This time dragged into time hungry attempts to support the cause of local democracy last half April and right after May first dragged off to Sicily for first part of month. Sublime to cor blimey ? So late again. Memorys line up outside Salterns workshop waiting for engine inserts – prompted some emphasis on mechanical bits, this edition. Sorry again – if you’re purist, Derek and his luverly sweeps q.v.  Also just read ‘Diary of a Nobody’ first time, as you can see. Better than Adrian Mole or Bridget Jones. Sail well but talk to David first if you want do East of Scillies and Irish Sea. (Ed.)

(I usually own up if I’m bullying people a bit - to write up something for the NL. This I did with Ian and Annie after they’d decided to buy ‘William Bligh" from Andy Smith in Sussex. Herewith, about ‘how come’ & ‘why a Memory ?’ )

We have joined the ranks of Memory owners. Never in my life had the idea crossed my mind of becoming a boat owner. For one thing I get sea-sick. For another, the only previous experience I have had wasn’t all that marvellous, consisting of being tipped into the Solent from a deep chested Uffa Fox National 12 dinghy, followed by hours and hours of scraping and varnishing its clinkered hull. And how about Annie, my wife ? I heard that whilst under previous management she had set off to the shops to get some bacon only to return and announce "Darling – er…. I’ve bought a skiff and a Thames cabin cruiser" All this of course was years ago. I suppose the real reason has to be last year’s catastrophic slide in the stock market and a decision to liquidate tottering assets and put funds instead into a bit of real estate, a small holiday home perhaps. Anyway, something we could enjoy and not just worry about. Exploring further and further to the West, we fell in love with Dartmouth and ended up with a small and leaky house there – but only a few yards from the quay. Looking at the sunlight sparkling on the R. Dart and the numbers of masts it became obvious that to live in such a place required a boat of ones own. Would Annie’s decaying Thames skiff do the job ?

A copy of ‘Classic Boat’ was consulted. Salterns Boatbuilders leapt off the pages, of course, and soon Greg was on his way, to inspect our Thames skiff. He is much into skiffs and ten seconds was long enough for him to pronounce it dead, as far as being in water was concerned. The last rites were read; the general opinion was that it should be confined to a funeral pyre, in the presence of the Health and Safety Inspector. But – we discovered the range of Salterns GRP hulled boats. Having grown less timid and more ambitious, we walked passed the ‘Wagtail’ and the ‘Tela’ – but found the Memory enchanting. We loved her lines, the gaff rig and the topsail possibility. At the Salterns Xmas ‘Bash’ we were able to speak to Memory owners, who assured us that this craft was unlikely to tip us into the Solent. Clearly everyone had a great admiration for the boat. And far from being weather-beaten old salts, steeped in unattainable nautical knowledge – we found the owners to be kind and sociable human beings ! Thus were we hooked. After consulting with Greg in the new year, we discovered that the "William Bligh" was for sale at Littlehampton in good second hand condition. Without any further thought, we bought it. "William Bligh" is now having its inboard-outboard installation (the Gregswell) to replace the ageing Vire inboard. So that’s how we are starting. Although we now have a boat, no-one could surpass us in ignorance of sailing matters. When the time comes for our first sortie, our intention is to chug slowly out into a nice quiet bit of the Solent, and when we are sure no-one is looking, raise a pocket handkerchief of a sail – and see if she moves. From there on in, we hope that the learning curve will not be too long. We had been seduced by the thought of idling up the River Dart on a balmy summer day, with a picnic stowed in the cuddy, listening to the gentle lap of water under the hull and eyeing the ripples radiating from the bottle of champagne being towed aft, whilst now and then passing a creek-side hostelry for a preliminary G & T. This is, is it not, the real essence of sailing ? (Has been known, on the R. Dart, I gather….. Ed.)

Sometime though, in the wee small hours, we wonder what on earth we have done and visions appear of us drifting out beyond Lands-end on a windless night –

‘Better start the engine - Sorry, no fuel; I thought you’d filled it. - Pass the paddle then.

