Page 20 - Yachter Spring/Summer 2020

20 CRUISING REPORTS
STILL
PLAYING
DINGHIES
Besides cruising in Walkabout III with my wife Tina and dog Major, we like to sail classic wooden dinghies on Beaulieu river.This takes me back to my childhood and more recently to rescuing an Axe One Design sailing dinghy, Swallow, a sister boat of Gemini
in which I first crewed aged seven over fifty years ago.
Swallow is a twelve-foot varnished clinker dinghy pushing seventy years old.Yes, it does need a continual regime of maintenance
but nothing like that required for some
of the beautiful classic yachts on our river.Tina sails a pretty little 25-year- old wooden West Wight scow also varnished and yet more maintenance!
With my old friends from the Axe Yacht Club (AYC) in Devon, we now have three original Axes sailing and since 2000 a further five have been built by Pete Williams in Fowey.These boats are raced throughout the summer with a bit of social sailing
thrown in
for good
measure. They
are not particularly
wet boats but do
need care as they have no reserve buoyancy. This year we had a gathering at the AYC for our 67th anniversary, a weekend mix of
racing on the river and sea... it blew hard from the South West so we were limited to two races on the tidal river Axe.The social events went well with a meal at the local inn not fifty yards from the start line and
a cocktail party, as ever attended by past Commodores and Presidents of the AYC.
Good result for Swallow, first overall. After our summer cruise, we returned
to Fowey by road with Swallow in tow
for the Fowey Classics hosted by the Royal Fowey and Fowey Gallants.Three Axes in all travelled down to join in.We
have been attending on and off for twenty years and been warmly welcomed as the recent boats have all been built locally.There is racing in the harbour and out at sea plus a parade of sail. Interestingly, for the first race at sea, it was two Axes (yes yours truly one of them) who had to be shepherded back into harbour, being the only boats that had made it out to sea, the entrance had been deemed too rough with the ebb tide. Only one of the big boats had ventured out. Safely back inside we raced around the harbour.We had a couple more races including one outside
in very light weather and the only finishers were the three Axes.There is a strong social side including a picnic, cocktail party, meal