46 CLASSIC BOAT JANUARY 2018
SB Xylonite, 2006. For many years spritsail barge Xylonite (1926)
sailed the east coast giving youngsters an experience they'll
remember all their lives. She is now privately owned and is still a
regular cup winner in the barge matches. I've always found the
barges photogenic, but I maintain you have to know how to sail
to photograph their true beauty. My husband Dickie, whom I trust
implicitly (and so do all the crews it seems), was driving the RIB
here, enabling me to get up very close. No fancy long lenses!
Mudlarks! An essential part of the east coast experience is
Heybridge Basin Regatta, which has been running for more than 150
years. I like to explore what’s going on ashore, after the racing’s
done. The popular greasy pole event has now been resurrected,
after a few years of not having it (health and safety!), inside the
lock. My brother once took part in his morning suit, after a wedding.
As the tide went out, it inevitably ends up with a mud fight – another
essential east coast experience.
Peaceful sail home in the sunset off Osea Island. The yachts are
Sheena and Jacaranda. This was taken at the Osea Regatta on my
old Hasselblad. I used to develop and print all my photographs (still
do sometimes), and this was a huge part of producing high-quality,
hand-finished prints. This shot I accidentally under-exposed, which
created the dramatic, stormy sky. Essex is quite flat, as we know, but
this can create huge, spectacular skies.
Velsheda, 2006. Perfect trimming at Antigua Classics as modern sail
technology drives the J-Class Velsheda. These were difficult conditions
to photograph in. Velsheda was moving at such a pace and there was a
lot of chop and swell, though it doesn’t look it. The Hasselblad is so
large and is viewed downwards, held at waist level, so it was always a
huge challenge to keep the camera upright, and myself. This time my
trusty husband Dickie was down below loading up film for me, bless
him. In those days he spent the whole race locked in the cabin!
