NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2010


47


Coarse of action


MAVER, the Royal Navy match team sponsors, hosted rounds three and four of the Inter- Command coarse fi shing championships at Larford, Shropshire.


The third round was staged at Specimen Lake with 20 anglers competing in windy and showery conditions, writes WO1 Hughie Welsh, match team manager. These conditions became quite treacherous on the platforms with CPO Whisky Walker (HMS Neptune) scoring a straight ten for his impression of the John Smiths ‘bomb’.


Locost... higher performance


Three of the top four weights all came from C section with C/Sgt Nige Roberts (RM Stonehouse), an advanced angler, winning the match with a great net of fi sh for 117lb 15oz. CPO Chris Yates (HMS St Albans) was runner-up with 79lb 6oz. LSA Taff David (HMS Neptune) produced a cracking effort and secured third place overall as a novice from F section with 76lb 14oz. Sgt Graham Tait from (CTCRM) was the winner of the intermediate category with a weight of 36lb 11oz. In the team event three sections


were won by Scotland command, two by Portsmouth and one from the Royal Marines. Unfortunately NAC could only


fi eld three anglers due to service commitments and Plymouth could not enter a side. After round three the scores


were: Scotland 13 points, NAC 12, RM 9 and Portsmouth 4. Round four – the fi nal round


of this year’s Inter Commands – was contested by 19 anglers in torrential rain and windy conditions. Cpl ‘Dewi’ Dewsnap, the Black


Cat, beat Whisky’s effort from the previous day by managing to take his tackle box and pole into the water with him when his platform gave way.


CPO Nick Jones an advanced angler from SMQ South (HMS Drake) – fi shing for Portsmouth as a guest because there was no Plymouth team – won the match with a weight of 73lb 12oz. Pete Klein (CTCRM), an


intermediate angler, was runner- up with a superb bag of 49lb 10oz.


Yeovilton) took third with a weight of 49lb 8oz. CDR Steve Mardlin (HMS Excellent) was top novice angler and section winner with a nice bag of fi sh for 34lb 3oz.


AEM John Gaylord (RNAS


HMS Sultan’s Locost racing team celebrated their tenth year of competing in the national championship with their highest fi nishing position at the home of British


fl ying colours, the cars are fuelled and fi nal checks made before assembling for qualifying. Car 38 (driven by S/Lt Sam Gill) qualifi ed 24th on the grid with a lap time of 1m 16.89s. Unfortunately, Car 35 (driven by LET Sean Graham) had to retire after only two laps because of a broken engine mount. After a disappointing qualifying session the team rallied. Their fi rst priority was to repair the damaged car. Fortunately, chief race engineer


motorsport, Silverstone. The team consists of two cars and a number of enthusiastic volunteers who meet twice-weekly at the old groundsman’s shed at Sultan, writes S/Lt Sam Gill. The cars are built in-house from the ground up and resemble a Caterham-style vehicle. The engines and gearboxes are all taken from 70s Fords such as the Mk2 Escort, which means all re-builds and tuning can be done by Sultan trainees. The seventh race of the season took place at Silverstone at the end of August and opened with both cars being called for ‘scrutineering’ – a general safety check to ensure they are fi t to race. Once


this was passed with


Daz dazzles as a clubz


LPT Daz Hoare is the RN’s top clubz after being named physical training instructor of the year. The leading hand’s featured regularly in these pages in the past couple of years (you might remember him from such establishments as Gibraltar and such ships as HMS Lancaster). It’s largely down to his efforts on the latter that Daz earned the clubz crown. The LPT (pictured here taking


his trophy for a workout in the Gib gym as you do...) was charged with keeping fi tness (and morale) going during a punishing 18-month period, which saw the Red Rose warship at sea for 15 months.


● ’stone hearted... S/Lt Sam Gill with Car 38 and LET Sean Graham with Car 35 pose behind the scenes at Britain’s legendary racing circuit


grid, the red light was on. With the screaming of engines and tyres, the light went out and the cars surged forward.


Tim ‘Tiny’ Symes was on hand to re-manufacture an improvised engine mount using a ½in socket and some aluminium angle. The car was now ready for the afternoon’s race.


start, passing four cars before the fi rst corner. This set the scene for an action-packed race which saw 38 overtake six more competitors, fi nishing 14th overall.


