Created fifty years ago after a three-way conversation in a public house, the Old Gaffers Association grew into a group of enthusiasts who rescued a vital part of our maritime heritage from almost certain extinction. This jaunty celebration, lavishly illustrated, demonstrates how gaff-rigged sailing vessels are alive in a way no other boat could ever be. In this book their owners tell of their stylish, characterful and sea-kindly craft – and some of their adventures. There are tales, too, of solo sailors and families embarking on voyages across the oceans that have seen the Old Gaffers Association become a world-wide community. Jim Rockeller, owner of the Bald Mountain Boat Works in Camden, Maine, and instigator of the first OGA group in America, wrote of the OGA in 1968: ‘Membership requirements are simple. One needn’t know the difference between a throat and a peak halyard; one need only know that putting to sea in a gaff-rigged vessel is a special kind of magic not found in other kinds of sailing.’ This magic of traditional sailing has cast its spell much closer to home, too – simply messing about in boats, alone, joining in regattas or cruising with families and friends. This book will delight every boating enthusiast. As the cheers greeting the traditional boats that graced The Queen’s Jubilee Thames Pageant showed, they bring out the salty seadog in us all.