In the summer of 2024, we heard of the sad passing of Bradfieldian John McCann (B 51-56). John is credited with being one of the first sailors at Bradfield who initiated the first Sailing Club back in the mid-1950s and encouraged the purchase of a new Firefly boat, initially planned as one for each boarding house. With two good open reaches of the Thames above and below Pangbourne, the only early challenges were the availability of boats. When John left Bradfield, the Bradfield Chronicle noted: ‘The team won seven of their nine matches and distinguished themselves especially by beating Itchenor Sailing Club. Much of the team’s success must be attributed to J W H McCann, the Captain who was unbeaten in any school match and captained the team outstandingly throughout the term.” The sailing team at that time comprised of Captain John McCann, Robin Ede (C 52-57), David A Owen (A 51-56), Anthony L Millard (E 51-56), Anthony C Tyndale-Biscoe (A 54-58) and Tom F Grayling (C 54-58).

Moving 20 years later in 2002, Bradfieldian Archie Massey (D 90-95) was hopeful when he advertised in the Old Bradfieldian newsletter for any sailors hoping to put together the first OB sailing team for the Arrow Trophy.

The Arrow Trophy is a sailing competition between Independent Schools, raced as an annual weekend regatta, in 2 fleets of one-design yachts crewed by former pupils. The event takes place on the challenging waters of the Solent and is organised by the Royal Thames Yacht Club. The race format is short fleet racing on Saturday, finishing up in Cowes late afternoon, followed by the Arrow Trophy Dinner. The top four teams from the fleet races then go into a series of match races on Sunday to determine the overall winner, for the Arrow Trophy, whilst the remaining competitors fleet race to determine the winner of the Charterhouse Bowl. In total, there are five trophies to be won.

The response to his call was an enthusiastic group of 7 sailors who had mostly continued to sail since their time at Bradfield including Gayle Turner (I 91-93), Douglas Peniston (F 72-76), Edward Reeves (G 80-85), Ollie Meats (D 86-91), Richard Rowntree (F 86-91) and Colin Cort (G 93-98).

On Friday 4 October 2002 the motley crew met Archie at Port Solent ready to pick up a Sun Fast 37 (chartered for the weekend from Sunsail) which they then motored through the sunset to Cowes. In Cowes they met the competition from Bryanston, Charterhouse, Dulwich, Eton, Haileybury, Harrow, Malvern, Radley, Sherborne, Uppingham, Wellington, Winchester and Worth Abbey and their 15 Sun Fasts moored in harbour.

As newcomers the group rather unexpectedly won their first race and were able to sail clear of the rest of the fleet in the second race. As ‘new entrants’ the team felt their unpopularity increase as the competition progressed. Archie’s experience in racing showed in the final day of sailing and he calmly led the crew to victory. Bradfield won the Arrow Trophy despite never having sailed together before and never having participated in the event.

Gayle noted afterwards “The rest of the day was spent cruising back to Port Solent, reminiscing about the fun we all had sailing at Theale [Burghfield Lake]” and the joy of the team’s success. The winning team which spanned 25 years of Bradfield life were unanimous in the belief that sailing had played an important part in their time at Bradfield. The winning team in the photograph below.

More details about the later Arrow Cup win in 2021 in another newspiece here