Post early for Christmas.
With only 55 shopping days left until Christmas and a country wide postal strike threatened, bigger items being sent away overseas need timely packing and dispatch. When those items include 11 Contenders, complete with masts, sails, trolleys and spares (not to mention a healthy collection of push bikes) which are all destined for Brisbane, it is essential that the timing is right. Therefore it is not very helpful when the lorry tasked with delivering the container breaks down, leaving a squad of frustrated Contender sailors waiting for 4 hours to start the complex task of preparing the boats for departure.
UK Contenders derigged and ready for loading. The big space in the middle should have been occupied by a 40ft container, this however was causing traffic chaos elsewhere in Southampton, as the truck had broken down.
Eventually a new haulier saves the day by delivering an alternative container, allowing work to start on getting the all important internal framework constructed, as this is needed to support the 4 layer stack of boats. Finally, with the woodwork completed, the complex task of fitting everything inside the 40ft long box could start. After 4½ hours of hard work, the last bag of sailing gear was squeezed in, the doors swung shut and sealed and the lorry departed on the short first leg of the journey (4 miles from Eastleigh to Southampton Docks). The sailors and their boats will be reunited just in time to celebrate Christmas ‘down under’ before racing starts in the 40th World Championship for the International Contender Class.
Richard Buttner and Chris Boshier complete the final loading of the container before it is sealed up and sent off on the long journey to Brisbane.
In many ways it is fitting that this milestone Championship is being held in Australia, as the Class has its roots firmly in the sunshine and strong steady breezes enjoyed there. Dinghy designer Bob Miller (who would later achieve sailing immortality by designing the Americas Cup yacht, that finally wrested the trophy away from the New York Yacht Club) drew heavily on the lines of the Flying Dutchman when he first drew the plans for the Contender in 1966. After competing in Selection Trials in La Baule and Medemblik, the IYRU (now ISAF) finally selected the Contender as the new international performance single hander, with the intention that the new boat would replace the aging Finn in the Olympics. In the four decades since then, block voting has kept the Finn firmly positioned as the Olympic singlehander, but this has not stopped the Contender establishing itself around the globe as a first choice option for sailors wanting top class competition.
Today, the Contender can claim strong fleets in Germany, Denmark, Italy, Australia, the UK as well as Canada and the US. In recent years dominance in the class has been shared between Australia and Italy, with Andrea Bonezzi looking to win the title for an incredible 8th time. However, if the expected strong breezes materialise, the UK’s own Simon Mussell could well be in the running for the top spot.
Meanwhile, over in Hamburg, another container is being loaded.....
Picture courtesy German Contender Association.
however it should be noted that the apparant lack of bodies is nothing to do with the german work rate, nor their undoubted business efficiency. It could have a lot to do with them NOT having to load Alan Mollat's Cboat with (a Tony White description here) a 'dreadlock' of bits of rope and string!
http://www.contenderworlds2010.com/
http://contenderclass.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=143
Pictures and text/ Bearfacemedia
david.henshall@bearfacemedia.co.uk