- It’s in the boot of the car, I think.’ And what about that bodger on the bonce; conjuring up the nightmare scenario of charging down upon a hapless row of expensive gin palaces like a deranged rhinoceros and harpooning a few of them whilst trying to park. But it won’t be like that - will it ? Won’t it ? It won’t ? Will it ??

I know nothing about engines. Well, as a callow youth I once had a proper Austin 7 Nippy and therefore card carrying membership of the 750 Club. Perforce, I found out something about side valve engines. And I once had a nasty middle of the night experience when the Stuart Turner petrol engine gave up in driving rain and a strong westerly, and we were then drifting backwards at low tide somewhere off Clacton onto the Sunk Sands. And I had just taken off all the sails, prior to anticipated ‘never again’ and prayerful docking at Brightlingsea, and had neatly stowed them down below. You live (if you’re lucky) and learn.

So I too have retained a particular type of interest in engines, as a sort of anxiety state. Mind you, in modern times, as distinct from the 60s and 70s, the only two occasions when the rather old Mariner outboard suddenly failed, and I was drifting fast down the middle of the Hamble ebb wondering as Peter has also observed which white gin palace I might crash into first - I now had an easily accessed large jib to heave out and regain an element of control. I’d learned a wee bit. And to be fair to the mechanical – the first time was me shearing the pin going energetically from reverse to forward and the second was the end of the fuel and not bothering to find out the chugging time of a tiny tank-full. It’s never too late to learn. So I’m prepared to accept that things going alarmingly wrong with engines, the modern ones anyway, are largely the result of not knowing enough to know what to expect beyond go and no go switches and thus how to avoid or correct it. It’s the singer more than the song ?

I took a few snapshots of Memorys passing through Salterns at Springtime. The Vire 7 hp petrol engine, old design but theoretically a nice little unit for a boat the size of a Memory, was fitted into "William Bligh".  But you can see how low and close to bilge water this engine is; a previous owner had installed the engine too low in the hull to minimise intrusion into the cockpit. The flywheel, magneto and ignition system is only a few inches above the keel. The generator, control box and battery had also been installed below the cockpit sole where the damp atmosphere will minimise any chances of conductivity. The low position of the flywheel will also mean that bilge water will get on its V ( shaped drive belt) groove will cause the belt to slip, so preventing the dynamo (Dynostart) from charging the battery or acting as the starter motor. The low position and a cooling water injection point being below water level makes the engine liable to back flooding. Possibly what has happened and made this particular engine U/S. So Ian and Annie Templeton decided on the outboard in the well solution and the Vire is coming out.

If inboard engine it is going to be – then Peter de Burr has put down a few thoughts about that in this edition, from the leisure user’s point of view and Greg was prevailed upon to note down some of the more technical pros and cons of the various inboard engines seen in Memory boats. The pictures of the new Yanmar engine in Peter Marks’ "Gentou" are a bit deceptive in the apparent amount of cockpit space taken up - but sacrificing something of the cockpit seating arrangements helps too. To my mind, the real big issue though on the whole ‘in’ or ‘out’ question is still the fact that you are talking in thousands for the inboard option and in hundreds for the outboard engine, even in its ‘inboard’ well. The ultimate amateur’s final list of pros and cons if the sails break down is at present ;-

Dirt cheap.

Varied and easily removable transom brackets.

Doesn’t carve into or muck up integrity of hull shape/size.

Marvellous manoeuvrability. Can turn round on a sixpence, including backwards.

Lift prop out of water when sailing – so no prop. or hull aperture drag.

Can take it home quite easily if you want to.

But –

Prop lifts out of water if in a sea-way

Maybe difficult to get at/ re-fuel under way if you have to.

Main sheet too easily can get itself wrapped around it.

Can get pinched quite easily.

Short range ex internal fuel tank – but can use a remote tank.

Line of thrust not central.

Initial outlay but still reasonably cheap solution.

Little drag from centrally located prop.

Add remote tank for long running – seems automatic thing to do.

