Home • Events • Weymouth, September 2009

SEAVETS celebrates 25 Years since its formation - Chris Rowland

More photos here.

With a good wind forecast for Tuesday, many SEAVETS travelled down on Monday evening to be ready to catch the best of the tide the next morning. The forecast westerly Force 4-5 had set in and the high wind aficionados' wishes had come true. There was some debate over the true strength of the wind in the main harbour and my initial foray showed that there was indeed a stiff breeze once clear of the shore and planing was very comfortable with a 5.5m sail. However within minutes there was just a small drop in the wind, the whitecaps became less pronounced, and I changed up to a 6.5m sail which gave fantastic planing performance on a 150l board. Soon all the SEAVETS had signed in with Beachmaster John Terry, and were out enjoying the conditions. Boards long and short whizzed past each other in long reaches across the bay, the shallow areas were perfect for waterstart practice and everywhere it was just right for carving those turns. The ebb tide ran out a long way by about 1400hrs so, for some who did not fancy the trek over sand and rocks, the delight was curtailed. Not so for others though, and Richard Williams and Joe Coulson, to name but two, dragged long boards over the shallows and blasted for another two hours in the main bay. By the time they finished the tide had turned and they were able to find sufficient water to come ashore on skeg only. By common consent, it had been a good day.

The wind dropped on Wednesday and with low cloud it was not so inviting. However the long-boarders decided that the gentle but constant breeze was good enough to risk a reconnaissance of the harbour and, discovering benign conditions outside the harbour, an expedition sail under Joe Coulson's guidance crossed Weymouth Bay to Overcombe for an obligatory ice cream. The day concluded with an informal meal in the restaurant at East Fleet Farm Campsite arranged by Jean Fettes. There was an overwhelming response with over 50 members turning up for a very convivial evening spiced with an element of Pot Luck as the site was now in its run down period and larder stocks were being rapidly depleted by the SEAVETS surge!

It was decided that the Thursday would be the day on which we would recognise the 25th anniversary of SEAVETS and a mass 'sail past' was called for at mid-day. Unfortunately the wind did not heed the call and a mass drift was nearer the mark. The intention was to gather near the Fleet entrance and sail along the beach towards Portland with the slowest leading off first and the long boards following in a self regulating handicap that would see all the fleet in line as we passed the official photographers (Ruth & Peter Tracey) on the beach. There were dozens of others taking photographs and for those of us coming in towards the beach it looked like a real media event!

Once the photo shoot was finished with, the call went up for a gentle destination sail across the harbour for an ice cream at the old castle café. About a dozen set off - Lesley and I were late starters and met up with some returning early defeated by the lack of wind. We carried on and saw, some distance ahead, the pack departing the castle bay and heading out into the harbour. Just at that moment the wind increased a bit to give us an easy landing but we discovered a significant failure in intelligence - the café was shut!! We were rewarded with a steady if gentle breeze for the return across a near deserted Portland Harbour.

It has been traditional at Weymouth for the Thursday to be designated as the day for a "formal" dinner hitherto organised by Colin Stirret. Ruth Lewis took up the baton and made arrangements for us all to go to the Lugger Inn once more. With memories of Colin still strong, the occasion was to mark our anniversary, and we had invited 2 guests to join in our celebrations - Gill Sargeant from Help the Aged/ Age Concern/Research into Ageing, and Jon Popkiss from Solent Sailboards in Calshot. After a delightful meal our Chairman, Hugh Norris, reminded us of the events that led to the formation of SEAVETS. 1983 had been declared the National Year of Sport and the UKBSA, the principal boardsailing organisation in the country, organised windsurfing events at Northney for youths and for over 50's, the Alphas and the Omegas. In June that year four Omegas raced at Burghfield and decided to form the Ancient Boardsailors' Club. One of the four was our current Vice President Andrew Watson, who developed close ties with the Foundation for Age Research, a predecessor to Research into Ageing, which was looking for ways to promote exercise and healthy activity in older people and took an interest in the Ancient Boardsailors Club. In 1984 a series of events was arranged, and in that same year, 25 years ago, a member of staff at the Foundation suggested the name SEAVETS and it was by that acronym that the Senior and Veterans Windsurfing Association became known. The rest as they say is history. Hugh proposed a toast to those founding fathers whose vision has given those of us that followed so much friendship and enjoyment over the last quarter century.

Gill Sergeant responded and presented a framed Outstanding Achievement Award to SEAVETS in recognition of SEAVETS twenty five years of support for Research into Ageing. Jon Popkiss maintained the quarter century theme and evoked many memories with his description and comments on the significant, and not so significant, developments in windsurfing that have taken place over that time and the radical improvements in performance and ease of use that have been achieved. The clamp booms, flexible masts, notched sails, the introduction of carbon fibre everywhere and the significant marques in boards - IMCO, Screamer, Phoenix 320 etc. Finally he reminded us of the re-discovery of the long board in the last year or so as the all round board for family use, thus bringing events full circle - perhaps SEAVETS has been right all along to retain the raceboard at the heart of the racing programme.

Finally, David Balcombe proposed the toast" SEAVETS" to bring a memorable evening to a close.