Cannonisation of 'Over Easy'

The Cannonisation of 'Over Easy'

Having spent more time in the river this year than was usual for him, Richard Cannon discovered his old boat, “June” or more commonly ST368, was less buoyant when upside down than it should be.

As the SigneT Nationals were only a couple of weeks away he thought that a change of boat may be quicker than the repair job necessary to seal the buoyancy chambers around the gunwales.

He recklessly approached Mike Baker with a view to purchasing “Over Easy”. Of course Richard had not matched the boat’s name to the problem that caused ST368 to leak, basically going over too easily so oblivious of the possibility of exciting the gremlins embedded in the wind, Richard bought the boat.

The first members arriving at Aquarius for the trip to the Sunbury Regatta fireworks were greeted by a car-park cut off by Richard’s boat bits. Trailers, masts, booms, sails were strewn across the parking area and the first arrivals were co-opted in to assisting with the restoration of order. By Sunday “Over Easy” was now partly ST 368 with the new hull joined to the new sails by 368’s boom, main sheet and fittings, and genoa fittings.

For its first outing at Aquarius “Over Easy/ST368” was to be crewed by “Team 150”, Richard and Mike Hendra. Both hoped that the first outing would not see a repeat of the ducking they had endured at the Hampton Regatta. Richard had suffered a disaster at the Signet Nationals, due to high winds and the different main sheet system, and his confidence was suffering a bit although neither he nor Mike had associated the new boat’s name with the risk of a swim.

As the five minute horn sounded Richard saw that the mainsail tack pin had fallen out and was lost for the moment at least. Just before the 1 minute horn OE/368 left the dock still with the main un-tacked. The new boat had a different arrangement for jib sheeting than the old one which Richard did not like and with which Mike was not familiar.

Against all odds Team 150 had a great start and reached the top mark alongside the fastest boats. Richard was positioning and tacking well and soon the old confidence and competitive spirit returned. OE/368 sailed well and ended the race with a great tussle for the line with John Panting which John won by a nose.

Team 150 sat out the 2 O’clock race and by 3:30 “Over Easy” had a new main tack pin and ST368’s jib sheet arrangement. In the gusty conditions the gunwale came close to the wave tips but OE/368 successfully returned to upright. In the end Team 150 finished well and Richard’s confidence was restored. The Cannonisation of “Over Easy” and ST368 was complete, well at least for now!

Anyone want to buy a pile of Signet bits?