It is with great honour that I accept the post of Class Captain taking over the reins from Michael and his wife. Well done and thank you for your time in office, a hard act to follow.
I thought it might be a nice idea to write a little about myself just to give all you fellow Contessa 26 sailors a bit of a clue to who I am and how I think I may be able to help in my new role. My wife Olivia and I live in Lymington and are both active sailors taking part in racing with the Royal Lymington Yacht Club and the Lymington Town Sailing Club. I have sailed all my life starting, as a child, on reservoirs in Mirrors, Enterprises, Fireballs and GP14's! At school I sailed in Wayfarers and crewed in Larks and 420's. As a teenager I started racing in Cadets in Keyhaven where I had my first taste of one design racing. As I got a bit older I got interested in bigger boats and competed in a number of Morgan Cup Channel Races on Sigma 38's, with varying degrees of success. I also took part in a few JOG races including the Wolf Rock race.
Later on I became hooked on one design racing and enjoyed the fierce competition it creates. There is nothing quite like it. The feeling of crossing the line in first position having beaten your fellow competitors in tough, close racing is quite unique.
My friends and I used to race most weekends on a J24, a very popular one design class, taking part in many regattas and a few national championships. I was fortunate to be a crew on the top British boat in the J24's European Championships in Greece in 1987. Also, being based in Lymington, I have sailed Cowes Week most years.
My first 'grown up' boat was an Etchells, a rocket ship, that became the first 'Growler' and after a number of championships this culminated in qualifying and racing in the 2001 Etchells World Championships in Christchurch Bay against stiff completion that included Dennis Connor amongst other yachting legends.
In 1999 I was pushed to the limit in the 600 mile Fastnet Race. In 2005 I was fortunate to be part of the crew that won the Contessa 32 National Championships on Ray Mitchell's 'English Rose'
Finally this year we won our class and came 4th overall in the Round the Island Race on Simplicity, a Ron Holland 33 three quarter tonner, a pretty exciting race that also involved finishing the race with one extra crew member than when we started. Anyone interested knowing more about this story just needs to ask!
The highlight of my sailing career has, of course, been this year's new acquisition, a pretty Contessa 26 that has become the second 'Growler' nee 'Tic-Tac'. Built in by Jeremy Rogers in 1974, sail number 1250 and with 3 previous careful owners she lays pride of place on her mooring in the Lymington River. Since her arrival in Lymington I have furnished her with a new mast, winches and traveller arrangement. In addition, I have replaced all her standing and running rigging and equipped her with new sails. I will write an article in the not too distant future about that project if anyone is interested. They are such gorgeous boats -with both their lovely lines and seaworthiness making up an enviable package- that I was very keen to keep her as close to the original set up but with a few modern tweaks.
As a testament to their seaworthiness our little Contessa was the only boat that made it amongst a number of larger boats belonging to friends (including a couple of Contessa 32's!) to my 40th birthday party in Yarmouth this year after outrunning a storm force 10.
But it isn't all just about racing! (Although we did win the round Alderney race on a cruise to the Channel Islands!) The Contessa like her big sister the 32 is both a fantastic cruising boat and a cool one design racing boat, it just takes a bit longer to get anywhere, ask Nick Jaffe of 'Constellation'.
I know that our members enjoy their boats for different reasons, whether it is exploring the various harbours of our coastline, bird watching in Newtown Creek or taking full advantage of a favourable wind shift on a windward leg of a close fought race. It is, of course, my intention to actively promote the Contessa 26 association and do my best with the help of my fellow committee members to accommodate the various wishes of the membership be it cruising or racing or social activities within the UK and abroad. As a relative amateur to committees I would welcome any assistance or suggestions on how I can facilitate this. All the best, Charlie. Growler.
Meet the Class Captain
