Whispers of Wellington

[PatrickXavier]

When blokes were blokes (http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-hum-1974).

If blokes were still blokes, he'd have got the name right: that's Whispers II, as you'll see.

[Chris.]

BY:D Thanks, that was a Friday afternoon gem. But where did they get those cars from???

[Phil Y]

Thats a classic:)

[Robbie 2]

Thanks..........I enjoyed that.

[John B]

Don't you just love it.Infidel/Ragtime's little sister, I took some pics of her on her marina a couple of years ago.

Mk4 Zephyr.. what a boat of a car.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

"A heavier man to work the cockpit winches".

I thought Kiwis called a spade a b*****y shovel? If you mean a gorilla, say a gorilla!

What a little gem - takes me back to helping friends build quarter tonners and many happy? weekends spent variously between Harwich, Mersea, Ostende and Hoek van Holland.

Whatever happened to offshore racing?

[John B]

Its still there, dominated by the sleds and canting keel boats. As I mentioned above , Whispers is Ragtimes little sister and of course Ragtime is regarded as the or one of the first sleds, so what we're looking at there is the new breed.

There all sorts of stories about Whispers.. one of them is when John Spencer was aboard for a race and he looked at what he thought was the depth instrument. Something said like this.......'20 metres is getting in a bit close'.

'Thats the log'

[StevenBauer]

I appreciated the warning about the "fierce 70s moustaches" but they could have warned us about the haircuts and sideburns, too. :)

Thanks for the link.


Steven

[dylan winter]

just shows how sailing gear has changed

I really enjoyed watching that

loved it in the first film at about 8.00

the blighters shoved in a picture of one of the men wearing speedos and taking a whizz over the side right in the middle of a sequence of them hauling the main up the main

Love those kiwis - never met a rum one yet

D

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Its still there, dominated by the sleds and canting keel boats. As I mentioned above , Whispers is Ragtimes little sister and of course Ragtime is regarded as the or one of the first sleds, so what we're looking at there is the new breed.

There all sorts of stories about Whispers.. one of them is when John Spencer was aboard for a race and he looked at what he thought was the depth instrument. Something said like this.......'20 metres is getting in a bit close'.

'Thats the log'

20 metres is not "getting in a bit close" where I sail, and in the Seventies I think the echosounder would have been calibrated in fathoms and feet; at least my Seafarer 2 and Seaferer 3 were.

What I mean was that in the Seventies rather a lot of people completed a hull in their back garden and went racing; it was an ordinary person's sport as well as a millionaire's sport. Now its just the millionaires, with paid gorillas.

Agree with Steven and Dylan about the sailing kit and the hair. We really did look like that.

[dylan winter]

seeing those blokes running around in cheap plimpsoles -

we used to race right up until the end of Novermber in canvas deck shoes

and now we have those rich chaps sauntering around their pontoons wearing those £200 leather sailing boots

I am sure they are wonderfully comfortable and warm all that but.... bloody nora!

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I cannot tell a lie: I own a pair of Dubarrys - but they were heavily discounted as shop soiled by Foxes in Ipswich. Honest! They are indeed wonderfully comfortable and warm. Bill Tilman used to say that what he really fancied were a pair of leather seaboots and twenty years after he died they came along!

Dylan, if you feel the need of a pair of cheap plimsolls, as sold by Dunlop in the 70's, perhaps for auld lang syne, you can get Chinese versions, apparently identical, at French Marine Motors in Britghtlingsea and, perhaps surprisingly, at the chandlers at Suffolk Yacht Harbour. I have a pair and so do the sprogs as their feet grow...

[Phil Y]

I think the club racing thing (I can't say "scene", too 70's) is still alive and well here (Adelaide, Australia). There are 2 main yacht clubs who still run a regular wed evening and weekend series. There's also an offshore series each summer, and a winter series. Most races each club does its own thing but there are a few combined. The fleet is a mixed bag, a small handfull of million $+ carbon fibre corporate sponsored thinggys, but mostly privately owned, crewed by a bunch of blokes (of both sexes) who like sailing and who fit it in between their day job. I guess 80% of the fleet would be at the expensive end of what a family could afford-probably $150K or more, but there's a good few that wouldn't have more than $50K in them, and some less than that. Handicapping means most boats have some chance of getting a mention at the bar at the end of the day.
Phil

[Chip-skiff]

When blokes were blokes (http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-hum-1974).

Enjoyed the film— great footage of the race. I was impressed by Stagg's constant attention to sail trim and boat handling in general: he's absolutely wired to his craft.

The blokiest bit was when he told his mum that when she was gone, he'd remember her for her roasts.