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The August event is rapidly becoming one of the most popular on the East Coast, combining as it does cruising in company, not too vigorous racing and lots of socialising, and this year promised to be even better. All the arrangements were in place, marinas and clubs booked and barbecues arranged for the forty six entries. But no-one told the weather man. The initial prospects were good; Friday was remarkable for hot sun, blue skies and a W/SW 3 or 4, ideal for those coming up from the Blackwater, Crouch and Medway and ‘summer’ even lasted through Saturday, when most of the fleet arrived at Ipswich Haven marina, to register and receive their ‘goody bag’. This included a free splicing tool, just in case some rigging renewal was needed during the week, kindly donated by Moray Macphail of Classic Marine in Woodbridge, who has been a staunch and valued supporter of this event for some years. The marina people worked hard for the gaffers, clearing a whole pontoon for us, and what a sight it made with so many traditional vessels moored up together. The day’s highlight was (another) birthday party for Lena on Crow, with a special cake, champagne and a rousing chorus of the traditional birthday tune led by Robert Hill on the bagpipes.
Sunday 17th The event really began with the fun and games regatta on the Sunday, mainly in sunshine; although regatta organiser Mike Robertson had forecast sun and light winds for the whole week (what had he been smoking?), he did manage to keep the rain away for the Sunday by wearing his kilt; a sight would keep anything at bay. There were some innovative entries for the inflatable dinghy sailing race, won by Barry from Random and Clive off Rhumba, with a high-tech fully stayed carbon fibre rig, supporting, but only just, Rhumba’s vast cockpit cover as a square sail complete with sheets and braces. Once in clear wind, there was no catching them, although the crew of Crow in their flubber with hand-held mast and Flying Dutchman spinnaker, would have given them a good run for their money had not the human standing rigging collapsed, leaving the craft spiralling downwind, the sail thankfully muffling the curses coming from beneath. There was an excellent barbecue in the evening at the now complete Ipswich Marina Yacht Club, organised by Sue (Lady Bonify) Lewis who procured a great selection of sausages and burgers. And of course there was the gaffers scratch band to provide the music. Monday 18th Monday was the day when everyone should have got down to some serious sailing – but it was serious as in ‘force 4/5, occ. 6’ – so the planned cruise to the Walton Backwaters, with accompanying barbecue at Stone Point, was rescheduled to Wrabness. The unhelpful forecast resulted in the fleet splitting into four; the sensible folk who stayed in Ipswich, the foolhardy who attempted the trip to Wrabness, thought better about it and retired hurt to Pin Mill, the intrepid who actually made it to Wrabness and had a barbecue, and Robin and Helen in Great Days who arrived at Stone Point direct from Bradwell for the programmed event and wondered where everyone had got to. Tuesday 19th Tuesday’s forecast was even worse, ‘F6/7 occ. 8’, but most of the fleet managed to regroup at Pin Mill for a super meal at the Butt and Oyster, except Robin and Helen, who were still waiting at Stone Point for their barbecue. The meal at Pin Mill was organised at the last minute by Peter Thomas with his usual diplomacy – (at the bar at lunchtime; “can I order some meals for this evening?” “Certainly sir, how many?” “Sixty”, “****!”. Wednesday 20th The wind at last relented on the Wednesday to a manageable strength and the organising committee agreed to get the event back on course with the scheduled Scandinavian Seaways race to the Deben. Molly Cobbler volunteered to go down to Harwich harbour to view the conditions and found them relatively benign, so the race was on. (The logic being that if Molly was lost without trace, everyone could stay put at the Butt and Oyster and keep drinking). The race start was off the Harwich breakwater, the committee boat being Spare Rib; Phil and Wendy looked very lonely, bucketing about in the grey seas in their inflatable, but conducted the start in a very professional manner, sending off 22 gaffers and 3 bermudans on a wild down-hill ride to the self-timed finish off the Deben entrance. The course took the fleet across the main shipping lane at the correct point, or would have, had a container ship not joined in and refused to respond to shouts of ‘starboard’, or worse. About 4 or 5 gaffers got across before Might asserted his Right, the remainder of the starters having to alter course for a few minutes. I don’t think this made any difference to the result; Gwenili was flying and was first home, averaging over 5 kts, but had to cede first place on corrected time to