EDITORIAL

I've concluded almost every Editorial since I took over responsibility for Flying Fish by giving the deadline for the next issue. Even so, time after time members say they don't know when it is, so I can only conclude that not everyone reads that far. Right : THE DEADLINE FOR FLYING FISH 1993/1 IS 31ST MARCH 1993. There! You can't say you haven't been warned.

In fact, a week before the 30th September deadline for this issue I thought we were going to have a very thin Flying Fish indeed, with little apart from the `regulars' - the Commodore, notes from a few Port Officers, the New Members listing and a book review or two. I had only recieved two other contributions, and hardly any photographs. So I expressed my worries to the Committee, via Jeremy Knox - I should have known better! The word went round, and here we have another bumper issue which has seen not a little midnight oil burnt aboard Wrestler, my home and office, as I strove to meet the schedule agreed with the printers. Once again, my thanks to Derrick Bettiss and his team at Bungay Printers for being so helpful and flexible towards this harrassed Editor!

Fortunately there is an element of flexibility built into the deadline, and I can generally allow a few extra days for deserving cases (particularly if an articles is coming to me on disk). However I do need to know that something is in the pipeline. On the subject of disks (and the non-technical can skip this bit), the whole object of asking for contributions already on disk is to save transcription time - thus the longer the piece, the happier I am to see it on disk. My own word processor is IBM compatible and takes 3.5" DOUBLE DENSITY disks, but I can get 5.25" floppies or 3.5" HIGH DENSITY disks converted. It's safest to strip down any word processing programme into ASCII, but do please enclose a hard copy just in case my computer really won't play ball.

To the many members still using typewriters, double-spacing makes life so much easier at the transcription and editing stage, as does a relatively new ribbon... And to all you others, you must at least have a pencil at the chart table! Sharpen it up and let's here where you've been.

The silver lining to the problem of reading incoming articles over a pretty short space of time is that I am often struck by the different slants which people take in writing about a single area. When I learned that three articles about the Eastern Baltic would be arriving I thought, `Oh dear, scope for an awful lot of repetition, and probably time for some serious editing'. In fact, what emerged is a fascinating and well-rounded introduction to a hitherto poorly reported cruising ground.

Finland, the newly independent Baltic States and Russia were visited by Alan Logan aboard Katy II and also by the Vaseys aboard Shiant joined by guests including Ann Fraser and Mary Barton. Thus we have three accounts, all very different and each reflecting its author's particular memories and interests. Alan's is largely factual - how best to organise visas, what facilities and stores are available, etc - with their cruise described almost in passing. Tony Vasey on the other hand plainly went for the sailing and exploration, and that is mostly what he tells us of. (Unfortunately space limitations have necessitated holding over the second part of his detailed account for FF 1993/1). Ann, though herself a great sailor, focuses more on the people and places, giving an evocative picture of a land that still has something of the fairytale about it. There is no doubt that anyone planning to cruise the region during the next few years could learn a great deal from their accounts.

Finally, I must remind myself on a warm October day with sunshine flooding down the companionway, that by the time this issue is published it will be December. So Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year, and fine sailing for 1993. Do write and tell Flying Fish about it - in lots of time!

(700 words)