NAVY NEWS, SEPTEMBER 1990 Sport RUSSIAN FORWARD Tennis retains appeal


team were Lieut.-Cdr. Nick Alves (Centurion) and WEM John Linley (Collingwood), who remained un- defeated in their four doubles matches. Team captain Lieut. Tim Reyn-


Particular heroes for the home m


olds was delighted with the result and said, "We won the competition with the youngest squad and there is plenty of promising new talent in the Command." This was emphasised by solid performances from WE A Jim Acton (Collingwood) and RO Dave Shaw (Mercury), who has now become an established member of the RN team. New face, MEA Fell (Sultan) also demonstrated the depth of young talent in the Portsmouth area.


Second past the post was Air


prechny. The tables were turned, though, when the two met on the volleyball court; the Russians won by 2 sets to 1. See page 2.


destroyer


visitors from Bezu-


Pyatt proves uncatchable


OPEN to both Service and ci- vilia n personnel, the 1990 National Bosun Dinghy Sailing Championships took place in Portland Harbour. A toial of 32 boats competed in the four race series.


Stormy conditions resulted


gressed. Steve Pyatt consolidat- ed his position, to become the undisputed Bosun National Champion.


ly the opportunity to show the rest of the licet what the Army could do. They finished first, despite a strong challenge from Colin Blake for the RAF and CPO Micky Finn in a Royal Navy boat. As the competition pro-


in some exciting sailing, but caused problems Tor the less ex- perienced crews and capsizes became the order of the day. The first race gave Steve Pyatt and his crew Vince Grea-


MORE than justifying the faith placed in them by organiser Peter Downie, Staff Instructor at Jupiter Point, a WRNS team from HMS Raleigh sailed in fine style the Plymouth to La Coruna (Spain) leg of the Tall Ships Race.


struck as the spinnaker got wrapped around the forestay


from Hornet, the crew (right) — other than the afterguard — learned to sail her on the way to Plymouth. But up until the last day of their leg they were third in line, ahead of both Royal Marines and RAF crews. At that stage misfortune


They were led by Dr Anne Walton, yachtmasler examiner and head of maths at Britannia Royal Naval College. Also with them aboard HMSTY Chaser, a Nicholson 55, was charterers representative and Hornet skip- per CPO(Phot) John Drew. Having collected the boat


and they dropped three of four places while it was sorted out. Second Officer Mandy Bel-


line, leaving Mr Downie jump- ing up and down with pride. Another Raleigh crew — all


crews were 50 per cent 16-year- old trainees — then took over to sail Chaser to Bordeaux.


to Fecamp, then on to Zee- brugge and home. HMS Ra- leigh is already working on plans for next year's race.


This was followed by a race Picture: LAfPhot) Andy Collier.


Olympic hopefuls for broke


.


AFTER winning four International Europe national champion- ships in as many years, Lieut. Steve Cockerill {Colling- wood) is fast making his mark as a helms- man in the highly-re- spected British Olym- pic 470 fleet. Having begun sailing at


the age off five, Steve sailed many dinghies on his way to becoming the graduate national cham- pion, national junior champion and captain of the university side which won the University Team Racing Championships, before sailing the Inter- national Europe. His transition to the 470,


Above: Olympic hopeful Lieut. Steve Cockerill sailing his 470, crewed by CPO Charlie Sheppard (Collingwood). i


Picture: LA(Phot) Andy Collier.


the Olympic Class two-man dinghy, has not been without difficulties, not least finan- cial. Because of the batter-


ing it receives the 470 re- mains competitive for just a year.


every opportunity has taken its toll, and it will cost £7,000 to replace Steve's two year old boat. The sails also have a very short lifespan — up to three weeks of top level sail- ing — and cost £700 a set.


Training in the Solent at


pic competitor is looking at a bill of around £25,000. In the past four months Steve has spent £1,600 to keep his 470 in competition. But if he succeeds in becoming one of the top three in the country the Royal Yachting Association will offer travel grants of up to 50%.


All-in-all a would-be Olym-


to the top is the most expen- sive time and backing from local industry has been con- fined to a gift of sails from the Portsmouth-based Lar- come Solicitors, sailing clothing from Gul Wetsuits and help from the Royal Naval Sailing Association —


Making the breakthrough


all of which is much appreci- ated.


Earlier this year Steve captained the Royal Navy sailing team which won the Victory Trophy for the first time since 1964. His fifth Europe World Champion- ships will follow, together with preparation for the next round of the 470 qualifiers, which will take him to Pal- mos at Christmas, funds permitting.


naval career and pursing Olympic status, at least Steve can discuss the prob- lems with his fiancee, Second Officer Anne Lucas, who is also aiming for Bar- celona '92.


If it isn't easy having a


she took part in both dinghy team racing and yacht rac- ing. Having taken her own


of an appointment to COM- NAVSOUTH in Naples and about to rejoin HMS Dryad, previously sailed for Exeter University. As a member of the WRNS


Anne, coming to the end


Europe dinghy to Naples, she has been training with members of the Italian la- dies team.


ships at the end of July, Anne finished 91st overall — reflecting her lack of experi- ence at this class — but was in the 20s in the last race and ended as second British lady.


In the World Champion-


To come are the National Championships — a qualifier for next year's World Cham- pionships in Brazil. Anne needs to do well; only the top two of the five places will be grant-aided.


time she hopes to qualify for as many international events as she can to make up her lack of experience sailing in large, top-class fleets. The other Services will have to look out, too. Before going to Italy, Anne was Services single-handed ladies cham- pion in 1987 and 1988.


Once back in England full


ton went up and secured it and then the girls jury rigged the foresail. Chaser was sixth across the


FULL stretch — HMS Sul- tan's keeper demonstrates the athleticism which led his team to an 11-1 victory over Soviet the


Raleigh Wrens


PORTSMOUTH Command made it three in a row by successfully defending the Inter-Command Tennis Championship at Burnaby Road in glorious sunshine.


Command, whose players had shown plenty of grit and determin- ation in overcoming the Royal Mar- ines 3-2, as well as Fleet (3-1) and Plymouth (5-0). AB Dolly Gray (Daedalus) played three singles matches and managed to win them all over three close sets. Other members of the Daedalus contin- gent, CPO John Purdy and Lieut. Ian Stokes also won vital matches.


days there was considerable ex- haustion by the time of the presen- tation. RNLTA chairman Capt. Brian Tayler (Foxhill Bath) was pleased to note that the effort put into and enjoyment of this tradi- tional event have remained pretty much unchanged over his years of involvement with Navy tennis.


With 50 matches over the two


39


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