Round the Island Race
➜offshoot is in coaching, which is where we
came in. George will come on board with
you for a day, look at your boat, your
rigging, your crew and your attitude and
give useful advice.
“It’s the best bit of my business,” he
says. “I really enjoy helping to set up a
Contessa to go well and getting the team
going well, too.”
He did, too. There wasn’t much he didn’t
notice; he went through Tantris’s string,
checked out the elderly kite poles, gently
suggested replacement or refurbishment,
but always tactfully, mindful that not
everyone has bottomless funds.
After our first sailing session together, I
am with Nik in the local pub for an update.
What started as a bit of fun and something
we’d not normally do, has achieved a
semi-serious side, partly as the unexpected
result of George’s coaching session.
There was lots of replacement string and
blocks to find, but the key thing we
learned is that while we’ve all got
experience as sailors, we’re far from
actually being a team.
Nik’s a fine yachtsman but he doesn’t
want to shout at his friends, family and
wife. All us 50-somethings are creaky on
the foredeck, where the youngsters have
a natural balance which we lost with the
cartilage in our knees.
I get nauseous in the cabin (what is it
about Contessas and cabin ventilation?),
Oscar’s a powerhouse on the winches,
Ruth’s quietly brilliant at just about
everything, BUT NO ONE WANTS TO
RAISE THEIR VOICES. Not that you needThe spinnakers are out as yachts crowd
away from the race startAndrew English talks tactics with Nik and
Ruth Williams while planning for the eventTantris owner Nik Williams paints up the
identification dodger the night before the
big race‘The elderly kite may have mirrored the age
and condition of (half of) the crew’
DavidHarding/s
ailingscenes.
co.ukPaul
Wyeth