The Bearfacemedia podcasts.

As a result of the increasing popularity of the Bearfacemedia podcasting service, these have all been moved onto a podcast specific website.

To hear the latest from the top events, or to listen to the viewpoints of some of the sports leading personalities, then go to...................

www.dinghy-racing.com

The latest addition is the first podcast in the 'Hitting the Corners' series, a magazine column styled programme that will take an informed  but critical look at the sport of dinghy racing. In short, the intention is to give sailing back its 'voice' - which has been in danger of being lost in teh face of pressure from the big advertising budgets.

What matters most!

Bearfacemedia is proud to announce that it is now supporting Hampshire Matters, the website that deals will local news and issues within Hampshire. If you take the coastline, from Hayling Island around to Lymington, you probably have encompassed the single largest area of concentrated sailing activity.  From issues of water quality, through to the proposed Southampton Approach Channel Dredge (that will significantly reduce the area of Southampton Water available to dinghy sailors), Hampshire Matters is looking to provide a platfrom where views can be freely expressed.

Go to.............. http://www.hampshire-matters.co.uk/

The National Racing Dinghy Archive is now open for business, this can be found at www.nrda.co.uk. The intention of the archive is to record the history of the development of the Racing Dinghy in the UK.

At the heart of the Archive will be a Library of Oral Histories, where the Champions, the Boatbuilders, Sailmakers and influencers will have their recorded memories stored. Once this process is in place, watch out for video clips and some revealing 'soundbites' from the people that really made dinghy sailing happen, both afloat and onshore.

The Archive is a part of a much larger project, the British National Yachting Archive, www.bnya.org.uk which will record the history behind the classic yachts, the metre boats, the powerboats, all the compnent parts that together tell the story of how leisure boating has developed into the sport of today.

Check out both the dinghy archive and the full British National Sailing Archives today and if you have any material that you think may be of interest, please let us know. You may also wish to be a part of this exciting venture, if so full details can be found on the website at www.bnya.org.uk.

During the work required to complete 'Hooked on' (the story of the Contender) this picture came to light. It shows the author sailing at Weston in K254, the first boat out from the new Tony Smith mould. The rig is a Proctor Alpha, complete with high set forward diamonds and a 'Gale-Smith' sail. Light and very stiff, the boat proved an immediate success but suffered a major structural failure at the 1978 Europeans at Lake Garda and was eventually written off.