Peoples on ‘Talisker 1’

26^th July 1940

I’m out and about again with ‘Talsiker 1’.

We sailed to the Crouch today and then on into the Roach where we are anchored off Wallasea Island, half a mile inside the Roach.  We have been here with ‘Tuesday’ & Doc several times.

Doc fitted a strobe at the top of his mast for his voyaging.  The reason was a very real fear of being run down by freighters in the ocean.  Many years ago I sailed into the Crouch in the dead of night to join him.  I was almost certainly sailing ‘Samingo ll’.  I called him.

“Where are you?”

“Hang on” he replied and a few seconds later, “Can you see me?  I’ve switched my strobe on!”

“I think most of eastern England, not to mention the Dutch & Belgian coasts can see you too!’ I replied.

Great fun as always.

Today we sailed under a reefed main and stay sail.  At times I could have slipped a second reef in the main.  North westerly F 5 to 6s.  In the Crouch and close hauled approaching the Roach, the main came down under stay sail, and we anchored comfortably under stay sail.  It’s still blowing hard but it’s like a millpond tucked in here.

I’m slightly worried we might not be able to stay here tomorrow as I have to sail home by Tuesday night.  Winds are forecast as light and from the south west on Tuesday.  Tomorrow looks better.

28^th July

‘Tomorrow’ wasn’t better.  Today was!  After a lovely day anchored in the Roach yesterday we weighed anchor at HW 1230.  Underway winds were light with gusts from the south west as the ebb carried us out of the Crouch.  By the time we reached the Wallet Spitway, the wind had backed south south east to a beautiful consistent F4.  Under full main and genoa and with the stong ebb beneath her keel, ‘Talisker 1’ flew the Wallet.

We sailed to the entrance to our marina, before furling the genoa, starting the engine, taking the main down, and entering Suffolk Yacht Harbour.

It was a dream of a day at sea.  I’m starting to think of a favourite book of mine written by Jon Wainwright.  Jon wrote the wonderful ‘Only So Many Tides’, a memoir of sailing, fishing and racing on traditional wooden boats.

When I think how much I love being at sea I wonder how I would cope if I could not sail.  Jon knew he was in the twilight of his life having had heart trouble, hence, his belief that he had ‘only so many tides’ left!  Jon died on passage to Holland doing what he loved and wrote about so beautifully.

7^th July

Me n ‘Talisker 1’ are back in Brightlingsea Marina due to an epic supper with chums in the town the night before last.  We will leave the creek a couple of hours before high water this afternoon and anchor off Mersea Stone Point.

We sailed from Suffolk Yacht Harbour to meet Ollie Page and his She 31 “Sanity’ off Languard on the 4^th.  Ollie is a Master Marina but his life at sea has been under power, and mostly working on the water.

Ollie decided to try sail and bought ‘Sanity’ a year ago.  He asks all the right questions, is making terrific progress and likes to do things properly.  HIS will be … a fascinating journey.  We anchored off Colton Creek in the overnight strong south westerlies.  Ollie pumped up his dinghy and came over to ‘Talisker 1’ for the evening.

I had arranged to pick up Finbar Anderson from Halfpenny Pier on the 5th.  Finbar brought his Dad, my very good friend James and his Uncle Hugh (one of James’ brothers who I had not met).  So ‘peoples’ on ‘Talisker 1’ for the first time in ‘living memory’.

We had a terrific day sailing down the Wallet, wind over tide, in south westerlies that gusted up to 28 knots over the deck. Reef 2, reef 3 (too little sail), reef 2 again, reef 1, no reefs and then back to 1 reef in the main and flying the stay sail demonstrates how changeable it was.  All three of my guests are sailors and James was sailing for the first time since he survived an appalling and life threatening accident on his bicycle (James is a proper cyclist by the way).

It was wonderful to have Finbar, a national champion dinghy sailor, quietly trimming the sails and helming most of the way. The talent is outstanding … although champion dinghy sailors tend to pinch a yacht too much at times.

It’s been a lovely summer after six rather wasted years, two of which were, quite frankly, deeply unpleasant.  A change of location for me n ‘Talisker 1’ has done wonders for my moral.  I have put to bed some people who, in my opinion, are cowardly and spineless.  I can safely say I would have acted quite differently if our positions had been reversed.  Thank goodness I do not have to see any of them anymore and I have resurfaced a wiser person.

Sailing with Finbar and his Dad, is a reminder, as if I needed it, that I do have real friends.

8^th August 1630

We are anchored again off Colton Creek after a sail up the Wallet and into the Orwell from the Colne.

Yesterday we motored out of Brightlingsea Marina at 1700.  It was blowing fairly hard from the south but was going to veer southwest and drop completely overnight.  We anchored, tucked in close inside Mersey Stone Point, and woke to a mirror calm and yet another beautiful blue sky.

