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ROC News The Magazine of the Rampart Owners Club

Volume 4, Issue 9, Spring 2012

Page 1 - 3Page 4Page 4-5Page 5-6Page 7&9Page 8Page 8-9Page10-11Page12-13Page 13Page 14Page 15

Page 16

Restored and navigating the French Canals

The story started in the early 1960’s when as ayoung boy, I went round the Rampart yard inVespasian Road, Southampton, with my Father,who bought a 38 ft. I remember the yard as a veryexciting place to visit. I saw the 48ft boats beingbuilt, and as far as I was concerned, the only boatto own was the 48!A considerable number of years later, I joined theRampart Owners Club to find out more aboutRamparts.I had in the back of my mind, that one day I wouldbuy a 48. Time, and other commitmentsprecluded doing much about the dream until Ihappened to be down in Cornwall at a friendsbirthday party and saw the details of on theinternet. She was then moored in Beaulieu. Aftermuch discussion, it was decided that we woulddivert to Beaulieu on the way back from Cornwallto Canterbury and look at

This was one wet Sunday afternoon in July 2010.After the usual negotiations with Kings Easton, thebrokers, and another visit with much poking andprodding, I did the deal and bought her.

The question then was what to do next.

The people at Kings Easton, Janie and James, werereally helpful and came up with lots of usefulsuggestions as to how to go forward.The boat had been owned by Ray Williams ofWilliams Shipping, who had travelled far and widearound Europe in her. He had bought her in 1973,when she was only a couple of years old.

Co-incidentally, having had the job of sorting outmy Father’s old papers just recently, I saw that myFather too had also received the details of Calinain 1973 – presumably he was looking at buyingher as well then. She was for sale at £27,500. Continued overleaf…

Calina Restored; Stephen KingsmanCommodores Letter; C MorrisonTrad. Boat Rally 2011; Liz PooleThe Odyssey; Sabi Star; GilliesUp the Thames to Oxford in RolyMichael Nicholson’s Book launchNowhere to Go; M NicholsonRosemarie; Michael KratznerStanley’s War; Stanley RossTo Stanley from Stephen GriffithsRescue at Sea; John & Julie GillesComment on Rescue at Sea;New Faces & Winter MeetingChichester Harbour,AnchoragesBy Christopher Morrison

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After a lot of head scratching and further advicefrom Colin from Star of Killarney, a decision wasmade that we would install new engines, electricsand plumbing.This was easily said but there were all sorts ofconsequences later!In October 2010 work started in earnest. It wasclear that the first thing we needed to do was tostrip everything out that needed stripping out toestablish exactly what needed to be done. Just asyou might expect, the more we stripped out themore we found to do!The planked teak decks were largely covered in agrey trackmark diamond pattern material.

We checked the Iroko planking on thehull, and the only area we could findthat was rotten was on the starboardside at the water line next to thetransom. It looked soft - and it was,so we replaced some short lengths ofplanking. Meanwhile, there wasconsiderable head scratching aboutwhat to do about the engines. Thefuel tank in front of the engines wasalso rotten, with diesel weeping atthe bottom. One of the sea cocks tothe engines simply fell off when wewent to check it.

The idea was that I wanted to keep her as originalas possible but make sure all the things that weresupposed to work actually did. After lots of yearsfixing boats I had really come to the conclusionthat I wanted to spend time now actually ‘boating’rather than fixing things.So, the brief then was to firstly restore Calina toas good a condition as when she came out of theRampart yard in 1971, 40 years ago, and then alsoto make sure that everything worked. This was adecision which was to cause untold problems andmuch head scratching later!After much deliberation, talking to the RampartOwners Club members, visiting Roly and Star ofKillarney, a plan was starting to come together. Ialso found a five year old survey report on boardfrom Adrian White. I contacted Adrian and we metup on Board.Adrian very much shared my enthusiasm for theproject and together we drew up an initialspecification of what was to be done. We foundan enormous shed at Trafalgar Wharf in Gosportwhere we could do the work. Liz from Rolyrecommended Chris Dann, who also shared ourenthusiasm for the project. Adrian came up withJohn Desty, who was to do all the painting work.Incidentally, both Adrian and John worked in theRampart yard as apprentices about the time Calinawas built! Adrian also knew of a good electricianand two good engineers. So we had a plan and ateam in place to make the plan happen.So in September 2010 we set off from Beaulieuround to the yard at Gosport, where she was liftedout and taken into her new home for the winter,ready for the refit work to start. It soon becameobvious that, if we were toachieve the vision of ‘asgood as she came out of theyard and everything working’,we would have to think verycarefully about what we dowith the engines and electrics. I remember clearlymy discussion with Stanley from Highland Beauty,who had sadly had a fire on board due to electricalproblems.

It looked veryworkmanlike butwasn’t really what Iwanted for aRampart, so wescraped it all off,which was a prettytedious job.The cockpit was designed to have a separate floorwhich was self draining. Clearly the drains had gotbunged up at some stage, which had caused thecockpit floor to become rotten, so we removed allthis. The galvanised water tank under the cockpitfloor had seen better days and was leaking, sothat had to go as well. We then exposed therudder platform which was a large piece of Irokoacross the width of the boat that held the top ofthe two rudder posts. This had also sufferedfrom the rainwater problem and was rotten.Ultimately, we ended up stripping out the entirecockpit and taking out the rudder tubes andrenewing them, although the rudders themselveswere in an almost ‘as new’ condition.

It appeared to be much easier to replace the fueltanks if we took the engines out first so that’swhat we decided. Once we had worked out thecosts of the new parts to refurbish the engines, wefound that it wasn’t that much dearer to replacethem. When Chris managed to sell the oldengines for £2,000 that finalised the decision! Wechecked the reduction gearboxes and decidedthey were fine and they also fitted the new engines.

So, the engine bay and the wheelhouse lookedvery much like the cockpit, completely strippedout. We then painted it ready to receive the newplastic Tek Tanks and very shiny new engines – apair of Perkins Sabre 130C’s.The electrics all appeared to work well, but it wasvery clear that there was a lot of electrolysis goingon so there was electrical leakage fromsomewhere. The wiring was suffering from 40years of additions and modifications. Again, thedecision was made that the best thing to do wasto take it all out and start again, so that’s what wedid.

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Having made the decision on the engines, we thendiscovered that new engines came with flexiblemountings, whereas the old ones had solid hardrubber mountings. This was to be a big problemas the old Hardy Spicer couplings, whichtransferred their thrust direct to the engines,clearly weren’t going to be any good as the newengines were flexibly mounted. We then foundthat the stainless shafts had simply worn outwhere they pass through the white metal bearingson the ‘A’ brackets and in the stern tubes, so weended up with new stainless shafts with thrustblocks and aquadrive units. As this turned out, itwas a very much better solution, which is verymuch quieter than the old system.

John Desty looked at the propellers, which were ina very good condition, and suggested that theywould be just right for the new engines, which

were 130HP rather than the old115HP. Apparently, all Rampart 48’swere originally slightly over-propped.We then came to look at the skinfittings and found these were in verymixed condition, so whilst we wereat it, we replaced all these.

Externally the varnish work was in pretty averagecondition, but we only need to make small repairsto the cabin sides and general woodwork. Westripped this all back and decided to Coelan this,including the decks, which will hopefully reducemaintenance later. We learnt a lot about Coelan,but that’s another story!

