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recalled by Caroline Spencer in the Brighlingsea and Wivenhoe Chronicle May 2007 Re-print from Dan Houston of Classic Boat When he became secretary of the east Coast Area in 1982, he immediately started ‘doing things’. He set up passage races to encourage people to come to events and when Shotley marina opened, the OGA was there in force and the Shotley Classics was born. When the marina began to expand and fill more berths, the logistics of getting an extra forty or fifty boats in and out each day was too much and so Jon set up the ‘August Classics’ in its place. During the Shotley years, Jon linked up with a Dutch OGA member and together they set up the North Sea race and the Hellevoetsluis rally, which then grew into a ‘Wainwright Tour’ of various Dutch watering holes. They linked up with the Dutch VKSJ and the whole thing took off, culminating in the setting-up of the Dutch OGA area. All these things may have happened in time, but it was Jon’s endless enthusiasm and drive, backed up by a hard working committee, that created all the events we now enjoy – and maybe take for granted. And the Eastcoaster, that was Jon as well! 
He not only worked for the east coast area, but also on the Central OGA committee, setting up and chairing the sailing committee. He always referred to Central as the ‘Politburo’, a term that sometimes had a distinct sting in it, if he felt that things were not moving in a positive direction, but mostly it was a light-hearted term of endearment!
Jon’s sailing skills were always of the highest – it always seemed to me that Deva was sailed on the edge, whether in the river or on the sea. Those of you who know John Masefield’s ‘Bird of Dawning’ will remember the great clipper race at the climax of the story. They are roaring up channel in a westerly gale, when Fairford the mate suggests they take in sail before nightfall and cruiser Tewsbury’s reply; “take anything in? I was just thinking if we couldn’t set a royal!” I think Jon and Cruiser would have got on very well together! Thank you, Jon Wainwright, for all you have done for the Old Gaffers Association. Rob Williamson. My own first contacts with the VKSJ date back from 1996 or so. I sailed as a crew with Sea Nymph and didn’t own a boat of myself. I also joined the new years reception of the VKSJ and saw an Englishman with a loud laugh winning the Challenge Cup, wich was handed over at the VKSJ new years reception. I heard for the first time about Classic Passage Races and Challenge Cups. A few years later I bought my own boat. It had to be a classic one, because I wanted to join the VKSJ, especially for New Years receptions. Everybody was surprised. Why was a new years reception so important? I didn’t have the answer, but writing this word of thanks to Jon, I wonder: was Jon the reason for me to like those receptions that much, that I put myself into all the hard work a classic boat asks of an owner? It could very well be. I later learned a lot more about VKSJ, DCYR, Challenge Cup. I became a friend of Jon’s. We talked a lot about boats, sailing and associations. I joined the VKSJ racing committee and later the VKSJ board. I enjoyed doing so, also because of my contacts with Jon. He would ask about a certain VKSJ race, how it went. I would write that there was no wind, or too much. He would reply: Oh, Maud, you’re on the racing committee now. Don’t make mistakes anymore. You have to organize fair winds too, that’s part of your job! Without realizing it then, I now know that part of my VKSJ commitment comes from him. It was nice to talk about ideas, how to do things, what we could organize. I know the same applies for Joachim and founding a Dutch OGA area. Jon’s influence in Holland is very big. His contacts with me and Joachim in the past years, with Ron, Molly and Gosine in earlier years. For them their experience with him must have been the same as for me now. He inspired, made you enjoy being committed, made fun out of organizing things for others. