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Note from David Sutton and "Troost" Winter Lay Up – Some Reminders from Salterns And Finally - Thanks for the Memory
Regrettably, no new Memory’s to be reported built or in-build but a few sales and changes of ownership amongst the existing fleet. Ruffler a Salterns dayboat version has joined the East Coast fleet and is now in the ownership of Geoff Hughes, with son Andrew. They live at Rectory Hill Cottage, East Bergholt, Colchester, CO7 6 TH and telephone 01206 298307. Geoff writes, ‘Thanks for the gen. you have sent about the rigging information. "Ruffler" will be outside my garage during the winter so that I can work on her, not that she needs much done. But it will be good to have her on the doorstep ! I am going to paint the hull black because I am not keen on green boats and I don’t think Neil would let me out on the Orwell unless I had the 'right’ colour hull ! (That’s damn yer broadsides Cap’n Neil Mordey of the sloop "Dram" . They do have these terribly strong feelings about this sort of thing over there in the east y’know. Definitely not pink dear ! - and I don’t care what the Hamble ferry’s done, you just do NOT do that sort of thing up here! " I heard tell. Quite right too ! Ed.) We shall probably keep "Ruffler" on the Orwell ; have had my other boats there. I’ll let you know how we’re getting on – and report formally on out first race with Neil !’ Greensleeves also Salterns, cabin version, has been sold on to Roy Hart who lives at Battlesbridge Hall, Battlesbridge, Essex SS11 8TS (Tel 01268 768282) . So another one joins the east coast armada. It almost seems like Memory boats come to recognise the East Coast as home and sort of will themselves to drift back…….After, of course, doing her bit for ITV1 q.v. page ….. Hugh Harrison, printmaker and graphic designer of Penarth has a 1976 Bergvist Memory called Arwen which is sailed in Cardiff Bay and Bristol Channel. Hugh says she was originally called "Petronella" and had a red hull, then out of Pembroke Dock. Good to see still live and kicking older Memorys turning up for us. And talking of old stalwarts, three of them are stepping off the quarter deck of famous Memorys in order to have and go sail in big things with lavatories, kitchens and the like in them. Mike and Jessica Warren have sold Scheherezade beloved of MOA newsletter pages, to Chris Osborne, at The Vicarage, Blatchford Road, Ivybridge, Devon PL21 0AD Tel. 01752 698200. Mike says his good-byes elsewhere in this edition. And now with a new sea life in the south west fleet, Chris has changed the boat’s name to Whisper. Merlin and Ted Mason have finally parted company and "Merlin" also is going off to the east coast. Her new owner is James Green, at 21 West Street, Rowhedge, Colchester, CO5 7HW (Tel 01206 728531) James says he’ll have to wait a week or two before he can haul her across the mud fields of Salterns Creek – but there you go you see, another old Memory goes back east. And finally, for the time being we hope, Max Manning has succumbed (confession printed elsewhere in this edition) and bought ‘something else’ so poor wee Talitha is for sale. One hopes that she at least will be prepared to stay around the Solent; getting a bit empty and lonely down here. Stp press: another memory called Grateful has surfaced in Wales. More later. Please make appropriate changes to your list of boats and owners. Ed. (The Ed. did make a bit of a bleat in calling for contributions from the real silent and suffering powers behind the tillers. And Molly of Maldon dutifully answered my call thus :- ) ‘I’ll answer your call to female sailors, definitely the active type ! This year past, we’ve been out 38 times in "Dear Grace" ! All four of the grandchildren have been out with us, not all at once, and Daisy who’s the eldest aged 7 has been at the helm. I love "Grace", our boat, because she is safe for children of this age but at the same time you can drive her hard and not feel liable to capsize. We have at last got out of the Blackwater and as far as Brightlingsea, to wait for the next tide and then to reach and run up to Wyvenhoe, ‘Gracefully’ under the jib alone. It is near to Fingeringhoe (RSPB) with its hundreds of waders along the shore, including dozens of avocet. These beautiful birds have recovered wonderfully after being so near to extinction in England. We came back to West Mersea for the next quiet night on this trip – but at 2 am had to deal with motor-boat joy-riders, police-wise in the end. The next day, in a force 6 we sailed back with bottles, bucket and a floor board or two floating around in the bilges. Female-me helmed, whilst Tony looked a bit green at times. We are enjoying our new full mainsail and jib – and the marvellous outboard well, which frees up a lot of room by the removal of the engine box. The required new tiller also gives a lot more freedom as it now clears the samson posts. (We still have the