Richard Wright (RS 1964) shares his memories of sailing
In response to our call in the autumn issue of this newsletter, Richard Wright (RS 1964), got in touch to share his memories of sailing.
~*~
I was at Rydal from 1959 until 1964, so, sixty years ago, I was one of the first to join the new sailing section. The School had no boats of its own, save for a wooden Guard Boat with a small outboard motor. This meant that pupils had to bring their own dinghies and share with others. Therefore; most of the boats were of different types and we used the Portsmouth Yardstick handicap system when it came to a race. The boats were kept in a grass field surrounding an old Puppet Theatre at Rhos point. The master in charge was Mr Grimes, whose day job was teaching Chemistry. The hours he must have spent bobbing up and down in that guard boat, in totally unsuitable clothing, soaking wet, beggars belief. He also took us in his own car (probably without any charge on the school bill) to race against places like Ellesmere College and HMS Conway. Here we sailed their boats, and the Menai Straits are very different to a lake near Ellesmere. When those schools came to Colwyn Bay, we lent them our boats.
Probably due to the handicap system, more than anything else, I won the school Picard Cup, although I was not the best at sailing.
The only real qualification that the school asked was that we take life saving classes at the local municipal swimming pool. Rydal did not have its own pool till 1964. This was organised by a retired Rydal master, called Jos Howard. He was a veteran of the First World War and believed in the discipline of a Horse Cavalry officer. So, at least we could swim.
This came in useful in May 1962, when I was in fifth form. I was walking along the Prom, with a school friend called Richard Cole, near Rhos Point. Nowadays there is a man made stoney beach and small harbour at this point. Back then the sea came right up to the road and there was a strong rip current round Rhos point. We saw there was a man, about a hundred yards out to sea, shouting for help, as his canoe had overturned. Clearly he had not learnt to swim with Jos Howard.
A well meaning pedestrian said, come on, lads, let’s get him. We stripped off to our underpants. So with no life jacket the three of us found ourselves swimming out to the drowning man. What we did not realise was that by the time we got there, we were all much further out to sea, due to the current and this was getting worse and worse. The well-meaning stranger then realised he could not swim back to shore. So we now had two, fully clothed, grown men in total panic. By the time we got to the shore, an ambulance had arrived, along with a crowd of people doing nothing, just watching. The driver said; thanks, lads, and that was it. We got dressed and carried on with wet underpants! However, in the evening assembly, Donald Hughes announced that he wanted to see the two boys ‘who had been swimming in the sea that afternoon’. It was an expellable offence. How very unfair, we thought, as we went to his study. It turned out the man was an off duty policeman and the Chief Constable arranged that we were awarded the Royal Humane Society Award for bravery. We didn’t get expelled and I enclose some photos of the letters we received. My mother was certainly more pleased with these than my exam results! Interestingly, Donald Hughes wrote only to my father and excluded my mother - that would not happen today!
Certificate from the Royal Humane Society
Donald Hughes' letter to Richard's father
A letter to Richard from the Chair of Governors
Sailing, apart from being a lot of fun, taught me many life lessons which I have used in business, since leaving Rydal. Things like Preparation, Tactics and Team Skills. It also taught me that when it comes to very expensive large yachts, it is far cheaper to use someone else’s! My post Rydal sailing experience has included, amongst others, cruising in the Baltic, and Racing in the Swan Rolex World Cup, at the Aga Khan’s Yacht Club in Sardinia. For many years, I have been a member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club but actually, size does not matter, the greatest fun I had was in the sea, at Colwyn Bay, sixty years ago!
Richard Wright (RS 1964)
