Like many Worthing residents, I am a regular reader of The Sentinel, which often mentions Worthing Yacht Club but sometimes has clearly been misinformed.

In October, however, the Potterton Trophy was mentioned. This is awarded to the boat returning the most unusual object found at sea.

I had been unaware of this award since joining the club in the early Nineties and was inspired to find out more.

A couple of older members remembered the trophy and examination of old photos revealed it was a shield.

We have located the Potterton Shield and it will duly be awarded by the incoming commodore and the committee.

It is fairly unusual these days for sailors to bring anything found at sea ashore.

The speed and design of boats regularly raced at Worthing discourage this - there is nowhere to store flotsam and we try to avoid it most of the time.

I did once manage to recover a fender that had obviously fallen from a yacht. We sprayed it gold and awarded it to the boat which had suffered the most collisions that year.

On another occasion, my daughter found a small fish amid the seaweed washed on board her boat in the surf when coming ashore.

Last year, my husband also found an oil drum floating just below the surface. It ripped the skeg out of his windsurfer when he hit it. Perhaps other readers have tales of interesting things they found out at sea?

-Dr Janice Duncan, Commodore, Worthing Yacht Club