On 18th March 1935 (in the “Black Buoy”!) the Wivenhoe Sailing Club committee formally adopted the Wivenhoe One Design. The boat had been designed especially for the prevailing conditions on the river by Dr. Walter Radcliffe after several existing designs had been looked at and rejected for one reason or another. The first six boats were afloat and racing during the same year and were soon followed by a fleet at the Stour Sailing Club at Manningtree and additions to the six at Wivenhoe. Boat number 10, “Brunette” was invoiced out by F. W. Mitchell of Brightlingsea, to our then local newsagent, Mr. George Slaughter, on 12th December 1935 and no doubt first raced with the Wivenhoe fleet in 1936.
The nineteenth was built sometime after 1945 and first appeared at Wivenhoe in the
early 1960’s having been for some time in or around the Norfolk Broads. She had minor
differences in centreplate and mast stepping arrangements but was soon equipped like the
other boats by her new owner, Mr. George Hoy, who, like everyone else, had been astonished
to see a Wivenhoe One Design advertised in the “East Anglian”, especially when
she turned out to be an additional boat to the original eighteen.
Five firms are known to have built One Designs and it is generally speaking possible to
identify a builder by the various minor constructional features he employed. The first six
boats were built, by Parsons of Leigh-on-Sea; Whistocks of Woodbridge, ‘Horlocks of
Mistley, and Stanley Cook, working in the Storehouse, (next to Wivenhoe Sailing Club),
each built one, and almost certainly F. W. Mitchell of Brightlingsea built all the
remaining boats. However, numbers 7 and 8 show identical constructional features not
present in any other boats and could possibly be the work of a sixth builder.
Dr. Radcliffe himself had two boats from new, number 2, “Duet”, was probably the
first boat built (although number 5, “Meeca” was the first to sail) and was
jointly owned with Peter Pawsey. Dr. Radcliffe’s second boat, Capriol, was owned and
raced by the designer at Wivenhoe until well into the nineteen fifties.
Also just after the war, the Doctor commissioned F. W. Mitchell to build a modified
boat, based on the One Design. The overall length of 15ft was retained but with
modifications in hull shape and deck layout and with a taller rig and lighter
construction. This boat, “Windrush”, although not a Wivenhoe One Design has
raced along with the Wivenhoe fleet at various times and during the mid 1960s was given
the sail number 14 on the incorrect assumption that no boat had originally been built of
that number.
Sometime during the nineteen fifties the Wivenhoe Sailing Club, copyright holders of the
class, received a request for permission to build One Designs at Strangford Lough in
Northern Ireland, and as the photograph shows at least one boat was built. Whether there
are more (and this cannot be assumed from the sail number of the boat in the photo) and
exactly where this request came from remains a mystery since there is a gap in the Sailing
Club minutes for that time and memories will so far not serve.
The Stour Sailing Club fleet became dispersed soon after the war and the last boat, number
9, left there in the early 1960s, and has since been on loan to various members at
Wivenhoe by her owner (from new) Dr. John Erskine.
At Wivenhoe the fleet has suffered similarly from declining numbers at various times but
each time a revival has somehow set in and the fleet has never died out. Indeed since
1935, with the exception of 1939-45, an average of perhaps fifteen races for the class
have taken place every year. On two occasions the number of starters has reached eleven,
one of which was Wivenhoe Regatta 1982, with the average over the years perhaps a little
less than half that number.
Looking at the racing results through the years it might appear that some boats have been
more successful than others. But as with many a class, close examination reveals that any
winning streak has invariably been the result of a well cared for boat properly set up,
and indeed, well sailed. Most of the boats have been raced under these circumstances at
some time or another and have then proved equally fast. Just one or two boats, even after
fifty years, have remained relatively untried for racing.
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Recent reference to 1936 Stour Sailing Club race reports in the Essex County Standard archives finally established the origins of number 14, “Sally”. The owner was the late Marcus Horlock and consultation with his son, Mr. Peter Horlock, who sailed in the boat many times established that she was stored throughout the war, with several other One Designs, in an orchard at Mistley. She was then sold away in good condition to an unknown owner and destination but probably within Essex and Suffolk in 1946-48.
This is all we know of these two boats which could now be anywhere. (It is perhaps at least as realistic to expect to find them by good observation as it is by following ancient leads. It would be useful, where possible, if budding spotters would count the planks, 12 each side, and then note the oval or tumblehome shape of the transom. Very few boats have both these features and if you see one it may well be a Wivenhoe One Design.)
Although not all of the sixteen boats currently in the locality are afloat, the fleet at Wivenhoe is potentially stronger than at any time during its history. While several boats have already undergone major re-fits and one or two still require restoring there are none which, given the right care and attention, will not sail for at least another 50 years.
The designer and builders, together with owners and enthusiasts past, present and future can surely regard this situation with some sense of pride.