Light south easterlies that would build later in the day were forecast and we beat out of the Colne under full main and stay sail with the ebb.  Seven tacks cleared Colne Point, and then on a starboard tack, heading up the Wallet, I furled the stay sail and set the genoa.  The wind started to strengthen rounding Walton on the Naze.  And in the approaches to Pennyhole Bay I poled out the genoa on port and set the stay sail on starboard tucked in behind the main.

Approaching Guard PHM I furled both headsails and sailed up the Orwell under main only as the wind continued to strengthen.  It becomes variable and very light overnight.

I return to Suffolk Yacht Harbour tomorrow.  I just love being at anchor.

I recently listened to an exasperating exchange on the VHF. There are ways to call for help when you need it, and I found myself listening to Dover Coastguard asking the person who had made the Pan Pan call what the conditions were like in the Blackwater. Thames Coastguard would have known in years gone by! I’m not criticising the Coastguard, but perhaps the centrally controlled system that has no local knowledge, but the interminable conversation, about what appeared to be a non-urgent matter, that continued on Channel 16.

A seven-metre motorboat with an outboard had broken down in the Blackwater. They had anchored in calm conditions with very little wind. There were six people on board and, apparently, one lifejacket between them. They were expecting a tow back to Brightlingsea.

One lifejacket between six is another matter entirely, but an engine breakdown in those circumstances?

A tow to the nearest safe landing place, perhaps? A call to the boatyard? Another chum with a boat? It was a weekend, a fine day and out on the water the Blackwater was busy. Surely there were other options.

A couple of weeks earlier, a woman with, I think, an American accent called Mayday because of an engine breakdown.

“We are sailing but will need a tow into a marina!”

Dear God!

Perhaps it is worth a reminder of the three calls a vessel can make to the Coastguard or All Stations. These are also in order of priority, with No. 1 being the most important.

1. Mayday — when a vessel, boat or person faces grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance.
2. Pan Pan — an urgent situation concerning the safety of a vessel or person, but where there is not yet grave and imminent danger.
3. Sécurité — used to broadcast important safety, navigational or weather information.

And then there is the other option.

You CAN simply call the Coastguard and request ‘Routine Traffic’. This also, importantly, gets you off Ch 16. Once you have been assigned a working channel, you can explain what your problem is and ask for advice or assistance.

I would suggest that neither of the incidents described above warranted anything more than ‘Routine Traffic’.

Of course, circumstances are important. An engine failure COULD become an emergency very quickly. A lee shore, a strong tide, deteriorating weather or an anchor that won’t hold can turn an inconvenience into something much more serious. What matters is surely not simply what has gone wrong, but the actual situation the vessel and those aboard are in.

Without meaning to blow my own trumpet, an incident described in an earlier blog perhaps sums up how I believe a call should be made and, more importantly, judged.

https://www.samingosailing.com/undina-and-the-burnham-life-boat-2/

‘Undina’ was a 45-foot classic yacht and we had just passed through the Wallet Spitway, bound for Chatham, when the Mate discovered that the cabin sole was awash. There was a considerable amount of water in the bilges and we didn’t know where it was coming from.

The immediate thought was obvious: were we sinking?

I designated jobs: head sail down, engine on, the helm instructed to motor into the Crouch, the 4^th crew member to man the bilge pump and pump pump pump. The Mate removed more of the cabin sole to investigate while I looked at the water level myself and reached for the VHF.

With no apparent rapid rise in the level of water in the bilges, I called Thames Coastguard on Ch 16 and requested ‘Routine Traffic’. Within a minute of the discovery, everyone had a job and I was on a working channel talking to the Coastguard.

I requested the Burnham Inshore Lifeboat with a pump.

Had the water continued to rise, the situation could very quickly have become a Pan Pan — or a Mayday.

It didn’t.

There is nothing wrong with calling the Coastguard. That is what they are there for and, if in doubt, I would always humbly suggest somebody called rather than didn’t.

But calling the Coastguard and declaring an emergency are not the same thing.

Perhaps that distinction is sometimes being forgotten or has never been learnt as electronics allows more and more people to feel safe on the water and cease to value ‘doing the knowledge’.

21^st August

We sailed in very light airs to the Walton Backwaters last Sunday.  Thoughts of enjoying a night at anchor in Kirby Creek were dashed by the quantity of boats already lying in the Creek.  We’d arrived too late!  Nevertheless, we were still comfortable anchored a short distance away in Hamford Water.  There would be little wind overnight.

The following night it was going to be variable and at times strong, so we sailed back to our berth at Suffolk Yacht Harbour.  A bit of a luxury as it was blowing quite hard from the north west on Tuesday morning.

Yesterday it was a serious WE as me n ‘Talisker 1’ took Bill and Cath, along with my gorgeous Sally, for a day out on the water.  Bill and Cath no longer have their Starlight 35 ‘Livia’, which they had owned for 18 years.  Bill had also taught Sailing Courses for Seatrain Sailing on ‘Livia’.

So that is peoples twice on ‘Talisker 1’, over a very short period of time! What’s going on?