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A fellow folkboater from Yarmouth was on board the rescue boat, which he regularly
crews. We were indebted to them, as Madelaine would have been washed up on
Brook ledges if they had not come to our rescue. Hopefully our contribution to their
running costs covered more than the fuel, as they are independent of the nationally
funded coastguard.
Probability suggested after 30+ years competing in this race that we would lose a
mast. It was a shame fate chose this year, as we were 20 minutes up on the rest of
our division on the water by the time the rescue boat picked us up! And it would
have been fun to finish the race and see how we compared to eventual race winner,
‘Gladiator.’ Still ... there is always next year.
‘Madelaine’ arrived at Cowes week with a black metal mast and boom and came
second overall in IRC7, behind ‘Woof.’ We were really pleased with the result, as
realistically on handicap it was the best we could do.
