Morgan Giles

The Aldeburgh Yacht Club was formed in 1897 and today is one of the most successfully supported clubs in the country.

The One-design for the club was initially the 'Redwing'. Looking for a relacement the club thought that the National 12ft being a development class would soon go out of date so Morgan Giles was asked to produce a design which became known as the Lapwing. The first of these, a 12’ 6” clinker built 2 person dinghy, was built by Morgan Giles in 1947 for Howard Goodson.The Committee felt there was enough interest to order 6 boats and asked Morgan Giles and Nunn Bros at Waldringfield for quotations.  None of the correspondence still exists however, Nunn Bros of Waldringfield were given the order but Morgan Giles was under the misapprehension that he was to build 6 boats. The Club only discovered this when Graham Goodson, son of Howard and rear Commodore, met Jack Holt at the RYA Cocktail party who remarked on the pretty dinghies being built at Teignmouth. The Committee decided that they had enough interest to take a gamble and indeed all 12 boats were sold. One more built by Nunn taking the class to sail no.15, 13 was not built until late 1950 and it is believed was the boat shown at The Festival of Britain.

A small number of boats were built by Appleyard and Lincoln at Eley with permission of the AYC to sail at the Eley SC. The class did not take off there and they found their way to Aldeburgh. The last boat built by Nunn Bros was no.70 over the winter 73/74, since then only 4 more boats have been built, no.71 by R.F.Upson, 73 and 74 by the Aldeburgh Boatyard and 75 as a student project at the Lowestoft FE college. Aldeburgh Boatyard finished it off.

Lapwings command fierce loyalty. Many have been owned by the same families since they were built. Lapwing number 1, the prototype, (named 'Lapwing') was built to order for Howard Goodson for his nine year old daughter Jill.  Jill has sailed it and raced it ever since, she took part in the Sail Past in 2017, and raced it with her grandchildren in the last couple of years.  That must be a record for a Morgan GIles boat, it must be quite unusual for one person to have owned and sailed the same boat for 73 years. It is still sailed and raced by the same lady for whom it was built in 1947.

In the early 21^st century there was renewed interest until today restorations are taking place and boats being sailed and entered into the clubs regatta and races.  The club has two classes of boats identified by their sails, white for adults and red with a reduced sail area for youths and children. There are about 30 of these boats still active today sailing on the River Alde for which they were designed.  Below are some images of the Aldeburgh Lapwings from the past and the present, also the complete list of all the Lapwings that were built.

My thanks to Lucy Vinten Mattich, Steve Liddell, Adrian Pike and Peter Wilson for all the information and images they sent me while researching this section

Specification: LOA – 12ft 6in. LWL – 11ft 9in. Beam – 4ft 8in. Draught – 8in / 2ft 9in. Sail Area – 100 sq ft & 80 sq ft reduced. Clinker built of Spruce or Mahogany.

Aldeburgh Yacht Club in the 1950's

Lapwing No.1 with Jill, Granddaughter of Howard Goodson.  This boat has remained in the same family since 1947. Currently owned by Jill's son, Simon Fowles.

Lapwings setting sail including No.1 Lapwing, No.3 Manka, No.18 Kingfisher and No. 24 Dipper.

 Sailing day on the River Alde

Lapwing No.1 as she is today leading the Pack with No 9 Peewit, No 60 Chickadee, No 67 Pheonix and No 71 Hummingbird.

 Lapwing No.1 with red sails indicating a reduced sail area for Juniors

 Steve Liddell's Lapwing No. 51 Whaup looking resplendent after a full renovation over the winter 

Another view of the splendid Whaup