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how it all started..

the story so far..

Despite her enormous success, the Shrimper didn’t start life as a commercial project – Roger Dongray designed her in 1978 as a plywood one-off for his own use. It wasn’t long before local carpenter and builder Mike Hughes (Sheerwater No 6) looked in on the building, liked what he saw and offered to help finish the first boat. Katy (Number 1) has recently been refurbished and is still afloat.

Potential buyers started queuing up as soon as this pretty little gaffer was launched so Roger granted Mike a licence to build ten boats in ply. Three were sailing before Cornish Crabbers decided she’d slot into their range between the 16ft Coble and Crabber 24, which they were already building in glassfibre. Their first boat – Shrimper No. 11 – was launched in May 1980.

A small fleet of Shrimpers were soon sailing at Rock and in 1981 John Ashworth (Daisy No 36) formed the Shrimper Owners Association. A keen racing fleet developed at Rock and Falmouth and soon Falmouth week became a keen venue for those Owners wishing to trail their boats to the area. John redefined the Shrimper one-design class rules which incorporated the motto “Fast but fair”. National Shrimper Week was conceived in 1984, the first of many being held in Falmouth and later as far afield as France and Holland.

Today Cornish Shrimpers are up to the mid 900s and the Shrimper Owners Association has around 600 members worldwide and is a very relaxed and low key organisation.

who we are..

The SOA thrives because the elegance, practicality and sheer fun of the Shrimper tend to attract owners with whom you are bound to find a good deal in common. It has a National Honorary Secretary (Barry Mellor) and a Membership Secretary (Gillie Whittle) but the activities and experience lie in the Areas. Active Areas are based on the East, South and South West coasts of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands and France. These organise events throughout the year. Links to each Area can be found on the menu bar at the top of the page.

joining us..

Please use this site to judge what we have to offer you as an owner of a Cornish Shrimper. I hope that you will find a part of the Association that suits you whether you be a creek crawling sailor that would rather anchor alone for the night, or a gregarious racing sailor that just loves a few beers after the cans! If you would like further details of how to join click on the Communicate link above and then follow the link to the joining form or contact the Honorary Secretary for your local area . Their details are on the contacts page.