Keeps the back end looking tidy; no mainsheet foul-ups.

Central thrust behind rudder.

Can still take it home at end of season or use on another boat.

But –

Loses aft locker space.

Risks hull integrity/compromises safety – if not carefully installed.

Loss of turning manoeuvrability.

Don’t go backwards good.

Feeling of added security/reliability ?

More manoeuvrability than well; prop as engine brake in reverse.

Extra power if needed.

No petrol on board = less fire risk.

Bigger prop = more instant thrust.

But –

Costs a comparative bomb

Takes up half the cockpit space

Much more maintenance demands

Loss of turning manoeuvrability ref O/B on back

Anybody want to add anything ?

(Whilst my "Adrienne V" lay alongside Peter Burr’s "Nilla", in the Salterns yard, "Nilla" to convert from ‘Greg’s-Well’ to inboard and "Adrienne V" from outboard on a bracket to ‘Gregs-Well’ – we talked, and I prodded Peter to put down his own pros and cons for going inboard, for others to consider, such is the debate about the alternative means of propulsion. Herewith… Ed.)

‘I first saw a Memory at the Southampton Boat Show in September 2000. After a few months thought I decided to sell my 60 ft narrow boat and have a Memory. This seemed a good idea since I was going to live in retirement at Kingswear, opposite Dartmouth, so I ordered a new Memory, to be called "Nilla", which was then the exhibit on Saltern’s stand at the 2001 Southampton show. I originally wanted an inboard engine but Greg persuaded me otherwise, cost being the main factor ! I also liked the simplicity of the outboard installation (in a well) as it needed no electrics and batteries, and there would be no problem with oil in the bilges.

I have a deep mistrust of outboards but the 4 HP four stroke Yamaha performed perfectly. It had enough oomph to push against the tide in the Dart, and it always started without any fuss. It was also very economical with petrol.

After a season, however, I was not completely satisfied. Although the engine could push the boat well enough, manoeuvring was not easy, especially when I was on my own. I was at the time on trot moorings near the river mouth, and trying to turn in a restricted space when the tide was running strongly was somewhat unpredictable! It is not possible to fit a remote throttle/gear control to that particular outboard, and, when on my own, trying to pick the buoy to which my mooring ropes were attached, while steering at the tiller, and twisting the outboard tiller for the throttle, and groping down the well for the tiny gear lever on the side, and waving a boat-hook around, all at the same time - gave any onlookers some interesting moments ! I am very surprised that I did not hit any other boats ! When I pressed my point of view, Greg suggested a 6 HP outboard instead, which could have a proper control, but it would have been very heavy to lift out of the well. And I have also this lifelong mistrust of petrol on a boat.

So I have asked Greg instead to fit a 9 HP single cylinder Yanmar diesel and remake the well. A friend in Kingswear has a similar engine and he says it is terrific. There are minus points -apart from the cost ! The main disadvantage is the loss of cockpit space since the top of the engine housing will be roughly level with the seats. So sailing on my own will call for some extra acrobatics perhaps. To compensate, Greg will fit a fiddle to the engine box so the top will be an excellent place to rest the drinks !

Obviously the main purpose of the boat is for sailing, but I shall occasionally leave the mast and so on at home and tow her to places on the inland system, such as the Brecon Canal, which I have never done before. I’ll use her as a tiny motor cruiser. Purists, eat your hearts out !

With the new engine I hope to have the best of all worlds: sailing along the south Devon coast, going up the R. Dart to the pub at Tuckenhay, chugging up if no wind and certainly chugging back, plus the occasional motoring trip on inland rivers and canals. All boat owners are a bit eccentric I guess – but if I’ve got it wrong again, I’ll tell you; promise !’

