In a lifetime of sailing and the sea, participation and service have gone hand in hand.7 have always been interested in boats that would go faster than their wave length speed . . .'FOR MAJOR-GENERAL RALPH FARRANT a constant search for the key to high speed on the water has added zest to a lifetime's experience of sailing and the sea.

International 14' dinghy, Star, singlehanded Finn, trimaran, and later inshore lifeboats: all could command both his delight and his constructive thought.

Gaining great pleasure himself from sailing planing dinghy or fast multihull, he has paid his debt to the sea, accepting as a matter of course responsibility, as it came his way, for the furtherance of yachting or the welfare of the seafaring community as a whole.

Dinghy racing ? He was also a member of the RYA Council. Reserve Olympic helmsman? He was later to become chairman of the Olympic Yachting Committee. Fastnet racing in St Barbara! He was at one time commodore of the Royal Artillery Yacht Club. Co-designer, owner and helmsman of one of the fastest cruising trimarans to sail British Waters? He was soon drawn into the working party which was formed to edit the first draft of an Offshore Multihull Rule. A man whose leisure has been spent on the water? Since 1963, on retirement from the army, he has served on the Committee of Management of the RNLI as well as on a number of its sub-committees.

Participation and service have gone hand in hand, and General Farrant is one of the small group of people who have received the RYA Award (a scroll and lapel badge) for their outstanding contributions in Great Britain to 'popular pleasure boating'.

Ralph Farrant was a schoolboy, about 10 years old, when, during his holidays spent with an uncle and aunt in Cornwall he and his brother first learnt to sail; he has enjoyed it ever since. His uncle, a very keen sailor, built first a 12' dinghy and later a 14' racing dinghy of a local class in the conservatory of hishouse opposite St Mawes, and, although this uncle unfortunately died, he had introduced his nephews to the sea and his two dinghies were there for them to sail.

The years went on ... Rugby, the Royal Military Academy, a commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1929 followed by service in the Field and Mountain Artillery until 1938. It was in those years, when a young officer on leave from India, that Ralph Farrant bought his first International 14' dinghy; she was secondhand but gave him good racing and in her he managed to do quite well.

Back in this country, being in the Royal Regiment of Artillery and a member of its yacht club, he sailed in the 'Gunner' yacht, Rose, in the 1939 Fastnet Race—the one which finished just before war was declared . . . 'She was an uncomfortable, wet old boat, but it was a great experience . . .' Later, when peace returned, he was to sail in two more Fastnet Races, in the Royal Artillery Yacht Club's new yacht, St Barbara.

During the war years Ralph Farrant held various technical appointments in the War Office and the HQ of the MEF 3rd British Infantry Division. Searching for a home, he and his wife found a Thames barge, named James Piper, moored up the river, above Hampton Court, and in her they and their two young daughters lived until the end of the war. Then James Piper was fitted out at Sittingbourne for sea.

' We cruised down to Brixham and back in the barge with the family, taking with us two racing dinghies to compete in the Prince of Wales's Cup at Brixham. We also attended the first Cowes Week after the war in her, by chance; we just happened to be spending the night there on our way back from Brixham. We found we were the biggest and most comfortable yacht in Cowes Week—and certainly the only one with an Aga cooker on board!' These were family years. His children were old enough to enjoy sailing and, at Itchenor, Ralph Farrant started them off in dinghies, first of all in the Lymington Scow. Both he and his children enjoyed the round-the-buoy racing in Chichester Harbour, and he raced there with the International 14' class right up until his retirement from the army.

Once the barge was sold and the family was land-based in a house again, Ralph Farrant bought a light displacement 12- ton cruising yacht which could be handled by his wife, his two daughters and himself. In her they cruised as far as St Malo with just the family as crew.

Being preoccupied with fast sailing, it is not surprising that Ralph Farrant should have become drawn into Olympic competition. The first Olympic Games after the war were held in Great Britain, in 1948 . . . 'It seemed that there wasn't enough competition in the Star Class, so I was persuaded to have a go at that. . .' In fact, Ralph Farrant was the top British Star man just for that season, but he did not in the end sail in the Games: the world champion of the class, Durward Knowles, who had expected to sail for the Bahamas, found that he was not eligible to do so, so he competed in, and won, the British trials.

Another Olympic year, 1952, Ralph Farrant competed in the single-handed trials—it was the first time that the Finn had been an Olympic class. He was selected as the reserve helmsman and so went to Helsinki... 'But I didn't actually do any racing because all our helmsmen remained fit the whole time!' From 1955-58, Ralph Farrant, now a brigadier, was Director of Munitions, British Joint Services Mission, in Washington, and while stationed there he raced a 17' Thistle on the Potomac.

In his last year he won the Thistle series at Marblehead . . . 'It was marvellous sailing up there in Massachusetts . . .' Returning to this country Brigadier Farrant became Senior Military Officer at the Armament Research and Development Establishment. In 1961 he was promoted to major-general as Vice-President of the Ordnance Board, becoming President in 1963. He retired from the army in 1964 and was created Companion of the Bath.

