Seabird Half Rater

[1] In the autumn of 1898 West Lancashire Yacht Club passed a resolution favouring the founding of a new One Design Class boat, not to cost more than £35 complete.

The class owes its inception and inspiration from the design by Mr. Herbert Baggs in collaboration with Mr. W. Scott Hayward who drew up the original plans on the back of a cigarette packet under a street lamp in Southport.

Mr. Herbert Baggs and Mr. W. Scott Hayward dedication to the class was demonstrated by them being amongst the first owners of the new boats owning Seamew No.

[2] The Class was adopted by the Donaghadee Sailing Club, on the east coast of Northern Ireland, in 1901 under the name of 'The Seashells' and by Gourock YC, on the Clyde, under the title of 'The Gaels' in 1905.

[5] Despite having an impressive fleet of 24 boats at Southport when sailing resumed after the First World War, by the late 1930’s they had all departed due to silting of their racing area.

The association was strict in its principles and at a meeting at the West Kirby clubhouse in October 1912 decided not to admit one Seabird built by Roberts of Chester.

[9] The first Half Rater appeared in Trearddur Bay in 1921, her name was Auk and she presented a problem because, although she conformed to the design, she had broken the Seabird Association rules by being built singly for one specific owner, rather than part of a batch which would then have been balloted for, having red sails which were not permitted at the time and also using the sail No.1 despite that already being allocated to an existing boat, then known as Seasnipe.

By the onset of world war 2 in 1938, 81 Seabirds had been constructed with 17 sailing at Abersoch, 12 on the Mersey, 8 at Trearddur Bay, 7 at West Kirby, 5 at Southport where racing on the bog hole had resumed, 4 in the Menai Straits, 2 at Lytham and single boats at Holyhead, Windermere, Torquay and Potter Heigham.

Osprey, number 41, was in the Isle of Man but she had been modified out of class by having a metal keel added, although there were plans to purchase her and restore her to seabird association specifications.

1972 saw recognition by the Guinness Book of Records that the Seabird Half Rater is the oldest OD Class still racing in Britain,[12] and the Liverpool Maritime Museum hold the Association documents on loan.

Hurricane Charley in 1986 resulted in 10 of the fleet at Abersoch being sunk and badly damaged but they were all salvaged and the repairs were carried out by AMP Marine of Birkenhead.

The class celebrated its centenary year in 1999 and the highlight was when the three Stations raced together in the Menai Strait Regattas, when 47 Seabirds out of a total fleet of 67 met.