Some thoughts on engine swaps (Greg Dalrymple)

Modern diesels have got much smoother and quieter and it is tempting to swap from an old petrol engine to a new Yanmar -–or whatever. When adding up the costs you shouldn’t forget the expense of all the ancillary equipment which will need renewing, because, from my experience, it is doubtful if any of the old equipment will be compatible with the new engine. Modern diesel engines have to be rubber mounted and this means that the prop shaft tube must be changed for the flexible type; a flexible coupling alone is not sufficient. The fuel tank will need changing and so I would expect would the exhaust system, for one of correct bore – and so on ! In a typical installation the cost of all the components needed, on top of the engine itself, is likely to be in the order of £1000 to £1500 and – short of larceny – there is no escaping these additional costs. All this may suddenly make revamping the old engine seem quite cheap and easy. Surprisingly, most old engines can be completely overhauled by specialists still. For example, Dolphin Engines at Bodmin will supply a factory reconditioned engine for about £1000 and Fairways at Maldon overhaul Vire and Stuart Turner engines. Remember that most of these engines were fine when they were new and have probably stood the test of time already. So it might be better to revamp rather than renew – that’s real re-cycling ! An instant, at a glance guide to the engines sometimes seen in the Memory, listed in no order of preference ;-

1. Yanmar GM 10 – the only one cylinder marine engine on the market. Not too big or heavy, around 75 Kg. Surprisingly smooth and quiet and very long lasting. The only modern diesel with a hand start facility (needs modification for a Memory though). Superb spares back up.
2. Beta 10 hp – Nanni Modern two cylinder diesel, superbly built and smooth. But really too long for a Memory so the prop shaft length is getting very short and the weight is placed too far aft. Mainly based on the Kubota digger engines and ‘marinised’ to varying standards by outside manufacturers. More complex than the Yanmar.
3. Vire, 7 hp – (usually) an excellent compact petrol engine and designed as a marine unit, for the Finnish lakes. Has its own peculiarities though, e.g. a horrible carburettor on the 7 hp version and it is prone to water ingress into the gearbox. |t’s easy to mend but the parts are expensive. Most of these engines are now old and worn out but they are still available new, though at the same sort of price as Yanmar and Beta diesels.
4. Stuart Turner. Petrol 4 to 5 hp much too big and heavy for a Memory. The magneto and electrics are very vulnerable to damp, the coil not so badly. Now really a museum piece, most being some 50 years old.
5. Petter Mini 6 hp - started life as an air-cooled industrial engine, then converted to marine use. Heavy, harsh and noisy and sometimes difficult to start. Will take lots of abuse but prone to seawater corrosion of its aluminium direct-cooled cylinder. Now an old, out-dated engine.
6. Lombardini 7 hp an air cooled diesel, light, powerful and reliable. Very little to go wrong; it was designed as an industrial engine. Relatively cheap and perfectly easy to install as there are no sea-water cooling pipes etc. Excellent, hard-pull start with no electrics needed, but an electric start version is available – but – it is noisy !
7. Dolphin 12 hp amazingly quiet and powerful, small, light two cylinder petrol engine. To reverse, you stop the engine and start it up again going in the opposite direction. No gearbox, mechanically very simple, just a centrifugal clutch. Fits perfectly in a Memory. Engine speed and prop-shaft means a tiny propeller, so very little drag. Originally designed for motor-cycles and bubble-cars in 1960s so …… modern (i.e. it’s not Seagull two stroke technology). Very economical and reliable. Electrical system is a complete nightmare if it packs up because it is complex - with a combined 12 v and 24 v system, twin batteries and relays everywhere ! Good spare back-up from Dolphin, who will supply partly reconditioned engines for around £1000. Superseded by the Dolphin with conventional gearbox and less complex electrics, of the same weight and size as a diesel and with a propeller now a normal size as well.
8. Stuart Sole 6 hp Diesel I have only seen one of these in a Memory – and most impressed with it. . An old fashioned, smooth running single cylinder, easily hand-started and with more than adequate power. Almost invulnerable to water, with no electrics but probably a bit heavy. Apparently spares are readily available still.
9. Yanmar YSE 8 a huge, horizontal single cylinder diesel, very reliable and very powerful, Ideal in a sampan or pumping out a paddy field; much too big and heavy for a Memory and parts are no longer available.
10. Watermota ‘Shrimp’ and Atco "boat-impeller" and other such wretched things derived from lawnmowers. Best left in the garden shed. Probably all defunct by now. Not even heavy enough to make a good anchor !

