Oyster News 52 - Oyster Yachts

copy his boat and the owner would be
greatly flattered." The execution of
manoeuvres required "The Yacht Club" to
produce a thick manual of its own signals,
including 6,500 words, 2000 sentences, and
90 proper names. The system was so
complicated the RYS eventually reverted to
the International Code, sadly losing such
signal gems as "Can you lend me your band;
Send out 100 prawns, a soup tureen, and
300 oysters; I am landing my ladies now,
would you like to land yours?"
In an age when such matters were
newsworthy, The London Times got on the
Squadron’s case, calling for fewer
manoeuvres and more swift sailing. The club
responded, hosting the first Cowes Week
regatta in 1826. Two years later, the
Squadron introduced the port /starboard right
of way rule all sailors live by.
But history, albeit glorious, aside, Lord
Amherst’s charge is today. Being RYS
Commodore is so demanding a job it is
important to select a man with both time and
the disposition to diplomatically manage the
outside politics as well as the internal
demands of membership. Amherst, who
retired from the shipping business in 2001,
has both. "Right now the Medina River
(which empties just east of The Castle and
runs south to the town of Newport) is having
a face lift," Amherst says. "There are three
other clubs on the river, and because we
share the territory, we all understand that we
will sink or swim together."
Amherst also has a modern marketing eye for
the job, promoting a short schedule of
regattas that link quality brands to the
Squadron. "We’ve had Ferragamo/Swan
regattas here, and Rolex/Farr 40 meetings,
and we have a UBS/Oyster regatta coming in
July, 2004." An Oyster owner for 15 years,
Amherst is looking forward to that.
Peter Seal, managing director of Blenheim
Shipping in London, remembers Hugh
Amherst when he first came to work at the
well-known shipping firm of Galbraith
Wrightson as a trainee in 1964. Amherst had
graduated from Eton, and after failing to
convince his parents of the benefits of
shipping out on a tramp steamer, he joined
British India, a subsidiary of P&O Lines, as a
cadet trainee. Those were the days of 15,000
cargo liners requiring crews of 40 (today’s
100,000-tonners get by with half that many,
thanks to automation and electronics).
Amherst sailed on various ships for two
years, doing the dirty jobs, and is glad of it.
"It makes a difference if you understand
shipboard routine when you are involved in
delivering a ship," Amherst says. "You can
talk to people in a way that shows them you
understand how ships work." Mainly he loved
being at sea. It runs in his veins. "My family
has been sailing for as long as you can
trace," he says.
Amherst’s great great-grandmother was the
daughter of Admiral Mitford, one of Lord
Nelson’s officers. "I have the log book of one
of his ships," Amherst says. "I also have a
citation given to him by the tenant farmers of
his estate in Yorkshire on his 70th birthday,
referring to him as a courageous Admiral in
the world’s greatest navy. I expect they were
telling him all the things he wanted to hear so
he wouldn’t put the rents up."
After two years, Amherst came ashore. He
did a stint with H. Clarkson Marine Insurance
in Norway, then two years with BP Tanker
Company where his job involved giving
chartered ships their loading and discharging
orders. He hardly ever saw a tanker, let alone
the sea, so when he was head-hunted by
Galbraith Wrightson Shipbroking he gladly
accepted a starting position. Because the
potential of becoming a fully-fledged broker
was there. He quickly learned that having a
title was a disadvantage, particularly in the
Far East. Asians thought he was a Royal, and
refused to disturb him at night, ringing a
OWNER PROFILE
‘ Being RYS commodore
is so demanding a job it
is important to select a
man with both time
and the disposition to
diplomatically manage the
outside politics as well as
the internal demands of
membership
’
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