IWA SOUTH LONDON BRANCH'S 1999 SAILING BARGE CHARTER

Maldon Hythe PHOTO : Mark Zytynski

S.B. Pudge PHOTO : Lesley Pryde

For the second year running, IWA South London Branch chartered the Thames Barge Sailing Club’s barge Pudge for a weekend’s sailing out of Maldon, on the River Blackwater in Essex. There were several differences from last year’s charter. Last year we filled the places immediately. This year we had a few vacancies, and them some cancellations due to illness, failure to find a dog-sitter etc., so we advertised the trip in a few other places. Unfortunately we were a bit late doing that, so didn’t fill the barge.

The biggest differences, however, were the tide and the weather. Last year the tides were so timed that we only got a day-and-a-half’s sailing, but this year they allowed us two full days. Last year we were becalmed for much of the weekend, drifting along on the tide. This year the initial worry was that we’d have too much wind to be able to sail safely. Fortunately that threat didn’t materialise, nor did most of the heavy rain that had been forecast, so we had some good sailing.

IN THE SALOON PHOTOS : Mark Zytynski

The crew consisted of me, Mike Stevens, (charterer), Lesley Pryde (catering organiser), Libby Bradshaw, Rupert and Alison Smedley and John Fletcher (all from IWA South London Branch), Bill Price (from our neighbouring N&E London Branch) and Mark Zytynski & Richard Herring whom I recruited by means of the newsgroup uk.rec.waterways. In addition to the nine "cargo", the Barge Club had provided Doug Nicholls as Skipper and Cathy Curtis as Mate. As last year, Cathy’s husband, Paul, was skippering the Club’s other barge, Centaur which was to be in company with us for much of the weekend.

The joining instructions were "be on board sometime Friday evening", which left plenty of latitude for interpretation. The first arrivals were Bill and Mark, who introduced themselves to Cathy and went off into the town for dinner and a few pints. Next came Libby and Lesley, in Lesley’s car, bringing most of the food. Just as they'd finished loading it all onto the barge, Richard and I arrived together, as Richard (who lives in Chelmsford) had collected me from the station there. The four of us went off the to the Jolly Sailor for dinner. During the meal, we rang John on his mobile to let him know where we were. He was on his way by car with the rest of the food, having picked it up from Lesley’s mother’s. He arrived just in time to get something to eat. While we were unpacking his car, the last arrivals, Rupert and Alison, turned up (just before 22:00) and we transferred our allegiance to the Queen's Head, where the beer’s cheaper.

Me PHOTO : Mark Zytynski

John PHOTO : Lesley Pryde

At some stage during all this, Cathy had told me that the forecast was sounding somewhat better than a few days earlier, and there was every prospect of a good sail.

We rolled back from the Queen's Head and met Bill and Mark, who had returned from the Ship & Anchor. Despite the prospect of sailing at about 05:30, some of us sat around the saloon chatting until about 01:00. We were joined by one of the passengers from Centaur, complaining that all his colleagues had gone to bed early. He was an old sailing acquaintance of mine and we reminisced about one particularly drunken visit to Mistley during a weekend on Centaur :-