It was rather a strange experience being back aboard Roma after selling her to Jon & Nadia. During lunch Jane and Nadia decided that the VIP boat look more comfortable than racing and thus deserted! For the second year in a row FSC commodore Peter Hector drew Roma II. I’m sure he really wanted one of the racing S&S34’s so the 25 year record of FSC never winning the Commodores Race could be broken. He put a very brave face on it and smiled and said he was happy to back on board. We attempted to start at the pin end of the line, were a bit earlier and but sailed down the line, chucked in a quick (well nearly quick) tack and started mid fleet. After tacking back to port we seemed to be going ok.

Nobody onboard was sure who the boss was! Commodore Peter on the helm, Jon the owner or me as owning Roma for the last 15 years. So a committee was formed and consensus reached before each decision. Enough said, never run a ship be consensus! The poor crew work let down the ship and we gradually dropped back through the fleet. I was rather surprised to see Sulphur sail past half way through the race. We had a great tussle towards the end of the race with the last three places hotly contested with only a couple of lengths between us over the finish line. Congratulations to the winners and to FSC for hosting another magic event.

Also, well done to the S&S34 Assoc and all the owners who allowed their boats to be used. Nothing like seeing a row of Sparkman & Stephens 34’s lined up along the collector jetty while we have lunch!