29th British Open Crabbing Championship at Walberswick, Suffolk

29th British Open Crabbing Championship

29th British Open Crabbing Championship. The 2009 British Open Crabbing Championship took place on a lovely sunny afternoon on August 9th. This year 1252 entrants (a record by several hundred), some previous crabbers, some very new to it all, came to Walberswick from all over the country, with attendant familes, pushchairs, bicycles and dogs. The pungent smell of bait wafted over them all. Some Mums, Dads and family members sat back in their picnic chairs to enjoy the fun while others joined in with children of all ages sorting out the logistics of bucket, line, bait and weight. Bait varied from fish heads, bacon and whole fish to unidentifiable lumps of 'something tasty' - tasty to a crab that is. Stalls included RNLI merchandise and refreshments, the raffle, ice creams, Ben's Bait crabbing necessities stall (now run by Ben's son as sadly Ben is no longer with us), and of course, the unique 'I Caught Crabs at Walberswick' souvenirs. The clear winner, and 29th British Open Crabbing Champion is acknowledged as Megan Turner, from Norwich in Norfolk who successfully landed a prize specimen of 4 5/8 ounces Megan confirmed that she used fish bait and international stage and screen celebrity David Morrissey stepped forward to present Megan with a cheque for £50 (courtesy of the Sutton Family), a replica gold medal and a silver salver. Runner-up, silver medal winner and receiver of a cheque for £30, courtesy of Walberswick Ferry, was Jacob Mitchell, from Wymondham who revealed that he used a special bait of mixed bacon and squid. Jacob’s crab weighed in at 3 1/2 ounces. Third prize bronze medal winner was Nirvana Leaver, hailing from Brentwood in Essex who received a cheques for £15 and a replica bronze medal for landing a crab weighing 3 1/4 ounces, luring him with a bait of bacon and rag. [ Photo Slideshow ]
	The record crowds packed the banks of the Dunwich river as the busiest Crabbing Championship by far got under way. The weather was perfect - dry and sunny but with a cooling breeze from the sea.
	As usual the Red and Green banks had the best crabs although not the winner this year which was from the Blue area - on the bridge.
	Crabbing is a actvitity for all ages. This family are concentrating hard on a shallow area at the top of small creek off the main Dunwich River.
	Thhe shallow side creeks were clear and still meaning that if you were careful you could actually watch your bait and see when it was attracting interest from a crab.
	These creekside pitches were very popular.
	With the record attendance Dani and Christian were working hard on the Walberswick to Southwold ferry. Here we see Dani pulling hard on the trip from Southwold to Walberswick. The job is a lot harder than it looks as a result of the strong tidal currents that flow in and out of the Harbour
	As a result of the record number of entrants crabbing was extended to the Walberswick Quay area of the main river in the harbour. This young contestant has just cast her bait out.
	Bryan Tibbles takes great care as he weighs Megan's winning crab. This is the final weighing and on its first visit to the weighing scales this particular feisty crab took swift advantage of a the weigher's poor grip and sunk its claw deep into his hand!
	Third prize winner was Nirvana Leaver who caught a crab weighing 3 1/4 ounces. Nirvana had travelled from Brentwood in Essex especially for the British Open.
	Second prize winner was Jacob Mitchell from Wymondham in Norfolk. Jacob's crab weighed in at 3.5 ounces and was caught with a special bait of mixed bacon and squid.
	It is not all plain sailing once you have been declared winner! Here Megan concentrates hard as she sprays the celebratory libation.
	The line up.
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29th British Open Crabbing Championship.