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CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2019
TELL TALES
Q A
&
Bob Marshall Help for Heroes
The charity for recovering veterans
has plans to build a Viking boat
What gave you the idea?
As a woodwork supervisor at Help
for Heroes northern Recovery Centre
in Catterick Garrison, I wanted to
do something that would include
dozens of individuals and extend
an opportunity to be involved in
something that most of them would
consider impossible.
What have the vets been creating?
We offer coaching in woodturning,
carving, pyrography, scroll sawing,
furniture restoration, French
polishing, handmade rocking horses
[large and small] and general
woodwork of every kind.
We offer dedicated activities each
day of the week, and four residential
‘Cabin Fever’ courses a year for
veterans who live further afield. Since
September 2017, the woodshop has
seen more than 1,500 individual visits
from our beneficiaries.
Who are the people you support?
When our Heroes sign up to the
Armed Forces, they make a promise
to protect our country. In return,
Help for Heroes makes a commitment
to support the wounded and their
families, whenever they need us.
Often, the wounded are in pain and
struggle with the relentless daily
battle of adapting to life with injuries.
Many will suffer the consequences of
these injures for life, and while they
may seem "fixed’" on the surface, the
impact of their wounds is hidden. You
can’t see nerve pain, the degeneration
of a stump, the impact of an ill-fitting
prosthetic, the challenge of everyday
tasks following these injuries. And
there are huge numbers with no
physical injury, but whose minds
have been deeply scarred by their
experiences in the services. Stigma
means they take an average of four
years to reach out for support.
And the Viking boat?
Everything that was ever made
started somewhere with a crazy
idea. This is our crazy idea and
everyone will take great pleasure
and pride in being involved.
Are you a boatbuilder then?
No, and the key to getting this started
was finding one – boatbuilder Mike
Holtham, who signed up as a Help for
Heroes volunteer and technical
director for the project. We also have
support from the Jorvik Viking
Museum in York and the Roskilde
Maritime Museum in Denmark.
We will be ‘clinker building’ a
recognisable Viking Boat, in keeping
with traditional skills and methods
as far as possible, with a few well
concealed modern techniques where
we must. She will be 26-feet long
and have a single square sail of
about 10 square meters.
When are you hoping to launch?
February next year, to coincide with
the Viking Festival in York! Then I’d
love, that summer, for a bunch of
us to take her sailing down Loch
Lomond – it would be a very fitting
place. I’d be a very happy bunny if
that were to happen.
You’ve got your work cut out then?
We’re all military veterans. So we’ll...
you know... just get on with it!
MELBOURNE
Tumlares compete for
Knud Reimers trophy
The Tumlare fleet is celebrating 82 consecutive years
of racing at Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron in
Victoria, Australia, and congratulations this year are
due to the 2019 Tumlare State Champion Sirocco
skippered by Charlie Salter.
Sirocco’s campaign clinched a prize haul that
included the RMYS TL Banks trophy, a James
Frecheville Tumlare half model, and a subscription
to everyone’s favourite magazine – Classic Boat.
A great catch up with all the fleet was held after
the last race on board the Party Cat moored at the
RMYS Marina, and presentation of prizes took place
in RMYS Members Olympic bar.
It was the work of RMYS member Bert Ferris
on the history of the Tumlare at the Royal St Kilda
Yacht Club and Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron
- and a subsequent visit by Nigel Sharp of Classic
Boat – that inspired the re-activation of the Knud
Reimers trophy for this championship series by
the RMYS sailing committee.
WORD OF THE MONTH
Kevel
Sometimes known as "kennet", a large cleat formed of two
upright pieces of wood usually fitted on the gunwale of a
sailing vessel and used for belaying ropes. Kevel-heads,
used for the same purpose, are the ends of a vessel’s top
timbers projected beyond the level of the gunwale. Kevel
posts are the vertical posts holding the "pinrails" or "Fife
rails". They pass through the deck and are bolted to a beam
or bulkhead. Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
Top: Sirocco chasing Avian. Above: Snow goose