Issue 1 February

2014

The Contessa 32 Class Association Newsletter is all

about you and what you do in your Contessa so

please contact me on:- co32newsletter@gmail.com

Hello and welcome to our first Contessa 32 Newsletter. I’m Lynn

Roberts and have co-owned Hungry Tiger with my husband Jeff

since 2003, we are out and out cruisers but Jeff does sneak the odd

’fun’ race in occasionally. The idea for a newsletter came over a

glass or two of mulled wine on the Christmas Rally last year, we

were lamenting the loss of the magazine and wondered if we could

in some way re-introduce an information exchange on a simple

scale, I think George doctored my third glass of wine because I

found myself volunteering!! We hope to produce three Newslet-

ters a year nothing too detailed or ‘heavy’ just an overview of what

we Contessa folk have been up to across the country and hopefully

the world!! For it to work I need input from everyone, nothing too

long and a picture would be great, ‘small is beautiful’!

From your newly-elected Class Captain, Mark Himsworth and with many thanks to its compiler

Lynn Roberts, a very warm welcome to this the first Contessa newsletter. We hope it will be a good

way for the association to stay in touch with its members, and would love to hear from you if you’ve a

story to tell, a result to publish or a cruising log to share.

For those who don’t know me, a very brief history. Starting in Wayfarers under the Forth rail bridge

and moving to the other end of the size spectrum on Tall Ships round the UK in my teens, it wasn’t

until my early twenties that I hitched my first ride on a Contessa. It was a long, exciting, exhilarating

Round the Island race, and we won in class – and I’ve been hooked on these beautiful seaworthy

boats ever since.

Racing on my Uncle Eldred’s Contessa 32 ‘Drumbeat’ in the Solent

and a few times around the Fastnet (2-handed) since the early

naughties, I have since then (with the occasional Swan sojourn,

and a Dehler 33 dalliance for my Yachtmaster ticket) been pretty

faithful to Jeremy’s progeny. Despite sometime success on the

race course I confess to being a truly awful cruiser – my most

recent attempt on a Contessa was beset with schoolboy errors, not

least setting off with my landlubber partner, our two small

children, and an ex-squaddie into a bitterly cold brisk north-

easterly chop. I hope to learn much from Association Members on

that front, perhaps enough to be able to persuade my petrified

nuclear family back on board for one of Holly’s now-fabled cruises

in company.

The Contessa 32 has a proud heritage and a proud history of

involvement in organised sailing events. Undoubtedly provoked by

the financial recession, the number of yachts of all kinds out racing

at the events I attend has dwindled, and sadly the CO32 has not been immune. Whether or not you

race, or intend to race, in those events, that decline has an undoubted effect on the ‘visibility’ of the

fleet and, more bluntly, on boat prices. In that context however, we have a strong and attractive

message to deliver: if you want to race and/or cruise an unspeakably attractive boat that’ll take very heavy weather in her stride, you simply cannot do better for your pound than a CO32.

With a modern sail plan now bedding down, I hope to focus over the next year on promoting the class

and conveying that message. I’d like to see us welcome more Contessa cruisers racing, more

Contessa racers cruising, and more non-Contessa people to the fold. A very hardworking team is

already taking strides towards a new website design, which we hope will allow those who sail Contessas to more easily share stories, photographs and information, both past and present. We will

be encouraging all in the Contessa family to come along to dinners during racing weekends – a great

way for those who rarely tow a tender to meet those who rarely call for water at a mark.

After a successful AGM on 22nd February we had a very fruitful discussion in which a lot of excellent promotional ideas were floated. Please don’t hesitate to drop me an email if you’d like to have a chat

about the future of the Class, or have an idea which the committee might be able to develop or a

resource it might count on.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as I can – preferably on or near the water!

Richard Clark and I will be back at the end of the newsletter with a roundup of the last year and some

things to look forward to in the 2014 season and beyond.

Ex Class Captain Memoirs :- Richard Clark

I am sure you are all aware that after 3 years I am an ex-class captain. Lynn and George have kindly

asked me to reflect a little on the last few years, so please excuse the following rambling thoughts….

It was 2004 (I think) and I had just purchased a sad looking Contessa 32 sitting in the Agamemnon Boatyard in Beaulieu. How did that happen? I remember that thought very clearly, I have had it quite

a few times in my life! Little did I know the adventures “Carolina” would bring over the coming years?

