Sailing events around the coastline

Coastal events

Nore Race

Benfleet Yacht Club celebrates its centenary in 2022, which makes this year’s Nore Race – a combined open cruiser and dinghy event held over a 20-mile circuit of the Thames Estuary, starting and finishing at Southend Pier – even more special than usual.

Benfleet Yacht Club has organised the Nore Race since the 1930s and it’s the only race that many of its skippers and crews compete in each year. Together with the Round Canvey Race (see p27), now in its 11th year, the Nore Race makes Benfleet Yacht Club a must-visit for sailors and watersports enthusiasts from as far away as Whitby and Devon, as well as clubs closer to home along the East Coast.

The Nore Race includes all classes of sailing dinghies and cruising yachts, both multi- and monohull. This year’s event takes place on June 19, when there’ll be split start times for the dinghy and cruiser classes, with the ‘fast multihull’ dinghies completing two laps.

Benfleet Yacht Club celebrates its centenary later in the year, on September 10, with a full day of activities both on and off the water. Read more about the club on p91 of this edition. •www.benfleetyachtclub.org

The 43nd Thames Traditional Boat Festival takes place on July 15-17, promising three days of family fun in the company of dozens of classic river craft and Dunkirk Little Ships. Taking place opposite the Royal Regatta course at Henley-on-Thames, this celebration of all that’s best in British boatbuilding and craftsmanship evokes the nostalgia of boating from a bygone era and offers more attractions on the water than ever before.

The event owes its origins to concerns in the 1970s over the demise of many unpowered craft, seen neglected and rotting along the River Thames. The idea of a rally, to be held annually and open to anyone, was taken up by the River Thames Society which agreed to organise an event in 1978.

Over the years the Festival has welcomed the involvement of many boat clubs and societies, but the emphasis has always been on the preservation of beautiful craft, and its awards are still keenly fought for. •www.tradboatfestival.com

Burnham Week

The region’s ‘most challenging and friendly’ regatta, Burnham Week attracts a full range of sailors, from national champions and beginners with cruisers, one designs, multihulls and dinghies. The sheltered waters of the Rivers Crouch and Roach and all-tide access to the Thames Estuary are the setting for a variety of courses and there’s plenty of action off the water too. This year’s event is from August 27 to September 3, when a firework display draws crowds all along the quayside. •www.burnhamweek.com

Organised by the North West Norfolk Sailing Association and known colloquially as Norfolk Week, this event offers close racing at a different location every day. Run every year since 1949 – except for 2020 when covid restrictions prevented it – this family-friendly event is due to take place in 2022 on July 24-30. Sailed at all the clubs in the area, a near-unique feature is the variety of sailing on offer. Snettisham Beach SC (see p89) is on the Wash and offers large open sea courses, while the Ouse Amateur Sailing Club offers non-tidal river racing. The largest coastal salt marshes in the world stretch between Brancaster and Blakeney with sailing at Brancaster, Overy, Wells and Blakeney SCs. Daily, weekly and sometimes random prizes and trophies mean that there is something for everyone, and the facilities offered by the host clubs are as varied as the sailing itself. •www.norfolkweek.co.uk

Brightlingsea’s two most popular annual crowd-drawing events, the Regatta and Carnival, join forces in 2022 to make one single spectacular weekend (July 16-17) for all to enjoy.

On the first day, townsfolk and visitors will line the carnival route, while the waterfront where the procession terminates will be a hive of activity with the local sailing and watersports clubs providing varied programmes of entertainment.

Popular watersports clubs – including Colne Yacht Club, Brightlingsea Coastal Rowing Club and Brightlingsea Sailing Club – will be offering the chance to get out on the water to try sailing, gig rowing and powerboating. Each will also have programmes of onshore and water-based entertainments, food, drinks and somewhere to sit and enjoy the day. A spectacular free firework display rounds off the day’s events.

On Sunday, the Brightlingsea Regatta Paddle Board & Kayak Fun Race raises funds for St Helena Hospice. Starting from the beach in front of Brightlingsea Sailing club, competitors will paddle around a short course along the Promenade and back to the club’s finish line. •www.brightlingsearegatta.com

The sheltered waters of the River Blackwater provide a fitting setting for the ‘family and friends-oriented’ Mersea Week, due to be held on August 15-20 this year. Organised by a committee of volunteers from the Dabchicks Sailing Club and the West Mersea Yacht Club – which means that competitors are welcome to use the facilities of both throughout the week – this event is one of the Essex island’s premier fixtures. Under separate organisation, the West Mersea Town Regatta is scheduled for August 13. •www.merseaweek.org

Three Rivers Race

Hailed as ‘Europe’s toughest inland sailing race’, the Three Rivers Race takes place on May 2829 this year. The course of this Horning Sailing Club event covers over 50 miles and three different rivers – the Bure, Ant and Thurne – and sees competitors having to lower masts to navigate the three bridges at Potter Heigham and Acle. Each has up to 24 hours to complete the course. The start of the race is the best time for spectators to view the fleet in one concentrated mass, waiting to be started in groups of around 10 boats upstream of the start line at Horning Sailing Club. •www.3rr.uk

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Benfleet Yacht Club’s Coastal Rowers are an active group of rowing enthusiasts – the club has a number and variety of fixed and sliding seat coastal rowing craft available for all members to use, and many compete in major events in other parts of the UK as well as the near continent.

Keeping the action close to home, however, Benfleet Yacht Club organises the annual Round Canvey Race, a rowing, row/sail or paddle event that covers a 14.5 mile circuit of the entire coast of Canvey Island.

