Apologies for the poor quality of the picture. 3199, Forever Autumn, in the dinghy pound at Hamble River. The powerful after sections give a clue to the success of the boat at HRSC. Nice and pointy forrard, it could slice it's way out of the river, then plane fast on the broad reach/run back upstream.

 

At this point the boat still had it's designed rig based around a suit of Team sails (David Robinson was very much doing his own thing on the river then) - sadly this and the number 2 rig were both lost in one windy meeting!!

 

 

 

Although she was by then 10 years old, Forever Autumn still had an excellent turn of speed as can be seen here, winning a handicap event at Chew Valley.

 

The boat was remarkably vice free to sail, with the powerful aft sections making planing 'level' and controllable.

 

The boat was also something of a test bed for rigs and sails: although the detail cannot be see in the picture the main is a very interesting vertical cut 'special' from Banks. The mast had to stand up straight for this to work but in medium conditions and flat water the idea seemed to be worth following.

 

Crew that day (as was the case at some many of the events at that time) was Tim Powell - now seen on the helm of Enchantment.