Six months later, we got pretty well everythingfinished and Calina was launched as planned,ready for Easter 2011.The first voyage was crossing the river fromTrafalgar Wharf to Port Solent, where we held thecustomary launch party and dinner out for allthose involved.Finally, at the end of May we set off across theChannel via Paris and the Canal de la Loire toAigues Mortes in the South of France. In caseanyone doubts it, I can say that the steadying saildoes definitely improve the motion on a 48 –especially in a good breeze in the Channel!

The trip through the canals went well with Calinabeing a conversation piece wherever she went, butmaybe that’s for another article!

And finally offto Aigues

Mortes.

The centre ofattention all the

way withshimmering

drip free deckstwo new

engines, newstainless shafts,thrust blocksand aquadrive

units.

Not to mentionnew tanks forfuel and water.

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by Christopher Morrison

I write this during unseasonable March weather.It has been warm and sunny for about four weeksand the boatyard in Emsworth has come alive withowners working on their boats and hardlybelieving their luck. The queues at the chandlershave grown, with everyone wanting to enter intodeep conversation over the relative merits of bitsof kits, buying up the staff’s time whilst poringover catalogues.It has been relatively quiet on the Rampartmembership front, although the flurries of emailson such esoteric subjects as holding tanks, andothers, spark the interest. This is a wonderfulforum and I am so glad we are using it. Do pleasealter the subject line if the email thread starts todiverge from the original subject, and please replyto ‘Google group’ if your answer is of interest toeveryone and moves the topic along.

Over the winter we have said goodbye to TomWilcox as a full member, but he has reappeared asan associate – thank you for staying with us Tom.Stanley has sold one of the loves in his life, hisHighland Beauty, and we welcome JamesHumphrys [yes that is the spelling] as her newowner. James is putting her into Tim Gilmore’syard in Emsworth for a bit of work and hopes tojoin us at the Rally in Gunwharf.

By the time you read this, the Rally will havehappened or will be in the process of happening.We decided to move a bit further east this year, ifonly to try to prise Mike away from theLymington/Yarmouth run.Gunwharf Quays will be a different ambience fromsome of the sleepier places we have rallied to butthere will be plenty to do.We will be holding the AGM that weekend.

Ramparts will be represented by Simon Jones inAureol [DLS] at HMQ’s water pageant; although anumber of other boats applied, they were notselected. The Queen doesn’t know what she ismissing. Roly is acting as a viewing platform forsome Ramparteers. Let’s hope the weather is kindand the wind doesn’t play havoc with the boathandling.There are two more events on the Thames thisyear.The Henley Regatta which Peter and Jill will beattending in Star of Kilarney in early July, and theTraditional Boat Rally of which we have receivedadvance information by Googlemail, on 14/15 July.This latter event was great fun last year, in spite ofthe rain, and it was lovely to see so manyRamparts together. I do hope that the LondonDivision of the Club will be there again in forcethis year.I would like to repeat the ROC Cocktail Party whichwe held last year and this could be either atHenley [Jill is investigating] or at the Trad BoatRally. If we have a good turn out of boats at theTrad Rally that might be the obvious choice.

I am sure most of us read at least one magazineand usually end up with a feeling of worthlessnessafter having read tales of derring-do orimpressive accounts of DIY projects all completedwith the use of some scrap timber and glass fibre.However, there is always one type of article whichleaves me sorry for the poor unfortunates whohave to put the teaching into practice, and that isthe article which tries to explain how to work outtidal vectors and the course to steer across a tidalstream. They are illustrated with complexdiagrams with many-arrow-headed lines,protractors and charts.

On the assumption that, in these days of chartplotters, people actually calculate the course tosteer to cross the tidal stream, here is an easy wayto work it out in your head:Assuming the tidal stream is 90 degrees on yourbeam, then the ‘aim off’ can be found bymultiplying the strength of the tidal stream [2 kts]by 60, and dividing the whole thing by the boat’sspeed [8 kts]. This gives 2 x 60 divided by 8 = 15degrees. It is not absolutely accurate, but OKwithin a couple of degrees, which is as about asaccurate as you can steer anyway.For the maths, I refer you to your O level Sinetables and I can bore you after the Rally dinner ifyou wish.I wish you all a very good season, and a final wordof thanks to Liz, whose hard work with themagazine is always much appreciated.

Christopher Morrison

It rained Friday, it rained Saturday and it rained Sunday! The only time it stopped was as Christopher and Cindy turned up with the baguettes for the partyand a weak sun came out and shone on us until sunset.This was just as well, as we had 50 people on board Roly having a very jolly time. There were nine Ramparts, in the raft up behind our CommodoreChristopher & Cindy, his wife, are Ranoni, Sabi Star, Roly and Majonca. However, only two of us were around on the Sunday to do the Rampart sail past,although the Dunkirk Little Ships (DLS), Aureol, Revel, Winden etc, had done their sail past on Saturday afternoon. One has to admit, it was a wash out, allexcept for our party, so it was all worth it.

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By this stage it was blowing a full force 6 withwaves about 1½ metres high and it took over 2hours of quite skilful boat handling to get a lineaboard and commence the tow. At that stage wewere set into the tide which was liable to take bothof us past the Hurst narrows and down the southside of the Isle of Wight.After several hours of motoring we managed toavoid that and deliver the stricken vessel toYarmouth harbour master. The effects of the toware worthy of another article for this organ.The following weekend was the Rampart Rally atLymington and by comparison the trip fromGosport to the Dan Bran pontoon was simplicity initself. I am sure others will have reported uponthe rally so I will just say that the weather on theSunday was so appalling, we left Sabi Star underthe control of the harbour master and went home.The following Tuesday evening Julie, Pete and Iwent down there and had a beautiful sunsetevening sail from Lymington to Gosport where weput the boat to bed for a couple of weeks.Our planning for the Herculean trip then started inearnest. The long range weather forecasts werestudied in detail and we realised that with nosettled weather forecast, the probability of theneeded week of settled weather was probably notgoing to be available. As it happened we werequite right. The week before we were intending toleave, the forecast was superb so we decided tomove from Gosport to Eastbourne and in very lightwinds we had a very pleasant trip and experiencedour first ever lock, to enter Sovereign YachtHarbour. The wind was starting to pick up at thatstage and I managed to enter the lock sidewaysand more bow and stern on opposite sides! I wastrying to make it appear that that was the normalthing to do to the watching masses but the lockkeeper didn’t think it was so clever and assistedus in mooring in a more normal manner. However,I had made it sufficiently clear that our boathandling skills left quite a bit to be desired, sothey gave us a nice easy mooring to get into.We parked up for a week and the followingweekend with a work colleague, Tim and a goodfriend Richard we left Eastbourne in a force 6aiming at a single trip to Ramsgate. The trip waswithout incident with Sabi Star and the stabilisersperforming wonderfully and we entered thefleshpots of Ramsgate at 21:30 on the Saturdaynight and strolled along the front to be assaultedby various hen and stag parties.