It was about this time that General Farrant was asked to take on the chairmanship of the Olympic Yachting Committee, and he became chairman after the 1964 Games. He found it interesting but rather frustrating because, as with so many things, there never seemed to be enough money to do the job properly. Nevertheless, with the help of Vernon Stratton, who had competed in previous Olympics and knew a lot about the practical side of it, and the inauguration of BOY, British Olympic Yachting, a fund-raising body which made money available for British crews to go abroad to get international experience, the committee was able to build up a very good team. It was in these years that Rodney Pattisson came to the front in the Flying Dutchman class, so Great Britain was once again in the gold medal field.

It was about this time, too, that, pursuing the answer to the unanswerable —how a cruising yacht might be made to plane like a dinghy, thus exceeding her wave length speed— General Farrant began to take a great interest in the development of multihulls: 'After a good many years of thinking about it, I started sketching out a big, 40' trimaran, but it wasn't until I met Derek Kelsall down at Wadebridge, in Cornwall, that I could find anyone who would help me with the more detailed design and then with the building. This was in 1966. I found that by altering my layout a bit we could use the basic formers that he had used for his first successfulmultihull, calledTona., in which he had just won the first Round Britain Race. I altered his main hull a little to suit my ideas and also the design of the floats, after doing some tank tests in Southampton Technical College tank. The rig and layout and assembly construction —the beams and so on—were all my design. Anyhow, we worked very happily together and she was launched in '67 under the name Trifle. At that time I think she was considerably in advance of most other multihulls, and even last year she was still able to hold her own.'' Trifle was accustomed to being first boat home, notably in the Round the Island Race, the annual 'jolly' when, in early July, 400 to 500 yachts race round the Isle of Wight; she achieved the distinction despite the fact that the multihulls start 15 minutes after the rest of the fleet. On one occasion she got round in about six hours; the start had been early on the Saturday morning and Trifle was back in time for lunch.

Trifle was the first to finish the annual Crystal Trophy Race every year from 1968 to 1972; she was the winner on handicap in 1970. In 1968 she set up a record, unbeaten until 1975, of 1 day 17 hours 6 minutes for the 311 mile race.The Crystal Trophy is the only regular established offshore handicap race in Europe for cruising multihulls, the course being from Cowes to CH.l, off Cherbourg, to Wolf Rock Lighthouse, finishing at Plymouth.

General Farrant does all the detail fitting out on Trifle, and another of his interests is the making of experimental sailing models. He was at one time on the Advisory Committee for Yacht Research at Southampton University; it was from some of the University staff of this committee that the Wolfson Trust Research Unit was formed, and, later, the WTRU was to be brought in to advise on the development of the design of the Atlantic 21.

While General Farrant was stationed at the Armament Research and Development Establishment he came to know Norman Wales, who lived in the same village, Chipstead, and who was a member of the RNLI Committee of Management. He was the owner of a fast cruising yacht, Fedalah: ''Norman Wales did not normally race, but Fedalah was a good, thoroughbred yacht designed and built by Camper and Nicholson. He had the idea of going in for a family race after Cowes Week one year and asked me and my wife to go along with him. He put me on the helm and we managed to do quite well, so from that we raced in Fedalah several years at Cowes Week.' When Norman Wates knew that General Farrant was due to retire from the army on reaching the age of 55, he put his name forward for the Committee of Management of the Institution. The General joined the committee in 1963, becoming a deputy chairman in February 1972 and being elected a vicepresident in the October of that year.

General Farrant has served on several sub-committees. On the Boat Committee he has always been particularly interested in the development of inshore and fast afloat lifeboats; these are in his 'parish' as he can draw upon his experience both in planing dinghies and fast multihulls.

While the D class inflatable dinghy was still being developed, in its early days, General Farrant went out for a short trip in one at Itchenor, so that he has had knowledge of this type of boat right from its inception, and, later, when the Atlantic 21 came along he followed her progress closely.

General Farrant, who now lives at Wareham, was elected chairman of the Institution in June 1975. Looking ahead to his term of office, these are some of his hopes and aims: 'Over the past few years, led by the last chairman, Commander Ralph Swann, the RNLI has made great progress in both the area of our boats and their equipment and in our administration. My prime objective is to continue to improve our image as an up-to-date organisation, ready to try relevant modern developments and to adopt them, once proven, as quickly as funds permit; at the same time to ensure that our available income is used as effectively and economically as possible.

'Of course, we must maintain effective lifesaving coverage around our coasts and the good standing of the Institution in the eyes of the public, while preserving our voluntary status. This proviso requires an increase in our income and we have begun to try to tap new sources.

'It follows that it is essential to ensure the continuance of the high morale of our lifeboat crews by close liaison with them and by providing them with the best possible boats and equipment. Furthermore, we must also encourage our voluntary and professional fund raisers in their work, which is vital to our continued existence as a voluntarily supported body.'.