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word networking from his mouth, but he was a natural networker. Without pretentions, he had an enormous international circle around him. And we all benefited from each other. The VKSJ, all the old board members and the new ones, participants of the DCYR and many VKSJ members are very happy to have known a committed man as Jon. Thank you Jon. Maud Kieft, VKSJ secretary. Rob Williamson read the poem “The Confirmation” by Edwin Muir and the Eulogy was given by Brian Hammett. This is reproduced below. Afterwards Margaret and the family invited us all to the Stour Sailing Club to toast Jon’s life. We are here to celebrate, and not to mourn, the life of our very dear friend Jon Wainwright. I am very honoured to be asked by his wife and family to say a few words about Jon. I have known Jon for over 25 years, more about that later. Jon was born in Bristol on the 13th January 1946, his parents at that time living in Chipping Sodbury. They moved to Hale in Cheshire, he went to school on Merseyside, left at the age of 18 to study Architecture at College in Liverpool. He had always had an interest in sailing, his first boat being a homemade model Galleon, with sails made by his mother, which she never got quite right! His father, merchant seaman, barrister and educationalist, purchased Deva and they kept and sailed her on the Menai Strait. Jon was a keen rugby player, and through the rugby club, at the age of nineteen on the day after his birthday, he met Margaret and they fell in love, Within two weeks of them meeting Jon took Margaret to meet his other and more important, girl friend in a shed on the Menai Strait. She was of course Deva. Jon’s father took up the post of Chief Education Officer at Richmond and they moved to London. Jon bringing Deva with him across the Pennines by river and canal, she was kept on the Thames and later moved to Tollesbury. Jon continued his studies at Hammersmith School of Architecture. Jon went to work for West Suffolk Council and rose to become the Council’s chief Architect. By his time Margaret had qualified as a teacher and taught at Bury St Edmunds. They have two children Andrew and Elizabeth. Jon and Margaret married in 1971. The year was always remembered by Jon as the year he won the East Coast Old Gaffers race on the Blackwater with his other girl friend Deva, the wedding being purely incidental. Jon was always highly competitive, he played rugby for Richmond and later Bury St Edmonds. He lived live to the full, in fact sometimes to overflowing! He tragically lost his best friend in a motorcar accident in which he should have been a passenger. He was playing rugby for Bury St Edmonds at the time of the terrible plane crash in which the whole team, travelling to an international match, were killed. He had been due to fly with them. Jon and Margaret had identical tastes, likes and dislikes, in everything except Jon’s overriding passion, sailing. Margaret could never see any reason for going round a load of buoys when racing, why not go straight there! There was one famous occasion when crewing in a race and Jon wanted to tack and Margaret, reading a book, said, “Not until I have finished this chapter!” Jon worked for Mid Suffolk until his first Heart Bypass operation in 1986 after recovery he worked as a consultant and in private practice, opened an office in Mistley, Topsail House, destined to become the permanent office of the East Coast Old Gaffers Association. More heart problems lead to a second operation in 1993 when his Doctors gave him a maximum of 8 years to live. That was 14 years ago! So to his sailing career, his ownership of Deva led to a passionate interest in the gaff rig and membership of the Old Gaffers Association. He became secretary of the East Coast Area in the late seventies, a post he held ever since. He was virtually responsible for the development of the OGA in this part of the country. Until he became secretary there was little OGA activity, apart from the Annual East Coast race. I first met Jon in, I believe, 1981 soon after I had purchased Avola and attended a rally in late August on the Stour at Wrabness. I will never forget it, in those days, and I mean no disrespect to anyone, the OGA were the great unwashed, they only wore dirty smocks, smoked funny smelling tobacco, had no insurance for their boats, held barbeques on bonfires fit for funeral pyres, and fixed all the races so that only the local boats could win and then drunk copious quantities of ale to celebrate their undoubted superiority. The race on the particular occasion I refer to was timed to finish at Mistley at half tide, so that all the larger boats from other parts of the East Coast ran aground and the locals drawing about 18 inches sailed past them to win! The first