Mersea Week - Mostly Smacks

Visited West Mersea, ostensibly to get some photos of Crusader and Italia, two America's Cup yachts from the late 1980s, which are there this week and match racing.  However, they were not out this morning so I made do with some Oyster smacks which are some of my favourites. Although racing today, some of these fine old boats can still be found dredging for oysters under sail.  The oldest boat out today (Boadicea) had her keel laid down couple of years before the Battle of Trafalgar and was extensively restored twice (1938 and 1978ish) by a colleague of my father and I was privileged to sail on her when I was a child.