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High Hope
·Inspired by @Duracuir1 ’s interesting sailing-related post here https://omegaforums.net/threads/my-unusual-watch-the-jardur-seatimer.135826/#post-1852114, I was tempted to show another sailing odd-ball, my Memosail Regatta.
It is a sailboat racer’s starting watch. In racing, the boats mill about behind an imaginary line between two markers set a distance apart. The starter fires a gun (or blows an air horn or whistle, or even fires a cannon, depending on the prestige of the race and the wealth of the participants.) The boats now have 10 minutes to go before heading into the wind to cross the starting line. Depending on the type of race there may be another signal indicates that there are five minutes remaining.
Strategy, rules of the sea, bravado and timing all come into play, as you want to be the lead guy, in clean unobstructed wind, who crosses at exactly the 10-minute mark.
Cross early and your penalty is to “do a 360 (deg. spin,)” which is guaranteed to lose you the race. Boat #7193 is early, below. Generally, much cursing and swearing can be heard throughout the starting sequence, all done in the most gentlemanly manner, of course.
So, about the Memosail. It is powered by a manual winding Valjoux 7737 movement. Image taken from the web:
Instead of sub seconds hands, the movement powers a colorful disc that is marked in minute intervals starting at 10. The disc rotates counterclockwise in 30 second increments. Also from the web:
The effect is to see the “10” rotate until it is out of sigh behind the watch face. As it does so, a red band begins to show, starting at the 5-minute mark. It is an intuitive and easily read system that you are approaching 5 minutes before the start.
Now recall that a lot of boats are now all jockeying for position, tacking, jibing, all while heading into the wind all the while obeying the rules of the road. That explains the swearing and cursing.
As the minutes continue to disappear under the watch face, a white band reveals itself with bright green letters, not numerals. “S” gives you a hint as to what is coming next.
Bang, just as the entire word “START” is revealed your bow should cross the imaginary line, and then, as they say, you’re off to the races.
The party trick is over, and the Memosail behaves like any chrono, starting and stopping with the top pusher and resetting with the lower pusher. But for what it is designed to do, to provide instantly recognizable information under stressful racing conditions, the watch is a winner
The stainless-steel case is 38mm with a matching Memosail-signed caseback. Early versions were shaped in a very 1970s fashion as lug-less flying saucers.
The case is stainless steel measuring 38 mm. The watch has a signed screw-on caseback and a domed acrylic crystal. The hands are short stumps but nicely executed. The sweep second is a bright orange and matches the orange marker at 12.00. Interestingly for a sailing watch, the crown does not screw down. Later versions were crudely sawn off on either side to take on an amorphous shape.
The last versions look like proper watches, but do lose some of the 70s wackiness vibe. There was a model called the Memosail VIP, but it seems that the only difference was a steel bracelet in lieu of the standard blue rubber strap.
The Regatta is a fun, light, interesting watch. I found mine on eBay, it was being sold by the husband of the original buyer. She was an avid racer on the Great Lakes. She finally switched to digital after using her Memosail for years.
It is a sailboat racer’s starting watch. In racing, the boats mill about behind an imaginary line between two markers set a distance apart. The starter fires a gun (or blows an air horn or whistle, or even fires a cannon, depending on the prestige of the race and the wealth of the participants.) The boats now have 10 minutes to go before heading into the wind to cross the starting line. Depending on the type of race there may be another signal indicates that there are five minutes remaining.
Strategy, rules of the sea, bravado and timing all come into play, as you want to be the lead guy, in clean unobstructed wind, who crosses at exactly the 10-minute mark.
Cross early and your penalty is to “do a 360 (deg. spin,)” which is guaranteed to lose you the race. Boat #7193 is early, below. Generally, much cursing and swearing can be heard throughout the starting sequence, all done in the most gentlemanly manner, of course.
So, about the Memosail. It is powered by a manual winding Valjoux 7737 movement. Image taken from the web:
Instead of sub seconds hands, the movement powers a colorful disc that is marked in minute intervals starting at 10. The disc rotates counterclockwise in 30 second increments. Also from the web:
The effect is to see the “10” rotate until it is out of sigh behind the watch face. As it does so, a red band begins to show, starting at the 5-minute mark. It is an intuitive and easily read system that you are approaching 5 minutes before the start.
Now recall that a lot of boats are now all jockeying for position, tacking, jibing, all while heading into the wind all the while obeying the rules of the road. That explains the swearing and cursing.
As the minutes continue to disappear under the watch face, a white band reveals itself with bright green letters, not numerals. “S” gives you a hint as to what is coming next.
Bang, just as the entire word “START” is revealed your bow should cross the imaginary line, and then, as they say, you’re off to the races.
The party trick is over, and the Memosail behaves like any chrono, starting and stopping with the top pusher and resetting with the lower pusher. But for what it is designed to do, to provide instantly recognizable information under stressful racing conditions, the watch is a winner
The stainless-steel case is 38mm with a matching Memosail-signed caseback. Early versions were shaped in a very 1970s fashion as lug-less flying saucers.
The case is stainless steel measuring 38 mm. The watch has a signed screw-on caseback and a domed acrylic crystal. The hands are short stumps but nicely executed. The sweep second is a bright orange and matches the orange marker at 12.00. Interestingly for a sailing watch, the crown does not screw down. Later versions were crudely sawn off on either side to take on an amorphous shape.
The last versions look like proper watches, but do lose some of the 70s wackiness vibe. There was a model called the Memosail VIP, but it seems that the only difference was a steel bracelet in lieu of the standard blue rubber strap.
The Regatta is a fun, light, interesting watch. I found mine on eBay, it was being sold by the husband of the original buyer. She was an avid racer on the Great Lakes. She finally switched to digital after using her Memosail for years.
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