August 1 2012Dear Sir,The attached photo shows me and Mike Watson (left) sitting in a four-poster bed that was afloat in Hamilton Harbor some time around 1961. We are now both in Bermuda to attend the funeral of Colin Cooke. In the photo we were entered in the second Non-Mariner’s Race and were appropriately attired in period garb. A year earlier, Cooke and a few of us pre-hippie free thinkers took a friendly swipe at Bermuda’s yachting society by organising a boat race that had few rules other than the goal of crossing Hamilton Harbour in a “boat” that could not have any boat-like accoutrements like real oars or sails, etc. I was Non-Vice Commodore and we had a Non-Treasurer because we had no funds. At the first trial Ian Farrow jumped in the Sound one chilly January day astride a cello case. He and the case sunk rapidly — the perfect non-mariner’s craft. The first race was a success in that most craft sank (the grand prize went to the first to sink) but some actually made it across, including my brother Eric Amos and I on a refrigerator with a six-pack in the freezer compartment that immediately opened when the fridge turned turtle, sending the refreshments to the bottom. Cooke went in on a grand piano that proved to be a gloriously unsuitable marine vessel. The Royal Gazette newspaper photo was entitled” … and the piano went ‘Bong!’”.A year later The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club joined in the spirit by starting the race with its cannon. And Cooke? He was a canny antique dealer at the time and sold us the four-poster for about £12. We pulled one over him by selling it for to a spectator for £20 when we reached the other side! So successful was this second race that “they” started talking about making it an annual event with entry fees and real prizes. Being somewhat existential in philosophy, the Non-Mariners Association nixed this idea and decreed that the race never be held again. We all dispersed, became less rebellious, had careers, children, grandchildren, Cooke included, and garnered respect. Now I’m here in Bermuda again and I see that the Non-Mariner’s Race is coming up in a few days. Our decree was not honoured and the present organisers are saying it’s the 40th anniversary of the race: not so! More like the 52nd or more as can be proved by checking the archives. I am leaving the island now but the surviving original Non-Mariners would like to set the record straight! Please respond to afamos@mail.utexas.edu or to my sister’s e-mail (jraine@ibl.bm) from where this is being sent.ANTHONY AMOSSt George’s