The following day we left Ramsgate at the bottomof the tide to take maximum effect round NorthForeland and onto home territory (I live atSouthend on Sea and have always sailed in thisarea).We decided to travel up the inside route as it ismore interesting to be able to see Margate,Reculver, Whitstable etc and had a very pleasanttrip through the Margate roads passed East Lastand Hook, through the mass of concrete lumpsthat were left there by the Dambusters practisingtheir bouncing bombs, inside the wind farm andinto the Medway through the southerly route. Wehad a very pleasant ride, reaching ChathamMaritime Marina to meet up with our friends whowere going to bring their boat up the Thames withus. Richard and Tim departed and my son Jamesand Julie then took over. After a good meal andre-reading Liz and Tony’s advice on being off seareach No. 1 at low London Bridge, we left ourberth in Chatham at 5am and headed out. Ourfriends, Pete and Angela, in their 44 ft Dutch steelcruiser led the way and with only minor mishapson touching the mud a couple of times we wereout of the Medway. All the timing was absolutelyperfect, the weather was superb with light windsand brilliant blue sky and bacon sandwiches at 7am.This was all working out too well.At 7.30am Pete called to say that he was losing oilpressure on his port engine and 10 minutes latertold me that his engine had ceased and he wasreturning to port. This was a great shame as wehad a two week trip planned including gettingthrough the Henley weekend.It turned out that his newly serviced engine by thelocal engineers, had suffered an oil seal failure onthe oil filter and dumped the whole lot into thebilge. Ouch!

We had a wonderful ride up the Thames exactly asLiz and Tony had described, arriving at CadoganPier at slack water with only a few concerns abouthead heights of some of the bridges. So far sogood. The pier master was charming and we wereallowed to moor outside Roly and were then ableto take advice as to the best way to proceed. Rolywas going to follow a day later with her contingentof naval officers.

Continued overleaf…

When Homer described Odysseus’s trip throughthe Mediterranean after the Trojan wars he musthave had in mind the trials and tribulations ofgetting a Rampart to Henley and back.It was always going to be an interesting trip as wewere based in Dartmouth and while, in terms ofdistance, it is not particularly heroic, the vagariesof the British weather and the need to fit most ofthe trips into a hectic working life meant thatsome pretty serious planning was needed.We had planned to go to France this year butevents conspired against us and so, at the end ofMay we departed Dartmouth for the last time tohead across to Portland for our overnight stop atWeymouth. Julie had other commitments so mydaughter Jessica, active in the Royal Navy Reserve,and her boyfriend Pete, a lieutenant in the RoyalNavy, were my crew.Portland Bill is my personal Cape Horn and I havesuffered some very rough and difficult passagesaround there. We decided to go round the outsideof the race because of timing and on our way intoWeymouth Bay a fishing boat on our course putout a pan pan for engine failure. We respondedand altered course but several other boats did thesame and we were stood down. Arriving atWeymouth Bay during the pre-Olympic regattawas an interesting experience, threading our waythrough international fleets of 49ers, 470s andFinns on the inner Olympic circle called forconsiderable vigilance and a degree of Greek herosecond sight to guess where the fleet was headingnext.We entered Weymouth and the wind immediatelybegan to pick up and with a force 7 forecast forthe next day we stayed where we were enjoyingthe sights of a regatta being staged as a precursorto the Olympics.We left Weymouth the next day in a 4 with aforecast 6 from the south west. We were headingfor Gosport where we had a berth booked but aswe were passing St Albans Point opposite Poolethere was a pan pan from a motor boat ahead ofus. He had suffered catastrophic engine failureand needed assistance. As he was 25 feet and wewere 50 feet (yes we really do measure 50 frombow to transom) we were asked by the coast guardto take the boat in tow.

Well perhaps not a complete wash out! There was all the fun ofgetting there

There were the diversions, sitting with glassin hand watching others get in a muddle. Or relaxing, like Lizand Tony, here, who popped next door to Sabi Star’s capaciousawning for a lively chat with all who congregated there.

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We headed off aiming to pass under HammersmithBridge, the lowest on the tidal Thames, at half tide,and arrive at Richmond Barrier when it opened.On one of the narrower stretches we were passedby two 44 ft broom cruisers travelling at planingspeed. As they passed us they throttled back andcreated huge wash. We had moved over to oneside to let them passed and were washed onto thebank where we stuck. Fortunately, the tide wasrising and after 10 minutes or so we floated off,arriving at the Richmond Barrier about 10 minutesbefore it was raised.This is a fantastic structure which is effectively thetidal control prior to the Teddington Lock which isthe entrance to the formal non-tidal River Thames.Teddington Lock is managed by the RiverConservancy while Richmond Lock is managed bythe Port of London Authority. Both wereextremely helpful and provided us with maps(they can’t be called charts). It is interesting thatthe admiralty charts finish at Tower Bridge. ThePort of London Authority publishes very similarand detailed charts from London Bridge toTeddington and had I been sufficiently aware Iwould have purchased a set prior to departure.It should be said at this point that our greatestconcern on this entire trip relates to our airdraught. I read somewhere that Ramparts wereoriginally designed to be able to cruise the Frenchcanals with their stated air draught of 3.5 metres.In addition to this height we have radar scanner,aerials and the usual spotlight. I removed theseand we proceeded carefully at first and practisedplaying bumper boats off the lock walls. Therewere 19 locks to Henley and each of them has apiece of our paint.Our first stop over was for lunch at HamptonCourt and this was a delightful point at which torest.We had given ourselves reasonable time forsightseeing and the many free and interestingstopovers.Having made it under several of the bridges I wasgaining in confidence. I had not hit as many of thewalls to the locks and things were going well. Ihad not counted on Windsor Bridge.Windsor Bridge as you probably know is a stonebridge with lots of traffic and was quoted in mydetails and those given by the River Conservancyas having a head height of 3.9 metres. This wouldbe fine for my purposes had it not been for theunknown fact that the river was running 11 inches(275mm) higher than datum. Bang goes onerather expensive high gain digital TV aerial.After this I was rather more cautious through all ofthe bridges and on the second day we reached thedreaded COOKHAM BRIDGE which is quoted as aclearance height of 3.5 metres, exactly our height.In discussion with the very friendly lock keeper hesaid that he thought we were possibly too high toget under. This was bad news indeed but he hada plan.The plan was that we would creep up to the bridgevery carefully and as we got to it we should waveto him and he would briefly throw open the sluiceswhich would drop the river by about 50mm forhalf a minute or so. We had to get under in thattime.

I love it when a good plan comes together.Having stripped everything off the roof, filled upthe water tanks, the fuel tanks and everything elsewe carefully moved towards the bridge, Juliewaved to the lock keeper and, low and behold(!)squeezed under the bridge with a gnat’s whiskerto spare.The rest was plain sailing. We arrived on theFriday of the traditional boat rally and eventuallymoved into place. I am sure that Liz and otherswill have reported in detail on the very successfuland very wet rally, the superb cocktail party in theevening and a good time had by all.By Monday it was time to start to leave and manyboats had already departed on the Sunday evening.We started to wend our way back in increasinglypoor weather with relatively high winds andovercast skies. It was nevertheless very pleasantand by Wednesday evening, with our boathandling skills improving hugely, we managed toslip under the difficult bridges and moor atHampton Court, intending to spend the day there.All was very pleasant and we moved on, enteringthe tidal Thames on Thursday afternoon andmeeting family at St Katherine’s Yacht Haven,having had a very busy ride down the Thames atrush hour, dodging ferries and all of the usualissues of a river in a capital city.