A new rudder, engine, rig etc as is usual for a 1973 boat, we started racing quite quickly or rather

trailed the fleet around the Solent a few times in our first season. Keith Feltham tried to coach us into some form of crew. He had a tough job as none of us even knew what a starting sequence was. We

quickly became regulars, attracted by the friendly but competitive racing and of course the après

sailing, we even managed to keep up after a while.

Then I was on the Association Committee and was racing to the Azores and Back, it had happened again! Mr Feltham had convinced me to “do my bit” and I eventually agreed. It was December 2009

and I had not long crossed the Atlantic on a 55ft yacht. Whilst sitting in St Lucia with internet access I

entered the 2011 Azores and Back (AZAB). I felt that although a fantastic experience it was cheating

“crossing the pond” in such a large luxury yacht after all we had hot showers, a washing machine,

electric heads and reefing the main simply involved pushing a button. The next time I wanted to sail in Carolina, a proper sailing boat. On reflection the easy bit was the sailing, the tough part was the

endless preparation to get Carolina from a Solent cruiser /racer to meet ISAF Category 1 standard. I

am pleased to say that David Feltham (Keith’s son) and I reached the Azores but sadly due to lack of

wind motored the last 100 miles. However, we had a truly wonderful sail home in 8 days and achieved 3rd overall in class. Once again a very persuasive and tenacious Keith convinced me that I

should put myself forward for captaincy, the members voting me in at the 2011 AGM. I need to thank

Rob Milledge once again for standing-in for me on many occasions in that first year.

Let me get to the gist of what I want to say. The pleasure of owning and sailing a Contessa 32 can be

significantly amplified by getting involved with the Association and its activities. I hadn’t “planned” to

be so involved, I am not a committee man, but having done so I have made lots more friends, learnt

more about the boat, sailing, racing, sails and sail trim and much more. discovered the pleasures of cruising particularly in company with other Contessas. Having an active association made the

Contessa 32 an even more attractive option but I have learnt that yacht ownership can be so much

more than just travelling to the coast and wondering “what to do this weekend”.

Apart from racing, which I describe to interested parties as the equivalent of mostly men of a certain

age racing their old MG’s, (apologies to all the young ladies involved in the racing fleet), I have found that just like the vessels they sail most Contessa people are firstly sailors, independent, resourceful

and as Mark Himsworth so eloquently observed at the recent

AGM, each has an opinion and they are not normally reserved in

sharing it.

There is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom as many have owned

their boats from new in the 1970’s. Technical help and advice has

never been far away, Carolina’s crew and myself have benefited

from learning to sail the boat better each year by watching and listening to people like Ray Rouse over a Blanco Gin and more

recently from Seb Gardner (Polar Star). As usual in life “the less

you think you know the more you will learn”. It has now got to

point on Carolina where I am struggling to justify my position!

In the last few years I have also discovered the pleasures of

single-handed and especially two-handed sailing. Our boats are

particularly suited to being sailed short-handed as they are “stiff”,

well balanced, easily handled and the accommodation is perfect

for two off-shore. The best thing I have ever purchased is my Monitor Windvane which completely changes the sailing

experience. Being released from the need to steer the boat has

been a revelation, perversely it is easy to spend hours watching it

steer the boat better than you can but then leaving it to it and retiring down below when it starts getting miserable.

My closing thought. Although not a reckless man, indeed I would

consider myself somewhat measured in my thinking, it is

undoubtedly true that too much thought can prevent us from doing many things. I have a friend who spends all of his time

planning, thinking, risk assessing and researching but never

leaves port, the time is never quite right.

So what now? Well, “it’s happened again”, in May I am departing Ramsgate for the Arctic (Svalbard)

via Northern Norway with a few guys I met in the AZAB. Unfortunately we won’t be taking Carolina but a very nice Najad 370. We are currently deep in preparation (again), planning, learning about Ice

Reports and how to deal with Polar Bears. Then it’s back in July to complete a 300 mile qualifying

passage for the 2015 AZAB, with hopefully Mr George Isted and Concerto somewhere visible on the

horizon.

Oh and I have just bought at auction a 400 year old thatched house requiring some serious

renovation… not planned!

2014 Oop North—Alastair Pugh

It’s going to be some year up here and some of it actually involves sailing.