drive shaft and the propeller of the Dolphin engine; if anyone could make use of them then please give us a call.) Come high summer, 28th August, we took two friends out in "Dear Grace". It was a beautiful day, high springs so lots of water and time and so we went over to Osea. We saw a seal and ‘Thalatta’ the Thames barge both in full sail – and then a slightly more disturbing sight. A large black cloud loomed over Lawling Creek and it was donut shaped. I told everyone to get their waterproofs on, hoping this would mean that the rain would miss us. But no such luck. We got the sails down in the awful calm before the wind and horizontal rain struck. We motored through the thunder and lightening. Though our friends had anoraks, they only wore the flimsiest of shorts and the bloke, three weeks short of his 70th birthday, started to shake and shiver uncontrollably. I was frightened that he was not going to make the birthday and I’d be held responsible by the widow ! Does marine insurance cover this I wondered ? We wrapped him up in blankets and coats and, when the violence of the storm finally subsided, managed to feed him some black coffee. It took another hour to get back. I’d taken the usual path to our berth, ignoring the extra weight and we were a couple of feet off the main channel - and slid gently into the soft east coast mud. We were 20 yards off the pontoon. Sheila, who sails a large sea-going catamaran single handed, caught the hurled line and tried to heave us in – but to no avail; this glue mud is very deep ! We were rescued by the Romford Essex Navy – i.e. a snazzy motor-boat with a huge fore-deck, who risked coming alongside the back end. All four of us were clambered onto that fore-deck and they kindly chugged us over in the direction of the pontoon. Problems not over yet though. A little dory still floating, next to a dried out high sided small yacht was our route to terra firma. We got into the dory easily enough. Then the wife of the nearly not septuagenarian managed to get one leg on the yacht – and then froze. She couldn’t/wouldn’t move up or down. Sheila leaped down into the dory, wedged her shoulder under said friend’s bum and hoisted her sack like onto the higher boat. And I kept a straight face, solemn. The three of us got the men sorted and tucked up with their cocoa – and then went to rescue "Dear Grace" around 11 pm. All in a summer afternoon’s work……….. (Molly Tring) Note from David Sutton and "Troost" (Abu Dhabi) At long last I managed to take some photos of Troost and the arrangements of the outboard well. (See picture page. Ed.) As you can see, my trusty Tohatsu 5hp motor lives cosily inside. On the aft deck, I have two weather proof hatches that are used for stowage. The arrangement has worked fine for the past nine years. I have had a concern that maybe the lack of freeboard inside the cockpit would be an issue. However, the only occasion when this concern was valid was on one afternoon when two gentlemen weighing the best part of 200kg chose to stand on the aft deck as we beat to windward on our way home. Each of them had a gut full of lager and were showing off. Thankfully, despite their antics, they did not fall in. However, with the boat heeled over and me at the helm, the odd splash came into the cockpit. The only other time water can be persuaded to enter the cockpit through the well, is if I "give it the big'un" when going astern. Then, water will slosh up for a short period. The benefits are obvious, so I too will not brag about them ! There are a number of other mods on the boat that are now recorded digitally. Please let me know if you or MOA members might be interested in them and I will be pleased to send some more through. They seem to be quite large files, so I will not send them all at once. The running backstays have been an interesting experiment. We don’t always use them. Only when we are in a hurry. The kit that Davey & Co sent was a work of art and should be religiously polished to maintain its good looks. Sadly I am adopting a more secular approach. I also have a snap of my whacky clew outhaul on the boom. This works well and maybe better explained in a sketch – er yes, the one I promised you ages ago! (You should have David’s email address on your Members list, if for particular reasons you’d like to know more about what David has done with "Troost". Ed.) One of the early Salterns cabin Memorys, "Saorsa" now lives on the west coast of the Isle of Arran, based at Pirnmill. Ray and Liz Evans moved up there to escape the English hoards some time ago. Ray says he has been doing a little more single handed sailing, lst year, out into Kilbrannon sound and a trip up into Loch Fyne. Have a look at the map and you can see what Ray means by having time and space to try things out, seeing what happens when leaving "Saorsa" to do her own thing. The last season, up there, had a lot of days of contrast, too much of a great lot of wind – and