Another crew change took place. My youngest son,Jack, replaced Julie who took the dogs home. Onthe Thursday morning we took the first lock out at6am and headed down river in a perfect blue skyand light wind. We had an easy ride down theThames and again cut across the Cant fromMedway No. 1 to the Spile, through the HorseChannel, the Four Fathom Channel and intoMargate Roads. All was very easy and we were inRamsgate by mid afternoon. The whole area wasvery busy as continental boats had started theirholidays but we had a good meal and an earlystart to try to catch the tide gate going west.As many of you will know, the tide gate to getaround Dungeness is critical and we just made itand had a relatively easy ride up to Brighton.I was surprised at how large Brighton Marina wasbut nevertheless all operated smoothly.We againenjoyed the shore side entertainments,particularly the hen nights and after a pleasantevening retired in readiness for the trip round toGosport with a forecast force 6 on the nose whichturned out to be no more than a stiff breeze andwe returned to Gosport.

So unlike Agamemnon we returned to our newhome port for the next little while having had athoroughly successful and enjoyable Odyssey toHenley.

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There had been a lot of discussion on the GoogleGroup about how far a Rampart 48 could get upthe Thames. We were well advised by Peter Scott,Star of Killarney, that the Folly Bridge in Oxfordwould stop us in our tracks. However, there werestill question marks over the ‘actual’ height ofsome of the bridges on the way to Oxford but wereckoned if we could get under the CookhamBridge, we would be ok. To do this we had to takeour radar dome down, that sat like a Trifid, on ourwheelhouse roof. (Now banished in favour of amore modern one on the mast).Sabi Star, who was well prepared for the CookhamBridge, slipped under by a coat of paint and sadlyhad to decide, once lucky, stay lucky, and didn’tventure further than Henley. The experience,probably has saved them the disaster of gettingtrapped half way up the French Waterways!So our mission, come rain or shine, was to get toOxford after the Henley Traditional Boat Show andRampart party. But just to add another layer ofcomplexity, our son Jason and son in law, Peter,both naval commanders based, coincidently atNorthwood Joint Services Base, suggested a jointservices jolly was just what they needed in theiroffice, so invited a dozen or so Admirals andGenerals to come with us up the Tidal Thames toTeddington Lock and then have a party alongsideat Hampton Court. Well, that’s an exaggeration;they weren’t all Admirals and Generals.Catering then changed from a big shop atWaitrose, five minutes from us on Cadogan Pier, tonumerous trips, laden with wheelie bags and backpacks etc, to cover a party for 20 naval people;two of us to Henley; a Rampart Party for ‘n’ peopleat Henley and then 4 of us up to Oxford and back!I know there are shops on the way but you canoften be moored miles away from them, as indeedwe were.

The two hour trip, up river, locking in atTeddington and mooring up at Hampton Courtwas thoroughly enjoyed by all aboard. On arrival,the naval bods went below for a meeting to solvesome inscrutable military problem for an hour,while food and drinks were laid out on the bridgedeck in the sunshine, (Yes, sunshine). They allcame up lost in thought and rather preoccupiedbut a few glasses of wine soon lightened up theatmosphere! The crew of Oyster Boy, who hadcome up river with us, came to join us and theevening bourgeoned into great party. Cedric, from

was crewing for Oyster Boy, up to Dennett’sYard, where he had left in the hope of sellingher. He duly collected the boat and with a friendsailed her back to France.The following day, with all the guests departedTony and I set off alone on Roly, in the companyof Oyster Boy, and enjoyed the delights of theriver to Penton Hook, Dennett’s Yard, whereCedric reclaimed Jalda, and we waited for Hugh’sDad, crew for Oyster Boy, then on up to Boulter’sLock. We were all very tired and decided to eat inbig restaurant beside the lock.In a leisurely five and half hours the next day, wearrived at Henley and moored up next to Sabi Star,in pouring rain. The rest is history, as they say, allon pages 4&5.

After the Trad Boat Rally, we were joined by ourfriends Barbara and Vernon. Barbara’s husbandMaurice, died shortly after our trip back fromPegasus Bridge for June 6th 2009. The last picturehe had taken was in his MCC red and yellow cap,on the wheel of Roly, off Margate, swinging thecompass (Iss5,Spring 2010). The great news isthat Barbara, as wished by Maurice before he died,fell in love with a friend of ours the following year,coming back from Paris in Roly.We left Henley, on the Monday after the rally andspent a drizzly day making our way up river. Therewere so many lovely places to stop but theweather was set in for the next few days. So theplan was just to get there and back, rather thandawdle over a week or so.

13.07.11 Cadogan Pier to Hampton Court for the night 2hrs14.07.11Hampton Court to Boulters Lock overnight, with a 3 hr break at Dennetts Yard, 11hrs15.07.11 Boulters Lock to Henley 5.5hrs18.07.11 Left from Henley after the Trad Boat Rally 0800 – 1930 Benson Waterfront Restaurant19.07.11 Arrived Oxford 19.07.11 1000 – 1400 Oxford – Folly Bridge19.07.11 Returned to Abingdon 1700 completely full, moored against Big dutch Barge.20.07.11 Abingdon to Benson Waterfront Restaurant again 2.5hrs Overnight21.07.11 Benson to Henley 6hrs (entertained on board) overnight.22.07.11 Henley to Windsor 4.5hrs Two nights, Theatre and dining with friends.24.07.11 Windsor to Hampton Court 3hrs Overnight26.07.11 Hampton Court to Kingston 30mins Entertaining family and friends. Overnight27.07.11 Kingston to Teddington Lock 15mins - Tidal Thames to Cadogan 1.5hrs

Continued P9

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“NOWHERE TO GO”OR

“WHAT’S THE POINT OF A BOAT IN BLIGHTY!

Planning is the essence of success. Who said it ?Who cares ! One week of a Beaufort 6 and you canthrow your plans away with the stale tea grouts.I was looking forward to that Henley Rally in July,especially being part of a little convoy ofRamparts. I even went to our l local charity shopand bought a multi coloured dream-coat and atattered old piece of headgear with “USSEisenhower” emblazoned in gold on the front. TheCrew were at the ready and had enough readies topay for the round trip. With diesel on the Hambletouching £1.20 a litre, no one comes on boardnowadays with empty pockets. I take cheques butno plastic.Liz and Tony had given us their old and well usedcharts with their pencil lines marking out theroute still visible. They have done it enough timesthey should be in the Guinness Book of Records. Ireckoned it would take us five comfortable daysfrom the Hamble to Henley via Eastbourne,Ramsgate, then dodging the Goodwin Sands, intothe Thames estuary to a spare mooring at ChelseaReach. Hey Presto !

Having entered Paris with “ what fun itwould be to pass under Tower Bridge and thumbour noses at those nerds on the House ofCommons terrace.First mate and chef Steve Cooper had packed

“Moombara” with enough food to feed “HMS ArkRoyal” and where there wasn’t food, there wasbountiful booze. It was all systems go and onMonday morning 11th July we moved out intoSouthampton water and headed towards the Nab.The sea was smooth, the sky was blue and whathappy mortals we five were.We entered the Eastbourne lock on a glorioussunset, stuffed ourselves on the aft deck with crab,prawns and salad and emptied too many bottlesof Sauvignon. All was well with the world.Tomorrow it would onwards and eastwards toRamsgate.I always tell foreigners (are we still allowed to usethat word?) that we Brits have only two seasons.Winter and bad weather. I also warn them that ourIsland’s climate is not only unpredictable butbloody vindictive. And so it was the very next day.

