Tomorrow, the 1st of August, is the centenary of the turning of the Gosport Cockle Ponds from being just Cockle Ponds, in to being the racing home of the Gosport Model Yacht Club. Turning the ponds from the muddy edged place into the ponds as they are today with the hard standing all the way around, making it much more practical to use for the club members.
I wondered if there would be an event on. The clubs website acknowledges the anniversary, and there are a week of races scheduled by the look of it, but no big party. The group that was there today were just one of the clubs groups, racing lasers (I think 1/6 scale – they aren’t big boats), any how, they have a demo model that they let anybody have a go with. The captain of the laser class, Chris, gave me his card, and I have emailed him saying that I’d like to have a go. And I do. The trouble is though that most of them make it look easy, although there was one chap who was having a bit of a problem getting his boat to behave.
I watched the one race and then moved on to the promenade. The Janey W was doing a u-turn in the channel, she was very high in the water, so almost empty. But she can pretty much turn on a sixpence, almost, so impressive to watch.
One of my regrets is the lack of a good bookshop in Gosport, but you Can guarantee that even if we had the largest Waterstone’s in Hampshire I would still leave there frustrated.
Bills Posts 