This is named after Dick Crumbleholme (Commodore 1963-1965), who led by example – his Yachting World Dayboat, ‘Coralline’, with its distinctive striped flying jib, was invariably present in the bay on race days.
Dick was one of a generation who believed in going sailing almost as the primary duty of members; certainly as a child I remember the feeling of shame at not being on the water when sailing was happening – getting down to the club in time having suffered school on Saturday mornings was sometimes a challenge.
My pictures show Dick with his wife Pam, which was taken by my father, and a view of some of the keelboat fleet, from an annotated postcard in Jeremy Parkinson’s WSC centenary booklet. This includes ‘Coralline’ with the blue hull, ‘Whitenothe’, Hugh Kenion’s locally-built Buchanan Seaspray, which I crewed on, and of course the distinctive black-hulled Folkboat ‘Kanga’.
On the left the Meeches’ ‘Eider’ appears to be drying out after returning from a cruise; the Meeches, Norman, his wife Emmy and his son Arthur, set the benchmark for ambitious sailing in those days, and others, not least Dick Crumbleholme, endeavoured to follow in ‘Eider’s wake…
Steve Fraser
Submitted on 11th August 2023