Unicorn clips Pegasus The success of the BRNC sailing teams at this year’s 163rd Dartmouth Regatta maintained the RN’s standing at this prestigious event, writes S/Lt S Hogg, Britannia Royal Naval College. The college brought two crews to the event: STC Unicorn under Lt Bannister, Head of Navigation at BRNC (useful considering the close proximity of vessels at the event); and STC Pegasus commanded by Lt Cdr Marshall, an experienced regular and old Cunningham senior officer at the college. As most of the crews had never sailed together before, it was crucial to get out on the water and get in as many tacks, jibes and spinnaker hoists as possible before the racing started in earnest. Following more than an hour of little progress, a clever move by Pegasus allowed her to find some wind on the extremities of the course and after a few tacks Unicorn were in hot pursuit. Indeed, the latter boat pipped her rival on the final mark after being behind for the whole race, setting the stage for some very healthy rivalry between the two RN crews. The first day of racing in Start Bay began with both crews battling hard to the windward mark with two crew in the cockpit, and the rest on the rail to balance the boat. Pegasus made good way coming
ahead of Unicorn before the first mark. After a good downwind leg, a shift in wind required the windward mark be relayed. There was some frantic mark spotting – and the race was back on, ending with a strong finish from Pegasus. Unfortunately several yachts failed to round the right mark and the race results had to be wiped from the scoring – a real blow for Pegasus. Day two saw a slight drop in wind speed and more success for the Pegasus team who again got ahead of Unicorn on the first leg and managed to hold that position throughout the race. The third day opened with Unicorn’s crew adjusting her rigging. The difference was evident and Unicorn beat Pegasus to the first mark. She stayed ahead throughout the race with the crew working really hard, getting the hoists and drops of the sails perfect every time. Unicorn was back on the block and with all to play for. Sunday was the final day of racing and the crews pulled out all the stops. An excellent start gave Unicorn the advantage and although Pegasus made some ground back on the downwind legs the result was Unicorn 8th, Pegasus 15th. Back at the clubhouse the final results were announced: RN STC Pegasus 15th and RN STC Unicorn 12th out of 36.
l Super Nova... LOGS Tracey Cotton in her Vauxhall Nova (No.4) fights off a challenge from arch rival Emma Kitchen’s Mini
Picture: PO ‘Dutchy’ Holland, Phoenix NBCD School
Tracey’s Mini adventure WHOEVER said cotton was soft and fluffy?
l Korea progress... AB(LOGS) Kenny Curle evades a challenge from a South Korean sailor during HMS Monmouth’s 3-2 win
Jamie’s NAC of scoring THE football season is now in full swing for all our RN/RM teams and the squads are about to play their first matches at their various levels. If you are keen to know more about Navy football, I recommend our website at www.royalnavyfa. com which contains current news and shows the fixtures for the coming season. While it is, of course, an honour to represent our Service, I know that all the players and officials really appreciate some touchline presence and your support is always welcome at any of our matches. The traditional season opener is the Inter-Commands which was held at Victory Stadium in Portsmouth. The opening rounds were extremely competitive, but the Naval Air Command and Portsmouth emerged as the strongest two teams and progressed to the final. It got off to a cracking start, with man of the match AET Jamie Thirkle (Culdrose) scoring for NAC after just seven minutes, only for Pompey to level four minutes later through PO(MEA) ‘Sweeney’ Todd (HMS Nottingham). Generally both teams were producing good football and the goalkeepers (AEM Roy Emerson
and WEA Steve Sheakey) showed real skill in keeping the score down. They are both products of the development squads which is really promising for the future. Strong defending from the Wafus, especially in the form of LAET John Delahay and AET Tom Ardley (Heron), kept Portsmouth out and ultimately proved decisive, with Thirkle adding another quality goal before half time. The second half was equally well-fought, but it was no surprise when AET Williams made it 3-1 to the airmen shortly before the end, for a deserved win. Half-way around the world, HMS Monmouth maintained a 125-year tradition when she visited South Korea. The Senior Service introduced the beautiful game to the country back in 1882 – and each time a British warship visits, there’s the obligatory football match. The Black Duke’s clash with the South Korean Armed Forces coincided with the military’s national day, so there was a decent home crowd watching in the stadium at Pyongtaek. They were to be disappointed. After a closely-fought match, the Brits triumphed 3-2 to lift the 1882 Cup, which now sits in Monmouth’s trophy cupboard.
