Manningtree Claydon Skiffs
Members of the Sailing Club brought rowing back to the Stour in 2008 in the shape of a Claydon Skiff: “Myrto”, followed shortly after by two more: Witchoar and Lt.Washington.
Myrto
In 2008 the first Claydon Skiff was brought to Manningtree. The boat was originally named “Eadwulf of Walton” and was renamed “Myrto” by her women’s crew at the time, the Manningtree Oars. The name is of Amazonian origins and means a stormy, war like Sea Goddess. As Eadwulf the boat had taken part in the Great River Race in 1991.
In 2008 the Manningtree Oars once again took part in the Great River Race which is a spectacular 22 mile race on the river Thames held each year in September. The crew also completed the Great River Race in 2009 and 2010.
In 2009 the Myrto Crew brought competitive rowing back to Manningtree with the first “Paddle and Oar” festival. A rowing festival has continued to be an important part of the club’s annual programme. In 2012 Myrto took part in the Thames Pageant as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, which the team described as a wonderful experience despite the poor weather! In 2013 the Manningtree Oars set off without Myrto to the inaugural World Championships for St Ayle’s Skiff racing, where they were able to participate in races in a different class of boat.
After a while without being rowed regularly Mytro and crew are now back on the water and took part in the 2019 Rowing Festival at Manningtree.
Witchoar
At the end of 2008 a second Claydon Skiff, Witchoar arrived in Manningtree, rescued from abandonment at Levington Marina. For the first year Witchoar had a men’s crew and first completed the Great River Race in 2009 with a men’s team. Between 2010 and 2016 Witchoar mainly raced with a mixed crew. The mixed Crew completed the Great River Race in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, and 2016 setting increasingly competitive times. The mixed team were never beaten by another mixed team in a Claydon Skiff and beat many men’s teams along the way, but were always just out rowed by a men’s crew in the Great River Race. In 2015 Witchoar again took part in the Great River Race with a men’s crew and in 2017 with a men’s super veteran crew.
Witchoar continued to fly the racing flag for Manningtree, taking part in races and events every year across the region, including the Round Canvey and Round Osea Island Races as well as rowing events at Brightlingsea, Rowhedge, Mersea and Leigh on Sea.
Lt Washington
Lt Washington was brought to Manningtree in 2009 from Walton by Clive and Jayne Cotton. Crewed by the Manningtree Marauders, Lt. Washington took the honours for the fastest Claydon Skiff in the 2009 Paddle and Oar Festival and went on to compete in the Great River Race in 2010 along with Witchoar and Myrto. Lt. Washington holds the record for the most dramatic photograph of a Claydon Skiff in action taken during the challenging conditions for the 2010 Paddle and Oar Festival.
Lt Washington was out of the water for a while before being bought by the Rowing Secretary in the summer of 2015. The “girls” from the Witchoar mixed crew recruited a new all veteran women’s crew: the Manningtree “Witches”. With the Witches on board Lt. Washington once again took part in the 2015 Great River Race, with the crew finishing a very creditable 5th in the overall women’s veteran category (despite the “winning” women’s crew being photographed with a male rower en route!).
In 2016 Lt Washington once again took part in the Great River Race, this time with a mixed veteran crew. The Crew once again upheld the record of never having been beaten by another mixed crew in a Claydon Skiff and finished as the second mixed veteran crew home in the race overall.
In 2017 Lt Washington reverted back to a veteran women’s crew for the race – coming home 4th in the class (the only women’s crew) in tough rowing conditions.
In 2018 it was time to have a once and for all attempt at winning the Claydon Skiff Class. A men’s superveteran crew made up of rowers from the Stour Sailing Club and Sudbury Rowing Club (some were members of both) took on the challenge and triumphed in tough competition. Lt. Washington won the Claydon Skiff Class and the Super Veterans Class and brought home some serious silver ware to the club!