From Peter Thomas ("Souvenir")

Some time ago I promised to send you some words and details of the Mercury remote tank kit for the MOA newsletter. Sorry it has taken so long. One of the alterations made last year was to install a Salterns outboard-well which, I have to say, has been a great success. At the same time I made a few extra modifications as follows:

1. A box with canvas cover to reduce the visual impact of the engine and also to prevent rain and sea water entering the aft locker. The forward sloping part of the cover folds back to provide sufficient (I hope) ventilation for the engine air intake. (See picture page. Ed.)
2. The engine is a Mercury 4 Sailpower longshaft which works well in most respects except that it has an integral fuel tank which is a bit of a pain. I discovered however that Mercury sell a remote tank conversion kit for £30 or £40; I am afraid I can’t remember the exact figure. The kit consists of a new fuel valve (not required for some engines) a fuel tank connector (which fits into a hole that already exists in the engine casing) and lots of clips and bits of rubber hose. It is a little fiddly and it takes a while to sort out which bit of rubber hose goes where, but otherwise it is not a difficult task to fit. The advantages are obvious to anyone who has tried to refuel an integral tank in a heavy swell, even worse without the outboard well of course ! (Agreed ! Ed.)

I have attached some photographs and also the Mercury installation and operating instructions. The canvas cover has not photographed particularly well and seems overexposed so I might send another if I get the chance. I now at last have a mooring at Lyme and am looking forward to sailing as part of the Lyme Memory fleet of two - now that "Talitha" has moved West. (I’ve printed out Peter’s copy of the Mercury installation and operating instructions; if anyone wants a look-see to see what might be involved – give either of us a ring. Ed.)

"Little Bear" : Jaws & other adventures. (David Arnott)

(There seem to be two sorts of Memory articles: the wrestle to replace corroded fastenings and fittings; ingenious devices and dodgy desires - or epic mini-sagas in shallow seas; creeping into hidden nooks and crannies; and - invariably - going further and faster than a little old fashioned looking boat has any right to do. These articles have a bit of both; the second if you're more interested in mods than mudbanks.)

I have a healthy respect for Start point. It's jagged outline against the sun or the long lonely beams of the light sweeping the strange low emptiness of Slapton sands makes the sea feel very big, and the boat very small. I'd sailed over the shoals the red sector warns you off (The Skerries). Plenty of water for a drop keeler like the Memory ‘d thought, but suddenly, though it was a calm day, the seas seemed to turn into hands, clutching, sucking. The temperature changed and the boat wouldn't sail. It felt as though some tentacled entity lost in the green grey depths had wrapped itself round " Little Bear" and wouldn't let go. I wrote in the log at the time, of being able to understand what a ‘gurly’ sea (as in the old ballad of Sir Patrick Spens) might be - surly, deceptive, churning.