Car 38 got off to an excellent The 35 cars lined up on the


was at the back of the grid due to its earlier defect, but LET Graham managed


season fast approaching, the team are aiming to make some major modifi cations to the cars over the winter period to make them even more competitive in 2011.


fi nishing a respectable 29th. With the end of the current


to climb six Its fellow Sultan racer, Car 35, places,


The team are keen to enlist willing volunteers and recruit new drivers to help them to achieve their goal of fi nishing inside the top ten next season, which would be a major achievement with a relatively small budget compared with other competitors. If you’re interested,


S/Lt Gill at gillsamandlorna@ ntlworld.com or 07545 971337.


contact


programme which kept records of every sailor’s fi tness level and other relevant data, which in turn allowed him to draw up individual nutrition and fi tness programmes for shipmates; Lancaster was the fi rst RN vessel to introduce such a comprehensive regime. Daz also led Lancaster to


the fastest Rock Race time (70 runners took part – two fi fths of the ship’s company), encouraged rugby players to take part in the world-famous Dubai 7s, and ensured the frigate earned both a national boxing award and the Football Association’s Charter Award.


He introduced a computer


In the team event, three sections were won by Portsmouth Command and one section each by NAC, Royal Marines and Scotland. The overall Inter-Command


team event for the season was won by RN Scotland with 17pts. AEM Gaylord was crowned Inter-Command champion (hopefully he will stop dripping about commercials now, but we doubt it...).


CPO Whisky Walker (HMS Neptune) was crowned matchman of the year – a combination of the four Inter- Command and the two matches at the Navy championships. More details on match coarse fishing from hughiewelsh@ hotmail.co.uk.


Take a shufti at shinty


ARE sailors interested in picking up sticks to play the ancient Scottish sport of shinty? Because officer Capt Robert


Stoddart, who runs the Army team, is gauging interest in the sister Services to see whether fixtures can be organised – or if sailors and marines fancy taking part with their Army comrades. As a minority sport, it’s likely


there won’t be many shinty players in the RN, but hurling players are also welcome; the sports are similar. Anyone interested should


Kite riders win Channel dash Free day at the races


“I’m pretty certain that HMS Lancaster had the fi ttest ship’s company in the Fleet,” says Daz proudly. “But I did get the support of everyone on board. It was just that we all went one step further in everything we did.”


WHILE windsurfers were negotiating the Isle of Wight, fellow boardriders from the kitesurfi ng community were grappling with the wider waters of the Channel... and dodging the odd ferry. After numerous delays courtesy of the weather and tidal constraints, the inaugural tri-Service cross-Channel race began off Alderney shortly before mid-day on Friday September 10 and ended (for the winning team at any rate) eight hours later in Poole.


Those winners were the combined Royal Navy-Royal Marines team who built a commanding lead from the off and held on to it, despite very challenging wind conditions (which meant that competitors had to cover far more than the 70-mile straight-line


“This race was far more challenging – both physically and logistically – than any of us anticipated but it has been a resounding success raising about £10,000 for Help for Heroes,” said Senior Service team captain Capt ‘Scully’ Scullion RM. You can still donate to the event at www.kite4heroes.co.uk or, if you fancy taking up the sport, see www.kitenavy.com.


● Lt Cdr Jon Platt holds on tightly as he guides his board across the Channel, watched by the safety boat


distance), equipment failures and safety boat problems. The Army came home a close second with the wooden spoon going to the RAF.


THERE’S a day of free horse racing at Newbury on Saturday October 23 as the course stages its Armed Forces Raceday. Seven races are lined up on


what is the last day of the fl at season at the Berkshire venue. All afternoon, jockeys will


be showing their support for the Forces by wearing Royal British Legion armbands, and in between action on the track, there will be military displays, paintballing, climbing walls and an assault course to keep people entertained. The event ends with a


traditional after-racing singalong. All Service personnel – and members of the RBL – are entitled to two free tickets in the premium enclosure, as are residents of Wootton Bassett for the respect they have shown for our fallen; tickets must be booked in advance by calling 01635 40015.


Rugby recruits required


PORTSMOUTH Naval Base is recruiting rugby players for the 2010-11 season with training sessions each Tuesday from 7pm- 8.30pm at Burnaby Road West playing fields.


contact robertstoddart@hotmail. com or 94731 3701.


The squad are training alongside US Portsmouth to encourage Service personnel to play in a civilian league as well as representing the RN. Details from LPT Horsman 9380 25283.


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