Onside with Capt Paul Cunningham, RNFA
NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2007 47
Tracey Cotton is most definitely not. In fact, she’s a bit of a demon on the stock car race track. The logistician based at Whitehall is the sole female racer in the RN Automobile Club – and can be found challenging male and female drivers on the dirt tracks of the UK. She took her Vauxhall Nova to Rockingham in Northamptonshire for the South Eastern Grass Track Organisation’s ladies championship. After a day re-wiring the car thanks to an electrical fault, Tracey clambered into her car for two heats on the first day of racing – ending neck-and-neck on points with her nearest rival, Emma Kitchen from Croydon. The second day on the track would decide the title. After an initial lead on the first heat, the sailor was bashed from behind by Kitchen, who promptly took the lead. The second and final heat was almost a carbon copy; Tracey took the lead only for her arch rival to once more clatter the Nova from behind and send it wide, allowing Kitchen to take an unassailable lead. The Croydon driver promptly lifted the title, but Tracey was awarded a trophy for her second place. By the time the penultimate round of the championships arrived at Horndean, Tracey sat
in ninth place overall (thanks, not least, to her missing numerous meets this season as a result of RN duties). With her Nova playing up, the racer rolled out her trusted Mini instead. Perhaps we were a bit premature calling it ‘trusted’, as Tracey found in the opening heat. “I had a cracking start from the outside and was straight in front of the two cars which started on my inside before the first bend,” she says. “I started to reel in the cars of the drivers that started in front of me but the car suddenly started ‘running sick’. “One minute it was flying and the next it would splutter but then it would be away again.” Tracey pulled the car off the track for some on-the-spot repairs with the help of her brother and dad. It turned out that someone had tossed a couple of cigarette butts into the fuel tank blocking the fuel line. Fortunately, Team Cotton carried a spare petrol tank and the offending tank was replaced in time for Tracey to return to the track. A top-ten finish in the next heat would guarantee a place in the double points final – and again Tracey got off to a flying start, holding on to fourth place by the mid-point of the race.
“The next thing I knew there was an almighty bang behind me and the red flags instantly came out,” says Tracey. “I came to a stop and had a look behind me and there was just a mass of cars all over the track with one being very badly buried in the fence nose first.” A Vauxhall Nova had suffered a blow-out, causing an almighty pile-up. An ambulance and a recovery vehicle later and the heat resumed. The sailor spied a gap between the two cars ahead of her, squeezed through it and raced into second place – a position she held to the end. That ensured she would start from the third row in the 30-lap final on a track which had a good grip and was very fast after the numerous heats. Once again, Tracey began brightly. By lap four she was in the runners-up spot – and pulling away from the pack to create a half-lap lead by the final lap. “We came round the final bend for the chequered flag. I just accelerated out and knew if I could keep a tight line it would be close,” she adds. It was only when the trophy presentation was made in the centre of the track that she realised just how close: she had pipped the race leader on the line to claim first place.
To the Royals the spoils Two days of friendly, fair, sometimes fierce but always fun hockey were played out in glorious sunshine at Burnaby Road’s Astro turf pitches. Around 100 male and female RN personnel of all ranks, including teams from United Services Hockey Club, Portsmouth, took part in the first Navy-wide Inter Specialisation Hockey 7s competition, writes Lt Cdr Alan Walker, secretary RNHA. Twenty-three specialisations across the seven branches of the Service were represented in 100 matches dedicated to grass roots hockey for the honour of representing their specialisation or trade. We have long known there were wonderful teams ‘lost’ in those arms of the Service, it was so good to see them take the field. The teams, wearing new strips in bright colours commemorating the 30 years of partnership between RN hockey and sponsors Mercian, added a shine to the occasion. Inter-part sport would appear to be the route to help players to ‘get back into’ their sports. In the specialisation tournament final positions were: 1 – Royal Marines; 2 – Aircrew; 3 – Warfare. And in the branch tournament, the Royals again claimed victory ahead of the aircrew/submarines and engineers. Rolling back the clock was the
l Veterans’ day... An England LX player fires the ball in, watched by his RN Over 55s opponent order of the veterans day as the RN Over 55s took on and beat the representative England LX (Over 60s) side. The LX organisation run by Tom Darlington, father of Capt Mark Darlington who’s chairman of RN Hockey, released three of their members – former RN hockey stalwarts Lt Cdr Chris Jones (65), MAA Pat McAuley (65) and Lt Cdr Barry Sewell (64) to represent the Navy Team. Add in Cdr Berry Reeves, CPOSA
Stewart Neville-Rutherford, CPOWEA Eric Sutcliffe, Capt Nick Batho, CPO David Lewis (72), CPO Roger Coleman and the Navy had the makings of a fine team. They were joined by Capt Ian Jarvis, Lt Cdr Brian Sweeney, and there were late call-ups for mere youngsters Lt Col Rory Copinger-Symes, Cdr Ian Bisson, and CPOAEM Gareth Rees. A small raucous crowd made as much noise as Pompey football
club’s famous supporters and a brilliant day was had by all. Early in the second half Nick Batho sniffed out a typical poacher’s effort for 1-0 to the Navy, then hit one like a rocket to give the RN a 2-0 lead. LX missed several chances or had them saved by stout defensive work from Sweeney, Sutcliffe and Sewell. Was Barry ever as good as this when in uniform? Well he kept this lot out, so no wonder he’s a member of LX. These guys are ‘evergreens’: 60-year-old Neville-Rutherford, a bandana shielding the now bald pate from the splendid sunshine, sniffed out another by getting on the end of 72-year-old David Lewis’ cross to make the score 3-0. In the last minutes of the game Batho cracked in another longrange top-circle effort through a host of legs for 4-0. Earlier in the day in the over-35s veterans’ match, the ex-Serving Team beat the Currently Serving Team in the Past vs Present annual president’s match. Despite sterling efforts from the Serving Team in which Bisson and Copinger-Symes excelled, the exServing team beat the Serving Team 4-1 with a hat trick from Jon Smith and a typical Alan Cunningham opportunistic effort. Copinger-Symes replied for the RN.