YACHTING DURING THE PRESENT 297 



days there are fixtures falling for every week from May to 

 September, and hundreds of pounds are annually offered for 

 competition. But the great event of the year, so far as 

 Broadland yachting it concerned, is what is known as the 

 Wroxham Week. It is usually fixed about the end of July 

 and the early part of August, and means nearly a fortnight's 

 racing. The yachts from the Yare, Wensum and Waveney 

 make for Great Yarmouth and meet at the yachting station 

 on the Saturday, all sailing up on the flood tide to Acleon the 

 Sunday. Monday and Tuesday are fixed for Acle Regatta ; 

 Wednesday for the river race from Acle to Wroxham, in 

 which forty to sixty starters cross the line; Thursday and 

 Friday, Wroxham Regatta ; Saturday, Wroxham Bridge 

 Regatta; on Sunday the yachts make Coltishall, and on 

 Monday a regatta is held there. 



Wroxham being one of the oldest (if not the oldest) 

 fixtures on record, a few words may not be out of place 

 concerning it. That it existed so far back as a hundred 

 years there is ample testimony, whilst it is also well- 

 known that in the fifties Mr Green of Wroxham was one 

 of its most ardent supporters, and each year he enter- 

 tained largely upon his house-boat. From 1859 to 1879 

 the Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club took up the leading 

 reins, but in consequence of the gradual increase in the 

 size of the boats and the difficulties of access the club 

 retired in favour of a general committee, styling itself the 

 Wroxham Broad Regatta Committee. This committee threw 

 considerable spirit into their work, and with such energetic 

 men as Mr E. T. Ayers (Great Yarmouth) and J. B. Pearce 

 (Norwich) at the head of affairs, its success was assured. 

 Funds were hunted up, fresh blood infused into the manage- 

 ment, two days' racing were substituted for one, novelties and 

 innovations yearly introduced, all of which assisted the sport 

 and added to the enjoyment of everyone who attended the 

 fixture, and it has now been worked up to such a pitch that it 

 can compete favourably with other inland regattas held any- 

 where in our tight little Island. 



