where the current starting box is now located was built by members in 1946 and extended in 1951-1952. It boasted a tearoom, kitchen, bunk room, and upstairs bar. Teams of wives and girlfriends were organised by senior lady members of the Club. Vast amounts of fresh sandwiches and cakes were available for a shilling per person (5p in today’s money). Following complaints, juniors were not allowed to have their tea until the seniors had arrived. The Commodore at this stage of the Club’s success was Winter Sharp who held the post from 1947 until he retired in 1970. He had strong views on all aspects of the Club and was the Club’s Chief Measurer and much respected Race Officer for national events. A quote from the Club’s AGM of 1955 highlights his approach. Mr J Large speaking on behalf of several members ‘requested that draught beer be made available at the bar’. The Commodore in reply covered several points in relation to this mentioning firstly ‘the objects of the Club, reduced profits and consequent further delays in repayment of members loans on the new Clubhouse’. In 1956 Brian Rowsell who had finished so well in the 1954 PoW week put in an Olympic Campaign with the Finn Class but failed to achieve selection as the trials were held on a sudden death basis in 93 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
light airs which were not his strong point. Sailing for Brian was now put on the back burner as he started his racing dinghy building business in his father’s shed at the back of Camperdown Terrace. Derek took to sailing his International 14 dinghy ‘Silver Cloud’ (608) and Spud was given the old ‘Arrow’ to sail. He and boyhood friends set about a winter restoration including the fitting of the latest 2 inches wide rubbing strakes. Ivor offered the use of his hut and ‘Arrow’, built from solid Wyche Elm, was scraped down to bare wood inside and outside in an effort to reduce moisture and weight. Teaming up with his local friend Geoff Skinner they competed in their first Burton Week held in Weymouth in 1959 among 150 competitors and finished 36th. Designs had moved on at a pace in National 12s and one such boat was built by Ron Lavis. ‘Moby Dick’ was sailed by Ron and his brother Snick. ‘Moby Dick’ was very quick particularly in planing conditions. Spud and Snick teamed up in this boat to compete in the Torbay fortnight winning every race and accrued winnings of over £20. (the average adult salary was just under £10/week. Ed) Brian and Derek Rowsell sailing “Arrow” N539 94 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
The year 1959 was an important year for Spud as he left school and started his apprenticeship with brother Brian. Ivor Williams who had provided capital to start the business had secured the latest National 12 design from Uffa Fox and the first of these was built by Brian. ‘Smuggler’ (1650) became well known in National 12 circles for good sailing performance and the quality of build. Many 12s were built that winter and by the spring of 1960 Spud decided to build his own boat. With a small budget and the use of secondhand sails ‘Spuddle’ (1886) was launched in May. With Jack Lott as crew they managed to finish in single figures at the Torquay Burton Week. By 1965 the International 14 Class was losing support at Exe SC due to high costs and following a meeting the Club decided to promote Merlin Rocket racing. This inaugural fleet was supported by Tony Fulford, Peter Marshall-Lee, Frank Briar, Mike Clifton, Tom Booth, David Reader and Spud. Tom Booth (the “Admiralty Boffin”) had designed several National 12s and he produced a fine Merlin design that Spud built and raced to finish in single figures at the Plymouth 1965 Merlin Rocket Championships. By 1968 in another new design ‘Rage’, Spud with ex Cadet sailor Tony Ayton as crew won his first Merlin Championship race in Falmouth Bay. For the 1969 season Spud teamed up with Jon Turner and this pair formed a partnership which lasted until 1979 and their Championship results confirm considerable success. Whilst at University Fra became part of a successful Dublin sailing team that won the Northern University Championships four years in a row and were three times runners up to London at the British University 95 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
Championships. He captained the Irish team that won a European University championships and sailed for the British team both against the American Universities and against the Combined Services on several occasions. In 1962 he was invited to spend the summer in America to take part in the 75th Anniversary of Pleon Yacht Club. This club was entirely run for and by under 21-year-olds and based in Marblehead. During the second half of the 60’s Fra worked away in the building industry and although he owned National 12 ‘Karine’ another of Howard’s designs sailing took a back seat until 1968 when he campaigned her for the last time. He finally achieved a 4th place in the Burton week at Falmouth crewed by his sister Sonia Rowley whose husband Colin was to join the Exe SC the next year. Fra and Derek Sheffer winning the Inland Championships 96 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
Then in 1969 Fra bought his first Merlin Rocket ‘Kraken’ from Spud and sailing became more serious for him again. With Derek Sheffer he finished 15th in the Championships at Whitstable. Alan Warren who subsequently won the silver medal at the Munich Olympics in 1972 won the week with Michael McNamara 2nd and Spud 3rd. Michael was to join the Exe SC the next year. In 1970 at Pwhelli Spud climbed to 2nd again to Alan Warren whilst Fra rose to 6th in the largest Merlin fleet ever of 220 boats and they all started on a conventional line! This was the year that the fleet consolidated and drove each other on at the Exe and by 1971 the club swept all before them and after an epic championships at Plymouth Fra won in his new boat the first Nyaminyami with Spud in Philistine, the first of his many Phil Morrison designs a close 2nd. (The championships were decided by the last race. Spud never got over losing! Ed). The Club also won the Merlin Rocket team racing event at Cheddar invoking the comment from the then chairman of the class that “you lot are killing the racing as you just sail off and don’t give anyone else a chance”. Fra finished the year by winning the Endeavour Trophy as well as the domestic joy of his first child. From 1971 Spud who had built Phil Morrison’s China Doll, a National 12, in the late 1960s chose Phil’s Merlin designs and Spud and Jon’s results of the 1978 Championship of four firsts and two seconds in one week was a record in the Merlin class which stood until 2019 when beaten in much more variable conditions by Christian Birrell with four firsts, two seconds and two thirds in an eight race series. 97 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