There was only a slight breeze when we leftEastbourne but within a couple of hours we wererolling, (as Ramparts sometimes do), in a naughtysea that did its best to deceive us, coming headon and then abruptly hitting us off the beam.We are all familiar are we not with the sound ofchaos down below, the breaking glassware, theclattering of upset pots and pans, favourite booksdrenched in milk. There is always something youforgot to fasten. At times like that I tend to find abunk, cover myself in the duvet and try to imaginethat I am safely ashore and it is all a nasty dream.It never works.

was lifted high and dropped into achasm. How would you describe the sickeningnoise when the hull hits water …a thwack ? Ithurts just to think about it. Ramparteers olderthan me and I gather there are still a few, willpersuade you that you will fail long before theboat. Some comfort !By mid afternoon and having slowed down tograpple with the waves, we were knew thatRamsgate was not to be our landfall.

A State of War ExistsBy

Michael NicholsonMichael is pictured here, at his publishers,high up in Westminster Tower, with thehouses of parliament just visible in thebackground.

The occasion was the book launch of hislatest oeuvre, relating tales from his ownexperiences and other reporters in the lineof fire.

Below, Michael relates a tale from anotherfront! He tells how he valiantly battled hisway round the coast in only tobe defeated at the last hurdle.

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One thing that did hold us up for an hour or so,was, when we stopping to fill up with water, I wentto put some dirty washing away, in thecompartment behind the loo and was horrified tofind that a fountain of poo had been spraying allthe clothes in there, every time someone had

‘gone’. OMG. Fortunately, we were still at the waterstop (there’s very little access to water up theriver), so I had to get everything out, jeans, shirtsetc, and hose them down. What a palava. A narrowboat behind got annoyed with us for being so long.What had happened was, the new electric loo fitted,just before left, at first kept filling up with waterand in the process of sorting out the problem,Tony had lost a little tiny button that sat in abreather hole. We thought it didn’t make thatmuch difference until I found the explosion ofpoo!! Button found in the bilges toute de suite!The first night, we got to Benson, where there wasa smart wooden Quay in front of a restaurant. Itwas well worth the £10 a night, in the pouring rain.We spent the evening in the restaurant andbreakfast the next day.Then off up to Oxford for the following night. Wedid have to duck under a few bridges but nothingworse than Cookham Bridge. At the last lockbefore Oxford, a workman at the side of the lock,made a disparaging remark about “What the hellis a thing like that doing up here” to which theLock Keeper replied, “Well I suppose they’ve paidthe river licence”.

Oxford, before the folly bridge, has a long grassy tow path, a bit shallow to moor, with mooring pins.Barbara and Vernon walked up to recce the town and I lay down in the wheelhouse for a rest. Threelads walked past with beer cans in hand and, what they were talking about was totally shocking. It wasracist, violent and profane. We looked at other people hanging around and started to feel nervousabout staying there. Barbs and& Vernon come hurrying backsaying “Oh Liz, we can’t stayhere, you should see theyouths up at the end”.Without any ado, we startedthe engines again and wentback to the last lock. The lockkeeper said, “I didn’t thinkyou’d like it up there, they’dstrip your boat while you wereasleep!” A lovely town calledAbingdon was on the otherside of the lock but every inchof mooring space was full.Eventually, a Dutch couple ina big barge, called us overand invited us to mooralongside them. They were great. We spent two nights thereand then made our way back down the river.This year, we are going to do it again, hopefully with betterweather, Solar Panels to keep the fridge and pumps going, anon poo spewing loo, a BBQ to cook on in little nooks andcrannys along the river and a month to do it in. We will popinto Dennett’s yard for a once over of the hull and a quickantifoul, hopefully for just a couple of days.We’ll let you know…… By Liz Poole

Continued from P7

We were not alone. The marina was packed withyachts flying the flags of Germany, Holland andFrance, some on their way to a holiday westwards,some on their way home. It was re-assuring toknow that I was not the only one who hadchickenedDover has a castle. And that’s it! Should you everbe tempted in these stressful days of financialcalamity, to do a cheap UK holiday and thinkperhaps Dover might be worth a visit, think again.We were trapped beside a stinking green slimedharbour wall for three days. And still the flags flewhorizontally day and night. There was not let upand no prospect of one. No one left the marinaand nobody came to it. It was that bad outside.The only comfort in that strange little town of oddlittle people, was the Yacht Club.

It was tucked away behind what had once been aclassic Georgian terrace and you entered througha narrow blue door with no markings whatsoeverto indicate what was beyond it. We only knewabout it from whispers in the marina.It was a marvel. It was opened in 1932 andboasted Royal visitors. Royalty had not returnedsince and the furnishings and fittings are today asthey were when a prince had downed his pint allthose years ago. But a lovely lady from FortWilliam, with an accent to prove it, served the bestcheese and bacon burger we had ever tasted.Expensive? £2.35. The Yacht Club, shabbythough it was, was our comfort for those threecold and blustery summer days and I thank it.On the Thursday, there was a weather window andit was decision time. Do we go for it, steam eastand hope to make the Thames before the nextfront came tumbling in?

We would never make the Rally but we could stillmake Westminster. Or should we turn tail, acceptdefeat at the wrath of God Thor and make a runback to Eastbourne ? is a democraticvessel and all hands were raised when I suggestedenough was enough. We got to Eastbourne just intime to beat the next round of hurricane stylewinds. And we were obliged to stay there foranother four days. No Yacht Club and burgers butit did have an Asda so I spent the Saturdaymorning when I should have been with the Toffsat Henley, walking the supermarket alleys,marvelling at the splendid things you can buy forunder a £ 1. The crew wisely decided theirfrantic pleasures were over, did a cut and runleaving Steve and me to bringback to her home a few days later.That was the end of my cruising holiday and thisis the end of my story. Fun wasn’t it?

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Rosemarie 34ft 1935I bought the 34 feet RampartGentleman’s yacht (renamed from

to ) in July 2006from Clive Ward, a retired Navy Officer.Built in 1935, the boat participated inthe Dunkirk evacuation by the Britishand was attacked by a GermanMesserschmitt MF 109 aircraft. Shereceived four machine gun rounds, asinvestigated by the Imperial WarMuseum in London.

I spotted in the romanticWareham River (Dorset), where JohnHuston shot the famous film “AfricanQueen” with Humphrey Bogart andKatharine Hepburn. Clive had refitted

to an exceptionally highstandard in four years of hard work. Heeventually hunted down for aconsiderable amount of preciousHonduras Mahogany timber at a dancehall, being demolished in the Scottishtown of Dunblane. Clive bought thewhole floor at salvage price and soldwhat was left over, making enoughprofit to cover all the material costs.

The finished boat was a realshowstopper with many admirers.Day-trippers visited her and the guideportrayed her famous wartime history.When he was startled seeing thehoisted German flag at the stern, hereacted with quick-witted Britishhumour; “Oh! The Germans couldn’tsink her, so they have bought her”.

