Fifty one members of South West Gaffers and guests witnessed the presentation of prestigious awards by the national Old Gaffers Association to three south west members at Mylor Yacht Club.

Roger Dongray, a yacht designer from Lostwithiel responsible for many of the Crabber designs including the Shrimper, a popular class at Mylor, received the Jolie Brise trophy for his significant contribution to the development of gaff rigged boat design. Roger follows in the footsteps of the late Ed Burnett, Nigel Irens and Andrew Wolstenholme who have also received this award.

The Cape Horn Trophy, a belaying pin from Endeavour II, was presented to Jo Jo Pickering of Penzance. Jo Jo skippered the family gaff cutter Island Swift on a 10,000 mile journey from Falmouth to The Azores, across to Martinique and then back to Falmouth.

Her crew were her two sons and her husband, all very inexperienced. Jo Jo relied on a sextant for navigation. She had sailed as a child but not for 20 years and had not skippered a vessel before.

Finbar Pullam was awarded the Alan Hidden Trophy for an outstanding performance by a young person under 25. Finbar sailed with his mother and family across the Atlantic. At the start of the voyage he had little experience of sailing but soon developed into an invaluable crew member. Being a bit of a night bird and interested in astronomy his favourite watch was 11pm until 1am. Awards were made on behalf of the national association by South West Area president, Peter Crook, who said: “Three of the eight national trophies were awarded in 2017 to south west sailors, this is a great achievement and says much for the interest in traditionally rigged craft in the region.”

Following the presentations, Jan Pentreath, originally from Mousehole, whose family history includes privateers, smugglers and fisherman, gave a talk about fishing in Cornwall in the days of sail and oar. The talk covered different methods of fishing including, seining for pilchards, drifting, trawling and crabbing, the design of vessels and their rigs and the life of the fishermen and their communities.