• 3rd 1969 ‘Outrage’ Whitstable • 2nd 1970 ‘Courageous’ Pwhelli (225 entries) • 2nd 1971 ‘Philistine’ Plymouth • 1st 1974 ‘Fadeaway’ Abersoch • 2nd 1977 ‘Phsycic’ Hayling Island • 1st 1978 ‘Footloose’ Abersoch • 6th 1979 ‘Oliver’ Falmouth • 2nd 1982 ‘Black Adder’, Whitstable 1978 championships, Footloose 4 firsts, 2 seconds. 98 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
With many wins at Salcombe Merlin Week the pair who had won 13 Championship races split up when Jon went on to start his own dinghy building business. Spud finished his Merlin racing career in 1983 when he was 2nd overall to Jon at Whitstable. Jon now helming, achieved his first of four championship wins. 99 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
Back in 1973 following success in Merlins Spud was invited to sail 16ft skiffs in Australia competing in the International Championships on Lake Macquarie North of Sydney. In 1979 he teamed up with Alan Warren and Barry Dunning in an Olympic campaign in the Soling Class. Following successful regattas in Norway, Italy and Puerto Rico they were in contention for selection for the Moscow Olympics. They were devastated when the UK pulled sailing out of the Olympics when Russia invaded Afghanistan. Angela and Alan Warren with Spud Fra went on to win the1973 Golden Touch trophy at Queen Mary Reservoir for the first full Merlin Rocket Inland Championships and was 2nd overall in the year’s Silver Tiller 100 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
before leaving the class and spending 3 years racing an International Tornado Catamaran with Chris Cooke, another former Exe Cadet sailor, who later became Commodore at Lympstone SC. Fra was competing in European and World Championship events at Hyere, La Baule, Kiel and Copenhagen. Never winning but leading the odd race at times and finishing in single figures in the lead-up to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. He very quickly realised that top level dinghy racing was rapidly becoming more professional as Spud also found with his forays into Flying Dutchman and Soling racing. Ian Fraser and Reg White were World Champion and Olympic Champion in the Tornado and professionals through their businesses and building top Tornadoes. They were able to attend major events all around the world with their second and third boats being shipped across oceans and being available at the next Open Meetings. While Spud went on racing his Merlins successfully Fra became a cruiser mainly because Karen, his wife, was a deep-sea sailor who had missed out for the last few years. She had come from a cruiser family. Her father Ted Lyne, had left Exmouth in his ketch to sail around the world which he and Mary his wife did, taking about 12 years to complete the circumnavigation. So the second Nyaminyami a Contessa 32 was purchased and with an increasing number of children the family cruised further afield for several years. It was not long however before Karen was persuaded by them to let father back onto the race course culminating in an entirely family crew entering a few local regattas to start with, followed by three Cowes Weeks and two Cork weeks in the 1990’s. They only finished 2nd equal on all three occasions in Cowes but managed to beat all the other Contessas when the 101 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
Solent boys were away from their home waters in Cork. A consortium in 1986 of Steve Best, Mark Gatehouse, Andrew Ball, Phil Morrison and Spud, built a Formula 40 Catamaran ‘Rebel’ to compete in events around Europe. It soon became clear that the project needed major sponsorship and a professional approach to compete. At this time the Cadet fleet at Exe SC was strong in numbers and the standard of racing was second to none in the country. Two of Spud’s children Stephanie and Frank along with Fra’s son Ian Williams, made selection to the British team together with Jamie Lea, Charlotte Neil, Conrad Humphreys, Ryan Lee, James Ward, Stevie Morrison and Harry Mogridge. The following year Spud’s youngest son Frank won the B fleet at Burnham Cadet Championships, aged 13. He won the A fleet with Harry Mogridge the next year . The 1990 World Championships held in Poland was won by Jamie Lea crewed by Adam May with Frank crewed by Harry as runners up, proving that their experiences of the difficult sailing conditions encountered at Exe helped them to sail at any event anywhere. All these youngsters together with Richard and Lee Sydenham, Stevie Morrison and Ian Williams went on to achieve all sorts of brilliant results in a variety of sailing disciplines. In 1990 Spud went on to achieve a long-held ambition to build and race a Salcombe Yawl, ‘Olive Branch’ (named after his father’s fishing boat). This classic yawl was so successful and many orders were taken for this Phil Morrison design. He teamed up with Kevin Driver in a new yawl, ‘Spruce Goose” and they won several Regatta Weeks at Salcombe, which are 102 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
like a National Championships where competition is fierce with many champions from other classes competing. Then in the early 90’s Spud and Phil Morrison were responsible for designing and building the prototype of the new RS400 and Spud and Fra resumed their rivalry probably for the last time on the water. Spud made a lovely half model of the RS 400 and presented it to the class as a trophy for the Masters (old men) at the championships. It was promptly won for the first time by Fra with one of his sons Mark crewing him in Portland Harbour. Soon however Fra’s children took over the Contessa 32 and the old man went off and bought his Swan 44 and intended to go cruising once more but not before the children prevailed again. It was off to a Round the Island race in 2003 and a class win probably more to do with Ian (later to become the multiple World Match Racing Champion) his third son’s 103 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