Again alone (the real Rosemarie is notso seagoing), I movedacross the Riviera - via Antibes andNice - to Scarlino, opposite of Elba.On this journey I experienced theseaworthiness of the vessel in a 50 kngale, as measured by the harbourmaster of San Remo. Having not beingforced to start a rescue operation, heamicably waived the berth costs for theexhausted skipper.

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A truck transported “Rosemarie” toAprilla Marittima, located in thenorthern part of the Adria. In April2010 I skipped her - after a four yearOdyssey - to the final destination atTreporti, opposite of Venetia.Our first journey in Venetian watersgenerated new adventures near theMarcus Place, no thrust, velocity1sm/h and overheated engine! Wesurvived dodging between huge cruiseships, “Vaporettos” and gondolas toSan Giorgio Maggiore where I divedunder the boat in the warm water toremove the heavy seaweed clogging upthe propeller. I asked my wife to callfor help if I don’t surface within 10mins! But all was well and needless tosay, the return trip to Treporti wasrather more relaxing.

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Stanley’s Warby Stanley Ross

I lived in London throughout most of the Blitz.Even today,over six decades later, just hearingthat long wail of the warning siren on oldnewsreels and movies, invariably gives me thatsame, cold knot of fear in the pit of my stomach,which I always felt, all those years ago. It remindsme too, of the huge sigh of relief we all breathedwhen the long, clear, beautiful, unbroken sirensounded, signalling the end of a raid. I was tooyoung to fight in the war and Hitler’s murderousdecision to attempt to subdue our civilianpopulation with a ferocious blitzkrieg, wastraumatic for everyone but particularly so for usolder children, as we saw people we had known allour young lives, killed, burned, maimed andburied, in the rubble of nearby houses.

I remember one morning, after a V1, struck,crying and half hysterical, helping to pull at therubble of a house flattened just round the cornerin Avenue Road.. I uncovered the head of a man,split right across with a zig-zag crack from frontto back and I stood back and laughed frantically,till someone literally slapped me across the face,just like they always did in the old films, then hegently led me away for a cup of tea. I could hardlydrink it, my ands were shaking so. I was thirteenyears old.

Daily we watched those V1’s, the ‘doodlebugs’rattling across the skies and we held our breath interror, as the absolutely unmistakable,mechanical roar quite suddenly stopped and if,instead of dropping straightaway as they often did,it flew silently on, we breathed again, since itmeant that, mercifully for us, it would fall uponsomebody else.One night, asleep in our tiny Anderson shelterduring a raid, a stick of eight bombs fell rightacross our council estate. One landed just a fewfeet from us, the massive impact of it tilting ourheavily covers shelter right over on to its side. Itwas the only one of the eight bombs, which failedto explode. Had it gone off, I guess we would allhave been vaporized. We lay there, trembling andterrified, too afraid to move.Then, Dad’s distracted voice could be heardcalling to us from the entrance of the shelter, ashe frantically pulled at the earth with his barehands. He had run the two miles from SouthgateStation, where he was on duty, having been told

”Hood Avenue’s copped it”. When he saw we werealright, he broke down and I remember hisshoulders shook as he sobbed. We children, whohad never seen him cry before, were all verysubdued and shocked, far more from just seeingDad’s tears than from the fear of that massive,unexploded bomb, lurking, just a few feet away.

It took a long time for the disposal squad to makethe bomb safe and during that time, the Rossfamily slept deep down on the platforms ofSouthgate Tube Station. It was a curious business,having trains discharge passengers, who werethen forced to step around the sleeping forms,sheltering from the vicious, nightly, bombing. Atleast with the V1’s you could hear them coming,the sound was unmistakeable and of course therewere always the Air Raid warnings but in 1944 theThird Reich dreamt up a new way to terrorise ourcivilian population. They sent V2’s instead; Bombsdelivered by rocket. There was no sound and nosight of them and thus no Air Raid Warning couldbe given. There was just the sudden, enormous,gut wrenching, shattering crump, as theydetonated all over London, leaving massivesmoking craters, where formerly whole rows ofhouses, full of families, had been standing.It was at this time that the Government reviewedit’s previous evacuation policy and decided thatnow, all children up to the age of thirteen shouldbe evacuated. This time it included me and threeweeks later I found myself on Liverpool StreetStation, clutching my gas mask and case, sportinga large tag tied to my buttonhole. A few hourslater we all arrived at a tiny village hall, inSmallburgh, North Norfolk. There, over cups oftea and buns, dozens of us were perused and

13

examined closely, by a throng of very curiousvillagers. You should remember that sixty oddyears ago, most of those villagers had nevereven a Londoner, let alone been to London.One weird old girl came up to me, looked atme closely, probably looking for nits andannounced “I’ll heve thet one”. I refused to gowith her. So it was that some time later, Ifound myself in the house of one of thebiggest farmers in the county and, being theson of a bus conductor coming from a smallhouse on a council estate, there now began forme a whole new world of amazing experiences.Starting with their food, I was amazed to seethat everyone had a whole week’s ration ofbutter by their plate, at meal! There weresteaks and chops, delicious home madebreads, bacon, eggs, cheeses, thick cream, icecream and some things I had never eventasted before, such as venison, smokedsalmon, hare, pheasant, partridge, pigeon pie,rabbit pie etc. etc. etc., an unendingcornucopia of delights.The house was massive, with beautifully furnishedsitting rooms, living rooms, breakfast room,family room, dining room, enormous bathrooms,the sheer space in that beautiful house was almostoverwhelming. The farmer had a son, Gavin, ayear older than me and straight away we hit it off.He showed me around their total of four nearbyfarms, over thousands of acres, all powered by afew tractors and in all, a couple of hundred SuffolkPunch horses.I was taught to harness, handle, and work with thehorses. To ride and to shoot, and with Gavin, Iattended fairs and gymkhanas and entered events.I was given a half Arab pony and a 410 shotgun.Everywhere we rode, we went at the gallop, fromthe first moment the foot entered the stirrup wewere galloping through bridle paths and acrossfields and pastures. Once, coming back to thefarm we rounded up the whole herd of cows andliterally galloped the poor creatures, bawling,heaving and steaming, to the very doors of themilking sheds, where milk yields consequentlyhalved, to the fury of Gavin’s father.Gavin and I once rode our ponies to school, PatonGrammar, in North Walsham; imagine, the sheerjoy of it all.Each Saturday, in the huge red Buick, the familywent to the stock sales in nearby Norwich and metup with other farmers. In a very short space oftime I had the very broad Norfolk dialect off pat.The odd thing is, that although it was only oneyear out of my life, ,I can immediately, effortlessly, lapse straight backinto the dialect.VE day came and went and one evening, havingthen spent over a year in that lovely Norfolkvillage, Gavin and I rode back into the yard for teaand found a large black car waiting. They hadcome to tell me to pack my bags. I was to go home,

. Try and imagine theshock. I remember actually finding it hard tobreathe. There I was, thinking that all this wasgoing to go on forever and a day.