words Jon said to me at the prize giving at the Stour Sailing Club were “Oh! You’re the people from the posh yacht aren’t you?” We have been great friends ever since and now we all wear dirty smocks! In the late 80’s Jon persuaded the management of a brand new marina, at Shotley, to host a Classic Boat Festival. It ran for nine years, in fact until the marina was too full to accommodate us and regularly attracted over 200 boats. There was racing every day, entertainment every night and often over a hundred different beers on tap, and it lasted a week. It has never been bettered as a participation event, although the Dutch Classic Yacht Regatta in Hellevoetsluis, in Holland comes close to it, but that is only every other year and only lasts a few days. The Shotley days were followed for a couple of years by a major festival in Ipswich Wet Dock at that time practically derelict. This finished when the Council withdrew funding. Since then Jon with the East Coast Committee has developed a series of events on the East Coast, Southwold, August Classics, Stour Rally, Crouch events, Brigaff, Swamazons etc In 1991 Jon was persuaded to take Deva to Holland to the Dutch Classic Yacht Regatta an event that I had attended since its inception in 1987. He loved it so much so that he became European Champion in 1998 and 2002. Although there were several OGA members in Holland and Belgium, Jon was on a mission to found an OGA Area in the Netherlands. He achieved his ambition a few years ago and there is now a thriving Dutch OGA operating as a stand-alone organisation and I am very pleased to see members here today. Not being satisfied with only having one boat, Jon purchased another Morecambe Bay Prawner, Maryll specifically to be able to keep one boat in Holland and participate in events with his Dutch friends. He sailed Maryll to the Baltic and this encouraged him to buy a third boat Renyardine a Gaff Yawl to be able to sail the Baltic again. This last ambition was never achieved. We received regular fleet reports in the East Coaster; something else Jon produced entirely himself for the benefit of all of us on the East Coast. Maryll was sold earlier this year and is now back in West Mersea. In 2001 Jon’s sailing autobiography, “Only So Many Tides”, was published, this came as quite a shock to most of us. It gave us an incite into the man himself and what made him tick, it was a shock, as most of us appeared in it!” Jon is impossible to replace, he has given so much pleasure to so many people, to his loyal and devoted crews, many of who are here today, to the members of the OGA and to his many friends in Holland. He gave his time unstintingly to serve on the National Committee of our Association for the benefit of traditional boat sailors everywhere. He was a fantastic sailor, he won races because he could sail better than the other man, and he knew his local waters intimately and used that knowledge to get the edge over the competition. The help we received on Jon’s final journey into Holland from his friends, the Dutch OGA, the organisers of the Dutch Classic Yacht Regatta, and the authorities, was magnificent and I know was very much appreciated by the family. Although Jon was not there when Renyardine sailed into Holland, cruised on to Steenbergen, arrived at Hellevoetsluis for the Regatta, I am certain his hand was on the helm. The best memorial we can give to Jon Wainwright is to continue what he started, remember his unique laugh and when the trip is done have a really good party! He passed over the bar in the way he would have chosen exactly half way between his friends and family in England and friends and adopted family in Holland, sailing his boat on the North Sea with a fair wind, good visibility, a bit of a sea running, and his friends in other boats close by. May he continue sailing to eternity? Brian Hammett 14th August 2007  Jon and 'Reynardine' taken by Doug Walker - crew 'Witch' on the evening of July 21 as we started on our passage across to Holland. 
It is with deep sorrow that we must report that our Hon Treasurer Denise “Fred” Rawlinson passed away this morning (Wednesday 27 June 2007). She collapsed on the evening of 18 June at the Colne Yacht Club at the end of the East Coast Old Gaffers event at Brightlingsea, and was rushed to hospital by emergency services. She did not regain consciousness despite best efforts of the medical team at Romford hospital.