tactics. This was followed by a not so successful Swan European Championships. Fra then crossed the Atlantic joining the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC- Gran Canaria to St Lucia) finishing ahead of all his class. Both Spud and Fra had their businesses to manage and found that modern racing at the higher levels had become increasingly professional. Spud built beautiful dinghies and was significantly responsible for changing the outlook nationally from previous builders. Although those boats were sound and adequate, Spud upgraded the finish quality and it was not long before Rowsell Brothers were attracting many of the top helmsmen in 12’s and Merlins who were demanding Rowsell Brothers boats as their first choice. Several of his apprentices have gone on to be well known in their own right both as sailors and craftsmen. Francis had taken on running the family firm of builders when he came back to Exmouth in 1969. He kept up the reputation for high quality building that his forefathers had established over the previous 50 years. Interestingly during his father’s time a number of the company’s craftsmen had joined Exe SC and several helped in the building of the various wooden clubhouses on the old jetty. Spud’s brothers Derek, Brian and Martin along with many of the local boat builders from the Dixon, Lavis and Holman families were also heavily involved and gave much time. How times have changed with the sort of much grander structure that we now own. 104 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
Fra finished his business around 2008 and it is a tribute to his family and the quality of their building that even now a number of Estate Agents still use the Francis Williams name to help sell homes on the resale market in Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Lympstone and Woodbury. The quality is a result of good site management. There were three site managers. One, Dick England crewed Ivor Williams another, Dan Horn, crewed Howard Williams as well as both being involved in the wooden clubhouse construction. A third, Keith Mogridge crewed various people at different times and his son Harry was part of the fleet of world class young sailors who took the Cadet fleet by storm in the 80’s and 90’s. All three site managers were sticklers on site and insisted on work being done correctly. Sadly, much of the building industry has not maintained these high standards. Both Spud and Fra lived locally and had four children all of whom have a great interest in the water. It is not surprising that Guy Rowsell ran a yacht in the Caribbean and now runs the boatyard in Camperdown Terrace. That Aran Williams worked for an investment bank that specialises in takeovers, mergers and acquisitions of the world’s largest shipping companies. Frank Rowsell and Mark Williams were both involved with high level racing from time to time and Becky Rowsell and Sian Williams spend time on the water when they can. But the amazing and probably final note is about each of these old sailors third children, Stephanie Bridge and Ian Williams both have now at least five World Champion Titles to their names. Stephanie for ladies’ kite surfing racing and Ian for match racing. Both have won more titles in their respective events than anyone else has done and both have been nominated for World Sailor of the Year. They came up 105 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
through the ranks of the Exe SC Cadet class and were part of the young group that came together in the 80’s and spawned so many national, international champions and Olympic sailors. As two old men mulled over a pint and reflected on a rivalry even if only the indirect one of their children what an inspiration this should be to thrusting young members of the Exe SC to set their sights at the highest levels. Spud was elected to the Exe SC Management Committee in 1963 and served continuously becoming Commodore in 1989. He was made a Trustee of the Club in 2000. Francis was elected to management of the Exe SC, becoming Sailing Secretary in 1971, Rear Commodore in 1977 and Commodore in 1998. He became a Trustee of the Club in 2006. Francis Williams, April 1942 to September 2016 106 Chapter 11 · Their Glory Years
CHAPTER 12 The Loss of a Flag Officer Introduction The Exe Sailing Club has been fortunate to attract a number of characters as members over the years who have been passionate about their chosen sport. Few have been lost at sea. One of these was Dick Read who had combined a career as an ecclesiastical sculptor with a desire for speed on water. It is a tale of thwarted ambition for a life to be spent in the Royal Navy balanced against family duty whilst maintaining a connection with boats and the sea. Dick served on the Club’s Management Committee for many years rising to become Vice Commodore. This is his story. 107
Heritage Dick was born on the 16th May 1926. In the family tradition he was christened Herbert Richard Read. Back in 1886 his grandfather Herbert Read set up St Sidwell’s Artworks in St Sidwell Street, Exeter. This firm, Herbert Read Ltd, specialized in the niche market of ecclesiastical sculpture in wood and stone. The business became renowned world-wide for fine workmanship and quality of work undertaken. His second son (Dick’s father) also named Herbert Read worked in the family business and became the proprietor in 1908. He expanded the business, still retaining Exeter Cathedral as a principal client but also undertaking work for other churches and Municipal buildings such as the Exeter Guildhall. Sherborne School was another important client. In the 1930’s he advised on the layout of certain areas of Washington Cathedral. His son Dick was expected to follow in his footsteps and take over the business at the appropriate time. Going back in time the Read ancestors on his mother Ida’s side were seafaring folk. She was the one who encouraged sporting achievements. Dick was brought up in a competitive family with two older sisters, Joan and Mary and a younger sister Ann with whom he was quite close. All were good at sports and frequently played tennis together as a foursome. He quickly learnt to sail in the family’s aluminium sailing dinghy, for which he had a natural aptitude. The river Exe and Cornish waters off Downderry Cornwall, where the family had a cottage, became his playground. 108 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
