Inaugural Bosham Classic Boat Revival set to become annual event

by David Edmund-Jones on 1 Jul 2011 Inaugural Bosham Classic Boat Revival set to become annual event

Bosham Sailing Club hosted a memorable gathering of classic day boats and dinghies in the UK last weekend. With 48 boats entered, 13 of which were from other clubs some from as far away as Cumbria and Cornwall, the weekend was one of contrasting conditions.

The regatta was open to classic day boats and dinghies and attracted classes such as the Aldeburgh Lapwing, Arun One Design, Devon Yawl, Firefly, Fairy Falcon, Fireball, Hornet, Chichester Harbour 18, Merlin Rocket, Minisail, National 18, Redwing, Scow, Sharpie, Thames Estuary One Design, Tideway, Torbay Minnow, YW Dayboat and possibly the largest gathering of Jollyboats seen in recent years.

On Saturday the westerly wind, gusting up to 28 knots for much of the day, took its toll on many boats with many capsizes and sails shredded. Three races were run from a committee boat start with the fleet split into fast, medium and slow handicap for each race.

Before the races even began, some boats had to be pulled off the mud, others decided the wind was too strong for their elderly boats – one is 99 years old. Several boats retired with gear failures after the first two races.

On Sunday the sun came out and the wind, somewhat fickle in direction and strength, enticed all the entrants out again including all those who had managed to fix their gear failures over night or find alternative sails.

Averaging five-seven knots from the south-east, the fleets sailed another three races. A guest appearance was made by Swallow, the dinghy which featured in the film Swallows and Amazons.

The winners were:

Fast handicap:
1st – David Edmund-Jones & Andrew Young in Seafire – Chichester Harbour 18 (Bosham SC)
2nd – Brian Hoolahan & Tom Reid in Therorette – National 18 (Bosham SC)
3rd - Paul Dewing & Katie Prentice in Flight – Chichester Harbour 18 (Bosham SC)

Medium Handicap:
1st - David and Fiona MacFarlane in Yellow Peril – Yachting World Dayboat (Bosham SC)
2nd – Alex Francis and Richard Foot in Sox – Firefly (Hamble River SC)
3rd – Ian Norman and Steve Robson in Sophie Boo - Yachting World Dayboat (Bosham SC)

Slow handicap:
1st – John Fildes & Miss Greenwood in King Fisher - Aldeburgh Lapwing
2nd – Izzie Lee in Happy Bunny – Chichester Harbour Scow (Bosham SC)
3rd – Peter Shaw in Bar-Tailed Godwit – Tideway (Bosham SC)

The Concours D’Elegance for the most beautiful boat, judged by Peter Willis, deputy editor of Classic Boat magazine, and traditional boat builder Peter Lacey, was awarded to Shoestring, a Hornet sailed by Roger Devereux and his daughter from Shearwater SC in Somerset. Runner up was Bosham’s Gargany, a 12sqM Sharpie sailed by Dick Pratt.

Based on the success of this year’s inaugural event, plans are already in place to make it an annual fixture at Bosham Sailing Club.

Bosham Sailing Culb website

The event was kindly sponsored by;

• Jackson-Stops & Staff
• Top Yacht
• Wiley Nautical
• Pusser’s Rum