Yachting

CRUISING

40 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com MAY 2016

north-east Force 4 and steered north. The
visibility was excellent – we could see a
string of east-bound ships long before we
reached the shipping lanes – but there alas
the wind died and we motored all the way
to the Needles.
I was glad to see the back of Yarmouth,
too. Spare me from picture-postcard ports
with harbour staff in the latest lifejackets
and corporate uniforms, bristling with
hand-held VHF radios, buzzing like
wasps in their RIBs around the pontoons
attending to the needs of their customers.
At one stage I sat pathetically unable to
move Wendy May as her engine’s Morse
control had broken and I was left to drift
alongside a large cruiser and grab a turn
with a line on a cleat. The RIBs bustled to
and fro, not once offering to lend a hand.
To be fair I’m sure they would have helped
had I called them up, but I had sheepishly
hoped number one eyeball would
suffice. Vigilance in Yarmouth, it
seemed to me, was reserved for
bigger bucks than that promised
by a small, care-worn gaffer.
But there are still those who
can find room for an old timer
in a wonga-frenzied world and
Wendy May was given a pontoon
berth at the lovely old traditional
Harold Hayles boatyard in the
far corner of the harbour. They
were decent enough to give me
a special half-price deal, too,
once I’d explained I’d have to
leave her a while until more time
away from my desk could be
found, and hopefully a fair wind,
to carry her further towards

the Thames Estuary. However, when I

received my first bill, £456 for 38 nights, I

realised that waiting for a fair wind was an

expensive luxury on the South Coast, so I

moved along the coast to Bembridge from

where people are less inclined to send

postcards and was given a temporary berth

alongside the ancient stone wall at Old

Mill Quay in St Helen’s, where Mark and

Rosie Hickman keep their immaculate 28ft

gaff sloop Tarifa. Although built in 1909,

you could be forgiven for thinking Tarifa

was launched this year, testament to the

fact that Mark makes violins for a living.

Wendy May was also in company with

Amaris, a 30ft canoe-sterned sloop and

sister ship to East Coast Rivers author

Jack Coote’s Blue Shoal. Amaris was built

in 1952 by Bill Sutton of Great Wakering,

also in Essex. I began to feel more at

home, especially when Mark planted some

lead pigs of ballast on Wendy May’s deck

to ensure she leaned against the quay. As

the tide shrank away she sank gracefully

into the ooze, the first she’d experienced

for several years. Mark showed me round

the old boatshed in which he is restoring

a 1920-built Appledore lugger. There was

not a uniform in sight and enough boating

paraphernalia to restore HMS Victory,

never mind remove barnacles from a

three-bladed prop.

I was sorry to leave Bembridge. Martyn

and I left at night, too early on the flood,

and ran aground in the entrance channel

for 20 minutes before picking

our way along the coast to

Seaview where we rolled on a

mooring all night, with the gaff

and boom slatting continuously,

until the tide started to run to

the east and we set all sail and

steered for the Looe Channel.

The wind, what little there

was of it, soon filled in from the

northeast and we motorsailed

ever eastward until, rounding

Beachy Head, we had a good sail

as the breeze freshened and went

north. But it didn’t last long and

we anchored off Rye as the tide

came against us.

At 2300 we weighed anchor

and rounded Dungeness, its

‘As she sank gracefully

into the ooze, I began

to feel more at home’

Wendy May alongside the old mill wall in Bembridge Harbour

Martyn enjoys the

sunshine as we enter

the Thames Estuary