School days and Naval Service Dick was initially enrolled at the Exeter Preparatory School in May 1933, leaving at the end of March 1937. He was tall for his age. His preparatory school records show that he took the role of King Serendib in Sinbad the Sailor. These records also show he went to Naval School for his next period of education. At eleven, Dick saw his future in the Royal Navy and had an ambition to attend Dartmouth Naval College. The Central School Exeter was known as the Rack Street Naval College as it sent a high proportion of its boys to Dartmouth. It is likely Dick spent some time there before being enrolled at Bramdean School, Heavitree. Dick had won a place at the excellent St Edward’s School Oxford (sometimes affectionately known as Teddies). Whist working on the Chapel at Sherborne School his father had a conversation with one of the housemasters about where Dick was going. The master emphatically replied that Dick should come to Sherborne and be in his house, Lyon House. So it was that Dick found himself starting his secondary education at Sherborne School in Dorset in May 1940. Dick’s teenage years were dominated by the growth of fascism, the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. He had first-hand knowledge of the Luftwaffe bombing raid on Sherborne in September 1940 (apparently mistaken for the Westland aircraft factory at Yeovil) which damaged but did not destroy the Public School’s buildings and that on Exeter in May 1942 which wiped out most of Sidwell Street including the family firm’s workshop as well as seriously damaging the cathedral. Dick’s father was heavily involved in the restoration works of the Cathedral for many years. Following 109 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
a visit by King George and Queen Elizabeth to the Cathedral, he was later awarded an OBE for his diligence, skill and dedication to this painstaking task. At Sherborne School Dick did indeed board at Lyon House rising to become a House Prefect and Captain of the House Physical Training having first acquired the appropriate badge. In September 1942 Commander Brendon RN founded a Sea Cadet Corps at the School which Dick immediately joined becoming a Leading Seaman. He left Sherborne School at the end of the Spring Term in March 1944 with every intention of enlisting in the Navy on his eighteenth birthday. This he accomplished and by July was undergoing initial training. With Victory in Europe achieved on the 7th of May 1945 Dick’s war time experiences were limited but he did enjoy the thrill of driving Naval launches at high speed. He was demobilised in July 1947 as a Petty Officer but retained on the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. St Sidwell’s Artworks Perhaps the return to the family business was an anticlimax as reputedly Dick was uncertain as to whether he wanted to devote his life to that particular field. He had thoughts of going abroad. However, in 1949 his father became unwell and the die was cast. 1950 became an important year in Dick’s life. Following an operation in a London hospital his father sadly passed away leaving Dick his birthright to become, at the age of 24, the third-generation proprietor of St Sidwell’s Artworks. 110 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Dick with artwork sculpture It was not long before Dick realised he was quite good at what he did and was able to enjoy the fruits of his labours. He acquired an open topped sports car and became seen as a very eligible bachelor. The ladies of the town were eager to catch his eye, he was spoilt for choice. A glance or smile from this tall, dark, handsome and charismatic man was would cause hearts to flutter. In the event it would be Anne Sindery with her three daughters, Virginia, Jayne and Joanna that would capture his heart. It would prove to be a long courtship but they finally married in 1969 and set up home at Crossways, Mill Lane, Exton. 111 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
The first cornerstone of the magnificent Neo-Gothic Washington National Cathedral was laid in 1907. It would take 83 years to build with the last stone laid atop the towers in 1990. The first service was held in1912 using the Bethlehem Chapel within the partly completed Cathedral. Funded entirely by public donations the best traditional craftsmen of the day were sought to build and decorate this house of God. In view of the firm’s previous involvement Dick was invited to Washington in 1955 to discuss the design and crafting of items for this prestigious building. These would include the War Memorial shrine, the north and south transept entrance porches, the north transept doors, the Great Crossing high altar and numerous kneeler fronts which are used throughout the Cathedral. Dick spent a considerable time in Washington fulfilling these commissions over the next fifteen years which were probably the highlight of two and a half decades of ecclesiastical design and carving for Exeter Cathedral and many other West Country churches and properties both home and abroad. Washington Cathedral 112 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Sailing Dick joined the Exe Sailing Club as a teenager and offered his services as a crew. The Club was regarded by many at that time as the strongest dinghy racing club west of the Royal Yacht Squadron. He later decided to compete in the International Fourteen Foot Class, at the time the premier racing dinghy in this country and abroad. This is a restricted class with a set of rules within which designers and owners can modify the boats to seek enhanced performance. Dick’s first Fourteen, sail number 548, was purchased from a Mr. Johnson. This boat was one of the first hot moulded fourteens built by Fairey Marine in 1949 to a proven design by Uffa Fox. The beam of these boats was near the minimum permitted of 4 feet 8 inches. Using waterproof glues devised during the war, these boats did not need the closely spaced ribs required in prewar boats which made maintenance much easier. Dick was fastidious over revarnishing his fourteen and it would be a major disaster if a speck of dust or a run was found on the final finishing coat. He changed the name of this dinghy to Thalassa. Several of Dick’s boats were given names relating to Greek mythology, clearly, he had benefited from a classical education. 113 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Racing Thalassa The competition in the Exe Club fleet was fierce. He was up against the four-time winner of the Prince of Wales Cup race Bruce Banks who won this trophy in 1950,51,53, and 55. Mick Martin won in 1952 and other Club sailors such as Howard Williams and Tommy Litton obtained replicas awarded to the first six in this championship event with a then twenty-year-old Brian Rowsell taking third place in both the POW and the Points Trophy whilst winning the Weymouth Town Trophy in 1954. A podium place in a Club race was considered a significant achievement. 114 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