For the last few years, "Little Bear" has been on the Exe. There's several Memorys around the Teign & Exe and recently there have been some wonderful August Bank Holiday rallies & races out of Teignmouth, where an incredibly generous and hospitable group of Memory owners have organised fun races for ‘anything with a bowsprit’ and there are wonderful barbecues afterwards. The genuine, original ‘Ore Stone Cup’ is real tinfoil moulded over a cut down coke bottle. The racing is getting hotter and hotter. I've just got a new job in further down west in Yealmpton, Devon. So I'd been looking forward to exploring in "Little Bear" this loveliest and most secret of rivers, the Yealm. I’d planned to bring her round to Cofflete Creek at the end of my holiday, after the Teignmouth rally, sailing in little hops down Devon's incomparable stretch of cliff and cove bound coast. Start Point feels like the real waypoint for the properly Westcountry. After the benign reaching in the shelter of Torbay, in the prevailing westerlies Start Point feels like a rugged gatepost into a new and bigger seascape, cliffs that tell stories of heroes or tragedy, like the Salcombe lifeboat or the Herozin Cecile. My crew was my sister from up North who had never sailed before. This day it was a nice force 3 or 4, easterly; ideal. The last time I had been round Start Point I picked the inside passage, snuggling in close to the rocks to avoid the overfalls. I was single handed then and thought I'd just made it when I noticed a steady drizzle of sawdust and copper tacks oozing from the boom jaws. (No new fangled goose-necks !) Their 20th century plywood was no match for the forces of the 19th century gaff rig and it had all come apart. Later, the good folk of Salcombe gave me some lumps of tree wood and with an old school leather satchel and a bit of old pitch pine church pew (don't ask!) I just happened to be carrying around, I carved a new set - and they're solid ! So this time, cautiously, and because it would catch more fair current, I would take the outside passage, about a mile and a half off. A big swell, but no real waves. Jib, main, topsail, and mugs of tea on the primus stove. Slapton Ley whizzing by, with the Victorian auto pilot, known as the ‘Old Man’, in action. (It's a plank with two dozen holes in, and pegs to pin the helm. No batteries.) The GPS said we were up to seven and a half knots, the fair current kicking in; some 20th century devices are wonderful. Suddenly, there was a loud crack. The topsail flew up and away in the air like a kite. Something fell in the water. The mainsail flopped. Odd spars at odd angles. This time the gaff jaws had broken. We tiptoed into Salcombe with the jib and a little outboard. Oddly, my watch stopped at the exact moment it happened. I discovered that later - and it didn't restart till the panic was over and the main secured. Adrenalin surge induced body electricity? Again, plywood jaws ! The latest Memorys use tree wood of course, which is what's really needed. Hunks of oak ! Under the paint, the gaff's maker had bodged cut plywood jaws into the spar end, rather than riveting solid grown horns through the Oregon pine. It was an accident waiting to happen.

My next day off was Friday 13th.

I'd found a wonderful boat builders timber yard only yards from my new home, John Moody at Little Sheepham near Modbury. It's so well known that boat-builders from as far away as Essex come regularly, so I guess they don't need to advertise. It took me hours to find ! You can’t hide a saw mill even in Devon's deep lanes, I thought, as I went round in circles through Upper Sheepham, Lower Sheepham and Sheepham Bridge. I finally found a phone. "You're 30 seconds away - up the hill and through the two rusty gates". Cunningly disguised as a hill farm Moody's seem to have an excellent stock of straight and clear Douglas Fir, plus a barn of oak crucks and John was wonderfully obliging. We talked an hour; for the hunk of wood I needed to scarph my gaff and make new gaff jaws the bill came to £3. Thank you ! My Vicarage was full of wood shavings for a couple of weeks. I scarphed the broken spar and made new hardwood jaws, through bolted. It was also good for a couple of sermons about Christ the carpenter and joints that don't give way. I hadn't realised then just how my workmanship was going to be tested ! Friday 13^th !? I'm a vicar, I thought. I'm not supposed to be superstitious, as I poured the dregs of a bottle of wine into the sea at Salcombe with a muttered prayer for the second stage of the journey. Force 4 or 5, occasionally 6, said the inshore forecast. "Don't worry about the force 6, that's the Scilly Isles.You see, the forecast covers the whole of the SW", said the harbour launch skipper cheerfully. I put in both reefs all the same, and set off, single handed this time; Cathy had returned North. Crossing Salcombe bar, the wind appeared to be funnelling down the cliffs; the boat was hard over, water running along the side decks. Once out in the channel though we galloped along with a free wind and course set for the Mew Stone that marks the entrance to Plymouth Sound. But the occasional surges of wind were too much to hold and Little Bear would gripe up strongly towards the bleak cliff of Bolt head. But the wind and tide were both favourable and it seemed a pity to waste them, even on Friday 13th - and my next day off seemed far away.

