After the dust had settled in Cowes, an impressive array of immaculate, glistening joinery took up the space where beer tents and burger bars had been just days before. It was a fascinating and fitting tribute to the work and life of one man who not only changed the face of sailing, but whose lateral thinking saved countless lives.
Uffa Fox was a remarkable, vibrant and controversial character. A practical joker, a fearless sailor and one of the most famous people in sailing. But he was also an exceptionally talented free thinker.
It’s been 50 years since his death, and owners of Uffa Fox designs were invited to come to Cowes for a regatta in his honour. Ever since childhood I’ve been fascinated with his work and remember being told by my father about how Uffa designed the first planing International 14, and the first planing keelboat, the Flying 15. I remember struggling to make sense of the unusual looking Atalantas at Fairey Marine on the Hamble, where we kept our Quarter Tonner.
Once you start to read up on Fox you discover way more about the man and his antics than you might have expected. They include sailing across the English Channel from Cowes to le Havre in his International 14 Avenger for the French National Championships, winning it and then sailing back, and getting sacked for taking a group of local sea scouts across to Paris and back when their parents thought the trip was simply a weekend around the Solent.
Then there’s the story of the airborne lifeboat, dropped from above to rescue wartime aircraft crews that had been forced to ditch at sea. Not only is the story fascinating, but when you see the lifeboat at the Cowes Classic Boat Museum, it’s even more impressive. It’s an incredible piece of lateral thinking and engineering that is said to have saved around 600 aircrew. Apparently, Fox said it was his most fulfilling design.
By all accounts, Uffa Fox had a vibrant sense of humour – from placing whoopee cushions under younger members of the Royal family, to his reputation for delivering risqué songs. But the story of how he greeted Prince Charles’ late return to the dock in his nightshirt after a particularly sluggish performance in one race at Cowes Week has to be one of the best. Or perhaps the one about how he got caught for speeding on his horse ‘Frantic’ on the way back from the pub. There are plenty more.
What I hadn’t expected was to meet some of those who sailed or worked with him. Their stories brought home just how recent his influence had been. He died in 1972 when I was just 10, but until now I h
