The annual ‘Swallows and Amazons’ event organised by the East Coast OGA began in 1989 when East Coast stalwarts the late Jon Wainwright and Brian Hammett started the Shotley Classic Boat Festival. The event included a trip over to Walton and a lunchtime ‘race around the island’ for dinghies, open boats and more daring shoal craft yachts, one famously stuck there overnight!
25 years on, the event is still going strong and this year attracted participants from as far afield at North Yorkshire and the Solent. There were also several ‘Younger Gaffers’ in attendance (the youngest being just 18 months old) as well as two of the ‘Gaffling 4.1’ fleet built on the East Coast.
There was racing, cruising and generally ‘having fun on the water’ reported by Tim as well as a picnic lunch at the Dardanelles reported by Sarah. Let’s look forward to the next 25 years and welcome all the ‘Younger Gaffers’ to many more OGA events.
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