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recalled by Caroline Spencer in the Brighlingsea and Wivenhoe Chronicle May 2007 In addition to her accounting skills, each spring Denise would meticulously organise the Annual OGA Dinner at the Royal Burnham Yacht Club. The Seating plan was always superbly worked out and the food excellent. One part of the proceedings would always follow the same format with Ray Austen (Godfather of the Crouch mafia) donning his sunglasses in order to welcome Jon and the members of the East Coast area to their abode. Naturally Jon (as Godfather of the Stour and Orwell mafia) would don his sunglasses in order to acknowledge this welcome and to toast the local members. In many ways Denise was almost the opposite of Jon. Quiet most of the time (unlike Jon), but always running on all cylinders when it came to the area’s finances. Denise steered an unerringly accurate course. She could always be relied upon to keep our house in impeccable order. On more than one occasion she was able to correct either the Finance and General Purposes Committee (as they used to be known) or the General Management Committee (as they are now known) on an issue relating to finances and book keeping. And, once Denise had stated her case, you did not argue. (In Jon’s mind it didn’t really matter what OGA central committee called themselves or how often they might change their name, they were (and will always remain, I am sure) the ‘Politburo’). Myself, and my wife Sandra, joined the OGA in 1992 shortly after we purchased our boat. We subsequently attended the 1993 Shotley Classic Boat Festival and very quickly got to know Jon, Brian, Matt Wing and many other OGA members who we now regard as very dear and close friends. It was immediately obvious that Jon (along with Matt and Brian) took a leading role in organising this prestigious event, the likes of which we are unlikely ever to witness again. Each day a different event was staged. One day would be Deben day, another day would be Walton Backwaters, and towards the end of the week we would all participate in the ‘Mistley Ditch Crawl’. The directions of which clearly stated each year; “leave the quay to port and the swans to starboard”. The spooky thing was that these instructions were unerringly accurate. Every day we were presented with a copy of the ‘Shitley Spot’ which contained all relevant gossip regarding who had done what to whom, race results and advertisements for either crew or partners! The OGA Dating Agency working at its best. Those were heady days and I, for one, could never visualise them ending. But, as all things come to an end so did Shotley. 1997 saw all the participants of the last Shotley Classic Boat Festival sail up the Orwell to Ipswich Dock on an exceedingly wet Friday afternoon in order to attend Maritime Ipswich. As we all know, the festival didn’t really end as it was re-incarnated as East Coast Classics in 1998 and has now evolved into the ever popular August Classics Cruise. As Jon stated in his last copy of Eastcoaster, same venues as Shotley, same races as Shotley, same prizes and trophies as Shotley. In recent years most of the events staged by the East Coast have been managed and developed either by individuals or small sub committees. Jon was a leading light in the August Classics Cruise sub committee (as well as most of the other committees) and was always there to keep us on a true and accurate course. It has already been suggested that this year’s August Classics Cruise should be dedicated to Jon, and I would fully endorse this idea. 
The Regatta day that is now held at the beginning of the August Classics Cruise was, I believe instigated by Jon. Certainly if the regatta itself was not his idea, then I have every confidence that the ‘Rubber Flubber Football Final’ was certainly down to him.
Also, many of you may recall that during the Easter Rally ‘Reynardine’ was not performing as well as expected and Jon decided that a dose of ‘Iron Topsail’ (engine) was called for in order to get to the finish line before the pub shut. From this point onward this particular practice will, I am sure, always be referred to as ‘Doing a Wainwright’! I would like to take this opportunity, if I may, to share a few personal memories of Jon Wainwright. Very few people are aware that Jon and myself shared an interest in model railways. We admitted to ourselves that were it not for sailing, railways would probably become hobby ‘Number One’. This interest also manages to fill up winter leisure time. To this end I have constructed a model railway around my workshop in the back garden. On occasions, maybe once a month or so, Jon would come round for the evening so that we could indulge in a ‘running session’. These evenings would always follow the same format. The usual excuse was that we had something or other to discuss regarding a forthcoming OGA event, but this never took very long to get sorted out. We would then adjourn to the shed and Jon would start taking things out of boxes. Somehow he would never be satisfied that a goods train was long enough and trains in excess of 30 or 40 wagons was not at all uncommon. After about half an hour Sandra, my wife, would bring us a tray of tea and biscuits. Later in the evening we would pop round to the ‘Swan’ for a swift half of Adnams, but we were never there very long. Jon would soon be getting fidgety and claim that we needed to get back as the ‘Night Mail’ was due. As far as I can recall, not one of these evenings ended much before about 12:30 am. I also recall that it invariably took me most of the next evening to put everything away again! My model railway is set in the late 50s, early 60s and apart from a couple of diesel shunters, is populated entirely by steam locomotives. Jon was adamant that we ought to have at least one main line diesel locomotive. We discussed this at some length (in the pub) and I quite liked the idea of a Class 55 Deltic, but as he pointed out ‘Deltics’ were not at all common in East Anglia (where the model railway is theoretically set) and that what we really needed was a Class 37. (affectionately known as ‘Whistlers’). I half agreed with him, but never got around to obtaining one. That said, the senior railway management (who must always be obeyed) insisted that a Class 37 must be purchased in Jon’s memory. This has now been done and the said locomotive, 37 411’ has been obtained and undergone a naming ceremony. There is only one name that it could carry - Jon’s.  