INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW Three hundred and twenty-one new members enrolled at the Association desk at the International Boat Show. This was an encouraging start for the New Year and it was particularly gratifying to note that over 80 per cent of our new members became covenanted subscribers.

The Association is greatly indebted to the volunteers who worked on the stand throughout the show.

BELFAST BOAT SHOW Over 40 new members enrolled at the Belfast Boat Show in February and we hope that this will be the prelude to a larger number of enrolments at the Dublin Boat Show in the first week of March.

POSTAL STRIKE We are sure that new members will forgive our inability to despatch membership cards and copies of the R.N.L.I. Journal. We have also been unable to despatch notices about renewals of subscription or to issue 1971 membershipmembership cards to those who pay their subscription by bankers' order. Fortunately for the R.N.L.I. subscriptions by bankers' order have not been affected by the postal strike, and we would urge our cash subscribing members to make use of the bankers' order form on the reverse of the renewal notice.

Apart from the January Journal over 1,000 letters are waiting to be posted and we hope that these will have reached their destination long before the April Journal is issued.

MEMBERSHIP At the end of February the Association enrolled member No. 6776. Unfortunately the flow of new members during February was adversely affected by the postal strike. Everymember can help to offset this reverse by recruiting at least one new member in March/April.

INSIGNIA House flags—The new Association house flag (8 inch hoist) in gloralite-nylon was much in demand at the Boat Show. This is a properly sewn flag and displays the new emblematic design in which the lettering and beckets on the life-belt are omitted. We still have a fair stock of the old pattern house flag in the two large sizes—12 inch and 16 inch hoist—but will eventually replace these with the new pattern.

Dinghy bow plates—Orders have been placed for a supply of bow plates 4 inches X 6 inches with the Association emblem in colour. These plates are made of pliable nitrile material and provided one of the recommended adhesives is used, they can be affixed to inflatable g.r.p.

or wooden dinghies. Bow plates will be available to full members of the Association at 50p per pair, postage free. Adhesive is not supplied with the plates as postal regulations do not permit acceptance of this material.Insignia prices—The Association has been obliged to revise its price list in order to cover increased costs. The price list is included in the 1971 enrolment form and members are recommended to use this form when ordering insignia.

WINTER PROGRAMMES Secretaries of sailing clubs interested in arranging for a talk on the life-boat service and showing of films during the 1971/72 winter are invited to apply to the Association. The current winter programme has included talks for the Gerrards Cross sailing club, the Royal Western yacht club of England, the Gravesend yacht club, the Hornet naval club and the Hampshire Constabulary sports and social club.

YACHT CLUBS AND THE R.N.L.I.

While we appreciate that club funds are primarily for the purpose of providing facilities for members, many clubs make an annual donation to the Institution .which is most grateful for this support. There are some new ideas for clubs interested in raising money for the Institution and details may be obtained fromthe Association on application.

In this context we should give special mention to the Granton/Kirkwall race being organised by the Forth Corinthian yacht club. The course is Granton, north about Fair Isle to Kirkwall in Orkney, starting at Granton on 2nd September, 1971. This club is most generously donating all the entrance fees for the race to the R.N.L.I.

UPPER THAMES Y.L.A. members on the Upper Thames are invited to support the annual regatta of the Twickenham branch of the R.N.L.I, on Sunday, 27th June. There will be a Y.L.A. stand at the regatta and members interested in the formation of an Upper Thames branch should contact the stand or Mr. J. R. Needham, 'Ellon', 123 Mount Park Road, Eastcote, Pinner, Middlesex (Tel. Ruislip 74834).

Will all members please note that the Y.L.A.

office is now at 29a Castle Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire (Tel.: Salisbury 6966 (STD 0722).

YLA tow lasted 14 hours ON 28th July a Y.L.A. member, Mr. Fordyce, of Bedford, Middledex, on passage in his m.y.

Gay Maureen from Holland to Ramsgate, came to the assistance of m.y. Mocatta off the West Hinder light vessel. Mocatta's engine had seized up and Gay Maureen towed her into Ramsgate in the teeth of a south westerly force 5 to 6. We congratulate Mr. Fordyce on a fine feat of seamanship in persevering with the tow for 14 hours. In spite of the tow rope breaking on two occasions, Mr. Fordyce did not give up.

Mr. Swanson, the owner of Mocatta, subsequently sent a donation to the Institution at the suggestion of our member who refused himself to accept any payment for the service. Mr.

