David Botterill owns the 25 foot (overall) gaff sloop Oystercatcher Charlie which used to migrate between Cardiff Bay and Milford Haven until he bought Nona Me, a 19 foot (overall) BayRaider 17, which he now trails to various sailing venues. He and Charlie attended the 2013 OGA 50^th celebrations at Cowes.

POSITION(S) HELD: Area Secretary.

Martin bought the Essex Smack Henrietta, in the Isle of Wight in 1997. He sailed her round to Milford Haven and she has stayed local since, because the sailing, the scenery and wildlife in this magical part of West Wales is unbeatable. A night spent onboard at Skomer, listening to Shearwater followed by breakfast, surrounded by puffins is sheer joy. Together they have circumnavigated all the Pembrokeshire islands and if the weather's not right, there is always the Cleddau River, a magnificent, unspoilt treasure.

Trevor Fishlock and his wife Penny owned Penelope, a Tela built in 2012 and taken from a Barry pilot boat used for inshore pilot transfers. Trevor is an author of many books and a presenter of a long running TV series Fishlock’s Tales. One of these programmes was centred in Cardiff Bay and featured the OGA’s 50^th Anniversary sailing weekend with several interviews of OGA members.   

David Grainger has sailed boats from when he was a boy, then particularly in the upper reaches of the Severn Estuary. Later he lived and worked at Pembroke Dock in Milford Haven. In 1978 he began building the engineless cutter Happy Quest (it took 16 years) which he often sailed from Milford Haven to Holyhead, Scotland, Ireland and the Brittany coast, joining OGA races, which he invariably won- a skilled and experienced sailor. In 2022 David was awarded the title of 'OGA Elder Gaffer', the first Bristol Channel member to be so honoured.

John Guy is a master mariner who used to own a gaff-rigged Barry Pilot Seeking boat, but who now loves to potter and trailer-sail his modern plastic and carbon fibre 21ft BayRaider Expedition out of Cardiff Bay. Merlin is easy to launch and recover and trails nicely, making regular tips to Dartmouth, Plymouth and Weymouth a pleasure.

Charlie Harris and his wife Sue, sail Chloe, a Sou-Wester 18, an open eighteen-foot gaff sloop, complete with a top-sail even. Together, they make a winning combination and are rarely far from the front of the fleet. At the time of writing, he is the holder of the Commodores’ Challenge Award (A 20-mile challenging triangular course in the Bristol Channel.)
POSITION(S) HELD: Area President, 

Viv Head has been a central part of the BC Area since it was reorganised in 2002.

He sails a Cornish Shrimper Blue Jack (ex Nutmeg), often single-handed, and still owns the 17-foot lug-ketch Fleur. With an interest in the maritime history of the Bristol Channel, he has published Sailing Ships of the Bristol Channel as well as the OGA’s 50^th Celebration book: Sailing Gaffers.

POSITION(S) HELD: Area Secretary, President, Commodore (current)

Barry Hobbs self-built the Looe Lugger replica Eleanor B in Bristol in 2002. It was built in steel to a design by Alan Pape. She was afterwards sold to Dr Wouter Harvinger who in turn sold it on and it may well have since been converted from a lugger into a gaff ketch. Barry always said that it would be a logical modification. He was mainly based at the Weston Bay Yacht Club and believed to have been an OGA member during that time: he died c. 2018

Peter sailed with Dee in their Lune Pilot Lune Fox, kept on Ullswater in Cumbria. He also sailed with Clevedon Sailing Club - racing in the Bay for many years.

Tony James built his own Flatner, the uniquely Somerset flat-bottomed working boat. Yankee Jack is now housed in the Watchet Boat Museum (also referred to as the World Flatner Centre!). Tony is a journalist and prolific author having written more than twenty books. One of these- Yankee Jack Sails Again, describes a journey of discovery exploring some of the forgotten ports of the coasts of Somerset and North Devon.

Neil owned Tir-an-og, a Cornish Crabber of some vintage, which he kept at Watermouth in North Devon. He regularly sailed her in the Channel and was often a visitor to Cardiff events during the first decade of the century. Occasionally, he combined it with a visit to SBS HQ at Hereford. Well-liked and always with a twinkle in his eye, he was once described in a book as One of the most decent blokes in the SBS. His other great passion was hawking which he took quite seriously. Sadly, Neil crossed the bar in August 2020.

POSITION(S) HELD: Area Treasurer

Andrew and Joan Kelland spent 26 years globe trotting with Andrew’s work, enabling racing sailing dinghies in the Middle and Far East, until finally graduating to a fixed keel Gaffer in the Netherlands.  Retiring to South Wales led to the acquisition of Jezebel (Cornish Crabber 17), and then Hetty Pegler (1979 Cornish Crabber 24) in Cardiff Bay. Whilst sailing in company to Bristol, a breakdown of the original Stewart Turner diesel led to a complete engine rebuild and the realisation that time spent on the pontoon maintaining, drinking tea, and overnighters with grandchildren is easily as pleasurable as sailing! (That 13 meter tide is truly scary!).

