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A personal record of the
Thirty Three Matches by Jack Haste - Taken from the
book "Pin Mill Sailing Club Sixty Years" by
Renee M Waite, printed 1995.
The summer of 1962 ended one hundred
years of sailing barge racing on the Thames and barge enthusiasts
believed it to be the end of a unique sailing activity. Not
long after the event, a handful of Pin Mill Sailing Club Members
were discussing this and Richard Duke, owner of Millie, and
the Commodore, Arthur Davies, suggested that a Barge Class
be incorporated in the Pin Mill Sailing Club August Regatta.
The Commodore asked if I could bring a few of the remaining
barges to Pin Mill for this occasion. The Sailing Club Committee
approved the idea and the Sailing Secretary, Brian Humby, with
the help of Richard Duke, arranged for seven barges to take
part in the Regatta; a small working Sub Committee being set
up to organise the Barge Class on that day. Capt. Lucas, a
professional Barge Master, kindly offered to act as Officer
of the Day. With a fresh north easterly breeze on regatta day,
and thirty or more cruising yachts, plus many racing dinghies,
cutters and whalers, all hell-bent on finishing their own particular
courses, it was a case of “might having right” and
the sailing barges came across the line in spectacular fashion,
oblivious of the dozen or more yacht races. But, in good seamanlike
manner, not one protest was “officially” lodged
on that occasion. First barge home was Memory, beating
rule Spinaway C, Ardeer, Saltcote Belle, Maid of Connaught,
Marjorie and Millie. A supper for the bargemen
was held at the ‘Butt and Oyster’. The total cost
of the Match, including this supper, was eighty pounds. This
amount was raised by donations from members of the Club. It
was obvious that if we were to run another Match in 1963 we
would have to separate the barges from the Regatta and allocate
a date in the sailing programme for the Barge Match. It was
agreed that the working committee should separate from the
Sailing Committee and continue under the Chairmanship of the
Commodore and I was appointed Secretary.
After the success of this first Match,
under the guidance of the Sailing Committee, arranging the
1963 Match was quite different. The Barge Match became an individual
activity, having its own identity and attracting the Sailing
Barge enthusiasts. The starting line was moved down river to
Butterman’s Bay to allow more space. A suitable Committee
Boat had to be found and Peter Horlock made available the Motor
Barge Remercie. The Committee was alarmed to discover
that Remercie had been used during the past months
for removing liquid polystyrene to B.X. Plastics at Manningtree
and the three feet high letters written down her sides read “Highly
Inflammable”. Despite this, they smoked their pipes and
cigarettes merrily through the Match, completely ignoring the
possibility of ending the day with a big bang. The supper and
prize giving was held at the Pin Mill Sailing Club.
The number of barges entering the 1964
Barge Match increased to ten, and with the kind help of Roger
Finch, who did the cover drawing, we were able to make a Souvenir
Programme available for the first time.
By the fourth Barge Match in 1965, barges
that we had been led to believe would never venture out of
their mud berths were appearing, all “toffed up” with
varnished masts, borrowed topsails and new paint.
By now the barges had established their
own set of courses and it was the Officer of the Day who, on
the morning of the Match, selected a suitable course. Ken Voules
has been the Timekeeper on the starting gun for every race
throughout these thirty three years. We have often watched
a dozen barges jockeying for the starting line, and admired
the seamanship of the skippers and crews handling their vessels
in such confined waters.
Following the tradition of the Thames
Matches, Pin Mill rules permitted a Skipper and four crew only
to sail the barge during the Match; passengers were allowed
but could not take part in handling any of the gear. Only five
working sails to be used - mainsail, topsail, mizzen, staysail
and foresail. Although there were a number of very experienced
bargemen around it was becoming increasingly difficult to persuade
one to take on the task of Officer of the Day. They were well
aware of the responsibility this involved towards professional
sailormen who, while very conscious of the rules of good seamanship,
had their individual interpretations of the Match Rules. It
fell to the Officer of the Day to resolve some heated differences
of opinion. In 1964, Capt. A. H. (Chubb) Horlock undertook
this task, and after the Match, with a boat hook, a piece of
chalk and the oak tree at the club house, he explained in detail
the art of being first to round a buoy. With pint mugs at the
ready and a considerable amount of goodwill, protests were
resolved in a very friendly manner. The evenings often ended
with a repertoire of amusing songs.
By 1966 the Barge Match Committee was
well organised and some very successful Matches took place.
The reputation of the Pin Mill Sailing Club Barge Match was
growing and each year the number of entries increased, but
this annual increase came to a sudden halt in 1966 after a
disaster at Barmouth when a number of people were drowned from
a chartered motor boat. The Board of Trade enforced a regulation
that vessels carrying passengers and not holding a Board of
Trade Certificate of Seaworthiness would not be allowed to
go outside smooth water limits. All our courses, at the time,
took the barges beyond this limit and therefore all courses
had now to be restricted to the Orwell, Harwich Harbour and
the Stour. Complete re-organisation was necessary. The Sailing
Barge Association helped to put together an East Coast working
team to bring barges up to the standard required to obtain
their certificates of seaworthiness and thus enable them to
carry passengers and the racing crew beyond the smooth water
limit.
Thirteen barges took part in the 1966
Match, using a rounding mark up the Stour, off Harkstead Point
and various marks back to Pin Mill. Capt. Jack Spitty, skippering
the Edith May crossed the finishing line first.