“Fred” was much more than just a Treasurer to a club, although for an active organisation like the East Coast, that was a substantial task in its own right. She also organised the Annual Dinner at the Royal Burnham, the Foulness Island Rally and the Crouch Rally. For the East Coast Race she ran the registration desk, making sure people got their Reeds numbers, who wanted a sea food meal at West Mersea, who wanted an OG dinner at Brightlingsea, who wanted a trip on Pioneer, selling regalia etc. etc. She did not hold back from speaking her mind in “Strine” to those who deserved it, but was ever so kind and helpful to people who were new to the OGA. She was a “Good Mate” to so many people. In recent years she joined the Royal Burnham YC, and did a lot for them at regatta and Burnham Week. She also became company secretary for that club, with all that involved. She had a tremendous amount of energy which she committed to us sailing folk completely free of charge. For those who did not know her, Fred was an Australian. She met her husband Trevor many years ago on a P&O Liner, where he was one of the crew, and she was one of the passengers taking her mother for a cruise. Classic shipboard romance, they married and came to live in Burnham. They bought a Cornish Shrimper, which they named “Aussie II”. Although Fred liked living in England, she was always very much an Aussie. They only concession to living in Pommie-land she made was to prefer Adnams Bitter (a local East Anglian brew) to the more typical antipodean “4X” ! It was just by chance Fred and Trevor were walking along the sea wall above Burnham on Crouch and they saw the Old Gaffers having a barbecue and barrel of beer in the mud at the first Crouch Rally. Always prepared to “muck in and help”, it wasn’t too long before they were helping out with stuffing and addressing newsletters- in those days no mail merge, labels etc, you hand wrote the addresses! They joined the committee and after a year or two were i/c the Crouch and Roach gaff scene, and accepted by the famous “Crouch Mafia”. It’s not easy trying to develop interest in gaffers in an area, which is famed more for modern competitive boat racing. But through her efforts we gaffers have always been made welcome at the “RB”, and the Sicilian Flag is often flown when we arrive in Burnham. There is a huge gap to fill for gaffers in the area, and our hope is that out of respect that people come forward to carry on her work. She had just “Shut up shop” from the East Coast Old Gaffers Race weekend. From the Yacht Club we were watching Pioneer and her OGA charterers returning in the evening, the last event, when the tragedy happened. Our thoughts go to Trevor, her husband.  The funeral service was held on July 17 in Burnham on Crouch. We met up at the Royal Burnham Yacht Club, then followed the hearse through the streets of Burnham. The coffin had a large OGA flag draped over. There were many, many mourners and Burnham came to a standstill until the procession had made its way to St Cuthberts Church. All the seats in the church were taken very early on, many had to stand, the church was completely packed. Father Peter Connor led the service, Rob Williamson (East Coast President) read the lesson, whilst Brian Hammett (Association President read Psalm 23. Judy Payne James of the Royal Burnham YC read Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar”, whilst Roy Hart (OGA & RB) did a Eulogy to Fred, also reading mails from Fred’s Australian relations. The service was concluded with the “Gaffers Song” led by Pete (The Knife) Elliston. The last verse is shown below (with apologies to those with pointed sails): “Bemudan’s a gimmick, it’s not here to stay I’d rather a gaffer to sail any day. It’s the past and the future all rolled into one The glorious gaff cutter will sail on and on” Chorus: And it’s no, nay, never, no nay never no more Will I sail a bermudan, nay never no more! The mourners made their way back to the Royal Burnham, to toast in beer and song the wonderful memory of Fred and the thanksgiving for the life of Denise “Fred” Rawlinson, just the way she would have liked it. Dick started sailing while in the RAF in Germany and in about 1963 he bought a Polish built Folkboat, ‘Forfar’, which he initially kept on the Thames off Southend. He was a perfectionist, who liked to know both the theory and the practice of what he was doing came together. This was no more clearly identified than in the way he applied himself to his sailing , navigation and boat construction, both ‘Forfar’ and his latest boat being testament to his skills of putting theory into practice. Moving his mooring to the Pagelsham area in the late 1960’s bought him into contact with more traditional boat owners and by 1970 he had joined the OGA. Dick quietly went on meeting more East Coast Members who soon appreciated his good seamanship and companionship. It was not long before he was invited to sail here or crew there, and so he participated in a number of East Coast Races, Shotley Festivals and Kent events. With a small number of OGA friends, all usually sailing single handed, he undertook a pilgrimage up the East Coast each year with the aim of visiting all the well known rivers and anchorages. Having worked for a number of years to improve Forfar’s hull and rig