My interests in boats extends to building boats, repairing boats, sailing boats, building model boats, thinking about boats and admiring boats.
Alice Springs Regatta!
It must be at least twenty years ago that a friend of mine asked me to help him repair a 'Mirror' dinghy. I was delighted to be able to help and always liked working on boats. Some days later, Maurice, for it was he who now owned the boat, brought the hull to me on a trailer behind his car. I had often longed for a 'Mirror' as I considered them to be a very seaworthy boat but what with family commitments and other considerations could not afford one nor did I have anywhere to keep it. I had looked at 'Mirrors' and read about them so was very familiar with their construction and the thoughts that went into the design. In fact I had a dinghy, many years before, also designed by Jack Holt. When I saw the hull that Maurice wanted to 'repair', in the trailer, I thought he was joking. There was no bottom in the boat, it had completely rotted out of it. He got the 'heap' for nothing from someone he knew. I nearly called him a 'friend'. We took the 'hull' from the trailer and carried it into my garage. To carry it, for it was very fragile and not rigid at all, we both had to get into it and carry it 'around' us. In the few paces from the trailer to the garage Maurice quipped, and I often have a good laugh about it since, 'if anyone sees us, they will think that we are practising for the Alice Springs Regatta'. That hull certainly was not fit for water at that stage. Over the next few weeks I reconstructed the hull taking measurements from a 'sound' boat and eventually got the 'refurbished' hull painted up and put on all the fittings. It looked great. We assembled it on the hard one day, all the sails, spars etc. and it seemed ready to go. We took it to the river at Glenbrook and Maurice and myself and one of his daughters and one of my daughters made the second maiden voyage of the 'Mirror'. It sailed well, carried the load of two large adults and two young teenagers and did not let in a drop of water. We had a great afternoon on the river sailing up and down and over and back. I meet Maurice from time to time but we never discussed the dinghy, I always had the feeling that it may have been left out in the weather again and rotted for the second time. Just the other day I bumped into Maurice and he told me that as his children, when they grew up, had no interest in the 'Mirror' he gave it to a friend of his in West Cork who still has it and sails it regularly in Bantry Bay. I was delighted to think that I had given that boat a second life and that it met someone who cherished it. Jerome McCarthy! The week before Christmas, 2002. I took a drive into town and then had a walk around. Nothing very romantic about the weather; no flurries of snow or rooftops whitened with a dusting of snow. No resemblance to a Christmas card scene at all. Just another ordinary dull and overcast day. Charles Dickens would not have been inspired to write his 'Christmas Carol'! I bumped into Jerome, my old sailing colleague and we started to reminiscence, perhaps this is the time of year for reminiscing. I first met Jerome nearly thirty years ago and we very soon became friends as we had a lot in common. At that time I had a sailboard and a small punt for messing about in. He had a vintage timber rowing boat which he maintained to a very high standard. He used it for sea fishing. I went on a few fishing trips with him and suggested that he try out my sailboard. It was the first craft that he sailed and very soon got the hang of it and eventually was smitten. No smelly fuel for an engine, no smelly exhaust fumes when motoring downwind, no noise other than the wind in your ears and the sound of the water loosing its battle with the onward progress of your hull. Jerome eventually bought his own sailing boat. This was a very nice two berth craft and we spent many days sailing in it in all sorts of weather. Jerome was acquiring new skills on each trip and I was offering what advice I could. I still have the sailboard but have not used it for the past two years or so. I said to Jerome that it was in my way and that I was going to get rid of it. He was outraged, 'that is part of our heritage' he said. He wants to take it out next Summer to have a few sails on it in the harbour. I'm looking forward to that; it will be interesting to see how he handles it having sailed twenty eight footers and larger craft for the past several years. Watch this space, I may have a photo of him on the sailboard to show. Jerome is not an old fogy like me, in fact he is probably twenty five years younger than I am and very young at heart. Well, I'm saying that to try to make the case that I too am young at heart!. I haven't crewed with him for some years past but have introduced a replacement crewman who has taken over my berth admirably. Cork Harbour - 2002 You probably don't know Jerome. If you were a sport sailor and plied your skills in Cork Harbour and from the Royal Cork Yacht Club in particular, you would certainly have heard of Jerome or even know him. There are a lot of sailors in Cork harbour who are familiar with the transom of his boat! They usually spend a lot of time looking at it and trying to get in front of it! Barring accidents, he is usually in the 'leading pack' in any race that he takes part in. He is considered to be in the top four or five helmsmen on the South Coast and I take a little pride in the fact that I introduced him to sailing. In the above photo the 'bow man' is Zoë's Dad, Dave Wilson. Jerome, owner/skipper is to the left in the dark top. They are closely followed by another boat. It is a great photo and certainly lets you know what it is like to be sailing in Cork Harbour in a 'Hunter' Formula 28. Jerome told me the other day that he was awarded the 'Admiral's Boat of the Year 2002' at the Annual Dinner of the RCYC. The award is marked by the presentation of a plaque with appropriate inscription. I must check with him and get a list of his wins and lesser placings in competitions over the past few years.
