22nd June 2008.
Howard Chadwick
Thwarted by severe weather at Trent Valley a keen fleet of vintage
12’s arrived at Trent Valley to be greeted by bright sunshine and strong
winds with gusts of over 30mph, not exactly perfect for a Derwent
Handicap event involving pursuit races etc!
The six boats all entered with trepidation as the officer of the day Rob
Sloane and Sailing Secretary Roger Britton were monitoring the weather
patterns with concern not least as the local met office had just issued
a severe weather warning indicating that gusts of 50-60mph were expected
shortly! After due consideration and discussion with the fleet it
was correctly decided to abandon racing for the day. Paul Turner was
particularly disappointed having spent 12 months restoring Starfish
N2020 he had rushed to get her ready for sailing at the event and he had
even arranged for Mike Nokes to come and witness the re-launch.
Mike Nokes is not only a legendary 12 sailor he had designed and
built Starfish in 1962 when he was running Wyche and Coppock. The
boat is in excellent condition with predominantly original fittings and
ropes and some almost original Bruce Banks sails measured in 1969.
Restoration work was done by Roger Frost a carpenter friend of Paul’s
whilst Paul “supervised” and did the fitting out (easy bits).
Seeing Paul’s disappointment (indicated by his quivering lip) Howard
Chadwick glibly offered to take her out despite the conditions and was
amazed when Paul agreed and insisted that Howard and Helen get changed
immediately ready for sailing! Somewhat committed by this
throwaway remark Starfish was made ready in the lee of the clubhouse
with all assembled including Mike Nokes, Roger the restorer and Paul’s
long suffering wife Pam to see the action. Sadly as the boat was
launched and being rigged, now out in the full breeze, Paul’s confidence
in his 46 year old boat and rigging began to wane and to almost
everyone’s relief he decided that common sense should prevail and the
sail was deferred to a more suitable day.
Despite the lack of sailing the Trent Valley lunch and the company was
excellent and the opportunity was taken to discuss all things vintage
and enjoy the ambience of this historic club. It was also a
privilege to be able to meet and talk to the legendary Mike Nokes (now
77) and to see his obvious pride in Starfish as she looked almost as
good as when she was launched in 1962.
Thanks are due to the race officer and his team for the work and
support they provided and also the ladies who supplied us with lunch
etc. The fleet will be back in September hopefully with a little
less wind!
The intrepid Entrants were:-
N1482 My Little Margie - Ian and Margaret Purkis - Yorkshire Ouse SC
N1657 Just Lucky - Brian and George Kitching - Frampton on Severn
SC
N2020 Starfish- James and Angela Clark - Trent Valley SC
N2266 Triada - Howard Chadwick/Helen Nicholson - Yeadon SC
N2468 Suzy Wong - Brian Herring/Ros Stevenson - Winsford Flash SC
N2487 Dolly Daydream - Ken Goddard/Ann Britton - Trent Valley SC
Chief spectator and boat supplier:- Paul Turner.
The photographs:-
Mike, Paul and the team supervising the rigging of
Starfish.
Photo Brian Herring
Right to left:- Mike Nokes designer, builder and first
owner of Starfish with Paul Turner current owner of Starfish and Howard
Chadwick Vintage Wing Chairman. Photo Ken Goddard
