EDITORIAL

To my mind the most dramatic piece of writing in this issue is Maurice Sumner's eyewitness account of the passage of Hurricane Luis over Sint Maarten (and see also Robert Bundy's report, as Port Officer for the island). A few days later Hurricane Marilyn decimated the US Virgin Islands, and just a couple of days ago Opal hit Florida. I know I speak for all the Flag Officers and Committee in offering our sympathy to members who have seen their yachts wrecked or severely damaged. It must be every sailor's worst nightmare.

On a slightly happier note, it's good to see so many new faces -- or perhaps I should say new names -- on the contents page. Rosemarie and Alfred Alecio have been exploring The Gambia aboard Iron Horse; Irene Palmer, sailing with Warren Johnson and Bill Harford in Embezzler, wrote from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands; while Peter and Claire Dixon had a most unpleasant brush with Hurricane Alison some 120 miles off Cape Hatteras. Not to be outdone, Chris West and the crew of Westri have been flying the burgee within sight of Cape Horn. And that's only some of them!

Flying Fish would hardly seem complete without one of Roger Fothergill's entertaining tales -- and a cartoon by John Passmore to go with it -- though with the final installment of The Rev Bob Shepton's circumnavigation aboard Dodo's Delight the current Flying Fish `serial' comes to an end. NB: Please don't get carried away by the fact that Sunshine Boulevard of the Ocean Blue occupies nineteen pages and runs to some 6600 words. It is very much the `exception' cited in Guidelines for Contributors (page 000), and unless you too are circumnavigating via the Great Capes in a 33 footer (with a side visit to Antarctica) you have a vanishingly small chance of receiving the same latitude.

As always, I'll finish by reminding you that the ABSOLUTE DEADLINE for Flying Fish 1996/1 is 31 MARCH 1996 -- but please don't land your unannounced 3800 words in my pigeon-hole that morning unless you've got an exceptional alibi! And faxes... marvellous machines without a doubt, and I may even own one myself by then, but the results are quite often fuzzy and always need to be retyped (and you can't enclose photos). If mail to the UK really takes a month from your particular creek/palm tree/glacier that's one thing, but otherwise let's stick with the good old postal service.

I knew there was one other thing. Happy Christmas, and Fair Winds in 1996. Do keep in touch.