It is the first Saturday in October, fall is definitely here, and a gale is forecast for later this afternoon. The annual sail training vessel regatta is in full swing, and we are out to watch in spite of the cold and intermittent rain squalls. There are divisions for modern and mature yachts. Being mature ourselves (at least chronologically) we are into the old stuff.

Jolie Brise won the first Fastnet Rock race in 1925. She is still quick, and ahead of the pack here.

These guys were giving a good account of themselves, in second place and ahead of some much bigger yachts. Note the gaff headed loose but footed main and mizzen. These sails are similar in configuration to the "get home" rig on the FPB 64.

Another pretty gaff headed cutter.

Look at the plan form of the main and fisherman staysail (sail above the gaff). Not that different from the square headed mainsails now in use on all the high end race boats.

More of a load carrying work boat than yacht here. Check out the boom at the top of the fisherman staysail over the main boom. That short gaff allows a much more efficient sail shape and more area by eliminating the triangular head of this sail.

Moosk was built at the beginning of the 20th century. She now takes school children sailing. We enjoyed chatting with her Skipper who is a retired oil commodities trader from Houston, Texas.

We are very much into mizzen headsails, having been ketch fanciers in the olden days. To be effective the mizzen staysail needs to be relatively high aspect ratio, with separation from the main.

This mizzen staysail looks pretty, but is not worth the drag and mainsail air flow interference it creates.

Shoot out with the cameraman from Cowes TV. He is aiming at us and we are getting him. Just as in Ireland, the Brits seem to like these big RIBs for rough weather use.

OK, these guys are modern, but the white sails look good against the oncoming rain squall, so we will include them in the day.

After leaving the regatta and heading for Yarmouth we passed several fleets of small yachts racing. As we said, it is cold and wet, and a gale is forecast. Folks hereabouts do not let a little weather keep them indoors on the weekend.