Yet in less than 24 hours, my life was to turn upside down as I was wrenched from that idyllic countrylife and in a very few hours, returned to my small council house, with it’s tiny rooms, with only a rustybike to ride on; back to very meagre rations, to boiling the copper and climbing stairs with pails of hotwater for Friday’s bath; back to a tiny garden, with it’s small wooden shed. Leaving behind forever,those great golden fields of corn, the massive trees, the wide beautifully thick lawns, the tennis courts,the glorious house; back to life in a small council house, surrounded bombsites.But there’s always a tradeoff; ain’t that the truth. My dear old Mum was there and, for me, she alwaysmade anything and everything worthwhile. When I look back upon it all now, from such a great distancein years and remember the amazing time I spent during that part of my war, I see it as perhaps thehappiest year I have ever spent, at any time and in any place, throughout my entire life.

You gave, on the 12 March 1999, thefirst [of many] parties for Rampartowners on Highland Beauty. Itproved to be an introduction to theextremely sociable side of our Club.I remember the owners of nineboats had gathered in the yachtclub at St Katherine's Dock, Londonto discuss if there was as need forsuch a Club.

After your hospitality all agreedthere was indeed a need, whileprivately hoping others would offerto put in the hard work that suchan organisation would, and does,require.

Most of us know how much love,care and, not least, cash, aRampart, as well maintained asHighland Beauty, demands.

Over the years her beauty andcondition were well known as she isprobably the second most featuredlittle ship in the Club magazine; themost often featured is, who couldhave missed this, Roly, [having theArchivist and then the Editor asowners could have something to dowith it!]

She will now be the responsibility ofa new guardian who will find youare a hard act to follow. Owning acherished motor yacht is a lifechanging experience, as my bankmanager used to say, as isswallowing the anchor'. It nowmeans you relying on good friendsfor a ‘jolly’, whilst looking forwardto the next issue of Classic Boat.

Our condolences; Stanley. Now jointhe club of us ex skippers and lookon the work of others.

Stanley’s War

14

This report is prepared in response to a request byRATS for experiences following mechanicalbreakdowns.In June 2011 I was travelling along the SouthCoast in my 22 ton wooden TSDY, adisplacement motor yacht from Rampart, 48 ftLOA. We were on passage from Dartmouth toGosport but had ridden out two days of gales inWeymouth Harbour. On Thursday 9th June we leftWeymouth to catch the wide up channel with aforecast south westerly 5-6. We set courseoutside of the Lulworth ranges and outside of theover falls at St Albans Ledge, about 5 miles off, oncourse for Hurst Narrows.At approximately 12.30 with force 5 gusting 6south west with waves approximately 1-1.5metres there was a call for assistance from amotor yacht ahead of us and the coast guardasked us to assist with a tow.The motor boat was a modern single screwplaning deep V with the look of a RIB but in factmade of solid material, approximately 25 ft long.It had a single Volvo engine which had sufferedcatastrophic failure of the timing chain. It waslying broadside to the waves and I estimate thedisplacement at about 5 tonnes.The coast guard asked us to render assistance andprovide a tow.We carry a dinghy on davits on the transom andhave two wooden Samson posts on each sternquarter. The casualty had only a 20 metremooring line of approximately 14mm which heinsisted we took. It did not have eyes in either end.I decided that approach to leeward was safest aswe had more top hamper and were affected by thewind when broadside on. When the casualty wasabaft of amidships I turned up wind slightly toclose our stern on his bows.There was immense difficulty in getting closeenough for the heavyweight line to be thrownaboard and in trying to avoid collision betweenthe boats we were forced to shear away as soon asthe line was aboard. The loads on the line weretoo great for us to secure them and we made threepasses before it was decided that he would acceptour tow line.The wind was now a constant force 6 and bothboats were lying across the waves so considerablerolling was occurring. We decided that we wouldpass close to leeward and throw our heaving lineof 50 metre lightweight floating polypropylenewith a quoit. This was surprisingly easy to throwinto the wind over a gap of approximately 4metres and we had secured one end to our 16mmtow line. At this point we discovered that thecasualty did not have suitable cleats on theforedeck and although he tried to make fast, theline kept slipping off of the stag horn which wasstainless steel and seemed to offer little grip for awet jerking tow line. We eventually resolved thisby recovering our tow rope and heaving line, tyinga bowline to the end of the tow rope and repeatingthe process. In this way the casualty eventuallyhad the tow line on board and dropped over thestag horn on the foredeck.We were all very concerned that the stag hornwould tear out of the deck.

For our own part, we secured the tow rope on ourrear port quarter Samson post with two turns andthen led it forward to our own port amidships staghorn and in this way the load was adequatelyspread.Taking the casualty in tow took over two hoursfrom first establishing contact during which timethe risk of man overboard was very high. My twocrew were both Royal Navy officers wearing CrewSaver life jackets with clip on harnesses. I waswearing a Crew Saver life jacket with thigh strapsand I found these extremely dangerous. Theyregularly snagged on all manner of equipmentincluding hatch handles and the arm of thehelmsman’s chair when I was trying to movequickly. At Southampton Boat Show I discussedthis with the RNLI reps who agreed, and directedme to the single crutch strap on the newgeneration lifejackets.We eventually delivered the casualty to the care ofthe Yarmouth harbour master, having successfullynegotiated the Hurst Narrows.We learned a lot from this experience. Firstly,should we have accepted the coast guard’sinstruction to take the casualty in tow? Iteventually was a successful operation but couldeasily have been dangerous if the boats hadcollided or anyone had gone overboard, whichwas a real risk with the jerky rolling motion.The motor boats seemed inherently inclined to lieacross the wind and the waves and this causedextreme rolling to the point where there was realrisk of man overboard. Should the casualty havestreamed a drogue to lie head to wind?Should we have tried an alongside tow? I don’tthink so because of the sea state.It was clear that the casualty was not carryingsufficient size of warps for a good tow. I think weshould really have had a longer line on. Ours wasabout 30 metres and I think we could probablyhave done with twice that.

The casualty did not have sufficient strong pointsfor us to be confident that they would cope withany major snatching and I think we were lucky thatwe managed the ride without any damage.It is apparent that our motor boat does not carryfair leads intended for towing. Our fair lead off ofthe Samson post leads to the stern quarters andconsequently was under extreme load with a lineturned through 90 degrees. I have now created abridle to rig across the transom to take a centralpull should the situation occur again.The two boats drifted approximately 5 milesduring our attempts to connect tow lines.Fortunately we had plenty of sea room but itmeant that we were at risk of being set to thesouth of the Isle of Wight and had to battle slightlynorthwards to get back into the main channel.Were we correct in approaching the casualty onthe leeward side? It certainly seemed to be saferthan going to windward.I have taken a number of RYA training coursesover the years, but none have dealt with rescue ofanother boat. During 2011 I have heard aconsiderable number of Pan Pan calls (in one yearprobably more than my previous 40 years in total)and of these, the Coastguard asked the nearestboat to render assistance. If this is to continuethere are training issues, and also insurance toconsider. Is this reckless endangerment? Shouldwe offer assistance to nothing other than lifethreatening issues?Finally, having received a spoken thanks uponrelease of the tow line we suggested that thecasualty make a donation to the local RNLI but weheard no further developments.I think we managed to handle our boat with goodseamanship and I would like to express my thanksto my crew comprising my daughter on the helmand her partner working the heaving lines whoshowed great skill and determination throughoutthe operation.

