Last Friday I had the privilege of assisting the Commodore farewell RBYC and visiting boats competing in the Sydney to Hobart and Melbourne to Hobart ocean races. Those present received a RBYC burgee, which hopefully will be flown with pride when the yachts safely reach Hobart. Royal Brighton has a long and proud tradition of ocean racing and blue water cruising with members, either individually or collectively, competing in the world’s greatest races and/or crossing vast tracts of ocean. Perhaps it’s time we gave greater recognition to our blue water members. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Melbourne to Hobart and it provides an opportunity to reflect on my own ocean-racing career that included the 10th Melbourne to Hobart. In those early days boats were rigged with XXX thick mast sections and wire braces were not uncommon. Clothing consisted of merino wool jumpers, rubber sea boats and the legendary Line 7 vinyl wet weather gear that in most cases kept you drier on the outside than on the inside. Navigation was no more than a good log, compass, paper charts and frequent logbook entries to enable the navigator to “accurately” record the boat’s position via dead reckoning. How things have changed. We now have a proliferation of carbon, Gortex, GPS and downloaded grib files showing the preferred course. However, the things that have not changed are the excitement and challenges of ocean racing, the camaraderie among friends, long hours on the rail retelling tall stories of races won and lost and finally sighting the last lighthouse guiding you to the finish line followed by hot showers and cold beer and not necessarily in that order.
For whatever reason you choose to leave the Heads this summer, may I wish you fair winds and safe passage and please remember, no bananas at sea. Finally, on behalf of the General Committee and staff of RBYC I would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Prosperous New Year.
Peter Demura
Vice Commodore