First excitement will be the Spring Dinner on 1st March in Weegieland. Fine dining with animated

discussion on a wide range of subjects possibly including the benefits, or not, of contributing our hard earned bawbees to southern coffers and being expected to be grateful for having our existence

acknowledged. Or we may spend our time talking about the independence referendum instead! So

far 10 boats will be represented –still room for more.

27thJune sees the start of the Round Mull Race incorporating the CO32 Scottish Championship with

the Association’s Tern Trophy presented to the winner. Should be our biggest turn-out yet. Then 2 weeks later on 12thJuly , 2 weeks earlier than usual, is West Highland Yachting Week. Last year

there were 5 Contessas racing – it will be fun as always.

The reason for the earlier than usual WHYW is Scotland’s answer to London’s Olympic Games – the

XXth Commonwealth Games! Nae sailing but a flotilla will be motoring up the Clyde to moor in Glasgow city centre on 25thJuly. Given the hotel prices for the games this may not be a bad idea.

An “Independence or No” cruise in company was promulgated for the weekend after the referendum -

20th/21st September - but this weekend is now “Bart’s Bash”, a world record attempt which is worthy

of our attention.

While all that’s going on the wheen of Contessas north of Watford will be cruising their way round our

fair isles and further afield. If the jet stream stays in the south then the corollary to probably the

wettest summer on record in England will be another sunny, dry summer in the north – restrictions

on the Crinan Canal again and water shortages in the Western Isles – neat whisky is the answer.

Oh, and my daughter’s getting married! Roll on 2014!

Paimpol Cruise - François Mousset “Gigi”

The plan had been outlined at the Contessa cruising seminar in Lymington, March 2013.

Paimpol seemed to be an attractive destination for the Contessa 32 fleet on two main aspects, on one

hand as a lovely harbour on the north coast of Brittany, on the other hand as a challenging

playground because of unexpected rocks and strong tidal currents.

By the way, the voyage took place just at

the peak of spring tides 24 to 26 July.

There were many boats registered for the

cruise. However, at departure time lack

of wind and heavy fog caused many to

abandon the cruise. Fortunately “Ripple

of Kyle” and “Andaxi” did not give up

and met “Dart Dash” , another Contessa

32 from Dartmouth, to meet “Gigi” in

Paimpol on 25th July.

Bretton lobsters and cakes and we were

lucky enough to see Gilles Jacquet

performing some magic tricks ...very

dangerous...

On the other hand Jeremy and Fiona Rogers, Richard and Penelope Clark, and Fiona North joined in

Paimpol. Finally with some French friends we were more than twenty five for the meeting. In the

epicentre of Paimpol's harbour, “La Capitainerie” (the new marina offices), had been privatized for the

occasion and we could have a great party on the evening of 26th July.

Visibly crews and friends seemed to appreciate organic French white wine from the Loire (Saumur blanc) and red (Saumur Champigny), Bretton lobsters and cakes and we were lucky enough to see

Gilles Jacquet performing some magic tricks ...very dangerous...

Later in the evening with Ivan Erambour, we, all together sung “Gigi submarine” a creation for the

circumstance. A good performance indeed. At the end Richard made a superb speech (as usual) to thank everyone .

Next day , Saturday, not too early and after a walk along the coast we had a drink in a fisherman's

cottage overlooking Paimpol's bay and then shared some mussels and chips in a little familial

restaurant by the seaside.

On Sunday, guided by Jean Marie Clayssens, fine connoisseur of the place we had a long walk overlooking the so famous cliffs of Paimpol. We had picnic in a little cove and after a bath in a pure

emerald warm sea it was time to go back preparing to put back to sea on Monday. Penny had

dropped !

Local press was very attentive to the presence of Contessa crews in Paimpol and we had two articles in the local daily newspapers “La Presse d'Armor” and “Ouest France”. [Ed- can be found on the Co32

website]. In November the very high class maritime magazine “Le Chasse mare” dedicated two

pages to the Contessa story.

CO 32 ~ 2013 Cruise in Company to the Channel Islands and North East Brittany

Paimpol – “Very Dangerous” - Zoe & Guy Darby

For a few years, François Mousset had been suggesting that we visit him and his famous Contessa 32

“Gigi” in his home port of Paimpol, Brittany. After various discussions, we decided that we would visit

in July 2013, as part of a Cruise in Company to the Channel Islands and North East Brittany.

