Re: "A Friendly Native"


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Start New Thread ] [ TarBoard ]

Posted by Ken on May 01, 1999 at 22:38:07:

In Reply to: Re: posted by Peter Willis on April 30, 1999 at 22:34:04:

Hello Peter,

By 1980 my sailing had become very low-key and I don't know anything about the Coot Club film or the use of Albion for it. I have not known anyone go overboard whilst I was skippering but a few people in motor cruisers froze at the sight of Albion and on two occasions we had glancing blows. Once whilst delivering the Bishop to St Benets, and the Police launch was giving us a gentle push against the wind tied onto our stern quarter, a motor cruiser came through an ample gap between Albion and the bank and glanced off the Police launch's bows as the cruiser helmsman had completely frozen with fear. A similar thing happened in the South Rivers coming from Geldeston centrally under Beccles Bridge (with the mast down of course) when a motor cruiser on its proper side, going towards Geldeston, froze and glanced off our port bow. Although Arthur Ransome mentions two bridges when the Teasel arrives at Beccles, I have only ever known one and there is only one on the map. I vaguely remember some piers between the Waveney Inn and Beccles.

Happy Sailing!

Ken

=====================================================

Footnote from Andy

Peter, and everyone else - I'm going to give Ken a break from the computer now, but he'd love to hear more from other people, particularly having enjoyed reading about Chesapeake bay and the bateaux. This has been an education for me as I am used to framing an idea and transferring it to the computer in a very few minutes, but doing it with someone to whom this form of communication is entirely new has been an eye-opener. Apart from anything else, the strain of remembering things from over 20 years ago has taken its toll. ("It certainly has!" he tells me as he leans over my shoulder and reads this).

However, an awful lot of other anecdotes came out in the conversations that went with this exercise, and I am perfectly happy to retail those myself if anyone is interested. A final picture that I have included shows Major James Forsyth of the Wherry Trust busily convincing some of the Norfolk Schools Sailing Instructors to take on the job of skippering Albion, as per Ken's first posting. Apart from the Major and Ken, on the left is Dick Cracknell and on the right John Robbens, he of the home-brewed ale. As well as providing skippering services to the Wherry Trust for 10 years from the late sixties to the late seventies, these three and a number of others were the backbone of the sailing courses organised by Jim Searle, head of the Norfolk Schools sailing association. Hundreds of lucky school-children were able to learn to sail on the traditional Broads yachts of Hunters yard. This was a small boat builders yard in Ludham comprised entirely of motorless Broads Yachts that was bought outright by the Education Authority. Unfortunately Hunter's Yard has recently been sold off and is no longer available for this purpose. We think that whoever has bought it probably now hires out these boats which are undoubtedly the best sailers of the commercial hire type on the Broads. Perhaps someone with more up-to-date knowledge of this can tell us more about the current situation.

Anyway, we're off for a sail on Rudyard Lake tomorrow, so we'll log on tomorrow (Sunday) evening to see if anyone has given us the answer.




Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
Eel-Mail:

Existing subject (please edit appropriately) :

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

post direct to TarBoard test post first


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TarBoard ]