Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
“It is June, 1865. Two yachts are match racing under the burgee of the Royal London Yacht Club, and they have just rounded the weather mark. To the consternation of the other boat, Mr. William Gordon’s ‘Niobe’ hoists a high jib-headed sail which reaches from her topmast head right to the deck: she booms it out and draws rapidly away.
“The spinnaker has been born.
“The spinnaker is therefore 100 years old this month (ED. 161 years old today). It is the last untamed sail left in the locker, and many of them develop personalities of their own. It is the final arbiter of the skill and training of the foredeck gang. What is more, it looks like notching up another 100 years of independence.”
Don’t you love this phrase the author uses? – “many of them develop personalities of their own”. Haven’t we all found that out to our cost on occasions?
READ IT ALL HERE: 1965 06 – SA Yachting – centenary of the spinnaker – OCR