to near perfection, Dick then looked round for new projects. His last boat was the Dutch Classic ‘Hooge Springer’, a steel centreboard yacht built on traditional Dutch lines as designed by Max Gunning, a naval architect to the Royal Netherlands Navy. Typically, Dick was working on this vessel to bring it up to his standard when he became ill and died. He will be missed by many of us who have happy memories of his friendship and help. 1921-2007 He had a very full life, with such diverse interests as Athletics, Rugby, both as a player and refereeing, a RADA scholarship, and then war service in theRAF as a navigator in Ferry Command bringing unarmed Lancaster to the UK from America among other duties, and of course, his sailing. He was a founder member of the OGA, and served as East Coast Area Secretary in the early 70’s. Many of the things we now take for granted were initiatives during his tenure, one of which was the Heineken Rally in 1974- the first East Coast -Dutch event.( remember that when you take part in the Hellevoetsluis Rally this year!) In his later years, he took part in many EC events, sailing Sea Pig all over the Thames Estuary, usually single-handed. He was of the generation that tended to give more than it takes- he was my mentor during my first year of teaching, and he instilled into me the maxim that “ children and young people are to be liked, helped, and encouraged, not only driven.” It was a new idea in the 60’s, but one which I held to for all my years as a teacher. Sea Pig is to be based at Wrabness this coming season- look out for her, and lets see if Colin sails her as well as his Dad. Rob Williamson. His passing away is more than just the death of a single person, it is the passing away of an era of the zenith of sailing as a profession. His grandfather was skipper of the America’s Cup Challenger Endeavour and his father was skipper of the Astra. In the days of the J Class, East Coast fishing villages such as Tollesbury used to provide the skippers and crews to the big yachts of the aristocracy. They fished in the winter, but sailed the big yachts in the summer. Gayle continued this tradition of professionalism into the present day yachting scene. Apprenticed originally at Gowen’s, he later set up his own business in Tollesbury, employing some thirty staff in the crafting of high performance sails for top racing boats. The C class Cats, which used to race in the Little America’s Cup or the Olympics, would set his sails, for example. He later turned the emphasis of his business to more “traditional” sailmaking, but “traditional” to Gayle still meant no compromise on performance cutting, and the good workmanship could be taken for granted. His first forays into sailing Old Gaffers was in Jade, a restored Seaview Mermaid. Sailmaking aside, he was an incredible helm and tactician, knowing exactly when to tack, knowing exactly how to trim the sails and knowing exactly how to steer a boat to best speed, whether it was his own boat or a boat he had never sailed before. 
After he had notched up many victories in Jade, both in Old Gaffers Races or modern competition, he acquired Laura, a 37ft Morecambe Bay Prawner. Laura was the subject of a book “ I bought a Prawning Boat”, written by Delmar Morgan, just after the war. Delmar Morgan later used Laura when he produced the sailing guide and pilot for yachtsmen “North Sea Harbours and Pilotage- Calais to Den Helder.” Laura, however, had been left to rot on Tollesbury saltings. But Gayle recognised her pedigree and spent some years restoring her to her original glory, and back to gaff rig too.
Prawners, or “Nobbies” as they were mostly called, had a reputation for speed, but Laura in Gayle’s hands was exceptional. The best racing smacks could match her on a reach or a run, but she would leave them for dead going to windward. Was it the sails, was it the hull, was it the man? Probably a combination of all three, working together. So devastating was her performance, rules for smack races had to be changed for the benefit of the less able. Once she was entered for the Mersey Nobby Race, but even then she outclassed totally her own class. No longer able to race in many events, she went north again, bought by descendants of her original builders, Crossfield of Arneside. Gayle was a man whose quiet but friendly manner belied a genius of hidden depth. Strong as the most hair-shirted, technically skilled as the most time-served, he had that special sensitive understanding of form, balance and aesthetics which makes a true artist. The design of his house at the Mount at Tollesbury is illustration of some of these aspects. Before he retired from sailmaking, he transferred his business to his partner Steve Hall (North Sea Sails). The logo, the cut and the workmanship lives on. But so will the memory of him in Tollesbury, and whenever people on the East Coast with sailing boats meet to talk about sails. A service of “Celebration” of this exceptional man’s life was held at Tollesbury Parish Church, followed by a wake at the Kings Head. Amongst the many attending were past and present OGA Presidents, Rob Williamson, George Jago and Brian Hammett. The Tollesbury Sailing Club Commodore and the East Coast Secretary spoke at the service. Gayle leaves his wife Jean, three daughters and a son.  |
