Harwich and Dovercourt Model Boat Club

Energetic competition is the meets calibre

sailing yachts at the speed of fickle wind.

Club of old men full of cheerful banter

sunshine, snow and rain; they're all thick skinn'd.

Round the marks, the course drawn from the olympics,

ten or twelve times; once or twice each week.

Ancient skills work with hi-tech electronics

not sailcloth, but fabric from a sail boutique.

Hi-spec fins from carbon fibre fashion'd,

light glass fibres shape the waterproof hulls,

lithium holds electric in battery fasten'd,

skimming boats part water into sparkles.

The toys of childhood storybook young boys

become the game that mature men employs.