Seabird Half Rater

The Seabird Half Rater is the oldest one design class still sailing in Britain. It is a 20 ft carvel planked sailing boat, with a design dating back to 1898. As of the 2017 season there have been 101 built [up to No.108]. The class has a Portsmouth Yardstick of 1229.

History
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. The first eight boats were built by Latham of Crossens at a cost of £34 17s 6d each. The boats were named after Seabirds and under the Dixon Kemp rule their rating was calculated to be 0.5 hence the name “Half Rater”. The design is similar to that of a 0.75 rater but on a smaller scale and with one or two improvements, the most notable difference was the Seabird didn't have the overhanging 'counter' of the 0.75 rater.

The original 8 boats were balloted for once they were all complete, which was a good method of ensuring a strict compliance to the one design rules. 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. 7 and Fulmar No. 1 respectively. The first race was sailed off the Southport Pierhead on 13 June 1899 when eight boats participated over a ten-mile course and Goshawk No.2, helmed by owner Mr Dudley Coddington took the winning gun, ahead of Fulmar No.1 helmed by Mr. W. Scott Hayward. Goshawk went on to have the best record in both the 1899 and 1900 seasons.

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 1902 Caernarvon SC adopted the Class and the boats were known as 'Cariads'. As a result of these naming conventions many of the older boats have been renamed multiple times when they’ve moved clubs and this is why despite the class now solely being known as “Seabirds” some boats still have “odd” names that aren’t named after birds, such as Chila No.18, Valmai No.25 and Gael No.38.

Inter club racing was first held on the waters of Belfast Lough during the summer of 1902 when a fleet of 17 Seabirds competed over a weeks worth of racing which gained considerable praise from the yachting press as one of the first international sailing events. Further inter club racing was held in the Menai Strait in August 1903 and returned to Belfast Lough during the summer of 1904. There was great enthusiasm at this time and the 1902 August edition of The Yachtsman reporting on the Menai Strait Regattas states "none of the Threequarter Raters which generally give good sport at the Regattas were able to sail down but the Seabirds managed to arrive by rail in time for the first day at Caernarvon". Some years later the Class was adopted by Liverpool Bay Sailing Club, in 1906, and The Magazines Sailing Club, in 1913, which later changed its name to Wallasey Yacht Club in 1921. By the time the Seabirds, Seashells and Cariads O.D. Association was formed in the autumn of 1905 to keep the One Design concept intact, 31 boats had been built by this time by 4 different boat builders, so it was decided that a class should be formed, to prevent any deviation from the original design. In 1908 R. Perry & Son, Birkenhead were appointed sail makers, their price being £3 19s 6d for a full suit.

West Kirby Sailing Club were invited to sail Seabirds at Southport and Belfast Lough in 1905 and that sparked an interest in the class at the club which resulted in the first 2 Seabirds, Curlew No.30 and Goeland No.31 arriving at West Kirby in 1907 and 1909 respectively. They were followed in 1910 by the entire Donaghdee SC Seabird fleet of 9 boats who were bought by West Kirby Sailing Club to be sold onto members on a "first come, first served" basis, to form the neuclus of a fleet where they raced on the Dee until the 1950’s. 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. Sailing did briefly resume on the tide at Southport in the early 1960’s however the loss of Whaup No.39 and yet more silting killed off the revival.

In 1910 it was agreed that the Association Burgee be a "White Seagull" on a red background. Prior to the First World War, 41 boats had been built and were racing regularly and the cost of a new boat had risen to £60.

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. The entry was refused on the grounds that he had been given authority to build five boats, not six. The rules were so strictly adhered to that this Seabird, Seasnipe number 33, was not recognised by the association until 1963.

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. However, when they found that she was no better than the others the Association accepted her as legitimate and reallocated her the sail No.53. A year later in 1922 Trearddur Bay Sailing Club officially adopted the Class.

In 1924 the newly formed South Caernarvonshire YC offered races in June for Seabirds. The first race at SCYC was held on the 9th of June between 5 boats of the Seabird class (four of them new, including Guillemot No.60). 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.

The 60's saw a revival in the building programme of ten new boats, by this time the price of a seabird had risen to around £800. A news article at the time claimed there was a buyers market for "at least one new seabird per year". In 1965 there were 56 seabirds sailing regularly, mainly at Trearddur Bay (24 boats), Abersoch (21 boats), 7 boats on the Mersey sailing at Wallasey Yacht Club and West Cheshire Sailing Club and single boats at Holyhead, Rhyl and Conway, although Cormorant, number 9, was being used as a fishing boat out of Liverpool docks. The Association became affiliated to the RYA.

