Last weekend (10th/11th June) saw the 18th annual “Swamazons” event held by the East Coast area of the Old Gaffers Association.

The weekend started with a welcoming cooked breakfast at the Walton and Frinton Yacht Club, before the fleet of 17 traditional sailing dinghies faced challenging blustery conditions on a sunny Saturday.

The course for Saturday’s race was around Horsey Island in the the Walton Backwaters – the heart of Arthur Ransome’s “Secret Water”. The race started at 11:30am and followed an anti-clockwise course, and saw three retirements. The first boat home was Montmorency in just under 65 minutes.

The afternoon saw a Lego land-yacht race take place in the Yacht Club, followed by a curry dinner and some live music in the evening.

Sunday dawned fine and windy, and saw the fleet cruise to Witch’s Quay accompanied by the Yacht Club’s safety boats. Five of the fleet made it up Kirby Creek for a picnic lunch on the beach to end the weekend.

For more photos and the official race results, see the OGA report here.