EDITORIAL

Greetings from Wrestler's cockpit! It's such a lovely afternoon that my (laptop) computer has vacated its usual place on the chart table, and instead is balanced precariously on my knees so that I can enjoy the early April sunshine. (Incidentally I'm tempted to sue said computer manufacturers under the trades description act. Portable this machine may be, but comfortably laptop it certainly ain't). More and more of us now have computers, and those of you who understand rather more than I do about the subject will be particularly interested in Peter S Burch's letter in this issue.

However first a big `thank you' to you all for awarding me the David Wallis Trophy. Certainly, Flying Fish is a good deal of work, but equally it's a job that I thoroughly enjoy. It's a wonderful way to keep in touch with so many members -- most of them, by definition, scattered around the oceans and so unable to attend the club's social gatherings -- and a privilege to be the first to read of your exploits! Less obviously, I thoroughly enjoy the chance to see a project right through from beginning to end. As an author I normally wave goodbye to my work when it goes off to the editor or publisher, and though on the whole I consider myself pretty lucky with my colleagues it's inevitable that we shouldn't always see entirely eye-to-eye. With Flying Fish I get the final say. It must be my skipper instincts coming through! Thank you, anyway, both for the Trophy and for entrusting me with such an integral and important part of our club.

Now to slightly less cheerful matters. I always like to receive photographs to illustrate your cruise accounts, but in the last few months no less than three batches have arrived damaged. In each case the problem was the same -- captions had been written on the back in pen (fountain or ballpoint), the photos were stacked together, and the ink had promptly smudged itself onto the front of the next print. No chemicals are able to shift ink without damaging the emulsion and erasers are little better. Hopefully our bromide makers will be able to touch out the worst of the marks, but it still doesn't restore the original. So either number photos on the back in ®MDBO¯pencil and provide a list of captions separately, or use those handy yellow stickers (again writing in pencil) if you prefer to keep photo and caption together.

And finally, at risk of sounding like a cracked record, could I remind you that the ABSOLUTE DEADLINE for

Flying Fish

1996/2 is 30 SEPTEMBER. Good sailing, stay in touch, and remember -- Flying Fish wouldn't exist if it wasn't for you.