THE NAME GAME

My wooden Folkboat, Anette, was built by Gordon Parham in Emsworth in 1958 for the Royal Navy to teach new offi cers seamanship and navigation skills under sail and was based at Whale Island, Portsmouth.

I brought Anette with a mate in the late 1990s. After sawing, scraping, rubbing, sanding, gluing, polishing, varnishing and so on, we commissioned an arty friend to hand paint ‘Anette’ in big white letters on to both sides of her mahogany varnished hull.

Many sailors in the Solent duly informed us of the correct spelling - Annette. However Anette in Morse code is: .— —. . — — . With a mirror image or cut in half you get .— —. l . — — . Flag P in Morse is: .— —. and two P fl ags together signal ‘Keep well clear of me’.

Clever lads in the Royal Navy; remember they were learning how to sail.

Unexpected meeting One of my memories of Anette is when we were fl ying up the Solent under spinnaker when a lightweight E boat, also fl ying her kite, came rather close from behind.

A voice said: “Is that the Anette?

“Yes,” we replied.

He said: “I built that boat.”

It was Gordon Parham with a young couple on board. Fantastic!

Party Planner Another time we were in Cowes Corinthian YC pontoon, asleep in our (always wet) bunks after a night on the town in Cowes with, as usual, no washboards in.

After feeling something heavy on my foot and opening one eye, I found a middle aged lady sitting on the end of my bunk with a wistful look in her eyes. Although I was frightened, she introduced herself with an apology saying she could not help herself. 49 years earlier she was introduced to sailing on Anette with her sub Lieutenant fi ancé who later became her husband. Hence the wistful look in her eye.

We met later in the CCYC and she revealed all. Her husband had died and she had remarried, but she still had contacts at Whale Island. She was a volunteer in a museum and was involved with Radio Solent and, importantly, Anette’s 50th birthday was coming up.

We drank beer and talked about the party of all parties. She was going to advertise Anette’s 50th birthday party on Radio Solent, inviting all who those had sailed on her. We drank more beer, kept in touch for a few months but it fi zzled out.

I later sold Anette and went Folkboat plastic. Shame, it would have been a great party. The Folkboat Association: www.folkboats.com Nordic Folkboat International Association: www.folkboat.com

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