Sir Robin does it with Gordons

The picture shows a slightly unusual scene, even for the Point Yacht Club in Durban. During the Clipper Race visit to Durban in November 2005, the day before the race start, one of the yachts had a problem with an air bubble in their main binnacle (compass). The liquid is only in the compass to provide damping so the delicately balanced card does not jump about and spin round as it is affected by the acceleration and deceleration caused by the boat’s movement.

The old established belief is that the liquid in the compass is pure alcohol and many a ship has come to grief after its binnacle has been drained and replaced with water or some unsuitable liquid. I will not go into the irresistible attraction between pure alcohol and seafarers other than to say that on occasions some may have mistakenly believed there are better places for this than in a binnacle, even if it has the reverse effect to damping the humans who drink it.

Sir Robin immediately rose to the challenge. The whole compass would have to be drained and then filled with the best substitute available. In this case it was Gordon’s gin. Having settled down at the ‘regulars’ end’ of the bar, he found no shortage of volunteers. Unfortunately the screw hole which was used for filling the compass was very small and the only way of filling it was with a syringe. This was slow and thirsty work. After several cries of ‘a double for my compass and the same for my friends’ it became obvious to all (other than those involved), that success was by no means guaranteed.

The Bar staff at the Point Yacht Club are smart and pointed out the merits of buying gin by the bottle and slowly and surely the filling hole became smaller – and kept on ‘ …bloody well moving around’.

And the outcome? Justin Haller, the Maintenance Manager (left of picture) fitted a perfectly working compass the next day two hours before the race start.*
* This was the one he bought on a ‘sale and return’ the previous afternoon ….earning him the name of Just In Case Haller.