then nothing at all. The odd problem with an outboard – like it packing up just as he was crossing to get out of the way of the car ferry’s path, trying to get the main up by himself and fast, getting just enough wind in it to avoid a run down and eventually picking up a spare mooring under sail in about 15 to 20 metres of water. (Did you get that, ‘spare mooring’ ! Ed.) Stranded against the wind to get home, two other humans were seen passing a little by and Ray called out hoping to get a lift to shore. No response – but they did phone the coastguard about a stranded sail-boat man, when they got back to their comfy home or hotel – because a friend, who happened to be the coastguard, then chugged out in his own 35 footer. The engine was taken off for close inspection, eventually demonstrated an electrical fault, repaired by someone who knew – but it did just the same thing later. Ray calls himself a novice lone sailor still, as yet. He has not got one of the Greg style bungee self steer arrangements on the tiller. Leaving the mooring doesn’t involve any engine; the main goes up first, the mooring line dropped overboard and a few minutes later after tidying up he can look up to see where he’s got to before adding the jib. If he needs to reef down, out in the Sound, quite likely to be the case in these parts, he just lets mainsheet, jib sheets and tiller fly where they will, and "Saorsa" sits prettily and waits for her skirts to be hitched up a little. Last year he took part in a race for the first time. About 12 miles around a triangular course. All sorts of boats of course but he managed fourth place and, he says, as water streamed over the gunwale, learned a thing or two about staying too long on one tack and when and when not to have to effect a gybe ! Ray has his main mooring about 7 mile away – but another local one just down the bottom of the garden, a bit exposed to the heavy westerlies though. But one might indeed have one or two of them – moorings that is – at £35 p.a. (!) Ray always says he’d be delighted to see any other Memory owners who happen to be ‘doing’ Scotland on their travels – have a free ride and get to know "Saorsa" and miles of empty sea-room. Phone is 01770 850267. Note from Keith Davidson ("Kate" at Lawling Creek) Keith reported in – in November last, as follows ;- Hello ! Firstly, many thanks for the last Newsletter - news of the S.W. fleet was really interesting. Especially the tale of "Halden", which is uncannily similar to "Kate". She was also named "Boy Matthew", I believe, was black, had hull and decking reinforced early on and re-rigged as a cutter. I am trying, via the O.G.A, to trace her early history & first owner David Northcott, who sailed her at Hayling Island and then moved up to Norfolk. No joy so far. It was mentioned in our very 1st newsletter that one of our number had dug out a 10yr old MOA membership list. Does anyone still have it - or a contact name I could call, in my quest for "Kate's" early history? Does anyone know when Liverpool Boat Co. stopped trading or know a contact involved with them ? Forgive me if I have already asked you. Have you got your ‘OGA PLAQUE’ yet? Very substantial, restrained design and a nice addition for the washboard! After a late launch due to foul weather, "Kate" has met with competition this summer with the arrival of Mollie, our first grandchild. As a result she did not get sailed for more than a few short day trips. As I write, she is pitching and rolling alarmingly in a Force 5 as the ebb tide nudges her broadside into a gusty Northerly. Glad I didn't row out to her today. ‘A Moonrise’ photo attached, to help recall balmy summer nights afloat ! (See picture page. Ed.) Oh yes... and just which night was that then? Well, it's "Kate", anchored at mouth of Lawling Creek and Mayland , both of which almost dry out at LW. However, just inside Mundon Spit you get good shelter from the south and west and several metres depth most of the time. It's a great a spot to overnight! The seals just lie there on the mud staring at you indignantly, then ignore you and the show-offs get on with their games of shooting out of the water at speed, sliding full pelt up the slippery mud banks ! Sometimes things look familiar - spent a few days on Arran in August and ended up in a great Lochranza B&B, right on the shore. Gazing across the small bay I did a double take - a lovely little green gaffer was straining at her moorings, the spitting image of "Kate". Then the memory kicked in - it was "Saorsa", Ray and Liz Evans’ Memory, which I had last seen fresh off the stocks at Greg's a few years ago. Only sorry that I could not make contact with Ray and Liz in the time we had available in midge-land. The area offers so many possibilities for sheltered cruising I am tempted to tow up there one day! (You see ! Just ring Ray and Liz first, like he said…..Ed.) Winter Lay Up – Some Reminders from Salterns At the end of the season the yacht