Solent Old Gaffers Annual Race - 50th Anniversary

Back in the Autumn of 1958 some local yachtsmen sat in the back bar of the Jolly Sailor pub in Bursledon and agreed to hold a race specifically for gaff rigged boats. Gaff rig describes a boat with a square main sail, which has a wooden spar both at the top and bottom of the sail. It was common on traditional English working boats, but even back in the 1950's wasn't competitive against the triangular "Bermudan" sails which were ubiquitous among more modern racing craft.

The first race had only three entries and was the first Old Gaffers Association OGA race. Since then the race has been held annually with increasing numbers.


Sunday saw the 50th anniversary of the race, with a fine turn out mostly from the local Solent OGA. The sky's were low and grey with a stiff breeze blowing from the south west which made for an exciting and fast race.


Running off from the East Knoll buoy the fleet was spreading out on a fast run, despite the strong winds most boats were setting as much sail as they dared.

Back in Bursledon for the prize giving, everyone had enjoyed a thoroughly good race and returned without any major breakages.

Winner of the class 1 was the yawl Iseult which in addition to winning the 50th anniversary race, also celebrates her 100th year.

Bursledon Regatta August 29th 30th

Our local Bursledon Regatta takes place at the end of August (29th/30th). The regatta which celebrates it’s 139th year , starts on Saturday 29th in the Elephant Boatyard and has the theme “Pirates of the Caribbean” which should provide a colourful backdrop to the event.

On Saturday (29th) morning dinghy races run from Lands End Hard down river, past Hamble and Warsash villages and out around the cardinal buoy in Southampton water, before turning back to the finish at Bursledon.

In the afternoon the rowing races will take place in Bursledon pool between the Elephant yard and the Jolly Sailor pub. I’ll be racing Gato Nego against the Hamble gigs, as I did in the Hamble River Raid in back in May, so please come and cheer me on.

If previous years are anything to go by, the dinghy parade promises to be interesting, expect at least a couple of pirate ships to turn up for the parade.

Photo’s below are from last year’s regatta when the theme was “Camelot”. The winning entry was a castle complete with damsel in distress and working drawbridge – not bad for a 12 foot dinghy!!

The evening event kicks off with a torch lit dinghy parade, hog roast and music, followed by fireworks.

Sunday (30th) has the bigger yachts racing out in the Solent, as an additional attraction the Solent Old Gaffers will be attending the regatta to mark the 50th anniversary of their first race which was run from the Elephant Boat Yard.

I’d also like to extend a thank you to the regatta committee and the many sponsors who make this annual event such a success.

More Sailing Days

I recently found an old copy of “More Sailing Days” by Adlard Coles in a charity shop. Published in 1947, it tells of Coles sailing adventures on the south coast of England immediately following the end of World War Two.

Leisure sailing in the Solent had been stopped by the military during the war years, but Coles was fortunate to have been granted an early permit to sail during 1945 in order to update his pilot guide and sailing directions “Creeks and Harbours of the Solent”. His first trip was to bring his pre-war yacht Zara, a diminutive 19 foot Tualare class sloop, from Itchenor, where it had passed the war years safely, back to her home mooring in Bursledon.

Coles entered Zara in Bursledon regatta in 1945, the first to be held since the outbreak of war. He tells of sailing the vivid red, and newly painted Zara; down the Hamble river, past sailors and marines watching from the drab, grey naval launches and landing craft which used the river as a wartime base.

Navigation at night was forbidden as a safety precaution since there were no lit navigation marks and the additional hazard of unmarked ship wrecks all along the south coast. Coles gives a good description of finding his way into the unmarked Newton Creek using the transit of a tower which was visible up on the Wight downs. Despite our best efforts we couldn’t find it on our recent visit to Newton, presumably it hasn’t survived the intervening 60 odd years since the war.

Further west there’s a charming account of Coles anchored in fog outside on Babbacombe in Devon. A fisherman appeared out of the fog rowing a small boat and after some banter and negotiation towed Zara into the harbour and safety.

At 19 feet, Zara eventually proved too small for the growing Coles family and she was sold initially replaced with the Fred Parker design Mary Aidan. She in turn was quickly superseded by the famous Cohoe, in which Coles cruised and raced extensively during the post war years.

For those of us who sail the Solent and the South Coast of England, More Sailing Days gives us a view of our favourite cruising grounds, a view which is familiar yet distant; un-crowded and less hurried. When fisherman still earned their living, working out of the small harbours and us yachtsmen were in the minority.