From the original flotilla of 6 Contessas, assembled in the Western Solent, crewing issues and the

weather conspired to reduce the cruise to only 2 boats: Andaxi (Chris North, Alex McKee, Chris

Marchington, Maggie Simpson and Sean Murray); and Ripple of Kyle (Guy & Zoë Darby). We set out

on the ebb tide just after midnight on Sunday 22nd July. We motored almost all the way to Alderney,

arriving in the late afternoon in thick fog. We navigated into Braye very slowly, in visibility of about

100 metres, by means of Navionics charts on the IPad – and a sharp lookout, which was a very

interesting exercise! Having picked up moorings close in, we wasted no time in getting ashore, to

regain our composure in The Divers.

Tuesday was spent exploring the Island. Some bicycled round, some walked and some just took it

easy. In the late afternoon, we all met up at Alderney Sailing Club with Sally Barber (CO 26 Tessa),

who made us feel very welcome. On Wednesday morning, we set off for Guernsey, via Sark. We

planned to make the most of the Alderney Race going south but it was not as strong as predicted.

Under blue skies, we motor-sailed to Derrible Bay, Sark, anchored and went ashore to look at the

caves, potter about and some had a very brave swim. We continued onto St. Peter Port for the night

and on Thursday morning set off from Paimpol, our primary destination!!

Our course to Paimpol was west about the Roches-Douvres, to make the best of the tides. Yet again,

apart from about 1.5 hours, we motor-sailed all the way with a blue sky and a mirror like sea! Ripple

and Andaxi arrived at Les Charpentiers buoy, marking the start of the Chenal de la Jument, and

spotted a white Contessa closing from the east. This was Dart Dash, sailed single-handed by Keith

Matthews. Arriving at Paimpol’s open lock-gates, there on the quay was François Mousset, his wife

Soligne, our Class Captain Richard Clark and his wife Penny, who had come by ferry and Pete and

Linda Sanderson from Muscadet de Havelet, who were on a walking holiday in the area! After glasses

of Champagne, we all went to the adjacent quayside Restaurant for an expansive Dinner.

The following day François & Solinge arrived with her Cousin, Jean-Marie and we walked around the

edge of the Anse de Pamipol to their house, for drinks in the hillside garden and lunch at the local

quayside Moules et Frites cafe. There, we were joined by Jeremy & Fiona Rogers and Fiona North, who

had travelled over in the Jeremy Rogers’ minibus. We then continued our walk, for about 2 hours in

the baking sun, round the coast to opposite Île-de-Bréhat. After restorative ice creams and cold

beers, we took the bus back to Paimpol.

That evening, July 26th, was the highlight of our trip!

François had hired the Paimpol Capitainerie and had

laid on a memorable feast, including Breton lobsters

and plenty of fine Loire wines. Between courses, we

were entertained by François’s friend, Gilles Jacquet, a

magician who started every trick by saying “This is

very dangerous!” exactly like ‘Allo! Allo!’

Sunday was spent on various expeditions, including a

picnic lunch in a remote cove, and exploring the

beautiful town of Paimpol and we ended our stay with

another excellent dinner at the quayside Restaurant.

On Monday, we set off again. Keith went back to Guernsey and we – yes you have guessed it! –

motor-sailed round to Lezardrieux. Tuesday – again another motor-sail, further westwards to

Treguier! Whilst sheltering there for a day from high winds and heavy rain, we met up with Spirit of

Taranto – three beautiful white Contessas all in a row!

Thursday – Andaxi set off home for the Hamble via Guernsey and Ripple motor-sailed west to Port-

Blanc and then onto Ploumanac’h – famous for its huge rose coloured granite rocks and very tight

harbour entrance. Quite stunning but the tides made it unsuitable to stay overnight, so we returned

east to Port Blanc for the night before heading to St. Peter Port. Having a day in hand, we then set

off from Guernsey, via the lovely Shell Bay on Herm, to Diélette, about 12 miles south of Cape de la

Hague. We spent 24 lazy hours in Diélette, leaving at 5pm on Saturday, for an overnight passage

back to Lymington, arriving at 0730 on Sunday 4th August.