should be laid up and any refitting works carried out over winter, or so the old sailing books say. Whilst the Memory has a GRP hull and deck,and other low maintenance bits like terylene sails, it is still sound advice to take the boat out of the water, lift out the mast and strip all the rigging off and inspect it. This may sound like a bit of a chore but it does not take long to do and will pay dividends in the long run. Winter is obviously the worst season for wet, cold weather and nothing deteriorates faster than a boat left out unused in these conditions. Take the sails off and inspect them carefully for signs of stitching coming apart or loose cringles. You can wash mud or salt off with a weak soapy mix rinsed off well with clear water. Hang them up and when really dry fold them up and keep somewhere dry. Do not leave them in the garden shed if there is a chance of mice ~ I saw a sail with a row of holes right across it where a mouse had been chewed through the folded sail to make it’s home! The standing rigging should be coiled up, inspecting carefully for any signs of strands giving way, especially next to the Talurit splices. Stainless steel standing rigging should be changed every 10 years according to the insurance surveyors as it has a nasty habit of looking okay but the metal becomes crystalline with age and suddenly breaks. It can be tested but it is probably cheaper just to replace it (C. £120 the lot). Good old-fashioned galvanised rigging is much more predictable and deteriorates from the outside with lots of obvious rusting. If kept well oiled and greased it seems to last for ages. Check all the shackles and bottle screws for obvious signs of impending disaster. Take note that any that were loose and remember to seize them up next year. Make sure that there are two shackles on the peak halyard block to allow it to articulate properly. Inspect the mast carefully around the base as they are prone to rotting if rainwater is allowed to collect in the mast step. Make sure that there is an adequate drain hole in this and that it is kept clear. Make sure that all the mast and boom bands, cleats etc. are secure on the spars; they should be well bedded on mastic to prevent water getting underneath causing rot. Check the mast crane, eyebolts and bobstay eyelets for corrosion and bending, these should be removed once in a while (say every 5 to 10 years) and inspected. I was frightened by how rotten the bobstay eye on Flugel was although it looked fine from the outside ! (GD) Go thou and do likewise; and when you’ve finished, come back to me and I’ll tell you what else needs doing.. (TC) Recalling topsails (Richard Dodds) Hadn’t heard from Richard for some time so left him a message. He replied and I got him to agree I could quote a bit. Ref. the ‘flexibility’ of gaffers. Though if anyone has done the same off a mooring with a Memory (see last bit) let us know please. Ed.) ‘My conscience pricks me every time the MOA newsletter drops on the mat, not just for my lack of promised contributions but also due to Elwing languishing on her trailer in her landlocked berth of Upper Welland. It's hard when one has salt blood to be so far from the briny and perhaps even harder to bear on seeing an "old ship" of mine, in the centre spread of the last edition ! I speak of "Provident". I was mate on her back in 1982/3 with the Island Cruising Club, Salcombe, chalked up some 1500 miles crossing the Channel or wandering up and down the South coast if the weather did not favour a crossing. Not that much would stop her, it was more a case of could the "punters" stand it rather than the ship! My most memorable passage was returning from St.Malo with force 8 forecast. We more or less had to get back to Salcombe for the change of passengers. We battened down everything, including our precious cargo of paying guests, set the minimum amount of sail, fully reefed main and stays'l and locked out. The old girl flew ! Stable as a rock and more upright than I had expected; I would have sailed her round the Horn that night, she felt so at home in her element. What I'm trying to get round to mentioning is topsails. Obviously we didn't set ours on that trip but I just wanted to say that although a tops'l of that size might look daunting, to both set or strike, in reality it only needed one man to get it aloft. And depending on both wind direction and force, it usually needed only one other to actually set it. The secret weapon? - rotten string, or garden twine or any other easily breakable cordage (knitting wool?). Okay, having an army on deck to pleat the sail and tie it into something resembling a string of sausages certainly helped but once it was aloft not much muscle was required. We would also employ the same tactics with the jib & flying jib. So I often used this method when sailing "Elwing", especially when on my own or gilling about at the start of a race. Being cutter rigged, this helped also to