From Chay Blyth
The call went out for serving Paras to volunteer to sail in the first Whitbread Round the World Race. No sailing experience was necessary. The yacht they would be sailing on would be Great Britain II, a state of the art racing yacht. Bernie Hosking of 2 Para was one of these volunteers who would take part in a selection process up in the Scottish Borders. Their fitness and determination was a given, what was needed was to see if they had the attributes to master the complexities of racing a sailing yacht around the world against some of the best yachtsmen in the world.
Bernie’s sister Sheila has outlined the bulk of what I would have had to say about Bernie. However, one action that took place will be embedded in my mind for ever.
It was the start morning of the first Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race. As the Crew and I were saying goodbye to wives, sweethearts and friends, we were presented with a Parachute Brigade Flag/Pennant to be flown on board. It was a perfect morning, about a force four, sunny and as a result there would be a large spectator fleet out by the start line. I wanted to get out early so as to get all of us settled in and do a few extra drills for the conditions we were having that morning.
Whilst motoring out, I gave the order to hoist the Flag to the top of the mast. The small and thin staff the Flag was connected to somehow got stuck just at the top of the mast but not clear of the instruments etc. I told Bernie to go up and clear it.
What should have happened, was that the bosuns chair would come out, Bernie would get in it and be hoisted to the top of the mast, clear the problem and then be let down again.
As I steered the yacht towards the start line there were indeed a huge amount of spectator fleet craft. The water was churning with all this activity and the yacht rolled each way as she went forward often banging as she came off a wave, caused by the spectator fleet. My eyes were looking to make sure we were safe passing these craft. I had not looked up to see how the action of hoisting a man was going.
When I did look up, I nearly fell over, Bernie was climbing up the cap shroud, the wire that goes to the top of the mast to keep the mast in place. He wasn’t in the bosuns chair, he was climbing freely, not even a safety harness. To shout to him to come back down may have distracted him or worse, lose one of his holds! I and the crew just stood mesmerised as he climbed up to the top and cleared the problem.
The mast was over 80 feet in height, it rolled with the yacht, it pitched as the yacht went up and down on the confused water. My heart was in my mouth.
Having cleared the problem, Bernie then slid down the backstay, an even more precarious action! It was a massive relief when his feet hit the deck and we could all breathe a sigh of relief and concentrate on getting ready for the Race start.
Imagine the strength it took for him to hoist his body weight up a single 22mm wire. The mast was falling from side to side and banging every now and again as the yacht hit some wave caused by a spectator craft! If he had lost his grip at the top whilst he cleared the flag, he would have fallen about 90 feet and probably would have hit the deck of the yacht. He was very confident to complete such a feat.
Bernie was a good guy, a very good guy, liked by all the crew. Very competent given this was his introduction to Ocean Racing. There is no doubt in my mind, Bernie would have excelled as a yachtsman and I’m sure would have reached the pinnacle of that sport had he had the opportunity.
He is sadly missed by all of the Great Britain II Crew. Bernie is never far from my thoughts.
Sir Chay Blyth