Bridlington Library

Bonify was in Bridlington with us last night, and this morning they very sensibly took a fair wind south to Grimsby.  But we felt it would be too soon to rush Bonita away from her old haunts and we spent the day here.

The YOD - designed to make yacht racing accessible

The photo shows boats of the Yorkshire One-Design class based in Bridlington. There are several of these lovely 25ft day racers here, all beautifully maintained and actively sailed. 

The class dates from 1898, the same year as the Howth 17. It is claimed that the Howth 17 is the world's oldest one design keel boat class and as the first 17s were delivered in April while the YOD fleet was delivered in June I suppose that is true. The Yorkshire One-Design was originally gaff (gunter) rigged but regrettably the class converted to bermudian some years ago; hopefully one day they might convert back. The class has a fascinating pirate-inspired history which can be found on the RYYC website at http://www.ryyc.org.uk/YOD_article.htm

We spent the morning in the local history section of the town library. We were looking for evidence of Bonita's previous life before 1937 when she gained the affections of the Beckett family. There are several photos that clearly show her moored in the harbour, but we could find no definite ones of her under sail. Of course in the 1920s  there were lots of yachts around with a shape roughly similar to hers which complicates the search a bit. Her long clipper bow, now unusual, was common in yachts built before 1893.  Then the fashion changed almost overnight with the launch of the Prince of Wales' yacht 'Britannia'. The spoon bow instantly became what everyone wanted, as can be seen in the Yorkshire One-Designs.

However we have come away from our visit to Bridlington with several copies of old photos and some useful contacts in the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club so we hope to find out more eventually. We have also, simply by being in the library,  absorbed a bit of the local history - such as the slightly unexpected association of Bridlington with T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and Amy Johnson, the pioneer aviator.

However we feel that one day of this is quite enough for the present and we are keen to be making progress south.

Bridlington

We left Whitby at about 7.30 this morning. The wind was a fairly gentle NE 3 - 4. I had heard that the entrance to Whitby could be dangerous in a NE wind but we were surprised how rough it was even in such moderate conditions. After clearing the rocks outside the harbour entrance we had a fine sail along the coast to Flamborough Head and around the corner to Bridlington. This is a tightly packed harbour that dries out so it is only accessible around high tide. We arrived about an hour before high water. 

Bridlington has a special significance in Bonita's history; one which we have only recently appreciated. She was based here between 1907 and 1935, being owned by a succession of local yachtsmen. In 1935 she was moved down to the Thames estuary, and today was her first return to Bridlington in 78 years.

While she was based here all her owners were members of the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club. The club members were out racing this evening but we later visited their busy clubhouse in the town and spoke to the Commodore, Steve Stanton.

Among the pictures on their walls is this general view of the harbour, obviously old but sadly undated. Bonita can be seen on a mooring: between the two boats pulled up on the beach, Bonita is the furthest of the two yachts with their sterns to the camera. As she has her dinghy astern her owner was probably aboard at the time.

The second picture shows her tied to a pontoon in almost exactly the same position today although the photo could not be taken from the same angle as the original due to a building now being in the way.

More detective work tomorrow!