keep "Elwing's" cockpit clear of heads'l sheets, until the jib was needed. I've seen many tops'ls carried furled in this way until they too were needed. A good hard tug on the sheet & "CRACK" there’s the sail, pulling like a "Soger". Very impressive the first time you see it done this way. "Provi" will always have a special place in my heart. She could see you through a gale or would handle like a dinghy. Many times we sailed her on and off moorings and on one memorable morning, having spent the night on an Admiralty buoy up river of King Harry ferry on the river Fal, with a very slight ebb and a gentle breeze, we sailed her backwards off the mooring. The crew held out the booms on either side, then adjusted and got her to pirouette ever so gently – and then headed off downstream. All in the early morning silence of that beautiful river. (William Burville is a person of less than five and thirty years I will have you know and which just goes to show that persons of my own son’s generation can have good taste in boats. He lives in the village of Ugborough located in Devon’s picturesque South Hams countryside. And "Jess" is his 1978 vintage Memory fitted with a cabin, tabernacle and inboard diesel. During the summer months Jess is kept on a mooring in Salcombe and latish last summer Will wrote in ;- ) ‘Last May, having lived close to the Devon coast for three years, I decided it was time to "invest" in a boat. Armed only with the vaguest idea of what I wanted, I started to trawl around the internet brokerages. The South West is Shrimper country; I was determined to be different, desiring a craft that wouldn’t look too plastic. The web soon came up trumps; Dartmouth Yachts had a very pretty Memory 19 on their books located in a barn only a few minutes up the road. Armed with a hangover and a knowledgeable friend I went to view "Jess". My friend gave her the twice over and the thumbs up while I sat in the cockpit, hand on tiller dreaming of sunshine, strong summer breezes and dolphins riding the boats wake. I drove home to tentatively inform the unsuspecting girlfriend that we were now boat owners. That first season of sailing was sublime. As my confidence grew in the little boat we ventured further and further along the coast. "Jess" only hiccupped once during the entire summer. One afternoon the diesel engine refused to restart, and on inspection the problem appeared to be fuel starvation. The fuel tank was fabricated from stainless steel; unfortunately its fittings were ferrous and had oxidised so badly that the rust had throttled the flow of diesel. The fittings had also "rust" welded themselves to the body of the tank. I made the decision to scrap the stainless unit and install a plastic tank with over twice the capacity of the original. The job went unbelievably smoothly; within two hours the tank had been installed, new fuel lines run and the little Farymann diesel was pushing "Jess" along at an economical 5 ½ knots. Come October, "Jess" was back in the barn and work was about to begin in earnest. First on the list was a comprehensive engine overhaul. Once completed, I started to investigate why none of the engine instrumentation functioned. It soon became apparent, the rev counter was wired to the temperature sender and the temperature warning lamp was connected to the alternator. The old loom was removed and I cobbled together a replacement. At the first push of the starter button, the warning lamps went out, the motor burst into life and the counter displayed the engines revolutions; all very satisfying. Next, my attention turned to the centre plate. New stainless cable and fittings were installed and the winch was remounted on a stainless plate, replacing the original marine ply. Inspired by the DIY and home improvement programmes, aired incessantly by every television network, Wendy my girlfriend went to work on the cabin. The interior surfaces were painted a straw colour, while the structural components were picked out in a dark green. Cushions were re-upholstered in matching green, an antique oil lamp was suspended from the cabin ceiling and a small framed Monet print depicting a fleet of fishing gaffers was hung from the side of the cabin ! The tired flooring was replaced with darkly stained marine-ply and an old sea chest was fitted in one corner to provide much needed extra stowage. "Jess"’s interior had been transformed from a bare glass-fibre box into a snug, comfortable cabin of traditional appearance. The remaining blot on the landscape was in the form of a giant plastic portaloo. After a few minutes doodling with paper and pen, the "Thunder box" was born. The wooden thunder box was designed to serve two purposes; firstly to disguise the massive blue toilet, the second, to provide a wooden chart table. The remaining winter’s work consisted mainly of cosmetic painting and varnishing. At the end of April 2002, with the assistance of my good friend Ron, the boat trailer