Classic schooner Eleanora and Itchen Ferry Nellie warm up ahead of the JP Morgan Round the Island Race

If you can get past the hype and the relentless boosting of the competition element, there’s some nice footage of both Eleanora and Nellie doing their stuff in ‘entertaining’ conditions off the Isle of Wight. There’s more of Eleanora looking fabulous here.

I should warn you to turn the volume down though – in the way of these things, in this clip the music is truly dreadful night-club ‘excitement’ stuff they churn out on synthesisers and play at dodgy events such as awards ceremonies. I suppose I should also have asked why it’s now normal to play this horseshit over sailing clips! So tell me someone? Why do it?

I also wonder whether the skipper of the Nellie, Scott Waddington, is related to the geezer named Waddington who used to run the Black Horse at Pembury many years ago?