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. Well I soon met the Saturday girl in the local wholefood shop, married the girl and bought the shop. What has all this to do with Jon? Well two things really. At the AGM at Wolverstone I was silly enough to stand up and say “Why don’t we run events at Brightlingsea – the home port for many fine Essex Smacks and other working boats. The next thing I knew, I was on the Committee and helping to run the East Coast Race from Brightlingsea. Many Old Gaffers spend hundreds of hours looking after their craft and consider this their first love as did Jon, but I have an ancient timber framed house built in 1565. This is where Jon came into his own. His day job as skilled architect rarely got in the way of sailing. Clients were informed at an early stage that work could only be done in the winter, if at all. I finally persuaded Jon to come and survey my house which required extensive restoration. He arrived, did the survey and drew the plans. While he waxed lyrical about the quality of the building work in 1565, I drooled over the master plans carefully prepared by Jon. This also involved working in the jungle of the back garden (in shorts and Wellington boots) in the middle of winter. Jon quietly obtained planning permission for the changes to our listed house from the local authority in five weeks flat – this must be a record! Later, when work was under way, I made an emergency call to Jon on his mobile. We were sure the wall we had just removed had caused subsidence of the main structure. Jon was confident that this was unlikely, reassured us that all timber framed houses and boats creak a little from time to time, and we should not worry. We safely removed the accro props to discover Jon was absolutely right. Now restoration is almost complete. All visitors marvel about how the building has been transformed into a model dwelling with a wonderful old ambiance. Good for another 400 years at least!. We have lasting memories of Jon sharing a gin and tonic and a real ale in the log cabin, East Coast Race base, whilst being clambered on by twins with a golden smile and a voice of burnished oak. Amber and Richard Giles Sara Brightlingsea. 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. The Regatta at Hellevoetsluis is a huge event with over 180 boats and the civic reception at the town hall is a noisy affair attended by a couple of hundred people who chatter over the officials’ speeches – but you could have heard the proverbial pin drop when the sad news of Jon’s death was announced by the organisers. Everyone was moved by Brian Hammett’s emotional tribute and perfect silence was maintained for a full minute in respect for an old friend. On a more personal note, as relatively recent arrivals on the East Coast scene, we have loved joining in the many Old Gaffers’ events and we now try to plan our other activities around them. We have been impressed by the hours and hours of dedicated work put in by long-serving committee members like Jon, and Fred who we also sadly lost recently. If only we hadn’t left it too late to say to them a big heartfelt “Thank you!”. We not only benefited from all Jon’s hard work organising events but we also looked forward to his witty write-ups afterwards. We appreciated when improvements to our boat were noted (presumably because at last our rather large gaffer was overtaking his rather smaller one now and then) and we enjoyed cheeky references to our prototype mini-tops’l as “Mrs B’s Knickers”. And of course we’ll miss those funny funny Fleet Reviews of his. Let’s hope that Fleet Aftercare is up to scratch. Cheers Jon! Love from Howard and Mrs B Bonify Ipswich A chance meeting with Shippers in the Waggon and Horses at Mistley led to an invitation to visit the Stour Sailing Club. The following day I called in at the club. I met Jon, a few other club members and left, after a few close encounters with pints of Adnams, with an application form in my hands. A few weeks later I was aboard Maryll sailing up the London river, with Jon and Shippers, taking her to Limehouse for the Frostbite race. Thankfully that February was quite mild but snow and ice would not have deterred Jon. I received a phone call a couple of days later letting me know that Jon was bringing back the winner’s trophy. 
Later that year I went over to the Netherlands (I was recently told off by a Dutchman for calling it Holland) for my first introduction to Deva. It was also my first encounter with some of the Dutch old gaffers who Jon had known, and had become great friends with, over many years. We had a wonderful time sailing, sampling the ginever, and enjoying the Dutch hospitality. On the return passage Jon rarely relinquished the helm on the overnight trip until his crew spotted his eyelids drooping, a few miles off Felixstowe, and ordered him down below.