1972 saw recognition by the Guinness Book of Records that the Seabird Half Rater is the oldest OD Class still racing in Britain, 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 present day fleet is based in North Wales at Trearddur Bay and Abersoch and on the Mersey at Wallasey.

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. Many of the older boats had been lovingly restored over the years and the regattas saw Goshawk No.2, Scoter No.6 and Dovekie No.8 who sailed in the very first race in 1899, still racing 100 years later against the newest seabird, at the time, Oystercatcher No.100 which was built in 1998.

Despite now costing in excess of £40,000 for a new boat, 8 new boats have been built between 2005–17, bringing the current total fleet up to 75, the majority are based at Treaddur Bay (34 Boats), Wallasey (23 Boats), Abersoch (11 Boats), Wirral (2 Boats) and Anglesey (2 Boats).

Between 2015-24 Seabird half raters have appeared on TV on numerous occasions including:
 * Sea Cities: Maritime Merseyside featured Wallasey Yacht Club Seabirds racing in the club regatta on the Mersey, won by Eider No.77 and interviews about the rebuild of one of the boats, Osprey No.41.
 * Britain Afloat episode: ‘The Sailing Boat’ featured a segment on the Wallasey Yacht Club Seabirds which included drone footage of the 2017 West Cheshire SC regatta and presenter Mary-Ann Ochota sailing on Terek No.94 on the Mersey.
 * Safe House (TV series) The opening scene was filmed on board TBSC’s Rockhopper No.105 sailing in Trearddur Bay.
 * Tin Star (TV series): Liverpool which was filmed in Merseyside shows Wallasey Yacht Club’s Eider No.77 on the Mersey.
 * Great Coastal Railway Journeys Michael Portillo sailed onboard SCYC’s Penguin No.40 in Abersoch, broadcast April 2024.



Dimensions



 * Length overall: 20 ft.
 * Length on load water line: 16 ft. 4in.
 * Beam at deck: 6 ft.
 * Beam at load water line: 5 ft. 6in.
 * Draft: 1 ft. 3in.
 * Sail area: 182.2sq. ft.

Racing regulations

 * The safety of every seabird is the responsibility of the owner and/or helm.
 * Each Seabird must hold a valid racing certificate issued by the association.
 * Each Seabird must have valid insurance covering the boat and crew against liability in respect of third party claims for at least half a million pounds whilst racing.
 * Every Seabird must carry at least 2 crew and personal buoyancy must be worn at all times.
 * Each Seabird must carry:
 * An anchor weighing no less than 9.1 kg.
 * 17 to 20 fathoms of quarter inch small link chain.
 * One pair of oars and rowlocks or a sculling oar and rowlock.
 * Distress flares.
 * No Seabird may take part in a race for boats of the Seabird class unless it has been weighed and the weight is not less than the minimum regulation weight, 650 kg for the hull (centre plate, rudder, floorboards (and deck seats/buoyancy where fitted)) and 245 kg of ballast after the boat has been in commission for 28 days. If a Seabird is under this weight then additional ballast shall be added in positions designated by the committee.

Sails
Racing under strict one design rules Seabird Half Rater sails are only supplied by only 2 sailmakers, Sanders Sails and North Sails. Sails must be measured by the official class measurer and stamped before use in races. No more than 3 sails, a mainsail, jib and spinnaker may be flown at any one time while racing. Sails may be coloured, but the most common colour is white, and they must display the number designated to the boat by the seabird association.

In 1889 a full suit [ mainsail, jib and spinnaker] of sails cost £3 19s 6d, this had risen to £52 by 1965 and currently costs in the region of £1,250.

Sail battens and Headboards are not allowed. However the class is trialing the use of windows in existing sails.

The spinnaker boom may not be passed to leeward of the forestay and its length must not exceed 8 ft overall.

Equipment not sanctioned

 * Bottle screws.
 * Kicking straps.
 * Winches.
 * Joined tillers.
 * Sliding fairleads.
 * barber haulers.
 * Topping lifts, downhauls and sliding mast tracks for spinnaker boom attachments.
 * The covering of the keel centre board slot with strips of any material.
 * Toe straps

Modifications sanctioned

 * Jamming cleats and blocks.
 * All wire main halyards or Spectra rope.
 * Buoyancy (as long as no structural alterations are made to the hull.)
 * The main sheet may not have more than a three part purchase and no block on the boom may be positioned beyond 7 ft 0" forwards of the lacing hole.
 * Replaceable plastic gudgeon bearings.
 * The use of epoxy glue and fillers on all repair work.