First at 13 buoy Dick took delivery of a new Fairey Marine fourteen in 1954 which incorporated Uffa Fox’s latest design modifications which saw the beam increased to five feet six inches to give more sitting out power. The Class had introduced a maximum beam rule the previous year, these wider fourteens rapidly became essential if you wanted to win. This new fourteen 648 he named Thalassa II. Dick and his crew Laurie Lanham found they did better when the wind was strong and fast planing was possible on the downwind legs. These boats carried 125 square feet of sail but like yachts of that era the foresail area was calculated using the measurement from the tack to the front face of the mast (known as the J measurement). Any overlap of the foresail was in effect a rule free addition. Dick exploited this opportunity by having a genoa made which sheeted near the transom, The norm was to position the foresail fairlead around mid-length. This 115 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
larger foresail showed no benefit to windward but when eased on a close or beam reach gave Dick a decided edge on those legs particularly in marginal planing conditions. Another of Dick’s weapons was the largest spinnaker seen in the fleet. Spinnakers were only restricted by the height of the spinnaker halyard on the mast and the length of the spinnaker pole. The sail needed a moderate breeze to set well. In light weather it was difficult to trim as the skirt of the foot tended to fall into the sea, soak up water and with the increased weight would often not fill at all. Dick was always ready to try something a little different. One feature of the fixture list was the annual team races against Dartmouth Naval College. When held at Dartmouth, Fireflies or the dreaded single-handed Dartmouth One Design was used. When at Exe they raced fourteens and twelves. One year Dick, crewed by his sister Ann in a Fourteen, capsized. To his great satisfaction they were able to right the dinghy, bail out and still finish before any of the Naval cadets. 116 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Powerboating a new passion Glancing through a copy of Motorboat and Yachting Dick came across an article written by a young naval architect, Allen McLachlan about a sixteen-foot motor boat he had built in his garden. This inspired Dick to send off for a set of plans. As well as having exceptional talent in designing and illustrating his artworks he had mastered the craftsmanship to build them. Undertaking boat building was a step into an arena where straight lines are rare and curves abound. When in 1956 Thalia was completed and emerged from the Verney Street workshop to appear on the water, several people asked if he could build a boat for them too. Dick thought about this for a while and considered the synergies between his existing business and boat building. Both required craftsmanship in working in wood, good design and a ready market. So it was that in 1957 that he set up another business called Westcraft with two friends, Laurie Lanham and Jack Large to meet this demand. It was a time when water skiing had become popular. Dick arranged for a water-skiing promotional film to be shot at Exmouth on what turned out to be a very cold February day. An excellent skier his gallant sister Ann had been volunteered to ski behind his power boat. This before the advent of wetsuits. At the end of the demonstration, she skied towards the beach, discarding the towing line with sufficient momentum to ski onto the sand and walk nonchalantly ashore. Regrettably the cameraman had missed it and asked if she could do it again. By then she had had enough and refused as she was freezing cold. 117 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Allen McLachlan, who had inspired Dick to go power boating and set up the Westcraft venture, went on to bigger and better things with the renown naval architects practice of GLWatson. Dick worked exclusively with Allen on future design of motor boats between thirteen and forty-two feet to be built by his firm. J A McLachlan M.R.N.A. was included as a consultant on the firm’s letter head. The competitive edge Come 1961 Dick was still keenly racing dinghies and considered designing and building a new International Fourteen for which the sail number 750 was allocated. This project never reached fruition as a new challenge materialized, namely the 1961 inaugural Cowes to Torquay Powerboat race to start at the end of Cowes Week. Dick immediately decided to build a new twenty-one-foot cabin cruiser for this event powered by two 75 hp outboard engines. Allen drew the lines and crewed for the race. This racing boat was called Ianthe (after the Greek water nymph). At the eleventh-hour Dick realized he needed a navigator and fellow fourteen enthusiast Dick Trafford was roped in. In the race they were doing well but ran out of fuel in Lyme Bay. Scrounging some off a Russian freighter the course was completed only for them to be disqualified for accepting outside assistance. The following year bad weather meant they finished outside the time limit but in 1963 the team managed to complete the course. Early in 1963 Chris Tremlett designed and built an International Fourteen for Peter Marshall-Lee and subsequently crewed for him. This dinghy Tremble, sail number 821, was stunningly fast downwind but sluggish in 118 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
