Marazion – A History of Local Sailing Boat Racing

There are records of organised sailing and racing in Mount’s Bay dating from the middle of the nineteenth century. One of the local sailing clubs, Mount’s Bay Sailing Club, has trophies from this period; these trophies are still awarded annually for the Club’s dinghy racing.

The first serious class racing probably started in 1903 following a decision to adopt an 18 foot Jolly Boat Class. Major the Hon. Edward St. Aubyn bought one and sailed in Mount’s Bay under the Royal Yacht Squadron flag. When he had to leave for service in Egypt, he gave her to the Mount Men to race; she was renamed ‘Mount Lily’.

By the 1930s the population of the Mount had increased and more people became interested in sailing and racing sailing boats. Formal series racing was introduced on Tuesday and Friday evenings with weekends reserved for regattas.

In 1938, a sailing club, The Mount’s Bay Sailing Club, was founded, but its early activities were short lived with the outbreak of war.

In 1946, The Mount’s Bay Sailing Club re-established itself. The small fleet of Jolly Boats increased to eight with the purchase of three further boats: “Westwind”; “Sheila”; and “Happy Days” from the Isles of Scilly. Competitive dinghy racing in Mount’s Bay became a regular occurrence and local helmsmen gained formidable reputations. Summer regattas took place between the Mount’s Bay and Isles of Scilly Isles fleets.

In 1954 the renowned boat designer Uffa Fox visited Mount’s Bay to demonstrate his latest design, an 18 planing hull dinghy. It was purchased by Lord St. Levan and named ‘Judy’. By 1956, the Mount’s Bay Sailing Club fleet of such racing dinghies had grown to five.

Towards the end of the 1950s, many members of The Mount’s Bay Sailing Club had come to prefer the Ian Proctor designed Osprey to the Uffa Fox boat. The Osprey was thought to be better suited to the often extreme weather conditions experienced in Mount’s Bay. By 1960, 15 Ospreys were racing regularly at the Club.

In 1959, Marazion hosted the second Osprey National Championships – Mount’s Bay Sailing Club member, Peter Gartrell, finished as runner-up. He went one better the following year at Stone Sailing Club where he became National Champion. During the 1960s and early 1970s the local Osprey fleet went from strength to strength with the fleet growing to more than 40 boats – believed to be the largest fleet in the world. 1970 proved to be a sensational year for Marazion’s Osprey sailors. In the national championships, held at Saundersfoot, with an entry of 99 boats, Mount’s Bay Sailing Club helmsmen (Ken Robertson, James Curnow, John Mathews, Ian Roxburgh and Neville Noye) took the first five places. The Osprey remains an established Club class today.

Since the mid 1970s dinghy sailing has grown in popularity and there was a demand locally for a wider range of boats to sail. Over the years, the Mount’s Bay Sailing Club has adopted the Enterprise, Laser and Mirror dinghy classes.

The Enterprise is a very seaworthy two-person racing or cruising boat designed by Jack Holt in 1956. Over 20,000 have been registered worldwide but the design is no longer sailed locally.

The Laser is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy, designed by Bruce Kirby. Nearly 200,000 Lasers have now been produced. The Laser owes its popularity to the very competitive racing that it provides as a result of the very tight class association controls that eliminate differences in hull, sails and equipment. The Laser is an Olympic Class racing dinghy.

The Mirror is a highly successful pram dinghy, designed by Jack Holt and TV do-it-yourself expert Barry Bucknell in 1962. It employed a novel construction method where sheets of marine plywood are held together with copper stitching and fibreglass tape. More than 70,000 have been built.

More recently still, Mount’s Bay Sailing Club has accepted monohull handicap fleet racing which allows the Club’s members to race many of the latest designs from which new Club fleets may evolve.

Each summer Marazion hosts a National, European or World Championship dinghy sailing event.