bobstay

One of the few performers who seemed most adept at generating musical theatre stage presence was local actor/ singer Ryan Parker (Bill Bobstay), who, whenever he had a short moment in the spotlight, came to the fore with a cheerful exuberance that didn't stop the show, but did remind us that Pinafore is old-fashioned musical theatre.

"Everything about the bobstay, which extends from the tip of the bowsprit to the bottom of the stem, was wrong by today's standards --it was in need of refinement," Mark Richards conceded earlier this year.

Perhaps the two editions diverge most obviously (if unimportantly) with the minor characters Bill Bobstay and Bob Becket.

Not surprisingly, she became a personality and appeared in a double-role theatre act giving drill displays as Bobstay, a sailor, and Firelock, a soldier.

Edmonton actor and musical-theatre specialist Andrew MacDonald-Smith had loads of stage business as Bill Bobstay, and used his nimble, lanky frame to excellent comic effect.

Our review boat was well specified with a conventional spinnaker pole and that neat X-yacht trademark composite bowsprit for flying an asymmetric; strong enough not to require a bobstay. The standard fractional rig is a Danish-made John Mast alloy spar with discontinuous rod rigging, deep boom with hard yang and hydraulic backstay adjuster.

Her sistership Wild Oats X made the start sporting a brand new rig, but was racing for barely an hour before the bowsprit broke when the bobstay gave way.

Not noticed at that time was a blow to the forestay that had loosened the bolts securing the lower end of the bobstay, just below the waterline.