The remainder of 2011 passed without much incident, although ‘Corsair’ did over-winter somewhere quite unusual…. Inside a pub carpark! Yes, really. A group of us formed a collective where a good idea sadly failed to flourish. We experimented to see if you could use spare land to keep boats on, and subsequently boost the takings in the pub over the quiet months.
Sadly, as ever with good ideas – the red tape brigade came marching in VERY quickly, and after 1 winter, we learnt it wasn’t to be repeated, we were all very naughty & that whoever thought of keeping boats next to a river anyway. Tsk, tsk & go sit in corner…
Some things do stand out that winter – firstly the cold. Jeepers Creepers it was a hard winter – planks were cut, hollowed & fitted, often in sub-zero temperatures & at least one day saw me roving up in the snow! Not ideal, but it got us ashore & ready for the season ahead.
For 2012, we had definitely found our ‘rhythm’ – we partook in the YSC May Day cruise, which included a tricksy little tack up through the trees from Brundall Gardens to Bramerton Common… where upon we (as a fleet) occupied the pub moorings, must to the consternation of a few Gin Palaces – unable to stomach the short walk from the common itself. Poor darlings.
Strange what sticks in your mind, my only defining memory of that weekend is that tricky tacking, and hearing (upon reaching Bramerton) that I’d made “not too bad a job of that” from another skipper on a much lighter, faster boat. Praise indeed!
Equally, we completed the Ray Perryman without a hitch, in uncharacteristic sunshine. Obviously the atrocious weather from the early May BH had been shamed into a ‘U’ turn! I didn’t know it, but we were establishing a pattern for the events which suited us, and eventually became our ‘season’.
The RP memorial race is run with a ‘gate’ start (you can start between 10-10:45am for example & you are timed from the moment you cross the line, rather than when the gate / start signal is made). This adds a little twist to your tactics… you juggle the vagaries of when the swing bridge will let you through to the start line – and also make a judgement of how much favourable tide you’ll need. My personal preference is always to get through (less rude letters to B.R.) then get going to maximise the flood tide helping you to Beccles.
This year, the photographic gods were also kind to us, if you don’t know our eventual position (7th)… you’ll see us momentarily leading the fleet! I think also, to keep the excitement going, at the post-race curry I ended up accidently eating some peanuts, and mid-way through allergic reaction, I looked up to see a close-friend sharpening a knife/dismantling a biro (for the emergency tractotomy – thankfully not needed!).
For those Ransome fans – Beccles is always a delight to visit, with the new bridge it’s hard to imagine the scene in AR’s day, but the thought of a Thames barge weaving it’s way up the Waveney, through the same trees as us always makes me wonder, just how did they do it? I know in the pool of London, they’d employ ‘hufflers’ to move them along. I suspect ‘Come Along’ had a say in moving them.
But yes, sorry. Without question the highlight of the 2012 season was our foray to the seaside. To my knowledge ‘Corsair’ had never been salt-side of Mutford Lock ever, and it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. We left ‘Corsair’ safely tucked up at Geldeston for the week before, and ventured carefully down to Mutford Lock…
Succinctly – what a BRILLIANT weekend. Sadly unlikely to ever be repeated, with the building of the 3rd crossing in Lowestoft harbour – our racing area has been cut in half. Heyho. Going to the seaside though is something I highly recommend for any Broads yacht. Go, dress overall (the boat!), make sandcastles, play mini-golf & generally have a break from all that nasty yachting (!)
‘Corsair’ spent the 1st night in the basin, learning that a southerly inexplicably causes alot of ‘surging’ / banging & crashing for moored boats. Particularly when you’re the 4th boat inboard of a raft up of many…
Poor sleep aside, going out into the outer harbour and pitching/diving up around in the swell (rather than join the log jam in the bridge channel) proved excellent fun. Our borrowed 2hp outboard screamed like an egg-whisk, we dunked our bowsprit into waves, rocked/rolled, felt abit scared but generally very courageous. ‘Corsair’ might be little, but at times she’s got a great big heart. We got to the point where the RNSYC rescue boats discretely came to ask if we were okay (!).
The racing itself was definitely memorable, the wind got GUSTY, the rains came & those bloody grain silo things caused huge wind shadows… But it was brilliant fun. All those Broads yachts, terrorising the harbour. There were many broaches, our bilge pump rattled throughout each time we got laid onto our beam ends & the waterproofs proved themselves not waterproof (it’s always the way!)
As an aside, if you want to see true fear… Gather together a load of old Broads sailors, all of whom start on a 10, 5, GO system. Then casually announce you’re going to use 5, 4, 1, GO. The air became thick with panic & mutterings of ‘how do you reset this stopwatch?!”
Eventually, the rain/cold got to us, and we rigged the 2hp egg-whisk before then dipping the mast & scuttling back to the safety of the yacht basin. Despite it now being a f7, with torrential rain, we were hooked!
The rest of the weekend followed similar lines, lots of laughter, careening around in a small boat where maybe we shouldn’tve. All too soon, the weather cleared & we returned to the Broads, towing a friends yacht – who’d sadly been rushed to A&E. The only comparison it gave me was how rinky-dinky ‘Corsair’ is, when you compare her to even moderately larger Broads yachts…
So yes, ‘Corsair’ & the day we didn’t go to sea, but very nearly…
A Broadsman 