THE COMMODORE

I have reached the change of life. I suppose that I obliquely admitted this when we put Shiant on the market but a 200 mile beat home across the North Sea and down Channel with the south-west monsoon well set in has persuaded me that I no longer require this kind of character building. We were at the end of three wonderful seasons in Scandinavian waters where there are no nasty things like tides, salt, fouling and big seas; all sent to test the tough and the young but all things which I can now happily do without. A few years ago, when a member said that he kept his boat in the Med, I didn't say so but I thought he must be going soft. I am now beginning to understand his disenchantment with UK home waters.

Do not be alarmed, your Commodore is not going senile; he is just recognising that anno-domini should not be fought against but accepted and used in a way that extracts the most out of sailing but with more emphasis on enjoyment. To this end we plan to visit next year's Maine Rally and are working on a boat for the Chesapeake. We are looking forward to Australia and intend to sail with all our far-flung members during my term of office, unless you happen to live on the Channel coast. We made a modest start this year with a visit to our only Norwegian member, Sven Enger, who joined us on Shiant with his wife Eli for a week on the delightful coast of south-east Norway. Unfortunately I do not have Mary's reason of two circumnavigating step-children to visit around the world but I do have the excellent excuse of 1150 members spread fairly evenly worldwide.

Your September Newsletter told you of the many rallies we have held this season. They did not include the Falmouth get together at the end of August which was a great success with some ten boats and nearly forty members assembling at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club. Many thanks to the organisers of all these rallies, they are the very essence of what our club is about. Some of us may not sail an ocean to get there but they do provide a focal point for many of our wandering members who arrange their passages to coincide. I think Mike and Pat Pocock now hold the record of attending three in a row: from the BVI through Maine to Falmouth, England, on their arrival home after seven years `on the road'. Many congratulations to them on completing their 70,000 mile circumnavigation. Mike tells me rather ruefully that he now has to earn some `bread'. Don't we all know that feeling of constriction after the freedom of being afloat amongst a fraternity that is not bound by convention and the clock, but which enjoys the time and the opportunity to chose its pace and destination. So, even though your Commodore may now feel inclined towards the less masochistic forms of sailing, do not wait too long because by then you may be too old. `Slip the surly bonds of earth'; `Grab a chance and you won't be sorry for a might-have-been'.

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