Off Bolt tail the wind appeared to increase. Again we were doing seven and half knots by the GPS but I began to wonder what I would do if it increased further. It seemed the strongest wind I'd known. Normally with two reefs down she snuggles down docilely into wind and sea, gamely going where she's pointed with minimal helm. This was more of a wrestling match.

I tow a little 7' pram dinghy called "Goldilocks", tender to Little Bear (!) It was washed up in the Bristol channel with it's bilges stove in 15 years ago. My friend who found it sold it to me for a pittance when it was unclaimed after 6 months. I rebuilt her and she made an excellent tender, easy to row and light to tow. She's hardly ever shipped water in all kinds of conditions up and down channel, riding like a duck on wave tops and occasionally butting the transom (as is the manner of dinghies) and playfully wrapping her painter round the outboard. She also made an instant speedometer - trickling along behind at 3 knots, then beginning to plane at 4 knots. She was roaring along behind now, the painter hitched to the main horse bar taut, her own bow waves creaming out into the confused sea. As the gusts continued and our speed increased, so the seas got steeper, and the little dinghy began to climb higher and higher on her own bow wave. Suddenly she began to suck her own stern-wave into herself. In a few moments she filled and in a few more capsized. An upside down pram bow is like a hydrofoil - designed for diving ! Now the dinghy was hauling herself sea-bed-wards with enormous force. I couldn't gain an inch on the painter. Nor could the boat make any speed or course easily; progress dropped to three knots.

I hove too, but even then with the boat surging forward the painter was still bar taut. With the weight, I couldn't haul the dinghy alongside single handed. I tried clapping another rope on the painter with a rolling hitch to see if I could haul up her close through the jib sheet fairleads.

Finally, a couple of miles off Bigbury Island, I had to cut her free. I'd already crushed a hand under the painter. Luckily my knife is an easy open one, with a big serrated blade, ideal for bloodstained hands…. The rope twanged apart strand by strand in a few seconds. Goodbye "Goldilocks". It felt like the end of an era. She'd been on all our travels out of the Exe. Here we were on our way to a new home - it's as if she didn't want to come ? She vanished slowly, a few inches beneath the surface, white & green like a fish. I told the coast guard later - I didn't want to start an air sea search. Perhaps on some other shore (Brittany? South America?) bilges stove in, she's waiting a new hand again and the story to go on for ever.

What next ? It suddenly seemed very exposed without the tender. Bigbury Bay seemed very large. I'd seen sketches in the Memory Mag. - thank you Greg - of smacks taking a final reef by dropping the gaff peak onto the boom and lashing it down. I'd never tried it before. Luckily I'd already rove a light line through the end of the gaff to help furl the sail single handed (everything in place, rather than stowed elsewhere). So I topped up the boom, dropped the gaff; it swung alarmingly threatening to brain me till the lashing was tight. Not quite an elegant Des Pawson knot, a couple of round turns & half hitches. Now there was a tiny triangle of sail, not much bigger than a nightie. I paid out half the jib (it's on a roller) and put her back on course. Under this tiny rig she was much more comfortable. Water no longer ran down the side decks; the helm didn't take all my muscles to heave it; I could steer as I was used too or peg the helm – and she carried on at about 6 & half knots. The entrance to the Yealm according to the pilot book involves avoiding the Eastern & Western ebb rocks, the Inner and Outer Slimers. The leading marks take you right underneath the shadow of the cliffs as you squeeze in a few yards from the rocks. I've discovered later that at most states of the tide little boats can skate right over the top of both the outlying hazards and the bar but I didn't know that at the time. No one has been so glad as I to see Misery Point ! Safely across the bar, I forged up the middle of the Yealm; and ran aground smack on the spit. The Spit buoy wasn't marked on my chart and was hidden behind a moored yacht. Thus without dignity maybe, but safe - I'd arrived.

Last sail of the season

It’s not been a bad season.

No. Well, it was pretty rough and wet to start with.

Oh shut up. You’re only a boat.

