Article by Peter Stacey
Peter crewed for Allan Pit in Snoopy. Together they have completed over 25 Bosun Nationals and can remember when there were 80 boats at the Bosun Nationals.

"Comments from the Pointed End" (A crews view)
In time the Bosun AGM minutes will no doubt appear on the Bosun web site for all to read and hopefully for the Secretary Chairman (sorry Richard for that slip) the minutes will be accepted as a true and accurate record of the proceedings. Well, 12 months on, who can remember what was said anyway and who will be at an AGM in Portsmouth next year who travelled all the way to Falmouth this?

For those in the class who did not travel to Falmouth, you really did miss a splendid weekend. What we had and what we missed from other venues I have been to for the Nationals in the past could easily be listed, but that could result in us going back to Falmouth again and again (great say us from south west of Exeter).
Well despite it being the start of the school holidays and traditionally all roads west of Bristol become a mobile caravan park, everyone who travelled had a good run down. The welcome from Rick's team now managing the Sailing Centre at Falmouth, (following Tony's second retirement, a third will follow in time no doubt as rumour has it he is now at Jupiter Point teaching) was excellent. The "Harbour Master" at the Water-sports Centre was also helpful and even allowed you to bring the car in to the area without a pass to off load and load the boat must be unusual now days. Being a civilian, having to get a pass to bring a car towing a boat into a sailing event is always confusing, but on the other hand being a crew makes life confusing anyway. Equally you did not have to walk the mile from the gate to the sailing club to get the combination to open the gate to get the boat in was also an advantage. Once again this usually presents a problem, as the helm (driver) would shout at the crew (passenger) to sort it out. Crew, walk mile to club, arrive at club, thirsty, have a drink, get lock combination, have another drink, walk back, stop at loo, arrive back at locked gate forgotten combination. Crew, walk back to ........
Saturday morning first day of the school holidays and this years Nationals, the sun of Friday had gone (naturally) and the wind was blowing Force 5 to 6 gusting 7 (good tent pitching weather). In the interests of safety to all Tony Ayres, the Race Officer for the weekend postponed the racing with another briefing at 1200. This ultimately resulted in us getting out on the water at 1715 hrs for 3 races in a good fresh breeze. Those who joined the ASA (Amateur Swimming Association) may have thought it too windy, but those who did not had some good and exciting racing. Wind we have not seen too much of at recent Nationals and if my memory is correct, well I discussed this with Alan Pitt, the font of all knowledge on Bosun Nationals, the last time we had wind was probably at Portland. As Portland is now off the list for those who never went there the wind often blew as it did at Lee on Solent and Poole also missing off the list of venues for the Nationals in the future.
Sunday racing got off on time due once again to positive action by Tony and the Race Committee. With a fresh wind again blowing Tony was able to get three races in, all of which were required to decide this very exiting championship.
First advantage with Falmouth you are made welcome, second plenty of wind (essential for a sailing event) helm cannot shout at you because the spinnaker is not full when you are drifting faster than it is blowing. Wide weed free concrete slip so you can launch at all states of the tide. These saves the crew having to drag the boat across mud, pebbles etc because the helmsman is undertaking the final check of the course or something. The slip also has a reasonable gradient so crampons and ropes are not required to get the boat out of the water, or when launching again helmsman will be missing the boat launches itself down these normal steep slips like the Padstow Lifeboat. Plenty of water to sail on, courses can be set at any state of the tide; the area can be varied to suit the strength and direction of the wind. Even with the delays on Saturday to allow the wind to drop we were still able to get the three races in without a long sail to the start area or running aground up the beat as the mud comes in.
Now back to the AGM which could well be the first to be held outside not only for the Bosun class but any other class or organisation come to that. Will this be recorded in the minutes? As the AGM followed the lunchtime brief the attendance could well be a record for recent years. The Chairman who did well not to loose all his papers generally kept proceedings under control with the exception of a few shouts (but that person always shouts at everyone) from the attendees in the boat park. Some of the normal arguments arose about modifications to the boats. Bosuns should be standard went the war cry followed by "some people have taken the mainsheet horse off" one of the attendees said shouted. Well looking back in the record books the original Bosun did not have the complicated horse arrangement for the helm to contend with. So that is another fitting off the list if you want to sail a standard Bosun.
Well what is a standard Bosun? How far do you go back to find a standard Bosun? Is Derrick's (1011) the oldest boat in the fleet standard? No, this caused some of the problems at the AGM with of all things a highfield lever on the boom. Some think this is an advantage from the Crews Union point of view I believe that helms under H&S legislation have a duty of care to crews. A highfield lever flying across the top of your head when "he" carries out the normal uncontrolled gibe is a true hazard. Lets go back to the original Bosun sailed at the first Nationals no horse, and the helms will be pleased to hear no spinnaker either. That means you shout at the crew to get down to leeward sit still with nothing complicated to play with. How boring for the crew so we could all stay ashore and have another beer and just get the gate combination. Of all the changes from the standard Bosun what really makes the difference? To the hull, probably down to weight (cheaper to build as well) but just as important this weekend self-bailers and who first fitted these you have it the Army. Away from the hull what else makes the difference sails and probably above all the sailmaker. What are standard Bosun sails? Looking at old photographs of the early Nationals standard sails could well be Dockyard coloured sails made of material of some description and of course no spinnakers. The Navy has instigated most of the more recent changes although not all of these have been accepted at subsequent AGMs. Some of these changes have improved the characteristics of what is basically a training boat. Others changes were driven in an attempt to reduce the procurement costs and have generally improved the boat others like the mast gate were not accepted. When this contraption was discounted at an AGM we must have had a majority of crews present. After all it was additional weight at the front of the boat and something else to bang your legs on when putting up the spinnaker. From a "crews union" point of view we should be consulted on all changes to our bits and helmsman should not just change the boats because they think it is a good idea. Well where has this got to? Not too certain, but it is probably difficult to define a standard Bosun and it would take more than one AGM to agree this. At AGM's over the years we have agreed changes to the rules and changes which are not allowed to the boats. It is not possible to turn the clock back and I would not be keen on crewing a boat with no spinnaker, tarpaulin sails and having to bail all the way round the course. The changes to the rules over the years have probably made the boat easier to sail, vertical rudders, (remember having to have two hands on the tiller to bear away?) and in some instances cheaper to purchase (tapered masts). Providing individual boats are kept in accordance with the rules, and their purpose as a training boat which is raced often is not lost, what is wrong with what we have done to date? Finally thank you to everyone who assisted in the organisation of the Bosun Nationals this year. With, Army, Navy, RAF and Civilians in the first six places the Nationals are definitely a multi-service event. With wind, water, a friendly team, positive action by the race committee and above all really close racing what more do you want. Hope to see all who travelled to Falmouth at Portsmouth for next years Nationals plus those who did not venture west of Exeter who really did miss a splendid weekend.

Thanks for the article to Peter. Comments to Peter Stacey