Captains Log

To have been elected Captain of JOG at the Club's 57th Annual General Meeting has made me feel both proud and honoured. Proud because the Club is unique in how it operates and in what it offers to Members. Honoured because of the fame, stature, quality of seamanship and leadership shown by previous Captains, and in particular Phil Hagen who has given so much of his time and energy to JOG's Captaincy over a period when he was also under great pressure from work and travel. I wish him a really enjoyable sailing season in 2008! I will work hard and do my best to follow their example.

I am looking forward to working with our President, Vice Captains and Committee to ensure the long term future of the Club. Nothing can stand still these days and the long term success of JOG continues because, as a club, we are prepared to go with the times whilst never forgetting our roots. Having already served six years on the Club Committee, three years as a Committee member and three years as Vice Captain, I understand that whilst change is inevitable, it should be managed.

That is where the Club's Committee comes in. Our role is to manage the Club for the benefit of its Members. We are there to keep the Club financially healthy and to ensure the races are managed for both the enjoyment and the safety of the competitors - no easy job!

The new look web site is a good example of the above philosophy. It looks fresh and modern but in fact, its function and content has changed very little. Over the coming years I hope we can continue to improve the web site and add more function for the benefit of Members and to ease the administration of the Club and its races.

The Illingworth Challenge (Cowes to La Trinité) will have its inaugural start in July 2008. There has been four years of hard work from several Committee Members to finally get the race off the ground. There is, of course, still a lot of hard work to do with the race's organisation, helping boats and crews get qualified, gathering in the entries and providing the appropriate authorities with an accurate risk assessment to keep them happy.

I do believe the Illingworth Challenge represents the roots of JOG. Interestingly, our very first Captain, P J Ellam, who held the tiller of JOG from 1951 to 1953, had the following to say:
"The race had started on Saturday morning. The first of the big boats had arrived at Santander on Wednesday morning and they kept on coming in, in ones and twos, all through Wednesday night , the last ones arriving on Thursday morning. These were the ocean racing fleet, the cream of the big deep-sea yachts. And little Sopranino had turned in only a few hours later."

Patrick Ellam wrote the above comment in his book "Sopranino - 10,000 miles over the ocean in a midget sailboat" which was co-authored with Colin Mudie. His comments were about proving that small boats could sail and race across oceans and was about the 1950 RORC Plymouth- Santander Race. In that year RORC's longest and most important race.

He added:
"That winter a small band of enthusiasts met at the Royal Ocean Racing Club under the presidency of Captain Illingworth, to form a club to promote the development of this new breed of midget offshore racing boats. We called it the Junior Offshore Group; which shortens nicely to JOG, and drew up a set of rules intended primarily to ensure the highest possible standard of safety."

JOG was founded by men who were willing to be adventurous and try new ideas - rebels if you like. It was founded by men who were prepared to put their ideas into practice and prove them. Who am I to argue - JOG is a fantastic concept and a great Club!

I look forward to seeing many members out on the water from Easter next year!

Paul Harding