Press Opinions on " Broadland Sport *^— con fd. 



" The lateeners were long the fastest racing craft of Broad- 

 land, one of the most successful being the Waterwitch. ' Ter 

 Worterwitch^^ said an old shipwright, ' wor lornched the daay 

 Pointer fought the Black on Mussel 'Eath,' whereby the date 

 was fixed as 1818. There is a slight error here. The fight, 

 1 2th May, 18 18, was between Cox, blacksmith, and Camplin, 

 a weaver, and Ned Pointer seconded Camplin. Cutters became 

 more fashionable in the fifties, but from 1840 to 1869 the ideal 

 model of a racing boat is described as ' a cod's head bow with 

 a mackerel tail.' Mr. Everitt gives a vast amount of detail 

 concerning many notable craft, for in his index the names of no 

 less than 171 yachts are given, from the Ada to the Zingara, 

 but we miss any allusion to Mr. Suckling's Marmioii^ built upon 

 his estate at Woodton in 1828, and considered a very beautiful 

 yacht in her time. Perhaps, however, she was not kept upon 

 the local waterways. The Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club, 

 founded in April, 1859, obtained Royal patronage and the 

 prefix Royal i6th February, 1867. With the establishment of 

 this club, yacht racing, not feasting, became the main object of 

 the various regattas, and the term, ' water frolic,' rapidly died 

 into disuse. The first ocean yacht race of the club came off 

 29th June, 1867, from Harwich to Lowestoft ; but, we are told 

 that for several reasons the East Anglian coast is not a good 

 one for yachting. The Yare Sailing Club, formed in 1876, has 

 had a very prosperous career, and pleasure wherries came into 

 vogue about 1880. In the chapter on 'Yachts and Yachting 

 during the Present— 1880 to 1900,' Mr. Everitt brings his 

 subject virtually up to date, and here we learn that the ' Great 

 Yarmouth Yacht Club' was founded in 1883, the 'Broads 

 Dinghy Club' in 1895, and the 'Waveney Sailing Club' in 

 the same year. In this last the chief prize-winner is the Uiiif^ 

 designed and built by Mr. W. S. Parker, of Oulton, long a 

 dredger in Lowestoft Harbour, working twelve hours a day, yet 

 making time, on week-days alone, to construct this craft, which 

 is still ' Cock of the Walk ' at Oulton Broad. These yachting 

 chapters are embellished with very numerous illustrations, and 

 a fist of the more important annual fixtures will be found very 

 useful. ' The motor craze,' regretfully remarks the author, ' has 

 now found its way even to these peaceful and secluded haunts, 

 and launches of all shape, size, build, and method of propulsion 

 are to be daily met with.' W^e are inclined to suggest that this 

 yachting section might well be issued in a separate form. 

 Meantime we note that the first edition of Mr. Everitt's book 

 is exhausted, and a portion of the second impression has already 

 been soX^y— Eastern Day Press. 



" In the preface to ' Broadland Sport,' Mr. Nicholas Everitt 



31 



