Racing sailing craft – intheboatshed.net

Does anyone have good sources on Wivenhoe sea captains Joseph and William Trayler please?

Joseph (two photos) and William Trayler

John Trayler has got in touch to ask whether Intheboatshed readers might be able to shed some more light on the careers of two of his forebears, both of whom were yacht captains based in Wivenhoe in the 1880 to 1910 era, or direct him to a source of more information.

Their were his great grandfather Joseph Trayler (1860-1915) and great uncle William Trayler (1855-1910).

John has learned that William was captain of the Varuna, which was wrecked on Madeira in 1909, and also captained the Star of the Sea, which was owned by the Duke of Norfolk. He’s also been informed that he captained the Cleopatra (ships register 99242) in 1894 and La Belle Sauvage (ships register 10903) in 1895.

A newspaper report of the funeral of Joseph Trayler mentions five boats are mentioned: Elsie, Spindrift, Dinitza, Bulrush and Marcella. A search of Lloyds Yachting Register did not reveal any information.

Are there records at Wivenhoe or elsewhere that John could access please? Let me know at gmatkin@gmail.com and I’ll forward the information to John.

How sailing barge Edith May won her class in the Swale Barge Match

Edith May Swale barge match

‘With both staysail classes starting together, it was quite congested but Edith May found herself at the front of the pack charging to the line at the Sand End buoy. With official stop watch operator Clare Curling counting down the seconds to the start gun and the barge doing about 8kts, it was difficult to judge if the barge was going to be a few seconds early or late and mainsheetman and mate encouraged skipper Geoff to check the barge a little to be sure.

‘Just as she was seconds from crossing the line, the smoke from the starters gun billowed out from the committee boat – a perfect start!’

A romping description of how SB Edith May won in the staysail barge class. Click here.