light airs. Perhaps not surprising as Chris was another power boat enthusiast building his own range of boats. It is possible Dick influenced the design and was prompted to purchase his third and last International Fourteen. This time he commissioned Souter’s on the Isle of Wight to build one of Ian Proctor’s latest designs; Ian having become the most successful designer in the three restricted classes in the UK. In this boat Dick would often find himself taking the winners gun in Club racing and securing Club trophies. This Fourteen carried the sail number 824 becoming Thalassa III. He raced this dinghy up and until the 1967 season when business commitments and his enthusiasm for fast power boats permitted. Dick served on the Sailing Club Management Committee from 1955 till 1959 and stood again in 1964. The following year Dick was the prime mover in the incorporation of the Exe Sports Boat and Ski Club as part of the club’s activities and was elected Rear Commodore Power, a post he held till 1969 when the Power Boat section established their own Clubhouse on the pier. His post was retitled Rear Commodore Senior at the 1970 annual general meeting which he held for the next three years. In March 1972 he stepped up to become Vice Commodore. He also found time to be involved with Exeter Sea Cadets Corps to pass on his knowledge and enthusiasm for waterborne activities to the next generation. He became Chairman of that voluntary organization As with the Ecclesiastical work, the Westcraft business continued to grow. After a time, building boats in a shed at Exeter Airport no longer permitted demand to be met. With 119 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
additional capital provided by a long-term friend from Downderry, Bev Watson-Smythe, Dick was able to acquire the Bickford’s yard at Odam’s Wharf on the River Clyst in 1967. Bev became a fellow director of Westcraft thus enabling Dick to expand and consolidate both businesses at the same location. The Artworks business became Herbert Read Ltd in honour of his father. These new premises were adjacent to Chris Tremlett’s yard which also produced a similar range of fast powerboats, the move enhanced the rivalry between the two proprietors, both on and off the water. New design concepts Allen McLachlan, influenced no doubt by his role as a designer for the RNLI, pioneered the ragged chine concept to provide a smoother ride for crew in heavy seas, when crews can often take less punishment than the boat. His idea incorporated numerous closely spaced spray rails along the hull resulting in multiple mini slams when hitting a wave, rather than one big one. Air became entrapped between the rails helping to cushion the impact. To some degree at speed the boat would be riding on bubbles. Using this concept, Allen designed a fifteen-foot open speedboat for Westcraft. Dick competed twice in the Cornish 100 in one of these boats. This was an annual race for class III open cockpit speedboats held each year between 1964 and 1968. The course being from Falmouth to Plymouth and back, a distance of 100 miles. 120 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Dick was completely convinced by the performance and ride quality he had experienced in these races and the fifteen-foot powerboat was offered with either an outboard engine (as used in the Cornish 100) or with the inboard variant. He also encouraged Allen to come up with the Westland/Watson twenty-five-foot plywood powerboats embracing the ragged chine s concept. This range comprised a cabin cruiser, a sports fishing boat and a commercial fishing boat all using the same hull. Later the range expanded to a thirty-foot cabin cruiser and a forty-two-foot commercial fishing boat called Poseidon. Various examples of these motor boats could be found on the Exe during the 1960’s and ‘70’s with names such as Foam Fury, Foam Sprayer and Foam Fisher. In the days before rigid inflatables the need for a fast inshore rescue boat became evident and the fifteen-foot speed boat, incorporating an inboard engine with a Z drive propulsion system, was adapted and marketed as a rescue boat. 121 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Ianthe off St. Catherines Point Dick spotted another opportunity to promote his new range of powerboats with his love of racing by entering the inaugural 1969 Round Britain Powerboat Race. Using a standard hull now extended by a foot to twenty-six feet, Dick built Foamflyer specifically to compete in this race. She was powered by two new OMC (Outboard Marine Corporation) V8 inboard/outboard drives each rated at 210 hp. Issued with the race number 423, Foamflyer became one of Dick’s favourite racing boats. The race was 1,459 miles long broken down into eleven stages plus scrutineering and expected to last a fortnight. It represented a considerable challenge and cost for such a small company. To support him in this venture he recruited Dag Pike as navigator (Dag’s first race in a long and illustrious racing career), Peter Troweill from the OMC importer as engineer plus Dennis Moore the proprietor of an Exmouth garage business for additional engineering support. 122 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Dennis Moore was better known by Club members as the owner of Dolce Vita his sailing cruiser. Foamflyer in Round Britain Race For the first seven hundred miles to Oban the conditions were near perfect with flat calm seas under blue skies. Although mechanical issues with the new OMC drives slowed them on some of these legs, their best result was achieved on the Inverness to Dundee leg when the organisers allowed the race to continue in thick fog. Dag’s navigational ability and Dick’s helming skills brought them home in second place. The next leg from Dundee to Whitby was held in rough seas for which staying-the- course was an achievement. The team finished the race a in a very creditable 10th place from the forty-two entrants in an elapsed time of just over fifty hours and an average speed of 29 knots. The winner Avenger Too 123 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
recorded an elapsed time of thirty-nine hours and twenty minutes at an average speed of 37.1 knots but that was a bigger boat specifically designed by Don Stead for offshore powerboat racing. This promotion established both the sea keeping qualities and robustness of Westcraft products. Fleet Racing As a footnote to the Foamflyer saga, Ann’s son Mark Williams rediscovered this boat then in a very rough state in 2017. With aid of the Custom Yacht Works near Southampton the launch has been restored and modernized with new Volvo diesel inboard/outboard power units. Relaunched in 2020 she is capable of a top speed of 45 knots in flat water and cruises effortlessly at 30 knots. A tribute to her designer and builder. 124 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
125 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