was hitched to the back of the Subaru and we headed off to Salcombe. We arrived at the slip way just before 6am; aside from the fishermen loading their catches into the back of refrigerated units we had the place to ourselves. Professional fishermen have the ability to sense impending embarrassments and, like vultures, are quick to flock around any pleasure boating mishap so I eyed them with apprehension. Our particular mishap was due to a combination of the steep gradient of the slip-way and the shallowness of my home-made wheel chocks. The original launch plan involved leaving Jess and the trailer on the slipway at low water, then waiting until the tide had returned to float her off. The unplanned launch was a little more rapid, occurring as soon as we had unhitched the trailer from the car. The wheel chocks that I had made became little launch ramps. Once uncoupled from the car, trailer and boat (still lashed together), jumped over the little ramps, accelerated with impressive velocity down the slipway and entered the water with an almighty splash. Coupled together, boat and trailer gently floated off down the estuary. In the heat of the moment, friend Ron jumped into the inflatable tender and, discovering the oars were still in the car, attempted to paddle to towards Jess with his hands. Ron’s hand paddling was no match for the strength of the incoming tide; he was rapidly being pushed up the estuary. It was at this point; the vultures ceased to unload their catch and quickly encircled the scene. One kind chap jumped into a large dory and motored over, "So, you’ll be needing a hand then?" He quickly secured the end of a rope to the trailer and motored back to me on the slipway, calling, "I suppose you’ll be expecting me to rescue your mate as well?" As Ron was rapidly disappearing from sight, this seemed a good idea. With Ron back on dry land we secured the rope attached to the trailer to the tow hitch of the Subaru. The boat was then floated off and the trailer towed back onto the slipway. Our three hour planned launch had taken only ten excruciatingly embarrassing minutes. We were not quite out of the woods yet. Back on "Jess", I started the diesel intending to moor her next to the slip. As I popped the gearbox into reverse, the line from the tender wrapped around the prop and stalled the engine with a loud bang. The vultures returned, hands in pockets, grins on faces. One hour later, the rope had been cut from the prop, Jess was moored by the slipway and the trailer was drip-drying in the car park. As we prepared to slip our temporary moorings, a Landrover towing a Drascombe Lugger pulled up. The two bleary eyed occupants got out, hitched the boat’s trailer to tow bar on the front bumper. The Landrover then pushed the boat-laden trailer at speed into the water, at this moment the Landrover’s breaks were sharply applied, shooting the Lugger off the trailer. The boat floated unchecked down the estuary; its owners had forgotten to attach a shore line. As I jumped into the tender ready to assist in the recovery of the boat, I mumbled, just loud enough to be heard, "Amateurs." Two weeks on, I’m sailing with my South African friend George. The sun is shining, the sea state is calm and we have just crossed the bar. The silence is suddenly broken by a dolphin bursting out of the water just to port and in front of the bowsprit. She elegantly corkscrews three times, finishing the gymnastic display with a clean return to the water. Fantastic! ‘ And in real drama too. As devotees of David Suchet’s ITV Hercule Poirot (I presume there are some) will have noticed, if your eye-sight was quick enough, the episode just before Christmas was the very famoso Agathie Christie story "Evil under the Sun". The perpetrators of this evil, set on Devon’s Burgh Island and in the very real 1930s art deco hotel there, the very centre piece of the plot was the illicit import of certain goods in a little sailing boat of the period, i.e. the Memory "Greensleeves". Key to solving the mystery was tan sails at some times of sailing and white sails at others. It might have been easier for them just to wave a flag – but, no, that’s the way the story tellers wanted it. ‘Sorry, haven’t got any white sails for a Memory.’ ‘Why not !? Then make some, quick !’ And they did. So if you now see a white sailed Memory around – it wasn’t Greg’s fault ! From Peter Thomas ("Souvenir") (I went down to Axmouth to see rellies, saw a nice black Memory I’d seen in build, bobbing in the harbour, wondered how on earth people got in and out of it – and got Peter to pen a line or two of update for last year. Ed.) "Souvenir" is a Salterns cabin version built in 2000 for the Southampton boat show. Her first home was a marina at Weymouth but very shortly afterwards she was moved to her current home at Axmouth. The boat sails beautifully and has exceed expectations, both mine and also other participants in club races, who do not expect their sharp pointy boats with pointy sails to be beaten by a gaffer. I had always expected a good performance off the wind but what has been a surprise is how well she sails to windward. Axmouth is a special sort of place, with some unique challenges. Shelter in Lyme Bay is hard to find and the sailing directions recommend that the entrance to Axmouth should not be attempted in heavy swells and suggest Lyme Regis or Brixham as alternative ports. True Lyme is reasonably close but also not suitable in all conditions. Brixham on the other hand is not exactly just round the corner. The moorings are in a basin close to the mouth of the river Axe. From there the river runs parallel to the shingle beach. The navigable channel is to the North East side of the river and to the South West is a strip known as the rapids! After, say, a hundred yards the river narrows to about 20 foot and turns ninety degrees to the South. If travelling against the tide you need to use full throttle in order to make any progress at all. If travelling with the tide you also need to use full throttle in order to maintain steerage and avoid being set against the short pier wall ! Which all means that, on spring tides, this very sharp corner is taken at a nerve racking and apparently insane speed over the ground. Once you reach this point there is no turning back, the river then emerges through a gap in the shingle beach where you are then faced with the next challenge, the bar. Then, if you are successful and not scrunched to a sudden hat, just waves into the open sea. The bar seems to catch most people out at least once. My turn was towards the end of last season. Rapidly deteriorating conditions meant that three successive larger than normal waves went over the boat and also caused the helmsman to catch the prop on the edge of the rudder. That caused the transom hung engine to stall at a particularly inconvenient moment. Why don’t I sail somewhere else? Well Lyme bay is extremely beautiful and, by comparison with most other places, almost completely empty! Perhaps not surprisingly this experience has however encouraged me to dedicate the first part of the last season to the fitting of a Salterns outboard well under Greg’s supervision. The Gregs-well turned out to be a great success and the drag from the prop really does not seem to noticeably slow the boat down. The first sail of the year was the two race Axmouth regatta in July. We finished second in the first race and won the day overall on handicap ! Happens all the time of course, but we should log the main ones. One or two mentions elsewhere in this edition. Also though, "Letty May" with Nick and Sue Hillman have been dominating the East Coast scene but not without a few, shall we say ‘difficulties’, from persons in key positions to do with local race rules, who are not too keen on the fact that the Memory goes too fast and so maybe a little behind the scenes tweaking of handicap rules might be a way of slowing them down a bit ? However, as reported in the OGA Log, it was finally acknowledged that "Letty May" did indeed win in the gaffer class, in both of the two races of the OGA Anniversary and the Maldon Town Regatta. And in the second race, Osea back up to Maldon, "Letty May" was first over the line as well. As Nick would be the first to acknowledge, the conditions this time favoured the lighter smaller boats, so big old woodens in more senses than one should not need to get too upset because frightful little GRPs like those Memory things keep winning their little silver cups when they are meant to be for …. well….. us proper people if you see what I mean. Not the first time of such minor altercations perhaps. And down in the far west, "Lily" and Charles Taylor topped the Class III board at the Annual OGA Race in Falmouth in pretty lively conditions such that many of the smaller boats didn’t even get to the start line, let alone finish the course and win it. Charles has changed the rig on "Lily" somewhat (see sketch in the last July edition) – but in spite of it or because of it, she goes on winning. Or is it to do with the driver maybe ? Anyway, MOA DSM and bar awarded to these two fast ladies. (Was mentioned last time and one or two Memory owners replied ;-) ‘We last paid £107 for marine insurance (older type Memory) with Noble Marine but we did have a claim for a lost outboard. Hence it was £55 in 2000 and £108 in 2001. We tried Saga but they said they didn’t count Taylors Yard as a ‘marina’ so we would have had to take the boat out of the water in the winter. We could use it in the winter, as long as it was not kept in the water. So we’ve stayed put.’ (Molly Tring) ‘Oh by the way. I looked at the two insurers you mentioned and quite a few more besides. I can't seem to better about £ 178 for £ 6650 total cover. I think maybe it is just the way it will be for a few years until they have paid for the latest bout of storms and terrorist atrocities.’ (Max Manning) ‘Having read the Newsletter item about insurance, I wrote straight to GJW Direct, enclosing a photocopy of pages 8/9 and asking why they were charging me £167.89 to insure ‘Sif’ and offering you something in the region of £70 to £80 on a roughly similar boat. They informed me that none of their premiums were that low and that there must have been a mistake or misunderstanding. Any comments to pass back to them ? (‘Fraid not, other than quotes offered at promo points of sale on brief details – seem to be a bit adrift from what emerges with full facts and a cover note to be issued. Ed.) Being a total innocent in matters of insurance I tend to pay the bill when it comes and not to bother. However, I think for next year, exploratory letters to Navigators and General and Saga might be an investment.’ (Derek Toyne) ‘For a renewal date in Aug 03, Saga gave me a written quote for £132.99 on a 1997 open version Memory with outboard and a £12,000 nominal market value. £150 excess.’ Navigator and General this year was £135 for the same thing. All much of a muchness when it comes to cheque time it seems. (Terry Collins) Insurance up on this muddy coast runs out at £160.00 p.a. for "Kate" based on : all year commission./ half tide mud mooring / valuation of 6K incl.motor / incl.legal cover & 4 yrs No Clm. Bonus / local waters /using Haven Knox Johnson Insurers. GJW Direct have just quoted me a tad more than this. This figure is pretty typical for some other 20 / 22ft cruisers in our Club. How does this compare with your busier, rockier and riskier area ? (Keith Davidson) And Finally - Thanks for the Memory (From Jessica Warren and "Scheherazade") We are feeling just a bit guilty. There has been a restlessness in the air this last sailing season. I do not know whether it was the north east wind which has been prevalent throughout the summer or just time for a change maybe. We started in May all pretty, with a non eventful launch and a few cold forays out into the Solent before the Yarmouth weekend. We sailed in the company of "Merganser" as we often do on the Thursday down to the rally and arrived in good form. On the day of the race however and rounding the first mark, Mike was ‘knocked out’ proper by the bowsprit of another and larger boat as they tried to round the mark across our stern and we became much entangled. Discretion seemed the better part of valour – they carried their cutlasses in their teeth – and we retired back to port where Mike was recovered with vinegar and brown paper and we enjoyed the rest of the weekend. An early Sunday morning start as the weather forecast was not promising and we raced "Merganser" back up the Hamble River with just jibs up and a fresh westerly wind for a change pushing us on at a great rate of knots. The rest of the summer was normal – taking part in the OGA Race and Rally, managing a relaxed fifth place in our class and eighth overall, and getting out whenever we could. On a mid September weekend, we arranged to meet our friends from "Penny Black", a Cornish Yawl, at Bembridge for an overnight stay. We had a lovely sail there and back, but still in the teeth of chilling north easterlies . I don’t think I sailed without my jacket all summer. That was to be our last sail with "Scheherazade". Then madness overcame us. We had both, independently, started hankering for a few home comforts, a real bunk-bed maybe and a little bit more headroom. At this time and in this mood we happened to see an Itchen Ferry which took our fancy – and in a trice we had agreed to buy her and sell "Scherherazade". It all happened so fast and we still feel a bit guilty. We have had such fun with "Scherherazade", from the time when she was just a bare hull outside our garden, the hours and hours spent by Mike creating all her mast, spars, boom, blocks, thwarts, cabin bits and pieces. And my nervousness wondering whether she would ever be sea-worthy, which indeed she was. Then, learning to sail her and taking part and even winning some of our races over the years. We have enjoyed also the quiet weekends away and afloat just the two of us, and meeting and sailing with other Memory owners, swapping tales of woe and near ecstasy and the social gatherings at the OGA rallies. All happy Memories – thanks "Schereherazade – the grand little boat with the long romantic name. I am not sure we have sailed one thousand and one nights with her – so I’m sure she will have many more tails to tell yet. Now that she has moved on to waters new down there in Devon, where I am sure she will be just as well loved and looked after, and again in the company of other Memorys, so she will not feel lonely. And who knows maybe one day a questing Itchen Ferry will seek her out down Exmouth way, when the captain and her crew get themselves organised for a different type of sailing experience.
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Last updated 26/01/05Copyright © Memory Owners Association |