All in all, a great family Cruise, as we had 2 members of the family in each boat, and a splendid

gathering in Paimpol. The tides went up and down - but not necessarily in that order and the weather

was mostly warm but windless; Ripple logged about 400 miles over the 2 weeks but only sailed for

around 6 hours and used roughly 3 tanks of diesel.

Tales from Across the Water :- Larry Hanson

I first met Willy Ker while I was sailing my Mcgruer sloop across the Strait of Georgia. I saw a pretty

little boat flying a rather large for it, British Ensign. I sailed alongside and enquired of the only fellow

on board , if he had sailed from England the

answer stunned me "yes, by way of The Antarctic

and Russia. Do you know anywhere that I can keep my boat for the winter, I'm flying home to

England." That was Willy Ker, and I arranged for

him to keep his Contessa 32 at a friends dock in

Gorge Harbour on Cortes Island. He returned in the spring and sailed around Vancouver island ,

trucked her to Diluth Minn, sailed through the St

Lawrence seaway, and back home.

I decided I had to have a boat like that, just the right size for my small family, safe, and

competent on all conditions and latitudes.

Blue Blaze, my Contessa 32 was built by JJ Taylor

in Toronto in 1986, she is hull # 66 made in

Canada. I found her in Seattle in 2005. She has wheel steering, radar, ham radio ( Ve7zen, and

VE0FAB), and I added a fleming vane.

I teach advanced sailing and navigation aboard her for Sail Canada, in all weather and seasons.

My wife, daughter, and cocker Spaniel "Blaze" cruise and race her everywhere in the Pacific Northwest. We comfortably survived the 2010 Southern Straits race when it blew over 55 kn, and

were one of the few boats still racing after most of the fleet went for shelter. We do very well in local

races.

Bembridge Rally :- 2013 Holly Peters-Wright

The plan was reasonably simple, get a few boats together, have some Pimms and a bit of a BBQ play

some games with the kids and enjoy the surroundings of beautiful Bembridge. How hard could it be,

I'm a project manager after all, I organize things for a living!

So we put the booking form on the website after having sent out an email to the association, put

something on Facebook and I waited. Worrying that it would be a bit miserable with just 1 or 2 boats

including mine which is not even a Contessa I was hoping for at least 5 boats and maybe a dozen

sailors. When we hit 5 boats booked and confirmed I was satisfied, my first proper cruising event would be a success I was sure.

All of the sailing events I have been to are usually racing events and therefore a more formal affair so

when taking on the cruising rep position I had already decided I wanted the cruising to be more casual and hopefully to get more families involved which lead to the idea of a pirate themed weekend

and then thought it would be great fun to arrange a treasure hunt of some kind.

Being a project manager and a bit of a big kid I think it was only when I was soaking printed clues in

coffee to make then look old and packing half a kilo of chocolate treasure coins along with an inflatable palm tree that I thought perhaps I had gone a bit over the top with the whole treasure hunt

idea.

When we hit 12 boats joining the cruise I was over the moon, at 18 booked I started to worry, how I

was going to cater for 40 odd people? by the time we closed the bookings with 22 boats and 68

people I was simply in shock and decided to not worry and just go with the flow. I ordered enough

meat to feed a small army from my favourite local butchers in Lymington and ordered enough Pimms to keep a racing fleet happy for a few nights. Getting all the food and drink (minus the meat)

delivered to my home seemed like a great idea until my boyfriend called me to let me know that just

over 20 crates had been delivered and he was a bit worried we would not get it all in the car. I left

work early and an hour later we managed to squeeze everything in.

The next challenge was getting to the boat. We set off earlier than normal and headed for the Isle of

Wight Ferry. Now rush hour traffic on the M25 and M3 is not great at the best of times but on a bank

holiday weekend me might as well have been queuing for Glastonbury! 5 hours later we arrived at

Southampton to discover that all the ferries were fully booked apart from the midnight sailing which arrived at 1am. After an hour nap in the car and some food while waiting for the ferry, another hour

on the ferry followed by a short 10 minute drive to the folly we parked up, left everything in the car

an went to try to work out how to get to the boat which is on a floating pontoon in the middle of the

river. Being out of season the boatman had already gone home and so we decided the best idea was, in true pirate fashion, to borrow/steal a dingy row the half a mile over to the boat, pump up our

dingy, row back towing the stolen dingy to return said stolen property then row back. At about 0230

we fell into the bunk and passed out cold.

