marking on sail

[jeremyzinke16]

My Sabre sail has a large red lowercase letter “b” marked on the sail, just near the sail number. Can anyone tell me what it might mean? The boat was built around 1986-7.

[Scott Olsen]

It means that the boat used to be sailed at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron in Victoria. A peculiar club rule at the club is that all boats at the club have to have the red b on their sail. It isn’t enforced any more, but most boats at the club got the b up until about 5 years ago. Easy to peel off ! By the way – what is the name of the boat ?

[julianekennion4]

@Andrew Graham wrote:

It means that the boat used to be sailed at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron …

Oh! Is that what it means? I’ve grown up all these years thinking it stood for “beginner” because all the boats with “b” on the sail sailed so much slower that boats from the faster clubs, like, say Black Rock Yacht Club.

… sorry Andrew. I could not resist the opportunity to stoke the inter-club rivalry fire

[jeremyzinke16]

absolutely right, its from Blairgowrie, called Lady Augusta

[Scott Olsen]

Aaah yes. Hayden Llewellyn’s pevious boat – and Natalie Farrell before that. Hayden sails out of Blairgowrie.

[sabre_admin]

yep prior to natalie farrell it was built for a sailor from Carrum Victoria (just cant remember his name) who was national president of the sabre sailing association for many years (wish i could remember his name) and he was instrumental on setting up the sabre association in Tasmania and organized the first National titles Lindisfarne in 1987 (my first interstate regatta) The yacht is a windward mark sabre from south australia as at that time South Australia was the only builder of glass and composite sabres-while he was not an ace sailor he was a great guy who put his heart and soul into making the class the great entity it is today- hey i better look up previous rattles so i can recall his name

[jeremyzinke16]

Thanks everyone for your info. You might be pleased to know the boat is still in quite good condition and sailing well (as well as I can sail it, that is…) at Hampton

[jeremyzinke16]

Peter, could it have been Ian Kemp? I’ve just noticed his name as the owner at the time the a-class certificate was issued. The writing on the sticker is very faint but I can just make it out.

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