Rescue at SeaBy John & Julie Gillies of

15

At the winter meeting on Deborah S, we met Paul Kendall,who although busy in the RAF, has acquired Sea Dawn,lying in the non-tidel Thames, to keep him busy on leave!

Highland Beauty’s new owner, James Humphrys, addinga touch of class to the ROC in Naval Captain’s Uniform.Highland Beauty is at the moment of writing, havingholding tanks fitted, among other bits and bobs butshould be back afloat in time for the Rally in GunwharfQuays.

The winter meeting went well aboard theDeborah S on Cadogan Pier.

Ben and Debra, who had promised to cater for theevent, months before, found themselves with allmanner of commitments on the day but refusedto let us down. While the atmosphere wasn’t quiteas relaxed as the year before, we were able tocarry out our business, whilst eating and imbibingwine and coffee.

Michael Nicholson bowed out of the role ofVice Commodore and passed the honour onto your very own editor, Liz Poole, alongwith his cherished hat, that he had acquiredfrom USS Missouri, when he was a warcorrespondent during the Gulf War.Ooh, I hope I don’t have to wear it everymeeting!

r

Our hostess with most’ess,Debra.

She was Debra S before shemarried Ben and by sheercoincidence the boat they

bought was called Deborah S.

Rescue at Sea

First of all, well done Sabi Star and crew.1) Three attempts to carry out an action that the disabled boat ‘insists’ on, is heroic. After the first failure, it would be more than fair to negotiate what’sbest for you, the ones risking life, limb and boat.2) Ideally the towing rope should float, to avoid contact with propellers. But floating nylon line is difficult to throw, so ideally needs to be stored with apolypropylene heaving line.3) If the casualty streamed a drogue to lie into wind, it would increase the difficulty of the rescue boat getting ahead of them and caused trouble withattaching the tow line.4) Alongside tows are great in calm weather but too dangerous in a swell.5) Wasn’t it possible to lead the rope straight back from the sampson posts and not through the fair lead?6) A bridle across the sampson posts is a good idea. A suggestion for when caught on the hop, would be to attach the towing line to a loop, tied in thecentre of a second line that is then make fast, like a bridle, to the port and starboard sampson posts. Each end of the second rope can then be leadforward to the port and starboard aft staghorns, to spread the load. This would keep the casualty in the centre astern.

7) Approaching from the lee side is good, as you can move away if the casualty drifts down onto you, the casualty can’t.

8) If the coast guards are going to ask us to make rescues at sea, we really do need to sort out the insurance issues. Perhaps it would be moreeconomical for the them to give temporary cover to a prospective rescue boat, than to come out themselves. A training DVD, would be a great idea.

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Chichester Harbour, its creeks and anchoragesCindy and I are very privileged to keepin the beautiful, sheltered waters of ChichesterHarbour. It is situated to the east of Portsmouthand makes a good stopping-off place for thoseheading up Channel and an opportunity to makea few miles of eastings into the bargain.However, it also serves as a quiet place to spenda few nights at anchor [all those who can’t beseparated from their shore power might notagree], as well as having some marinas, almost alltidally constrained and expensive.

This short article is not meant to replicate the Pilotbut merely to let you know where you might findsome interesting places to stop.The attached chart shows the ‘harbour’ with amain east/west channel running nominally toChichester in the east, with north/south channelsdividing a number of islands or more realisticallyisthmuses. This description will follow the mainchannel towards the east whilst diving up eachnortherly channel as we meet it.All channels are well marked with buoys or beacons.

Read the Pilot. Not to be attempted in strongonshore winds with an ebb tide. There are bea-cons marking the shoals to the west [not shown]and I strongly recommend no short cuts! Thespring ebb can run strongly [5 knots] off EaststokePoint, Hayling Island.

Once inside there is Sparkes Marina immediatelyto port, accessible at all stages of the tide, withfuel and water and a decent visitor’s berth. TheEmsworth channel then opens to the north.This channel is wide and is well protected thefurther north you go. We often anchor close to thewindward edge of the channel between MarkerPoint and Wicker Point to starboard. There ispassing traffic but the wash is negligible.

At the northern end the channel divides; NorthneyMarina to the west, accessible at most stages ofthe tide, and the Emsworth channel continues tothe north.This is crowded with moorings and there are twoplaces to stop: the visitor’s pontoon [no power]and Emsworth Jetty where you can lie for about 2hours to go shopping in the town. It would betight for the 48’s.There is a wooden boatyard at the top reachableat HW [although he might be moving to Birdham]and ,

have all been there.Emsworth Marina rarely has visitor’s berths and isaccessible at HW +/- 3 hours.

Back to the harbour entrance, the main channelcurves to starboard, passing north of the Winner.On no account cut these stbd-hand buoys too fine,and make sure you have counted all 3 of them.

is a lovely anchorage with sandy dunes;ideal for swimming, buckets and spades, dryingout to scrub off [not really a Rampart option!],lunch at anchor. It gets very crowded at summerweekends. The tidal stream runs fast in the mainchannel so get as far south as you can, but watchthe echo sounder. It is fairly exposed to all windsand when the wind is against the tide can beuncomfortable.

Turning north up the Thorney Channel, there is alovely anchorage off Pilsey Island. The water isdeep steep to the island, which is a nature reserveand people should not go above the high tidemark. Sheltered from the west is makes a goodovernight stop.Continuing north, there is sheltered anchorage asfar as about one third up Thorney Island wheremoorings reappear. If you continue through themoorings there is a visitor’s buoy at the northern

end, just south of the Prinsted/NutborneChannels divide, which belongs to Thorney SailingClub. Please don’t hit Penny Jane whose mooringis just south of the visitor’s buoy.There is no point going up the Prinsted/NutborneChannels. Thorney Sailing Club is open at week-ends and is accessible by dinghy at all stages ofthe tide via a Hard.

This is very tight with moorings, is shallow andrequires a 3-point turn at the top. It is possibleto go alongside the wall at Bosham but difficultand it dries. It is pretty and worth a foray up andback, if only to see where King Canute showed hecould not control the tides, but not a priority.

At Itchenor Point the moorings start again as wego east, and they are stacked 6 deep across theChannel. It is relatively easy to negotiate them,and there are hefty visitor’s buoys off Itchenorwhich take up to 6 boats each. We have occasion-ally picked up an empty mooring further east forthe night.

The moorings extend up to Longmore Point to port.For a 32 footer, there is a tiny anchorage just NEof Longmore Point on the west side of the chan-nel; best at neaps. We inadvertently dried out oneearly morning but remained perfectly upright andeveryone stayed still in their bunks until the watercame back!

is said to be one of the oldestmarinas in England. Stanley and Mike Nicholsonknow it but I have never been in there.

is a huge complex, controlledby lights and VHF and normally has spare berths.Peter Scott is our resident expert.

There is no point going north of Chichester Marina,the channel is winding and shallow. It is worth anexpedition to Dell Quay – where the dories camefrom – by dinghy for a drink in the pub there.

That completes a brief description of the Harbour.It is not quite like anything I have seen before.There are few creature comforts outside the mari-nas and the Harbour is very busy at weekends. Beprepared to be savaged by fleets of racing din-ghies.

Nevertheless it is interesting; there are stacks ofthings to see and, as long as one is in a ‘MauriceGriffiths’ mood, it is a perfectly delightfulexperience.

Christopher Morrison