Sea salts festival was the best yet

Rob McDowell on Barnabas © Paul Massey

What kind of boats did you have?

• The smallest vessel was Jullita. She is a Pooduck skiff class lugsail dinghy, designed by Joel White and based on a workboat from Maine, USA. She is plywood and epoxy construction and was built at Totnes in 1993. Skippered by Jon Scott.
• The largest vessel was Gleaner (LT64). She was built in 1878 in Porthlevan by Kitto, for the Lowestoft fishing industry. She is apparently the only Lowestoft sailing drifter afloat today (and certainly the only one with a dipping lug!). The bowspirit was still being fashioned through the bow with a chainsaw on Saturday morning… They made a colossal effort to get here. At 60ft long (excluding bowsprit and outrigger) she has a 16ft 6” beam and 8ft draft. She is a maritime treasure to be preserved and enjoyed. Skippered by Spike Davies.
• The oldest vessel to attend was Barnabas, a 40ft St Ives Mackerel Driver built in 1881. She is one of the few survivors from St. Ives, of the thousand strong fleet of Lug Rigged drift net fishing boats, registered at Cornish Ports at the turn of the 19th century. Her layout and shape remain much as the original. There’s not much space below deck, no sink or shower, a twin-meths hob and the sleeping quarters are tight. She is owned by the Cornish Maritime Trust and skippered by myself over the festival.
• Other vessels to note were the engineless Rose of Argyll, Astralgate and Le Grand Lejon from Brittany. A 15 ft St Mawes MK 1 named Max, which came round the Lizard skippered by Oli. And this was the first festival outing for Bountys End, skippered by Conrad Humphries. She is a 22ft replica vessel similar to the one used by Captain Bligh (Mutiny on the Bounty), for his mammoth 4000 mile survival feat after being set adrift with a handful of crew.

Are boats accessible to the public? (So can people talk to the sailors/skippers?)

• We very much believe that an interaction between crews and the public, especially kids, is part of the community we are trying to develop and encourage. Several boats stayed in during the events, so members of the public could come aboard to nose around. It’s all part of the maritime education circle. For example, Amelie Rose opened her decks to the public as they created an educational display program to help show how we can keep the oceans and beaches clear of plastic. Then there was Guide Me, an engineless dipping lugger (the fastest in this fleet) with Jude and Jono available to share experiences of their ocean adventures.
• On another educational slant, Dan Hills created 150 ‘Corkers’ (5 inch cork boat with slate keel and feather main&mizze&rudder) for kids to put together, paint and race in the harbour on Saturday. He also designed a 7ft by 3ft elevated pond with wind directed air vents, so kids could have fun whilst learning about wind and direction. An incredible creation. 

For the racing which boats won their class?

• The fastest vessel attending was Amokura, a 20 ton 50 foot 1939 gentleman’s classic design that was traditionally rigged with main and jib. She was sleek and beautiful and skippered by Paul Moxon. An example of her speed, is that she lapped me before I finished the first circuit! I was on the oldest dipping lugger, 1881 Barnabas, sitting between 4 and 6 knots.  Anyway, excluding Amokura as she was in a class of her own, we had 3 classes:

32ft class and over:

• This class was won by Holly Mae. She is a 35 foot gaff cutter, traditionally built by Joff Rorke of larch planking on oak frames. The design is inspired by the West Country work boats of around 100 years ago, though there are influences of Falmouth Working boats, Falmouth Quay punts and Pilot Cutters. The hull is deep, like a quay punt but she’s cutter rigged, more like a working boat or pilot cutter. She was built in Gulval and launched at the bottom of the hill in Penzance in 2010. Since then, Holly Mae has crossed the Atlantic, spending a winter in the West Indies and the last two years exploring the Baltic. Joff brought her back for Sea Salts and Sail.

Jonny Nance of St Ives explains the sculling course to some French gentlemen. (© Paul Massey)

23-32ft class:

• Won by Caupona. She was launched in 1939 and is one of the early pre-war Laurent Giles Vertue designs, the 8th boat of only a handful built to this design. She is currently based in Dartmouth and owned by Richard and Peter Gregson. The design proved so successful that they altered it slightly with increased freeboard and a doghouse, to give more interior space and volume. Examples of these have circumnavigated the globe, one of the most well known Vertues, V35, was sailed across the Atlantic from Falmouth to New York by Sir Humphrey Barton, founder of the Ocean Cruising Club.  They have an unusual ‘slutter’ rig, a combination of sloop and cutter, which gives numerous sail combinations for different weather conditions.

Less than 23ft:

• Won by Twilight. She was built as a motor boat by H J Mears & Son at Axmouth, Devon in 1973/4 and later converted into a Beer Lugger in 2005/6 by the present owner Alan Abbott. She’s a hard boat to beat and skippered by Peter Bagwell.

Beer luggers always attend Sea Salts

There was also an incredible display of seamanship in this class by Roger Barnes in his 15ft lugger, Avel Dro. Having broken his rudder in the first event (therefore coming 4^th out of 15), he completed the weekend’s other two events coming second and first, with a mix of strap on, tie on or bolt on stern paddle/rudder… Well done!

What kind of shore activities were there?

• There is a mix of entertainment throughout the festival including: locally renowned bands; folk music; choirs; duets; craft and cookery demonstrations; children’s workshops; poetry; stalls with crafts and products for sale.  Food and drink is also available throughout and the entire festival is run and managed by volunteers.

When did the event start originally?

• The first festival was in 1996 and more about our history can be found at http://www.seasalts.co.uk/history/.It is very much supported by the local community as it is organised, managed and run by volunteers from the village and surrounding areas.  It is a completely self funded festival and the monies raised from it are used to fund the following festival and are given to community causes.  From the last two festivals over £9,000 has been given back to the community.
  See more:  www.seasalts.co.uk      Please click onto photos to enlarge them