One of the reasons we like sailing is because it is free of spineless jobs- worths. Waves are unpredictable, difficult to measure and high visibility blouses are no protection against them.

Winds come up from any direction at any given time, cannot be caught on CCTV and will blow Ruritanian peaked caps to the far horizon.

So, my dear fellow yachtsmen, please gather round and support the Rev Alex Russell’s petition to win back Ian Faletto his job.

For those of you who do not know who Mr Faletto is, let me explain. For 27 years he has worked on the railways and until recently was stationmaster at Lymington Pier. On 6 March, this conscientious employee, holder of 25 awards for keeping a good station, arrived at work to find a shopping trolley dumped on the railway line.

He decided it was more than his job was worth to leave it and – ordering the signalman to shut down the power – scrambled onto the tracks in special protective shoes to remove the trolley thereby preventing a possible dis-railment of a train which thousands of crew-changing yachtsmen use every year.

A week later an invertebrate who works as a district manager for South West Trains spotted his company’s dedicated employee at work on security footage and reported him. Apparently the power had not been turned off.

Mr Faletto was sacked.

It would be more responsible to sign Rev Russell’s petition than take several hundred shopping trolleys and blockade the track between Lymington Town and Lymington Pier until Mr Faletto is reinstated.