The DCA is now old enough for some facts of its early organisation to have dropped below the historical horizon. It needs a sort of archaeology to recover them.

On several occasions I have analysed the latest membership list for the Bulletin. Mysterious has been the total lack of any member earlier than Joan Abrams at 201. Nobody has answered my published appeal for information on what happened to the first 200. But I think I now have the answer.

The new membership list of 6/4/86 is, as usual, in alphabetical order and, at first sight, the membership numbers are jumbled. But not quite. On looking through the list to sort the numbers into the 200s, 300s, 400s, etc, I noticed for the first time the surprising fact that the twelve smallest numbers, 201 Abrams to 342 Whitby, are in exact alphabetical order. The odds against this happening by chance are enormous. The next number, 352 Catlin, and the later ones are out of alphabet/number order.

I think that when nearly 200 members had joined the young DCA, someone had the idea of tidying up the records and an alphabetical list of the current members was produced. There were nearly 150 names in the list. To avoid confusion with any of the previous records, the new list was started at 201 with Abrams, J, and ran at least to Whitby, J at 342. But thereafter, as when the Rev. Catlin joined at 352, names and numbers no longer correlated.

At 315 members, the latest membership is fairly stable and in keeping with previous years which have shown figures fluctuating in the range 300-350. Growth is occurring overseas, as in the USA, which now has its own Association.

The list of ‘Top Ten’ boats is broadly like that of 1984:- % Mirror 8.2

Dr. Lugger 7.6

Wayfarer 3.8

GP14 ) 2.9 Heron )

Mirror 16 ) 2.5 Dr. Dabber )

Tideway 2.2

Wanderer ) 1 9 WW Potter )

The Enterprise was slipping before but is now relegated. The combined Drascombe fleet of all models is easily the most popular at 13% of the total. But remember that this ‘Top Ten’ list still leaves out the seven out of ten boats of all sorts which the rest of the membership find useful for happy cruising.