On The Broads

 

The charm of some of the more sporting classes is that they produce so many changes among the winning boats and there was a real surprise for the small cruisers on the Horning course in a stiff Westerly wind, very lumpy at times. Some of the weeding out was done before the start, but five boats came to the line. Among them was a newcomer “Caress”, a twenty-six footer entered by Mr H.T.Percival. She is a letting boat and has been out since Easter, a double cabin sloop which had been designed to have especially good sailing qualities.

 

Four or five of the boats were under full sail. Some were smothered with wind, but “Caress” weathered it very nicely except when she took charge, ran up a dyke, came out again almost as suddenly, without pulverising a single dinghy moored there!

 

Before the wind she came down the course doing sensational tricks with a bending mast. Everybody stood up to get a better view of the crash, but it never came. Her helmsman took the downhaul of the topping lift and improvised a backstay. That steadied her.

 

She had been last in the race but worked up to third place, with “Pirate” first and the Bermudan rigged “Moonraker” second. The Bermuda failed by two seconds to save her time on “Caress” and this hireling even beat “Goldfish” level by ten seconds.

 

A well deserved second prize and then back to her “let”. We hope to see “Caress” out again, but at all events Mr Byron V.Noel’s new racing cruiser, now in frame, is being built from the same design.