Bleary eyed we woke up the alarm at 5am conscious that we still had to load the 20 odd crates of food and drink onto the boat before heading down the river to meet Ripple at 0830. The plan had

been to put the boat on the folly mooring which would make for easy loading but of course things

would not be so simple. Instead the only space was on the work pontoon, not walk ashore but just

15 feet or so from the main pontoon. We set about rowing the supplies across a couple of crates at a

time and we're just about ready to go when I went to restart the engine only for it not to turn over.....battery issues (any of you that know me will know I've had one or two small engine issues

since buying Zingara!) Luckily we had a jump pack ready so finally were on our way.

Enjoying a simply stunning sail round to Bembridge in the company of Ripple, Contessa Catherine and

a few other 32's which joined along the way we arrived at Bembridge

in good form a lot more chilled out, looking forward to a BBQ and a few

drinks

While the last few boats joined the fleet including Tihani who took

arriving fashionably late to the extreme but made an impressive job of navigating the water with what must have been less than 30 cm's

below the keel, I went about preparing the treasure hunt, hiding clues

all over the place from a pre-planned route I had drawn up using

Google earth while Rob from Contessa Catherine is a fabulous job at kicking off the BBQ and everyone pitched into cut up what felt like 50

kilos of fruits for the Pimms.

All the hard work was obviously payment to the gods who provided

weather so unlike a May weekend everyone ended up a bit pink with sunburn. By the time the sun started to weaken and we had been kicked out of hey he BBQ area by another rally we all moved to

the field just at the back of the marina to continue trying to work our way through the Pimms and

remainder of the food into the earlier evening.

Exhausted from all the antics I took myself off for an early night around 2100 very content and looking forward to the next leg of the rally the following day to Itchenor.

I think it's safe to say everyone there had a fabulous weekend and it really was the perfect start to

kick off the calendar. I hope we see as much enthusiasm for the cruising in 2014 as we did in 2013.

If you are interested in cruising with us and would like more information of this years events please

check the website or drop me a line. The first event will be the cruising seminar on March 15th at the royal Lymington yacht club, with talks on navigation using an IPad, what apps are a must have, some

long distance cruising tales and everything you need to know about electronics.

2014:- Events confirmed so far

Saturday 15 March - Cruising Seminar at the Royal Lymington YC.

10-11 May - Racing at the Royal Air Force YC, Hamble.

24, 25 & 26 May - Spring Rally at Bembridge, IOW.

31 May-1 June - Racing at the Royal London YC, Cowes.

7-8 June - Cowes-Poole-Cowes Race.

21 June - Round The Island Race.

27-29 June - Round Mull Race.

5-6 July - Racing at Portsmouth SC.

12-13 July - Mid-Summer Rally at Yarmouth, IOW.

12-18 July - West Highland Yachting Week.

26-27 July - Taittinger Regatta, Yarmouth, IOW.

2-11 August - Cowes Week.

23-31 August - Seine Bay Cruise in Company.

6-7 September - Racing at the Cowes Corinthian YC.

19, 20 & 21 September - National Championships at the Royal Solent YC, Yarmouth, IOW.

20-21 September - Possible "Independence or Not" Cruise, Scotland.

6-7 December - Christmas Rally, Cowes.

Dear All,

As promised, a look back over some of last year’s great successes and a look forward to more!

We had a busy year in 2013 with both Cruising and Racing events all of which were well attended. Thank you to Holly Peters-Wright and Mark Oliver for all their hard work and we are pleased to say

that they have both agreed to continue working on your behalf in 2014. However, Holly is undertaking

an MBA as well as a new job and so will have limited time available; consequently she is seeking will-

ing helpers to work with her on individual events and reduce her workload. Please contact Holly (Cruising Representative) if you feel you can help, as it is a great way to get involved and meet new

people.

The summer cruise to Paimpol started very positively with 6 boats meeting up for departure from

Lymington. To cut a long story short, extended periods of fog caused problems and eventually only Ripple of Kyle and Andaxi made the destination with Dart Dash (Keith Matthews) making the passage

single-handed from Jersey as he was cruising the area. François and Soline Mousset and Friends

made all of us extremely welcome and organised a fabulous Gala Dinner with Crabs, lobsters, music

and magicians! A huge thank you again to all involved and if you are ever in the area be sure to con-tact François. Don't forget this year's Seine Bay Cruise in Company, for a week from 23rd August, or-

ganised with relaxed short legs allowing plenty of time for socialising.

