STARBOARD!!! ....damn it.

I didn't take these pictures or write this entry. I found it on yachtingworld.com and thought it relevent to post on this blog. Story and credits below.

















So! taking the brunt of a port/starboard incident during the first race of the Folkboat national championship in Poole Harbour last Friday. According to Mike Shepherd (Advertising Manager at Practical Boat Owner/Yachting Monthly magazines), who was middleman aboard So! at the time of the incident, the race committee wisely decided to keep the fleet in the harbour due to the excessively strong winds out in the bay. Shepherd told the story: "We'd just started the second round and it was still blowing hard. We were on the beat and just put in a tack onto starboard. We called 'starboard' on the boat [Tak] coming down on us on port but they didn't seem to bear away. The next thing we knew was Tak had launched itself like a killerwhale on our deck missing us [the crew] by inches. We were incredibly lucky it didn't bring the rig down too."Fortunately no one was injured during the incident and although there was a fair amount of damage to the yacht So! There was nothing that couldn't be fixed to enable the team to be out on the water the next day. Shephard continued: "Obviously there's a fair amount of damage that will need fixing properly now the event's finished but we were amazed at how little damage there was. It just goes to show exactly how tough and strong the Folkboats are."Thanks to David Harding of sailingscenes.co.ukwho supplied yachtingworld.com with the photos.