A most unfortunate adventure In the first quarter of 1972 Westcraft built one of their twenty-six-foot cabin cruisers for a client in Poole. Unfortunately, he was unable to collect the boat from the works so Dick agreed to deliver Foamfighter to the Royal Motor Yacht Club at Poole. The main navigational hazard on this trip is the tidal race off Portland Bill caused by the rapid change in depth from seventy-eight metres (250 feet) to three metres (10 feet) in less than a mile. An awful lot of water to push up hill over the sub surface extension of the headland. Thus the waves within the race have a vertical as well as a horizontal component. At times the seas of the Bill can be benign, at other times a vicious boiling caldron. Normally the choice is between standing six to eight miles off or taking the inner passage. This strip of relatively calm water is about a hundred yards wide and found close off the headland. Pot buoys and their lines are an additional hazard across the tidal race. Brian Rowsell, a fellow fourteen racer, Exmouth Pilot and the then coxswain of the Exmouth lifeboat was invited to join the delivery trip but declined. Brian had often taken the lifeboat to and from Poole for servicing and favoured the shorter inside passage unless it was blowing a gale. On Saturday the 29th April Dick, accompanied by his twenty-one-year-old stepdaughter Jayne and his veteran crew from the round Britain race Dennis Moore, set off for Poole. In a fresh force six west south westerly gusting force eight. They were expecting a rough trip. The intention was to steer for the inner passage at Portland Bill. Having cleared Straight Point at 1000 and with the flood tide under them they had an exhilarating ride at an average of seventeen 126 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
knots over eight-foot-high waves to arrive off Portland Bill just after noon, four hours after high water. On nearing the inner passage, the water appeared relatively calm and manageable. A decision was made to attempt filming the seas and breaking waves within the race using the new super eight film camera Dennis had with them. With the relatively low sole of Foamfighter’s cockpit it was not possible to see over the waves at the edge of the race when seated and a standing position was needed to gain a better panoramic view. To provide a firmer base whilst filming Dick put the engines into neutral to slow the launch, reduce the risk of pot lines fouling the propellors and allow the strong WSW wind to keep way on. Dick and Dennis had been taking turns at filming and it is likely Jayne was also standing to enjoy the captivating view. Suddenly Foamfighter was struck by a powerful upsurging wave on her starboard quarter which resulted in all three falling over. The top of Dennis’s eyelid had been cut by the camera and whilst standing up and inspecting this wound another violent uprising rocked the boat and threw all three crew over the gunwale into the cold sea. It seems they had overlooked that at this state of the tide the stream runs to the south on both sides of the Bill. This tidal set would only take ninety seconds to push a boat from the centre of the passage to the edge of the turbulent race. 127 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Cockpit layout of sistership At first the surprised crew attempted to swim back to the launch but the strong winds blew Foamfighter away faster than they could make progress. The second option was to swim to the rocky shore just one hundred and fifty yards away but the boiling seas and adverse current made that impossible. They decided to stick together and hope to be seen and rescued. There was concern for Dick as unlike the other two crew he was not wearing his lifejacket, however initially Dick had no trouble keeping afloat. Periodically they would hail each other to keep up morale and check they were coping. Dennis had recently purchased a waterproof chronometer with which he would check the passage of time. He joked that rescue would not be immediate as they would 128 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
need to wait for the air crew to complete their lunch before firing up a helicopter. Records show that in late April the sea temperature in the English Channel is around ten to twelve degrees centigrade. International research has shown that at these temperatures dexterity is lost within ten to fifteen minutes of immersion, exhaustion or unconsciousness within one to two hours and survival one to six hours provided a floatation device can keep airways above water level. Around 1330 after an hour and a half of combating the waves Dick stopped communicating. Dennis swam to his side and tried to support him but a wave separated them. Dennis later reported he thought Dick was already dead from exposure. Dennis managed to get back to Jayne some twenty yards away but around a quarter of an hour later he was separated from her by which time she had become silent and was probably unconscious. The volunteer National Coastwatch at Portland only operated during the summer months in those days, starting in May. The staff of the Lighthouse are obliged to report what they see but do not have a duty to maintain a constant watch. It was pure chance that the plight of Foamfighter’s crew was spotted at around 1340 that day by an observer using a telescope on the top of the cliff. At a mile range the image was indistinct so he knocked on the door of the Lighthouse and invited the keeper to have a look saying he could see three heads bobbing in the water not far from a launch. The keeper took the view that he was looking at pot buoys but given the doubt agreed to alert the Coastguards who in turn mobilized a search and rescue helicopter from the Royal Naval Air 129 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Station on Portland, HMS Osprey. The Coastguard simultaneously instructed the RNLI to launch the Weymouth Lifeboat. The instruction to scramble and launch was recorded as received at 1350. The helicopter was first on the scene at 1400 and on their initial sortie spotted Dennis who waved back to the pilot. Dennis remembered being strapped into the hoist by his saviour then lapsed into unconsciousness as he was winched aboard. He was flown ashore and rushed to hospital suffering from hypothermia. On a second sortie the body of Jayne was picked up, she had drowned. Of Dick the aircrew could see no sign. Dennis came to later that afternoon and was able to confirm that Dick was not wearing his lifejacket despite having one on board. He also arranged for the tragic news to be passed to Dick’s wife Anne who had driven up to the Royal Motor Yacht Club at Poole with the intention of bringing the crew back to Devon. She was waiting at the Clubhouse when told that her daughter Jayne had drowned and her husband Dick was missing believed lost. Anne was devastated, as were her other two daughters, Virginia and Joanna, when she was able to speak to them. Meanwhile the Weymouth Lifeboat having set off at 1405 had to travel the full ten-mile length of the Portland peninsula and arrived on station some further mile offshore at 1450 at the location from which Dennis had been recovered. By now the tide had turned and the crew faced a very rough seas generated by wind against tide on top of the turbulence of the race. For three hours the team searched in vain but once they had been notified Dick was not wearing a lifejacket 130 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