This annual open event was established in 2010 and an eclectic mix of vessels have competed to date: fixed seat and sliding seat row boats, surf skis, kayaks, outrigger canoes and a variety of sailing dinghies. The current time record is one hour 44 minutes – an average speed of 7.2 knots – and boats from as far away as Whitby have travelled to compete.

This year’s Round Canvey Race is due to take place on July 2. The course includes four tidal barrages, there are bridges to pass under – so masts will come down – and all craft must be suitable for deep water and potentially rough conditions. Free overnight camping is available at Benfleet Yacht Club, which is on the northern shore of Canvey Island. •www.benfleetyachtclub.org

The East Coast’s own Round the Island Race is due to take place on August 27-28 when the Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club hosts its endurance event – at 40 miles it’s the UK’s longest annual dinghy, catamaran and board race and not to be confused with other ‘24hour’ races which allow for a change of helm and crew.

Sailed clockwise around the island, the race was established in 1959 and starts and finishes at Sheerness. It includes tidal sea, river and estuary sailing – larger dinghies and multihulls have to be stopped, heeled over and walked under the inner span of the lifting road bridge at Kingsferry.

The race is open to all classes of dinghy, catamaran and sailboard. Typical passage times are between three and 10 hours – current course records are one hour 52 minutes for multihulls, two hours 17 minutes for monohulls and two hours 34 minutes for sailboards.

The event is part of the five-race Allen Endurance Series, which is designed to test sailors and boats to their limits and find the UK’s ultimate endurance champion. •www.iossc.org.uk

Wroxham Week

Hosted by the Norfolk Broads Yacht Club, Wroxham Week features seven days of racing and a full programme of land-based evening entertainment.

Taking place from July 25-31, the regatta is open to all single- and double-handed dinghies. The club’s end of season Open Regatta takes place on October 15-16 and has racing in all classes. •www.nbyc.co.uk

To avoid a clash with the scheduled River Pageant which celebrates Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on June 4 (see p14), Medway Yacht Club’s Keelboat Regatta takes place on June 2-3 this year.

A relaxed event offering three classes of handicap racing for cruisers plus one design racing for Dragons, Sonatas and Squibs, all races start and finish from committee boats in the River Medway or the Thames Estuary – apart from the Squibs which will use the normal club line.

This year the event will incorporate the Sonata East Coast Championships and to get in some practice before the event, all competitors are welcome to join in Medway Yacht Club’s regular Wednesday evening race on the night before the Regatta.

Off the water, a full social programme is planned, including an open air theatre show by the Handlebards on the Thursday evening (tickets to be booked in advance) and a prizegiving barbecue party on the Friday. •www.medwayyachtclub.com

Suffolk Yacht Harbour’s premier event, the Classic Regatta, takes place on June 10-12 and this year celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Founded in 2002, the SYH Classic Regatta is the largest event of its kind on the East Coast and attracts a fleet of both local and visiting sailors, some from as far afield as the Channel Islands. On-the-water action is complemented by socialising in the on-site Haven Ports Yacht Club lightship, with a regatta party and live band on Saturday evening. Regatta entry criteria requires yachts to be either pre-1970 design of traditional construction, Bermuda or gaff rigged and built of wood or steel. Modern classic yachts with wooden or steel hulls are also welcome.

SYH Managing Director Jonathan Dyke says: “After a fantastic post-Covid comeback last year, the SYH Classic Regatta is in great shape. The classic sailing and motor yacht scene on the East Coast is thriving, and we look forward to welcoming boats from across the UK to join the celebrations.”

Owner of Spirit 52 Flight of Ufford and founder of Spirit Yachts, Sean McMillan says: “There is something quite magical about racing on the East Coast. The welcome here is quite extraordinary; Jonathan puts so much effort into the whole thing. It’s run on a very Corinthian spirit and the manners on the racetrack are rather wonderful. It’s at that fantastic time of year when everyone is full of enthusiasm for the season to come; I wouldn’t miss it.” •www.syhclassicregatta.co.uk

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The waters off Lowestoft Ness will be festooned with the red sails of traditionally-rigged sailing smacks on July 30, as The Excelsior Trust hosts an international Smack Race. Postponed from last year, this one-off event will be staged to celebrate the centenary of Lowestoft’s own 77ft sailing vessel Excelsior LT472, an icon of the town’s national fishing heritage (see p6).

Organisers are expecting there to be up to 25 traditional vessels in Lowestoft, including Boy Leslie BM312, a former Brixham trawler built in Galmpton in 1911 and now operated as a sail training vessel in Norway; Swan LK243, a former Shetland herring boat built in Lerwick in 1900 and now operated locally as a sail training vessel and the 70ft Pioneer, the last of the large Essex smacks to survive.

A smack race would have been held traditionally in the late 1800s when Lowestoft was a fishing boom-town, but due to the decline in fishing and the increasing rarity of these historic vessels, the last event of this kind was held over 20 years ago. As there are different types of sailing smacks taking part this year, the boats will be put into different racing classes to ensure opportunities are fair for all.

From 9am a spectacular close-up view of the historic vessels will be best seen from Lowestoft’s South Pier, as the smacks process through the Bascule Bridge and out to sea. The staggered start can be seen from the Sea Wall opposite Lowestoft Maritime Museum, and the progress of the various classes can be followed from Gunton Cliff as the fleet sets off around the course.

Back on Lowestoft’s South Pier, there will be a two-day ‘Vessels Festival’ taking place with stalls, music and displays reflecting the now vibrant maritime, business and arts scene in Lowestoft.

Excelsior Trust founder John Wylson says: “This will be a remarkable and truly historic event, which could be one of the last of its kind. Sadly each year the number of old wooden fishing smacks, fully restored and maintained to be seaworthy, diminishes. So let’s enjoy this wonderful collection of heritage vessels whilst we can.” •www.theexcelsiortrust.co.uk