She’s called ‘Magali’

Of course she can sail. She’s crossed the Atlantic twice.

She sails "Edith", with Richard.

We’re going to run, up the river. You’re going to bed for the winter. "We’ll go on to starboard Magali and gybe in the channel; I’ll back the jib, OK, we’re away".

We’re only going a couple of miles – and you don’t balance too well with the topsail on a run.

All right, I know.

All right. All right. I’ll make a new one for next season. Stronger.

We moor up, alongside "Lufra".

It’s not that little.

I know it’s a dead run; we’ll pick up a mooring outside, get the sails down and take you in with the sweeps.

Hallo "Edith"

Of course she didn’t, she’s on her mooring.

Shut up will you.

How so ?

It was wet, cold, your crew was hung over – and I couldn’t get them out of bed.

Probably – but you did come second in the Classics. That’s not bad - and - you had your photo in the papers.

I’ve never known a boat moan so much !

She was at anchor.

I’m sure you could out-sail "Sedov" any day this side of the Eastern Arms

It’s always fluky up here.

"I’m furling the jib Magali"

No.

No.

No. I remember when "Borka" wouldn’t pay off – and we hit that mooring barge on a run. I remember when we hit the pier in "Greylag". No.

Alright. I remember a couple of years ago when we came back from St Mawes !

It’s a very bad idea.

Pete’s probably rowing out to make sure that you don’t clout "Lufra"

You’re bad.

You won’t be if we hit the end of that dock.

"Magali ! - there should be some fenders in the stern locker. We’ll go straight in."

Nervous, I’d call it.

"I’m lowering the main Magali; the boom’s on the topping lift".

Shut up. This is tricky. "Bit closer Magali" Come on "Sif". Half a boat length more. That’s it ! I’ve got "Lufra".

We did it ! Perfect. Spot on. You stopped !

I take it all back. You’re beautiful. Wonderful. What a piece of boat handling ! Shame the season’s over…on the other hand………….(D.T.)

Racing Handicapping (Ed.)

From time to time I get queries, usually via the web-site, for ’the handicap number’ of ‘the Memory Class’. The last one was for ‘a PYR rating’. There is no PYR rating; the boats vary in the vital dimensions for this handicapping system and, presumably, to get such a rating the boat involved will have to submit its vital statistics to the handicapping officer of the particular race organisation – and thus get its unique number. The same applies to the more commonly applied OGA handicapping system, which produces a T(H)CF number for OGA races. But even this can vary in the different regions of the OGA and ‘the number’ in one neck of the woods may not be the same as the same thing in another….if you see what I mean. We have, of course, the diagram boat dimensions table which leads to the calculation for the T(H)CF number for the Solent Old Gaffers Association. If anyone from other Memory fleets would like a copy – no problem, phone or email. And if other people have other versions of handicapping calculations perhaps you could let the NL know ? But mostly Memorys don’t bother with all this serious racing business; they just go a bit faster sometimes.

David Heather and "Truant" are really meant to be part of the growing R.Dart fleet too. But she’s still wrapped up warm on the driveway in Buckinghamshire because her owner is too busy running around China working. But David now has a little house down there in sight of "Susan", plus a moored up bigger ketch boat too, so maybe there’s hope for a tick in the register for "Truant" – one day, when the homework’s done !

John Turner recently took over "Haldon" from Malcom Rae and she has been re-launched, with her original green hull and original name, to rejoin the South West fleet. Back in January, John wrote – ‘ …have come across a number of strange modifications, the first is a gaff made out of a mopstick handrail slotted into a 2 inch plastic pipe with a piece of perforated metal as a jaw. Do you know anyone who needs a second hand gaff – or new bannisters ? ( only joking…) Second problem is that the decks have been painted with textured masonry paint which has set like concrete. Sandpaper loses the will to live in seconds ! Any ideas ? Will be ready for the new season – if I can persuade my wife that for her birthday what she’d really love would be a new mainsail and gaff…….. ‘ If you face similar modification difficulties and want to know what John did about it – give him a ring, in private.