This year was my first OGA East Coast Race, Saturday 5 July, 2025. I was thrilled to be sailing on the Aldous smack ‘Hyacinth’ built in 1900. She’s a 36ft oyster smack built in Brightlingsea and currently skippered by James Frankish.
We left Heybridge at 7:30pm on Friday night and were firmly on the pints at Stone Sailing Club by 9:15pm, having had a lovely sail down the river. The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur but was huge fun.
We headed for breakfast ashore in the morning and the race brief from OGA organiser, Ed racing on ‘Dirty Girty’. As the morning went on the wind got up and we decided to head out with a reef in the main, the working jib and the tow staysail. After some confusion over timings on the start we set off downriver. We flew down the river to the turning buoy tacked and were hit by some serious wind. ‘Hyacinth’ handled it well and we set about the two hour tack back to the Thirslett turning mark. Harry Bowman was a stalwart on the bilge pump below, pumping on every tack as we beat upriver. After a long beat we made it to Thurslett and zoomed back downriver for the second lap.
We rounded the final turning buoy before heading for home and the wind increased. We dropped the tow staysail and rigged a smaller one to stop ‘Hycanith’ becoming a submarine. She flew home, crossing the finish line just five hours after we started. We were all absolutely knackered and relieved to get ashore for a beer.
What a great race it was and I’m looking forward to being back next year. Thanks must go to the OGA organisers, Stone Sailing Club for hosting us and of course all the participants for making it such an exhilarating Race.
Words: Ash Faire-Ring
Photos: Seamus Masters
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