We are indebted to Isle of Wight solicitor John Gurney-Champion for filling us in on the shark motif that denotes the Law Society Yacht Club (see [2005] Gazette, 4 August, 10). Mr Gurney-Champion joined the club in 1953, a year after it was formed, and says its original rulebook states that the club burgee (that's a flag, for the landlubbers among you) shall bear the emblem of a gold shark on a navy blue background, which it has always done. The tie has silver sharks on a black background. Mr Gurney-Champion says he was told that the idea came from an office boy who worked for one of the founding club officers and suggested it was appropriate given that solicitors were often likened to the ocean predator. While office boys have had their day, it is depressing to learn that such stereotypes - stretching back half a century and probably longer - have not, but at least the yacht club has more reason than most to embrace it.