This account is from Peter Moore of Moore’s Claws, one of a substantial contingent of Cornish Crabbers that joined our recent Yarmouth Gaffers Regatta. We were delighted to have such a turnout and hope that they will all return next year:
Several sad old, and young, gaffers who own boats made by Cornish Crabbers in its various iterations opted to extend our annual Solent Crabbers Rally by joining the OGA (‘Solent Gaffers’ – Ed) Yarmouth Regatta over the May Bank Holiday Weekend.
The weather for our Crabbers rally had not been kind, leading many of us to wimp out of a planned visit to lovely Bembridge. Our boats may be capable of eventually beating from Bembridge back towards Beaulieu in westerlies gusting F7 and more, but skippers and crews were not so keen. So, we arrived somewhat disheartened in Yarmouth at the end of our rally to be greeted by OGA’s Sue Pennison, who kindly took our lines. An early taster of the OGA friendliness, which was so much in evidence over the whole regatta, even towards those of us with plastic gaffers who love, admire and envy those with true classic gaffers but do not have the skills and knowledge to be the custodians of such wonderful craft, let alone sail them. (All gaffers are welcome – Ed.)
Our Solent Crabbers Rally had its closing supper at the Royal Solent Y.C. on the Thursday night and so began a mental transition from Crabber to (Old) Gaffer. As more OGA boats arrived and began to dress overall, the organisational powers of the Solent Gaffers committee became evident and right on cue began a Bank Holiday weekend of wall-to-wall sunshine. Friday evening’s pontoon drinks party was a lovely start to the weekend and thankfully no one fell in as they squeezed passed people to mingle.
As skippers collected their regatta welcome packs more and more people were seen wearing specially embroidered T-shirts, a great idea which helped with the community feeling, whether in the harbour or ashore.
I am sure that if I ever even thought of skippering my boat in an OGA race I would have nightmares for weeks before and after, but I have always fancied the idea of crewing on someone else’s gaffer. So it was that Roger Hardman, skipper of Indian Runner generously, and many would say foolishly, took me on board as additional ballast. Despite my attempt to sabotage our chances of racing glory by sheeting the headsails too early and throttling a key tack, I was not actually keel-hauled. I swear that the wind blew harder and the foul tide grew stronger as we attempted to cross the starting line, only to watch much of the fleet disappear off to the first mark. Hence our long-suffering skipper opted to retire from the race and have a lovely sail as a spectator boat.
Saturday night saw us swapping lifejackets and deck shoes for party frocks and dancing shoes, or in the case of us on the more bijou boats we merely repurposed our deck shoes. The pre-dinner drinks were a very convivial affair. Some of our very welcome and friendly foreign visitors had evidently been caught out by the wonderful English sunshine and were working hard to “rehydrate” as quickly as possible. They were a fantastic group who mixed with everyone and did much to engender the party spirit.
The seating plan for supper was arranged alphabetically by boat name, marked by paper place mats that included skipper and crew names. A lovely thoughtful touch, which helped mix people together. After an excellent supper Isle of Wight band The Accelerators provided the musical entertainment. I can very well remember them from my early YOGAF attendances back in the days of big marquees and stages on the harbour front; The Accelerators are as good as ever.
Some crews had clearly overdone the rehydration a little and were suffering the aftereffects on Sunday morning. My racing career having ended as quickly as it had started. For some reason, I was not overwhelmed with pleas to crew in the Gaffel race. Instead, I learned a lot about racing gaff-rigged boats by watching the log race. Clearly size and boat building heritage are important prerequisites for success and sailing a course somewhat different to your competitors does not necessarily mean coming last. Hugely entertaining! There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half as much worth doing as messing about in [gaff-rigged] boats.
And so, to the Sunday evening catered BBQ and prize giving in a beautiful garden across the river Yar. It was so nice to enjoy a professionally barbequed burger rather than fight with a cremated offering from an amateur self-appointed BBQ king. Prize giving was a disappointment, there were prizes for this and prizes for that, but nothing, absolutely nothing for worst crew of the day. A small but personally hurtful blemish on what was otherwise a spectacularly successful and well organised regatta. Clearly a lot of thought and time had gone into the planning and organising of a Bank-Holiday weekend to remember. It was the small but thoughtful things that made such a difference, a hard act to follow but please do try.
Peter Moore
Leave a Reply