Swanson, who did not give his address, wrote: As he was flying your Y.L.A. flag, you should be very proud. I had no radio and the sight of Gay Maureen was the most wonderful sight my wife and children have ever had.' If any member knows Mocatta's skipper perhaps he would let us know his address so that we can invite Mr.

Swanson to enrol as a Y.L.A. member.

Y.L.A. member Captain F. A. Ward, of Chichester, who worked at the International Boat Show as a Y.L.A. recruiting officer, writes: I wonder how many of us yachtsmen—and with that I include small-boat owners who go outside harbour—ever stop to think how lucky we are. Don't we usually take for granted that no matter what happens at sea, if we need it, help will be sent to us? Whatever the weather, so long as one has the means to attract attention,the comforting thought is there that the Coastguard and the R.N.L.I, will spare no effort to come to our assistance.

'This was brought home to me a few weeks ago when I had to deliver Arctic Star—a 32-ft. lifeboat conversion—from Wakering to Southwold.

There was a strong north west wind blowing but so long as we could keep close inshore the owner, his engineer friend and myself were fairly comfortable.

'We left at noon on 16th November and by midnight were approaching Southwold when our motor stopped. Several times we managed to restart it but finally it packed up altogether.

We thought at the time we'd picked up a net or buoy rope. There seemed nothing we could do but call for help so we sent up a double rocket. Within a few minutes someone signalled us 'Coastguard informed' and 30 minutes later Southwold IRB came out to us. She was too small to tow us but went back into harbour and called out the Lowestoft life-boat.

'Despite the heavy seas breaking on Southwold bar they returned at 2.30 a.m. to tell us help was on the way and stood by until their colleagues arrived and took us in tow. We were moored up in Lowestoft by 4.45 a.m. on 17th November, cold, tired, but safe. The 2 a.m.

weather forecast for our area gave wind veering to north east force 7-8 and we could have been in real trouble had we not been helped into harbour when we were.

'On a previous occasion, just after the war and before navigational aids had been replaced, I had to run my ship ashore near Bognor Regis after we'd struck the Owers bank at low water Springs. Unknown to us until the next day a pipe had been fractured well below the water line and it was not until water was over the stokehold and engine room plates that anyone realised what was happening. By then it was too late. The pumps became choked by coal and ashes from under the boilers and, as the ship was fast filling up, I had no option but to head for the nearest beach and we grounded about 10 p.m.

'The Coastguard at Middleton-on-Sea alerted the Selsey life-boat and they found us about midnight. The black night, shallow water and heavy seas now worsened by the ebbing tide made approach to the stranded vessel very difficult—something I regret to say I didn't appreciate at the time.

'But, by anchoring to windward she was able to drop down alongside and, one by one, my crew including the stewardess were helped aboard. Weather was too bad to permit entering Littlehampton and the life-boat had to make the long journey to Newhaven to land my crew.

'The fact that I and my bosun remained on board and the vessel eventually—three monthsand many thousands of pounds later—refloated does not detract from the skill and courage sho vn in approaching Kaida on that stormy night. Had my ship gone down offshore or broken up I doubt if any of us would be alive now. Daylight revealed two continuous lines of anti-invasion traps of tubular steel between us and the shore and no one could have got through them in that storm without being killed or terribly injured.' The following routine note sent to the Y.L.A.

by Mr. P. M. L. Wenham (membership number 4447-F) is a good example of lending a hand at sea, an added point in this case being that the skipper had only taken over Greentail early in August: 'We had left Dartmouth at noon on 26th August bound for Exmouth. Three to four miles south east of the entrance a sloop Sea Charm hailed us asking if we would stand by Sweet & Low hove to to seaward having lost her rudder while she sailed back to Dartmouth to arrange for a tow. We were having a splendid sail, wind E'ly force 4.'At 3.15 p.m., as there was no sign of a tow coming out, we passed our kedgc warp instructing that it be made fast to their main anchor which had three fathoms of chain and a warp and then to pay out some 15-20 fathoms. This made a good spring and after they had downed sail we set course for Dartmouth on a broad reach with our own engine idling so we would keep control should there be any lull in the wind. At 4.45 p.m. we lowered sail abeam of Dartmouth Castle and moved under power with a shortened tow taking Sweet & Low to her mooring on the trots above Kingswear.' In the October, 1970, issue of THE LIFE-BOAT, Mr. Alasdair Garrett, secretary of the Y.L.A., described how while sailing from the continent bound for the Solent he gave a tow to a small decked fishing vessel off the Brittany coast.

Aboard the casualty was the owner's daughter Francoise Morizur and friend Alain Levcnec.

Recently Mr. Garrett was invited to attend the wedding of the couple..