POSITION(S) HELD: Andrew:  Area Secretary

In the 1980s, John Laband set out to build a ferro hull of a 43 foot boat on a farm in Somerset with a view to selling it on as a bare hull. The aim behind the project was an interest in ferrocement boat construction and in traditional maritime trades and techniques such as wire splicing, block making and traditional solid spar construction. In the event he completed the build himself and twenty-five years on he is still sailing Working Yacht One far and wide. His voyages, single-handed more often than not, have become legendary. He once spent nearly a week sheltering behind Lundy Island in a prolonged gale and has visited most of the harbours and anchorages in the BC area in all weathers. John and WY1 are currently in Portugal having sailed back and forth between there and the UK and joining in with several of the famous French maritime festivals on the way

A long-standing member of the OGA, John Maxwell owned the converted Poole Harbour fishing vessel Playmate for many years. She was built in 1898 as an open boat and had a cabin added around 1924 and a counter and doghouse added in the 1960s. John originally kept her at Gravesend before moving her to the Bristol Channel firstly at Bristol and then Portishead. Together they cruised extensively in the Channel as well as voyaging to the Brittany coast. Skipper and boat were together for over a quarter of a century and seemed made for each other. But time caught up with Playmate when her 112-year-old timbers succumbed to age and weathering. John now sails the bermudan sloop Doreen  

POSITION(S) HELD: Area President

Claudia Myatt is foremost a full-time artist but also a singer-song writer and musician. Moving from West Wales, she lives on an old tug on the Deben River from where she has set out on some epic adventures. Principally, joining a hundred-year-old sailing ship in the Galapagos Islands for a 6,000 mile passage under sail, around Cape Horn to the Falkland Islands, joining the unique Cape Horners club.

POSITION(S) HELD: Severn Tidings Newsletter Editor

Together with her husband, Alan Susanne owned Blackjack, a Morecombe Bay Prawner kept at Cardiff Bay, and later Spindrift, a Charles Cooper 6 tonner built in 1936 by Comyer at Teynham. A Director of Bay Marine Insurance and well known amongst Bristol Channel sailors having been Chairperson, and otherwise involved, in the Bristol Channel Yachting Association for many years.
POSITION(S) HELD: Area President

As Social Secretary, Glynis Parsons is an integral part of Cardiff Bay Gaffers. Her energy and enthusiasm knows no bounds. During the 2020-2021 Covid Lockdowns she opened every Gaffer’s Zoom meeting with a limerick and has since published a book of Bristol Channel limericks.

POSITION(S) HELD: Area Social Secretary

John Plumb sails Lilian Rose, a Salcombe Trader 28 he keeps at Milford Haven. He often sails single-handed including various ventures in the Bristol Channel. In 2019, with his son as crew, he sailed her to Bristol, along with a few other OGA boats. The passage to Cardiff was not straightforward though. After a wretched night at anchor in Oxwich Bay there came a close encounter with a line of breakers barely covering Scarweather Sands. With a little bit of sea room though they were able to sail off to arrive safely at their destination. 

Bruce lives in Watchet in Somerset and is a long-standing member of the OGA. He has for many years been involved in the Watchet Boat Museum, the home of the local Somerset Flatner boat. He sails his own flatner, Ostara which, like other modern flatners, is a relatively recent build as almost all of the original working Flatners have disappeared. They could once be seen on the Somerset Levels as well as the sea and used for fishing and carrying turf and withies on the levels. Ostara and her skipper were part of the fleet of gaffers that graced Cardiff Bay for the OGA 50 Small Boat Event in 2013.

Phil and Lynn Slade bought Wendy May in Scotland before sailing her south.

Built by Williams & Parkinson of pitch pine on oak frames at Deganwy in 1936. She was one of three to the same design by Maurice Griffiths, typical of the East coast gaff cutter, 25ft 9ins LOD, 36ft LOA. They owned her for more than twenty-five years. Now sold, she remains an OGA boat and, at the time of writing, she is the Algarve.

POSITION(S) HELD:  OGA Gaffers Log Editor

A native of Trieste in Italy, Piero Tassinari lived with his family in Penarth whilst lecturing at Cardiff University. He taught Greek and Latin and had an international reputation for his translations of ancient texts into Italian and English. He owned the 1910 Morcombe Bay Prawner Moya which in recent years was kept in Turkey. In the summer of 2016 he took Moya across the Aegean Sea to Greece on a project to trace the myth of Europa on her journey from Asia. This quest, so symptomatic of the man, turned out to be his own last voyage. In the autumn he died of a brain tumour; he knew that he was ill, yet his death was unexpected. Pierro was a member of the OGA for over ten years. RIP

Patrick Vyvyan-Robinson sails Capraia a Heard 28, the highly regarded gaff cutter he keeps in Milford Haven. Together they have sailed, often single-handed, to Scotland, the Isles of Scilly and Brittany. They circumnavigated Ireland in 2919 and around the mainland of Britain in company with other OGA boats during the OGA 50^th celebrations in 2013. An intrepid boat and skipper. In 2020, Patrick was appointed Association President of the OGA, the first Bristol Channel member to hold that position.

POSITION(S) HELD: OGA President