The Solent Series provided close racing as usual with Blanco taking final honours ahead of Drumbeat

and the "newish" boys on Muscadet de Havelet. Congratulations to them all. The National Champion-

ships were hosted by the Cowes Corinthian in good conditions and again saw very close and exciting racing throughout the fleet. Blanco were just too good and took overall victory chased hard by Drum-

beat and Carolina. If you are interested in racing your boat please get in touch and we will provide all

the help we can.

After 15 years of service to the Association, Robin Holland has decided not to stand again as Treas-urer at the AGM. Robin has been a cornerstone of the Association, as, in addition to running the fi-

nances and membership subscriptions, he also built and operates the website. We are sure you will

join us in thanking Robin for the huge contribution he has made; he has definitely "done his bit". We

are glad to say that Robin has agreed to continue offering us support in the future whenever we need it and will of course continue to campaign "Corafin" with his daughter Jess. This meant that we

needed a new We reached the final stage of approving the new treasurer. We are pleased to say

Martin Carter (Minstrel Boy) came forward and offered his services and, as a Chartered Accountant, is

well qualified. Martin cruises and has started racing Minstrel Boy, he also tells a good joke and, al-

though time constrained, is an extremely welcome addition to the Committee. We would also like to welcome Clive Hughes to the Committee. Clive has crewed on Blanco for a number of years and, fol-

lowing a call to arms, has volunteered to provide whatever support the Committee requires.

We reached the final stage of approving the sail plan at the AGM on the 22nd February. This last step

was to remove one complete sail from the "shall carry" wardrobe and to ensure that owners with the traditional set of sails can still come and race in the One Design Series. Over the last 2 seasons, own-

ers who have invested in new laminate sails have all been extremely pleased with the results.

Time waits for no man and this is also true of websites. We are pleased to say that a team of Asso-

ciation members are working on building a brand new website for release in early 2014. You may re-member that a survey of members took place last year, the results of which have steered the website

sub-committee in their work. They are now at a stage where the Committee can get commercial

quotes for the work required. It has proved difficult if not impossible to replace Annie as magazine

editor and although we haven't given up, we have focused our attention and finances to the new web-site for the benefit of all members.

"If you want something done ask a busy woman". We have mentioned the problems with replacing Annie as magazine editor, but are pleased nay overjoyed to say that Lynn Roberts (Hungry Tiger) has

kindly and bravely volunteered to produce a regular Newsletter. However, at the time of writing Lynn

is at home, recovering from an operation in Austria on her leg, following a nasty skiing acci-

dent! Despite this, the Newsletter should be with you soon as good old George Isted (what would we do without him?) will help Lynn with the first edition.

Richard’s tenure as Class Captain ended after 3 years at the February AGM. He would like to person-

ally thank all of the past and present Committee for their help and support. They put in a huge

amount of personal time and effort on our behalf.

This coming season is shaping up extremely well. We will have a full cruising programme, the dates

are already published on the website currently under "Latest News" on the Home Page. Please try

and make as many of the events as possible. We have already mentioned the Summer Cruise in Com-

pany around the Seine Bay (23rd to 31st August), which will depart the Solent with the first destina-tion being St. Vaast - with all the usual weather caveats.

We have a full Solent Series Race programme, the dates are published on the website with final de-

tails available very soon once we get the Racing Handbook updated for 2014. In the meantime, get

the dates in your diary. Once again, if you can only take part in one event we would particularly rec-

ommend the Cowes-Poole-Cowes weekend (7th/8th June). You can race fully crewed, two-handed, even single-handed or simply cruise (and pretend you’re not trying) to Poole in company for what is

proving to be a very popular weekend.

The 2015 Azores and Back Race (AZAB) which start on June 6th 2015. The event takes place every 4

years and is designed to offer an ocean racing experience that can be completed within a month. Contessa 32s normally take between 8-12 days to complete each leg and are the perfect ves-

sel for completing this challenging event sailed either single or 2-Handed. We mention this now be-

cause a short qualifier is required prior to an entry being finally accepted. This has been reduced to

300 miles (from 500 miles) and most entrants will try and get the qualifier out of the way this sea-son. So far two members have entered; Infinity (Wayne Mortiboys) and Katisha (James Moore) and

are no doubt already busy preparing. There are now a number of members who have completed this

event and so we have plenty of help and advice available. We know of at least 2 other owners who

intend to take part, probably single-handed. Would you like to come?

