Ben Bradley on Regattas
‘Marionette’ was shipped earlier to America so the whole crew were here kicking their feet then, you know, and the chap … have you ever heard of ‘Cherry Valley Ducks?’
Well, the owner of Cherry Valley Ducks … I can’t think of his name, he bought … he wanted to get into yachting so he bought this yacht, a brand new yacht, money was no object, and he arrived in Cowes Week and he didn’t have a crew, so he was talking to this Sailmaker about what sails he wanted for the boat and all that and the Sailmaker was a member of our crew on ‘Marionette’.
He said, “Don’t worry about that” he said, “I can fix you up with a crew” so the whole ‘Marionette’ crew moved on to this chap’s boat and this boat was called ‘Cherry Valley’ but no one knew that was the name of the Firm and that was illegal. You weren’t allowed to have yachts named after a Company. You know, that broke all the gentlemen’s rules.
Anyway, we went of into the Channel Race which starts Cowes Week off. We were off to do the Channel Race and we won the ruddy thing you see, we won it outright, won the Cup. So, he was completely new to sailing, this chap Robert someone was his name, and he went along to the Royal Yacht Squadron and collected the Cup. Presentation, you know, someone gave him … some dignitary presented him with the Cup.
Anyway, he was very naïve, and he took this Cup and he went on a Pub Crawl with it. You know he was so chuffed he went over the top. Anyway, no one knows what happened but all he does know, he was the only one living aboard the boat ‘cos all the ‘Marionette’ crew were locals and he woke up next morning, but he never had the Cup.
He’d lost the Cup. Anyway, about an hour … we usually finished these Channel Races about three or four in the morning and everybody gets home and goes to sleep for four or five hours. Well, that was … so he had lost the Cup.
About, I don’t know, nine or ten in the morning, a Policeman turns up with the Cup and he said, “I believe this is yours Robert, this belongs to you.” He said, “Well, where did you get it.”
He said, “They found it in the street last night” and I mean these Cups are valuable, they’re all solid silver … and they had it in the Police Station. Well, we phoned up the local Regatta Committee and said, “Well, there’s a Cup.” They said, “Well what’s written on it?” They said, “Well that’s a chap called Robert so-and-so” and anyway the Police tracked him down and brought the Cup back.
And we turned up, as I said these races usually finished off Gosport at about … a typical Channel Race would be leave the Solent at Portsmouth, across to Cherbourg, round the buoy at the entrance of Cherbourg Harbour, across to the Brighton Buoy there and back to Gosport, a triangle. About 220 miles.
As we gradually turned up to tidy the boat up because it was a bit of a mess after Channel Racing, quite rough conditions, and I took Luke down with he and there he was with the Cup that had been returned by the Policeman and we sat him in it and took a photograph.