Hamble Priory Church – 900 Year Celebration

Just down the river, the village of Hamble-le-Rice is celebrating 900 years of the Priory Church of St Andrews this year.


Led by St Bernard of Thiron, monks came from France in 1109 and settled on the shores, by the mouth of the river, founding the abbey and priory church, which still today contains some fine examples of Norman building.


More recent, but none the less interesting is the church’s 19th century stained glass.


Over the bank holiday weekend - August 28th to 31st there will be a flower festival at the church, reflecting the rich history from medieval time to present day.


The idea of the festival is that floral displays will be mounted in the church and the adjacent Priory Centre. Farming and domestic life of the original monks will feature, as will other aspects of the Church’s history such as the sacking and burning of the church by French raiders in the 1300’s (bound to be popular with the kids!!).

Christine Wright shown here, has been responsible for the design of many of the displays. A carpet of flowers is planned, dedicated to St Andrew the patron saint.

In addition scenes of the life of the village will play a central role in the festival, originally a fishing port, Hamble is now a popular yachting venue, which also has strong association with aviation.

With the regatta at Bursledon being held over the same weekend, it looks like we will be having a busy time and even more reason for people to visit to the area.

Start 'em young

I had so many nice comments and emails over my post about baby Joseph, that I thought indulgent or not, you might like to know about his first trip afloat.

Here he is at 16 days old, kitted out in his new life jacket aboard the yacht club launch on his way up the Hamble River to our yacht Greta.




Completely unfazed by the motion or the new surroundings, he settled into a peaceful sleep until it was time for a feed.

Similarly undisturbed by the trip back to the club, he was the star attraction in the bar.

Sailing Vicar

This seemed like an appropriate story for the Easter wekend.

I needed a hand while stepping the mizzen mast the other day, so walked along the pontoon and asked one of the other boats owners if he would would mind helping out, by holding the mast steady, while I attached the shrouds. The mizzen is only the size of a large dingy mast, but a helping hand makes all the difference.


The owner of this little yellow sloop was happy to help out and as boat owners do, we got chatting. Turns out he is the vicar of the local church St Leonards in Bursledon the delightful building (below) in Bursledon dates back to the 12th century.

Back in the Water

One of the good things about living close to the boatyard, is being able to take equipment off the boat and store it safely for the winter. Here's my father-in-law wheeling the main mast back to the boat. It's been in the garage since November, safe and dry. With four new coats of varnish as a "touch up" over winter, the spars are looking really nice (see post Winter Work).

Greta is a Cornish Yawl, built by Cornish Crabbers she was in fact the prototype which was owned and fitted out by the designer Roger Dongray and exhibited at the Earls Court Boat show London in 1988. Over winter she's been ashore at a local boatyard where I replaced the cutlass bearing and repacked the stern gland along with the normal winter work of polishing and anti fouling.

When we arrived with the mast, Greta was already on the slipway, there was a big spring tide and the yard was taking the opportunity to launch as many boats as possible ahead of the upcoming Easter weekend.

Just as I was motoring her down the river to her berth there was an unexpected hailstorm and of course I had forgotten my wet weather gear. I got completely soaked. However the sun eventually came back out once she was safely on her mooring.

This is Greta at the end of last season, one of the really frustrating aspects of a counter stern is the water splashing over the boot line staining her otherwise gleaming topsides. This year I'm going to make much more of an effort to keep her well scrubbed. But then again I might just go sailing!!!

Latest Rowing Technology

Some high tech rowing took place off Swanwick Hard at the weekend. Paul Zink has been working on the design of a coastal rowing boat the Clovelly Scull for about four years. He kindly brought his latest prototype down to the Hamble. 

Exhibited at the 2008 Earl's Court - Sail, Power and Watersports Show, the design features a carbon fibre sliding rigg, where the oars slide back and forth rather than the more conventional sliding seat design.

I normally row a fixed seat skiff, but I found Paul's design very easy to row, and both fast and stable. For coastal rowing I believe the open cockpit and low stern are very important features, providing self draining capability and give good access from the water in the event of falling overboard.

I was joined by Chris Partridge of Rowing for Pleasure and Ruth Wake of Langstone Cutters both experienced sliding seat rowers, who were enthusiastic about Paul's design - for more photos and details please see Chris's Blog.