Southwold is lovely; Southwold Harbour is one of those special places, which have a ‘time machine’ effect upon you, the moment you arrive. No marinas or pontoons – but straightforward wooden piling with fender boards – and ‘mean business’ shore lines. With a pub, a friendly yacht club and ‘loads of sheds’ some selling fish (plus one also selling chips!), what more could you want? The perfect place for an Old Gaffers gathering.
The weekend itinerary: Passage Race on Saturday, Sole Bay Race on Sunday, home on Monday. Having endured last year’s Passage Race to Southwold when I decided ‘I just wasn’t cut out for this type of thing’ – it was with some trepidation that I found myself heading off to Southwold once more. However, I reckoned that things could only get better, but quickly recalculated that reasoning when informed by the Skipper ‘We would be leaving Levington at 4am’ – ‘In the interests of best tide’ – apparently! Worse was to come, 4am turned into 3.30am, courtesy of ‘the boat next to us’ deciding it needed to catch a 3am tide, so once awake, what the hell – get up! Arriving in S’wold after a most pleasant sail, - fresh winds, but from a most agreeable direction, Patient Griselda, Gwenili and Quintet were already moored at the quay. There was no sign of life on the gleaming Gwenili, who, Colin, the most helpful Harbour Master explained, had arrived at 7am after an overnight sail from London docks and so her crew were asleep. In the interests of not wishing to wake them, Charm’s crew tiptoed to the pub. During the afternoon as the wind increased further, Maryll and Ladybird arrived to moor alongside. Maryll had enjoyed a fast sail under much reduced canvas, Ladybird though, coming from the North, was less fortunate than last year with the wind direction ( she won the 2007 Passage Race). This was Maryll’s crews’ first visit to S’wold (by water), which has prompted Keith to rewrite the sailing directions, which he believes “are currently designed to keep the hordes away!” Southwold Sailing Club, who kindly allow us to use their facilities, cooked us a lovely supper on Saturday evening, with Graham and Andrew entertaining us in true musical gaffer style. The forecast for Sunday was guess what? – windy! They forecast 5 – 6 NW. However, this was off the land, so a confident Gaffer fleet left the harbour for the Sole Bay Race. Colin advised that we should return to harbour by the last of the flood. A triangular course was set, both to give good spectator viewing from the pier and to ensure that no one had to fight the wind and tide to the finish line which was off the harbour entrance. The breeze was sufficient for all the Gaffers to sail under reefed main as the sun shone on the start of the race. We were honoured to have the most perfect committee boat at our service, ‘Meridies’, a beautiful motor yacht kindly loaned by David Worthington. It is obvious that they had their work cut out, as the following extract from Race Officer, Richard Symes’ report to Southwold Sailing Club demonstrates: 
Noon Sunday 20th July
CH 37 “Southwold Gaffers, Southwold Gaffers, this is Meridies. The next series of guns do not form part of your race, they are the start sequence for the dinghy race. Meridies out” CH 37 “ Skylark, Skylark, this is Meridies, Southwold Harbourmaster calling. Your finish line for the Brown boats is too close to the sand bar, and is obstructing the approach to the harbour. Please move it 2 cables to the SE. Over” “Meridies, this is Skylark…………..” CH 12 “ Meridies this is Southwold Harbour. What are the berthing instructions for the Brown Boats ? Over” “Southwold Harbour this is Meridies, berthing for Brown boats is ………..” Ch 37 “Meridies Meridies this is Tinkatoo, Tinkatoo, I wish to inform you that we have raised our protest flag ! “ CH 12 Southwold Harbour, rib. We are towing disabled dinghy and are about to enter harbour…………..” CH37 “Station calling Meridies Standby” “Five, four, three, two, one, GUN! “ Flags down, all clear. It was a glorious day. A good breeze, brilliant sunshine, and it was all happening at sea off Southwold. The Old Gaffers were racing round and round from the harbour to the pier and the dinghies were chasing them on the same course but in a different race. The Brown Boats were racing down from Lowestoft to visit the Club for lunch. The windward mark was just off the pier. What a place to be. No need for binoculars today, not even the Tim Hunkin variety ! Of course if it wasn’t for Southwold Sailing Club nothing would have happened at all. Just flat grey North Sea. But not today. A great spectacle for the Town and a day the Club can be proud of. The radio is normally pretty quiet on a race day, but not this day. We had two radios, often working simultaneously on different channels, and even then there were times when the safety boat couldn’t manage to get a word in. At least we didn’t have to use CH16 ! We felt we did the Old Gaffers proud by having a beautiful gentleman’s motor yacht at the end of the start line. For the race officer it was wonderful, like having an office at sea. The horn worked ! Everything worked, and when David was relieved from Flag Officer duty, he was serving up tea, coffee and chocolate cake. When the radio traffic was too busy our safety boats would come alongside for instructions (or was it the cake ?) On shore the Clubhouse was a hive of activity……….. …….. Sunday 20th July The Bar-B-Q seemed to go on all evening, as did the prize giving, thanks to the very generous sponsorship from Adnams. The protest was dealt with by the gentleman concerned in a most gentlemanly manner. Monday 21st July Cold grey North Sea beckons Forecast: W 6 possibly 7 The Old Gaffers dragged themselves out of their bunks. Clad themselves in sea boots, oilskins and lifejackets. One by one they reluctantly put out to sea. It had been a great weekend, but now it was time to go home. Richard Symes It was a brilliant weekend. We are indebted to the members of Southwold Sailing Club who look after us so well, both Harbour Masters for their expertise, David for providing Meridies and Adnams for their generous and much appreciated support for the event. As Richard mentions above, the prize giving was held after the Bar-B-Q which indeed did last some time. It was difficult to choose between fresh fish (from the fisherman’s shed), or meat from the butchers in Southwold, which courtesy of Peter Thomas’ Taxi Service (very reasonable rates!) made both an easy option. Yes, both! And now the results: The Passage Race and the Concours d’ Elegance were deservedly won by Gwenili, who sailed overnight, fresh from her refit in London, her first trip of the season. She looks great. In the Sole Bay Race Tinkatoo was the first boat across the line and first Bermudan. Charm won the Sole Bay Cup with Gwenili a very close second and third place went to Maryll. Well that really concludes the report; oh, except for that Monday forecast. Yes it was W 6 or 7, and as such, not on the nose, as would be usual, so most boats enjoyed a fast sail home. Lorna Hill ‘Charm’ |