Far left: Keith Musto returned to the FD class for a very nearly successful shot at the 1972 Olympic Games. Sailing with Peter Sweetman, Musto built an unusual new boat, a de-rigueur cold-moulded hull by Bob Hoare but finished by Westerly Dinghies in a novel single-bottom format. The pair’s new FD was a thing of beauty… and it flew, Musto and Sweetman coming achingly close to beating Pattisson and Davies to the one Olympic berth. Britain’s dramatic 1972 FD Olympic trials are still talked about, but it was Rodney Pattisson (seen with Musto) and Chris Davies who would win the Olympic Regatta in Kiel and for Pattisson a second gold medal. Left: celebrating 60 years of the Musto brand, first fast sails then moving with famous success to technical and outdoor ‘apparel’. Nigel Musto is 2nd right; still in the industry, but now flying new colours
Tony emptied cesspits for Purle Brothers
Monday to Friday and had a company car so at least they could trail the boat… Tony then used his famous persuasive powers on fittings manufacturer Roy Owen of RWO to pay for half of it. Without a big enough garden or garage
of his own Musto had long used Reg Acres’ garden to store his boats. Acres had taken an interest in Keith’s racing for sev- eral years and as a director of the small merchant bank Sale&Co he got the bank’s owner to pay for the other half of the new boat. Duisberg in Holland built a new hull
and deck and Musto worked on it over the winter ‘on the principle that if you have prepared a boat properly its first sail should be ready enough for its first race’. The other thing Musto and Morgan did
over the 1963/64 winter was perfect a new technique for the crew to trim the spin- naker from the trapeze. Until then the crew hiked from the toe-straps, held the guy tight to his chest and trimmed the sheet with his other hand. ‘We practised on the Blackwater with the guy bowsed down under a little notch in the gunwhale which no could see easily, so that Tony could trapeze with the spinnaker. I think we were the first to do this. We didn’t show our hand when we won the Europeans, saving this until we got to Tokyo.’ The pair won the Europeans ahead of the
British Olympic trials at Poole. ‘You were invited to the Olympics then,’ remembers Keith. You can hear the doubt in his voice even today as to whether he and Morgan’s trials win made selection automatic. ‘Tony was exceedingly nervous about a couple of lads from the east coast going up against the south coast hierarchy. My response was let’s go out and beat everyone. They can’t not send us if we’re the best?’ But Musto says Morgan’s political
antenna was far more finely tuned than his own. ‘He saw how the world worked. Tony understood people and how you got on in life. My mind was simple by compar- ison. I thought we just had to go out and win and that’s what we tried to do.’ Venue familiarisation, practice regattas and pre-Olympics are so ingrained in
today’s thinking, the idea of shipping your boat to the biggest regatta you’ve ever competed in without a tune-up partner and having to learn new wind, waves and tides really does seem like a bygone age. ‘When we got there I don’t think we even had a team meeting,’ remembers Keith. ‘Graham Mann, who sailed the Dragon
Bluebottle to a bronze in 1956, was team captain, ‘but there were no shoreside advisors on weather or rules, no team doctor… you really were on your own.’ What there was before the Enoshima
racing got underway was the Opening Ceremony in Tokyo, with the British sailors kitted out in reefers and white- topped yachting caps ready to enter the stadium. ‘It was a wall of noise, unlike anything we’d ever seen or heard. ‘And we also saw the big signs with the
Olympic creed, about the most important thing being to take part but not to win. We thought “bugger that. We’re here to win!”’ When the breeze was settled, Musto and
Morgan were fast and consistent and took then held onto the overall lead; the last race would determine if it was to be gold or silver. Ashore, the pair were uncertain about
genoa choice. A hurricane was forecast. The skies were grey and dark, the sea state suit- ably ominous. The timing of the wind increase was conjecture, so they opted for the medium/heavy genoa as the least risky choice and regretted this for most of the race. Their position was exacerbated by a wind shift that negated their prowess on the reaches. ‘I just didn’t have any drive through the
sea state,’ remembers Keith. ‘Then the wind hit us in time for the last beat. It was a combination of those conditions and it being the last race that buggered us up. Having said that, the New Zealanders sailed very well, so who knows…’ Musto and Morgan posted an 11th, their worst result in the seven-race series. The Britons were not alone in facing
difficulties. Kiwi Helmer Pedersen was dismasted in one race. Hans Fogh returned home because his father had died. Buddy Melges broke his rudder in Race 1 and borrowed a spare from Paul Henderson. Though Keith missed the 1968 trials
because of work he went to the 1971 FD Worlds and was the 1972 and 1976 Olympic reserve. But after Japan his focus shifted to work. Dyslexia meant that he didn’t leave
school with much to show for it on paper, but he had started an engineering appren- ticeship in Southend-on-Sea, something that was to lead to his working for RWO.
MEMORABLE CONTEMPORARIES Buddy Melges I remember visiting Buddy Melges after the ’76 Games and staying with him and Gloria. We’d become good friends in Tokyo. I wanted to know about the Amer- ican marine industry and who might be interested in selling our gear…
Olaf & Peter Harken Peter and I still enjoy each other’s com- pany. I visited him and Olaf back when they still had Vanguard Boats, making Finns and 470s. Peter said: ‘I want to show you some-
thing’ and took me to a shed at the back of their garden where Mary Harken was assembling little blocks. There was a tray of parts on one side and another with ball bearings. He said: ‘This is the future of sailing, Keith.’
Henri Strzelecki I owe Henri a debt that goes as far back as 1965 and the London Boat Show, when he did his usual trick of engaging with absolutely everybody. Henri called me onto their Henri Lloyd stand… ‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
Making sails, I replied. ‘And the future?’ he asked. Making sails, I said again. ‘No!’ he responded. ‘One day you will
be my competitor and that will be a problem!’
Peter Milne A close friend, it was Peter who came up with the name for our new fleece-lined blouson jacket. We were running over names for the prototype and Peter remarked: ‘Well, this is a pretty snug jacket.’ ‘That’s it!’ I said. The Musto Snug was born.
SEAHORSE 53
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