the crew honing their skills and getting used to their positions on the boat. A number of the crew had limited sailing experience and no racing experience, and consequently it was a fairly steep learning curve for Capt Whiting and Capt Clive who took up position on the foredeck. As “foredeck monkeys” they bore the brunt of some fairly heavy weather and usually took the full force of the waves!
Downwind legs were always something of a challenge, as we watched the other lighter boats shooting off with their spinnakers, however, with our Skipper’s cunning use of a double Genoa and spinnaker pole, we were able to present a fairly large expanse of sail. Heavier winds also worked in our favour and as we got to the end of the week and gusts of up to 30kts, Gladeye ploughed through the waves while the lighter modern boats were thrown around, pushing us up a few places in the fleet.
All of the crew were members of the Household Division Yacht Club (open to all serving and retired officers of the Household Division – for details contact the author), which meant that we were able to use the Royal London Yacht Club’s facilities and attended their ball and other social functions. We were also extremely fortunate to be invited to watch the fireworks from the Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron’s boat which provided an excellent view.
The crew relaxing on a downwind leg
(Capt Johnny Clive, Capt Dickon Leigh-Wood, Capt Paul Chishick, Capt Will Boyd-Thomas, Capt Tom Whiting, Tpr Elliston-Jones)
It soon became apparent that we were not going to be putting too much pressure on the top end of our fleet as their lead stretched away; there were, however, a number of service boats in our fleet who were closer to our level. These, therefore, became our focus for the week, with our two main rivals being the Royal Engineers’ boat Ilex and the Royal Armoured Corps’ racing yacht, White Knight. Due to our handicap we had elected not to use a spinnaker (as we would have been even further outclassed in the class above) though in spite of this Gladeye managed to hold her own against these two main rivals.
Gladeye sailing past the Squadron
Capt Rawdon-Mogg was nominated as navigator for the week and largely due to his efforts, we were able to make up ground on our rivals as they went for the wrong buoys or failed to take into account the tide. Aside from a brief brush with the Brambles Bank, we caught up several faster boats through good course selection. Gladeye finished 25th overall, of a fleet of 34, comfortably ahead of our main rivals from the Royal Armoured Corps and Royal Engineers and in addition was placed 4th in the Nautor-Swan Trophy.
The Showgirls … accompanied by some of the plumed dancers
It was a highly successful week and Gladeye was remarked on by many, with her absence from Cowes having been noted. The crew certainly made the Blue-Red-Blue presence felt, cutting a dash ashore and on the water, and our Household Cavalry battle ensign was the envy of the Medina.
Sailing - Ex CANARY GOLD - Jan 2012 by WO1 M Flynn CGC MC
A
crew from the Household Cavalry took part in Ex CANARY GOLD in January last year, an exercise run annually by the Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre (JSASTC) on board one of the training yachts, a Nicholson 55’, which does a series of two week legs around the Canary Islands. Whilst it was open to all services, the Sailing Officer, Capt Chishick, had block booked this leg for the HCR and seven soldiers from Windsor were able to take part. We set out from Windsor on Sunday 15th January for our flight to Lanzarote where we were due to meet the boat leaving the chilly British winter for the somewhat warmer Canary Islands. After a short taxi transfer from the airport we arrived at the yacht, Dasher, where we met the skipper from JSASTC and had our safety brief and induction onto the boat. The exercise was intended to
62 ■ Household Cavalry Sports Round-up
The Crew in harbour on board the yacht