We felt we had to seek the full co-operation
of the Harbour Master at Harwich, Capt. Vic Sutton, to allow
a dozen or more barges to be racing in and around the very
busy harbour of Felixstowe and Harwich. Much to our relief,
Harwich Harbour Board took a genuine interest and turned out
the Harbour Master’s launch to assist in the activity
of the day. This support has continued ever since and it has
been a welcome relief to the Barge Match Committee to have
such a responsible authority approving the event.
The 1967 Match saw an entry of fourteen
barges compete over the Harbour and River Courses and created
much interest, for the Match could be watched throughout from
many vantage points. These courses kept the barges closer to
each other, which demanded considerably more skill in seamanship,
and luffing matches became the order of the day. There were
many near misses and in spite of four collisions recorded by
the Officer of the Day no barge was the worse for wear. We
were very fortunate to have Capt. Fred Cooper, a~ famous barge
skipper and author of many books on barging, join our Committee
and take on the duty of Officer of the Day. His understanding
of the problems created by the 1966 Board of Trade Regulations
made a major contribution towards running the Matches during
the difficult years of the late l960s and early 1970s. Entries
had dropped to only nine or ten as barges were finding it difficult
to conform to the Board of Trade Regulations which required
them to have life rafts, fire fighting equipment, distress
signalling, insurance, inspections for seaworthiness and to
employ a professional skipper.
However, by 1973 fifteen barges, which
had been brought up to the Board of Trade standard, entered
the Pin Mill Sailing Club Barge Match, eligible to be sent
out to sea. The 1974 Match achieved the highest number of entries:
eighteen barges entered and seventeen actually crossed the
starting line. At this time the third Class “C” was
introduced. Using the experience of previous sailing Matches
and the barges’ sailing records we were able to divide
the Classes. “A” Class was for the Bowsprit barges,
irrespective of their previous performance, and the Staysail
barges were in either “B” Class or “C” Class.
This gave a safer and more competitive start.
In these years the Pin Mill Sailing
Club Barge Match was attracting more barges and in 1977 a record
twenty six barges were entered in “H.M. The Queen’s
Silver Jubilee” Barge Match Programme. On the night before
the Match the high spirited crews of the two smallest barges
ever to take part in the Match, Cygnet and Seagull
II, challenged each other to make and bake a cake during
the race. The cakes would be judged by the Commodore’s
Lady, the Officer of the Day and the Match Secretary. Much
merriment and mirth was caused at the Prizegiving to see the
judges fighting their way through jam and flour. With much
tact, the result was a draw.
Jack Haste aboard Adax, Committee boat, 1981
In 1979 the Blue Circle Cement Co.
started the Blue Circle Challenge Match (a Passage Match for
Sailing Barges to be run on a course from Gravesend to Pin
Mill, sailed as one Class). This was quite separate from the
Pin Mill Sailing Club Barge Match, but Fred Cooper, Richard
Duke and myself were appointed as Match Officers and acted
as timekeepers on the finishing line.
The 18th Annual Barge Match was run
on 30th June 1979, and Capt. Fred Cooper was Officer of the
Day, but sadly a few weeks later going ashore at Stone Heaps
on the Orwell he suddenly collapsed and died. Fred Cooper had
served on the Committee as Officer of the Day for fourteen
years. Capt. Mick Lungley, a local barge master, took over
this responsibility and has carried out this task with great
distinction from 1980 onwards.
Capt. Mick Lungley, still
OoD, 2008
Our 25th Silver Jublilee Match was
held on 28th June 1986. A big effort was put in by all involved
to make the day a most memorable one. A splendid day’s
sailing was followed in the evening by celebrations and the
Sunset Ceremony, played by the Band of the T. S. Orwell (Sea
Cadet Corps) on the Common, and the day closed with a splendid
fireworks display on the foreshore in front of the club house.
The annual programme cover has always
been designed by local artists and sold in aid of Match funds.
The costs of running the Match were increasing and we were
fortunately receiving generous donations from a number of interested
companies and well wishers.
At this time I became aware of the
importance of finding a successor as Barge Match Secretary,
and Julian Ackland was approached to understudy me for the
1989 Match. It was unfortunate that he was dispatched in a
twenty foot open motor boat to the Outward Mark in a strong
nor-easterly to act as Timekeeper. In spite of this initiation
Julian agreed to take on the duties of Assistant Barge Match
Secretary for the 1990 Match, which enabled me to prepare to
hand over my role after the 1991 Match.
A particularly spectacular Barge Match
took place on 6th July 1991. Twenty barges entered, but not
one of the original seven that had taken part in the first
Match competed this year. They had all gone into retirement.
Who would have thought that thirty years later the cost of
the Match would have increased from eighty pounds to one thousand,
five hundred pounds? The Officer of the Day had chosen an excellent
course and apart from the excitement of the Committee Boat
being given a thunderous head-on collision, (thank goodness
from the smallest barge in the fleet) no other mishap ensued.
This match marked my retirement as
Barge Match Secretary after thirty years, and I was presented
with a silver gallery tray while my wife, Betty, was given
a bouquet. There was a moment of mixed feelings to reflect
back on the many friends I had made throughout these years
and the relief of handing over an activity in which I had been
involved for more than half my lifetime. As the day had started
with a bang we finished with a display of fireworks from the
shore.
I have enjoyed the support of all those
who have served on the Committee, Commodores of Pin Mill Sailing
Club and many friends who have contributed to the success of
Barge Match Day, and express my heartfelt gratitude to them
all.
Jack Haste
The full transcript of The History
of the Pin Mill Sailing Club Barge Match by Jack Haste can
be seen in the Pin Mill Sailing Club Library. |