My Quest. Random was the first bermudan home, beating Elfreda by only 41 secs on handicap. In fact, the whole fleet made such good time to the finish and then up the Deben to Woodbridge, that they had to sit around waiting for enough water and berths in the Tidemill, but the marina staff did a tremendous job fitting everyone in. Thursday 21st The next morning, Thursday, the model boat race provided a bit of light relief. Entries had to be constructed of whatever was to hand and produced some innovative solutions. Typical was Julia Raper’s entry, an inverted umbrella powered by an Old Gaffers flag, which whirled through the fleet at high speed, scything the opposition like some waterborne Boadicea’s chariot Thursday afternoon was billed as a gentle cruise down river to Ramsholt, but where two or more gaffers are gathered together it becomes a race and, as it was a dead beat all the way in a breeze gusting F6, it had its moments and was very enjoyable. The efficient Ramsholt harbour master soon had everyone moored up within reasonable distance of the pub and crews could be seen making their way to the marquee for supper. Once again, the Ramsholt Arms laid on a splendid meal and the usual scratch band provided music to round off a memorable visit to the Deben. Friday 22nd The Deben is a very beautiful river, but it decides when you arrive and leave; so first light Friday saw a bleary flotilla heading for their appointment with the bar – little craft going out on the tail of the ebb, bigger deeper draught boats punching the flood later. Fortunately, the wind went round to the NW to help the fleet on its way, but fell very light, with a thin drizzle and all the crews were glad to arrive at the next rendezvous, Wrabness on the Stour, and prepare for one of the week’s highlights, the famous beach barbecue. This was an unqualified success – again – and Mike, Julia and the gang can be congratulated on producing a great meal; and even the weather improved and gave us a wonderful sunset. Saturday 23rd Saturday’s Coastguard forecast promised more of the blowy stuff – NW 4 or 5, occ 6 at first - but Radio Essex was much more optimistic with only F3/4 and sunshine, so the Two Rivers Race got underway on schedule. The course took the fleet down the Stour against the flood but with a following wind and all manner of unrated sails were flown; spinnakers, tri-radials, water-sails, mizzen stays’ls, in an effort to catch Robert Berk’s Crow, which flew downriver and up the beat to the finish off Pin Mill to finish over 21 minutes ahead of James Palmer in Kestrel, whose favourable handicap could only erase 14 of those minutes and he had to be content with second place. Behind the leading pair, there was a struggle between two boats such as you only get in the OGA; between Charm, Robert Hill’s beautiful Albert Strange inspired gaff yawl, and Tinka Too, an equally attractive bermudan yawl. For the record, the gaffer finished 5 minutes ahead on the water, although of course they were in different classes. A number of boats who did well down wind – Gwenili, Carima, Ladybird, Tab Nab Robinetta and others- struggled on the beat up the Orwell, with its frustrating wind shifts, but not Ariel and Molly Cobbler, tacking on every shift to finish fourth and fifth. Sunday 24th Sunday, the last day and the final race of the week for the Presidents Trophy, the Coastguard were again promising SW’ly 5/6, with rain. In spite of the conditions, 18 boats came to the start line and only four retired, including Robinetta, who continued her daily seamanship lessons with ‘How to Kedge Off on a Falling Tide’. Once again, Crow powered away from the start, appearing to sail 10 degrees higher than anyone else and was first across the finish line, but couldn’t save her time and had to be content with fourth place behind Charm, Kestrel and Ariel. After a suitable lie-down, it was time for dinner and prize-giving; there were prizes for nearly everyone, even Molly Cobbler got a prize for ‘best performing small gaffer’ but her skipper is still unsure whether this referred to him or the boat. The Lightship kitchen staff produced an excellent meal for a capacity crowd and then it was music from Persephone Lewin’s Young Gaffers band, now augmented almost to Big Band status, who led off the proceedings with a rousing ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’. The singer/song-writing team of Keith Watson and Julie Osborn produced a haunting ‘East Coast Blues’ and Essex girl Lorna Hill rolled her rrr’s convincingly in a (deliberate) travesty of Robert Burns. And so to Bank Holiday Monday and time to disperse and face the rigours of the trip home – particularly for those like Crow and Tab Nab who had a F5/6 SW’ly on the nose all the way down to the Swale. Once again, the weather could have been kinder, but the company was good, there were no complaints, and there’s always next year. |