considered there was no further hope. The search was called off six hours after the three sailors had been tipped into the sea, the limit of survival in the prevailing conditions. They could do no more. The Exe Sailing Club’s Vice Commodore had been lost at sea. Before returning to port the crew got a line aboard the drifting Foamfighter, now two miles offshore, The Lifeboat towed her back to Weymouth arriving back at 1915, an hour before sunset. Foamfighter was craned out in Weymouth for a thorough inspection and apart from scuff marks on the topsides and gunwale as the two craft came together when securing the tow there was no damage. Following remedial paintwork, she was placed on a low-loader and completed her delivery trip to Poole by road. Tributes Howard Williams, the then Commodore spoke to the Exmouth Journal to say on behalf of the Club that: “We are very shocked and upset here. Dick Read was very popular, hardworking and pleasant. We shall miss him terribly. He sailed 14ft dinghies for many years successfully and well, latterly though his interest has been more in power boats. He became Vice Commodore two months ago when I took over as Commodore. He was chairman of the social committee which he ran very successfully making a lot of money for us at this year’s dinner dance. I suppose he had been a member of the Club for about thirty years.” On the 17th May 1972 a joint tribute to Dick was held at Exeter and Washington Cathedrals. Both services were extremely well attended. Two building stones were dedicated 131 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
at Washington to the memory of Dick and Jayne such was the esteem in which Herbert Richard Read was held. Closure A passerby spotted a body in the shallows of Chesil Beach on the 15th June. The Police were called and identified it as that of Dick Read. At an Inquest held in Weymouth on Wednesday the 21st June the coroner found that death was due to misadventure. He also stated there was no question at all that Foamfighter was anything other than a very seaworthy craft and it was certainly not a case of inexperienced people who did not know how to handle a boat, but it was unfortunate that Mr Read had not been wearing his lifejacket. This was undoubtedly true; Dick had lived his life to the full achieving more in his 45 years than most do in their lifetimes. Had he not been taken Dick would have become Commodore by 1975. The subsequent funeral gave closure to the family, employees and many friends. Postscript Dick’s legacy lived on with Hugh Harrison, who had worked for the firm for only eighteen months, taking on the task of continuing the traditions of Herbert Read Ltd. The firm continued with work on many churches around the globe as well as Hampton Court Palace, the House of Lords and even the Taj Mahal. The firm ceased trading in the 1990’s. Chris Tremlett took over Westcraft which became absorbed into Tremlett Boats and continued to produce wooden power boats until glass reinforced plastic. Foamfighter passed through a number of owners over the decades and at one stage was reengined. Her last role was as 132 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
the Venturer’s Search and Rescue Craft operating out of Beaulieu. Returning single handed from a refit at Lymington a fire started in the engine compartment. The skipper put out a mayday call and used his fire extinguishers which damped down the flames. A rescue helicopter arrived but unfortunately the downdraft fanned the lingering flames causing the skipper to abandon ship and take to the inflatable which fortunately was towing astern and not in the davits. From this safe vantage point he watched the launch burn out and sink beneath the waters of the Solent whilst reflecting that the boat had been jinxed from the start. Dennis Moore later attributed his survival on being well overweight and recognizing rescue could well take an hour or more. He saved his energy for staying afloat. He bitterly regretted taking his film camera on that fatal delivery trip. Ben Jennings, October 2023 133 Chapter 12 · The Loss of a Flag Officer
Acknowledgements Considerable respect is accorded to the late Spud Rowsell as the driving force behind this book. The interviews with Geoff Holman and Spud’s brother Derek were recorded in 2016 by Spud and were the starting point of this history of the Exe Sailing Club. These interviews prompted the chapters on National 12s, International 14s and Merlin Rockets which were then compiled by Spud. The extraordinary story of the Exmouth Challenge comes towards the end of this edition and reflects the design, build and racing of the trimaran with Mark Gatehouse and Phil Morrison as key team leaders. We are indebted to all of the contributors, for their writing. The late Geoff Holman, Derek Rowsell, Francis Williams and Spud Rowsell, also Kay Rhodes, Ted Draper, Andrew Weeks, Brian Gill, Mike Saunders, Paul Radgick, Dave Radford, David Hemmings, Ben and Deirdre Jennings, Mark Gatehouse, Phil Morrison. We are also grateful for the use of the photographs to those (known and unknown) contributors, especially John Bickford for pictures on pages 15, 28, 35 and 45 as well as improving the quality of many other photographs. Ted Draper, Ben Jennings, Jill Mansergh, Jan Morrison, the late Joe Radgick, Paul Radgick, Mike Rice, the late Spud Rowsell, the late Cyril Saunders, Hedley Saunders, and the late Howard Williams. Navigation chart by Hedley Saunders. 134
Apologies to those photographers whose names are unknown. Edited by Hedley Saunders 135 Acknowledgements