This year Shippers was unable to crew for Jon so I was promoted to regular crew status. We started the OGA season with the Trafalgar Day event on the Stour. Unfortunately on the first night Jon had a fall injuring his ribs. The following morning I had a crash course in Deva/gaffer sailing. It restored my faith in my ability to learn which I felt had been tailing off rapidly over many years. But I couldn’t have had a better tutor than JW. The next event we did was the Southwold Smack & Classic Boat Rally in June. We had a horrible passage up to Southwold with pouring rain for several hours and very lumpy seas. This didn’t deter Jon. We got there while a couple of others had turned back and others had decided not to go out at all. We came second in the Sole Bay Race and were particularly pleased to take a polypin of Adams back aboard. We were a bit disappointed the next day when we discovered it was not bright beer and therefore needed twenty-four hours in a stable position to settle. No chance of that aboard Diva. A few days later we were off to Brightlingsea for the East Coast Old Gaffers Race. It was one of those days when nothing seemed to go right. We were last across the line. However, it should be noted that many others had withdrawn from the race which Jon wouldn’t have dreamt of doing. Despite coming last we won three trophies, more than anyone else, including the wonderful Old Harry Trophy which you can see Jon holding on the OGA website (www.eastcoastoldgaffers.co.uk). We were really pleased with this trophy since Old Harry is saluting the world with a two-fingered salute of which we felt the OGA should be proud. On Saturday 21 July, Russell Harvey joined us at Levington for the North Sea Classic Passage Race to the Netherlands. Due to wind and sea conditions the race start was delayed until 6pm that evening. At about 3am I received a shout from Russell that Jon had collapsed. Jon had died of a heart attack aboard one of his beloved old gaffers doing what had motivated him for most of his life. Only minutes before he had been laughing and joking in his usual way. Nobody will ever match that laugh of Jon’s. I felt very privileged when I was invited to sail with not-so-old gaffer. However awful that last trip across the North Sea was, Russell and I will always feel very proud to have been with Jon on his final passage. Signed Mal Bezant At the time of writing, many other people are doubtless composing obituaries for Jon telling how his life touched theirs. Here is another point of view from the friends that he left behind in Southwold. In June 1997, sailing away from the last Shotley Classic Boat Festival, the seed of an idea was sown to organise a similar gathering at Southwold. Our harbour entrance enjoys a certain reputation for being difficult to negotiate; it is relatively shallow, the ebb tide runs at up to six knots and the south side was designed with large gaps between concrete piles allowing a backwash to develop that can catch the inexperienced helmsman off-guard. One of the aims of the organisers was to dispel these fears especially among owners of older craft, who were not so keen to venture from their Essex estuaries in to the rough and tumble of the North Sea. Jon Wainwright had called into Southwold that year en route from the Lowestoft Fish Fayre and Smack Race with his venerable 1914 Morecombe-Bay prawner, Deva. He found the place “delightfully crazy,” and immediately offered the services of the OGA when he visited Mr and Mrs Buckley at Harbour Marine Services and heard of the plans afoot. Consequently, in 1998, the first Southwold Smack and Classic Boat Rally was held. Twenty-two boats attended, many of whom were led down the coast by Jon, now sailing his alternative “nobby yacht” Maryll. Jon recalls: After the usual jollifications, we had a race off the town, sponsored by the local brewery, Adnams. It was a very good turnout, as every entrant had been promised a case of Broadside strong ale. I have never seen a prize giving like it. There was a huge mountain of beer cases, and watching all the skippers and crews swaying back to their boats in the dusk clutching cases of ale was very amusing. The Southwold Smack and Classic Boat Regatta as it came to be known was held for eight consecutive years with increasing success. Supported by Southwold Town council, Waveney District Council and Southwold Sailing Club. For up to five days each June it featured well organised racing with generous prizes donated by local businesses, principally Adnams brewery. Live music was provided by east coast bands such as John Ward and Mario Price, the Cromer Smugglers and the Rum Ould Boys. The last day was often dedicated to “water frolics” smack-boat pulling races and tug-o-war between OGA and harbour teams. But the real stars were the fifty or so classic boats, some of which date from the nineteenth century that braved the Suffolk coast and Southwold’s harbour entrance in order to bring a glorious spectacle to Blackshore public stage, dressed over-all for their concours d’elegance. It has been estimated that this event annually attracted an extra 15,000 visitors to Southwold town, many of whose businesses rely on the revenue generated by the tourist industry. None of these events would have been possible without the organisational skills, tireless dedication and, above all, sheer, boundless enthusiasm of our old friend, Jon Wainwright. He will be sadly missed by all of us who have been in any way involved in the classic boat movement. APO & AB, 3.8.07 Signed Andrew Osborn Southwold 
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.  |