We (mainly George Isted) are putting together a document which will record the history and prove-nance of the Association's considerable collection of trophies and awards, most of which were donated

by members and benefactors over the years. This is quite a task and we would like to ask anybody

who has information to help us in our quest. In addition, many of the original intentions of the

awards are now not competed for, such as various offshore races. We therefore seek your views and ideas on how these awards could be re-assigned to reflect our current activities- more cruising awards

for example?

Whilst considering awards, a couple of years ago Mr Bill Courtney, CBE, generously donated a beauti-

ful Armada silver salver which is to be awarded annually for a "memorable or notable voyage not oth-erwise recognised". The first recipient was Willy Ker who was awarded the salver at the 40th Anniver-

sary for his high latitude sailing in "Assent". Many such voyages take place quietly and without fan-

fare, such is often the nature of the individuals who undertake them. Consequently, the Association

may not hear about them, we therefore have a request that if you know of such a notable voyage or indeed have completed one yourself please let us know.

You may remember that David Richards, one of our past Class Captains, volunteered to become the

Association's archivist in order to capture our history and ultimately make it available to and search-

able by members on the website. To date, David has collected boxes of historical papers, minutes, magazines, photographs, etc. If you have anything of interest, please let us know. The next stage is

to decide what should be archived and then for it to be converted into a digital format suitable for the

internet. Thank you to David for your time and effort to date on this project.

An increasing number of you (166) are making use of our Facebook page which can be found

here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/6563335678/ or by searching for “Facebook Contessa 32”

and clicking on the sticky link for the ‘Group’ towards the top of that page. You can also find it by

clicking the Facebook logo on the home page of the CO32 website. It is a really useful way for mem-bers to communicate any aspect of our shared interest.

Thanks for reading - look forward to hearing from you soon!

Richard Clark (former Captain)

Mark Himsworth (Captain)

Stop Press from Scotland- 2nd March 2014!!!!

The Spring Dinner was held last night in Glasgow with 10 boats, including a couple of Sassenach

yins, represented. Just as no two Contessa 32s are the same, so the variety of owners and the topics

of discussion. We had at least 2 (they’re a reticent lot) trans-Atlantic boats with the colonies, Azores,

Iceland and Greenland visited; Norway; Ireland; much discussion on the Faroes, its fogs, tides and

bonded stores (aye, we still get them up here); how to best summon medical aid in far flung places; the water conducting voids Jeremy generously left in the hull/deck join; how to persuade a wife to

choose a new mainsail over a new dishwasher; excuses for not going racing; a demonstration of a

yuloh (go on – Google it); and a brief inconclusive discussion on the relevance of the COA to our

disparate mob of sailors. The Tern Trophy for the Scottish “Nationals” was presented (again) to

Marisca.

Other little snippets!

Outcome of 2014 AGM

All Resolutions were passed at the AGM held on 22 February.

2013 Gerald Hume Wright Trophy for Sportsmanship

John & Syb McCann of Cosantes.

2013 Ticehurst Trophy - Crewperson of the Year

Kate Trenouth of Drumbeat.

Elaine Bunting

Congratulations to Elaine Bunting, former owner of CO32 Gauntlet and long-time Contessa fan, who

will become Editor of Yachting World in April. (Thanks to Chris North for this Newsflash.)

Cruising Logs

I have a number of cruising logs that I had wanted to include in this issue but as we already have a ‘bumper’ pack I hope the writers of those logs will forgive me for holding them back until the next

Newsletter!

Last but not least!

When George and I first thought about doing this we never thought we’d have such a large first

edition so thank you to everyone who has contributed.

I also want to add a special thanks to George Isted who picked up the gauntlet for me after I had a somewhat ‘interesting’ departure from the ski slopes, without his hard work this would not have gone to print.

It’s hoped to produce another Newsletter for round about June so if in the meantime anyone would

like to drop me a few lines on what the start of your season has been like I’d love to hear from you, it

doesn't need to be a long piece just a few lines would be fantastic.

Remember to email at any time with any snippet on :- co32newsletter@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing from you!