EAORA Houghton Cup at Crouch Yacht Club - Preview
by Tony Merewether 29 May 2015 17:54 BST
6 June 2015
On Saturday 6th June, the Houghton Cup takes place; this year a race from Harwich to Burnham. Organised by EAORA in conjunction with the Crouch Yacht Club, the longest course that could be set is approximately 55 miles, but two shorter possibilities are available if the winds are lighter.
Last year's winner Ian Ivermee in Woozle Hunter the class three boat, is already entered to defend the trophy he won. Will he do the double and follow in the footsteps of several past winners, who are also entered, such as Oystercatcher and Assarain IV and the two Crouch Yacht Club yachts, Inn Spirit and Amazon?
The Houghton Cup is considered to be the oldest offshore trophy which has been raced annually, in the UK. The first recorded race for this impressive trophy was in 1911, and the course was some 82 miles to and from the Crouch, via the Sunk and Cork Light Vessels at night. It was a challenging race, with no paid hands allowed; all yachts had to tow their dinghies. The trophy was given by Sidney Houghton, when he was Rear Commodore of the Club; he sailed Tulip, certainly documented as taking part in the 1912 race.
The race had been renowned in its early days for being tough, physically and mentally, as well as navigationally. The original rules of the trophy meant that two successive wins allowed the trophy to be won outright; however, the winning crews asked for a replica. This continued until 1938, with five owners achieving this.
In 1919, Sidney Houghton became Commodore of the Crouch Yacht Club and remained so until 1929. However, his legacy has continued to live on. In the 1950s, EAORA adopted the trophy, and continued to run it along the original lines until the mid-seventies. However, increased commercial shipping meant that this was no longer viable. Since these times, many formats have been tried out for the trophy. For many years it was run on the first Saturday of Burnham Week as a day race. More recently it has been a day race from Harwich to Burnham and currently makes up one part of the Royal Thames Championship.
However, in 2011, a special night race was organised in celebration of the centenary of the presentation of the trophy. This was in the form if a 120 mile race, which served as a Fastnet qualifier; in true East Anglian spirit it had a huge range of vessels taking part, ranging from Tonnerre de Breskens, a Ker 46, to Harvest Moon, a First 29.
For further information and to enter this year's Houghton Cup, go to www.eaora.org.uk