Saving Old Seagulls

I will be there with my trusty one owner, original 1967 Minus, along with son and grandson.

John will also be there so if you need any spares, he could bring them for you!

Tim

Hello Folks,

A week to go and I have sorted my grandson's dinghy out and dusted off the tenders motor. Sadly the grandson is at school and cannot attend... Next time!

I intend to be there from 1100hrs and if we are at all organised we will set off upstream at 1200....
This should give time to make the 4 miles up river to the head of navigation and then return on the tide.

Plenty of storage places for cars and trailers, and no fee to us for launching! The Marina will have a launch standing by for their normal boat owners, who use it to get to the moored boats, but they have promised to keep half an eye on us.. (As they have no idea how responsible we are and are on their property!)


The pub, sadly will not be open when we get back.. they used to be open all afternoon.... But I am trying to see if the marina along the way can open the bar in their clubhouse for us when we return and sort ourselves out.... say 1530 on...

Prizes, Yes I will have a few!

For the best turned out outfit, and a couple of others to be decided by me!

We will have basic safety scrutineering, so bring spare fuel, tools, oars, tow rope, anchor and wear lifejackets.

This is the first time we have tried this so not a lot organised, just a turn up and see what happens, if a success, we will develop it for next year. Maybe a charity event?

I will be informing the local press so we could have a little interest..

See you there,
John

The intrepid expedition up the unexplored far reaches of the Crouch is to be cheered off shortly.
Well, it appears each entrant will inspected by the River Police to determine whether their kit is fit for purpose.

Glad I can't make it, our entrants wearing nothing more than blacks tights and an outsize wig have usually made it across the choppy Fowey estuary in a bathtub . . .

No need to get bitter and twisted RBT if you cant make it up from tiddy oggy Land. (see you on the 29th December )

You can't say that the safety requirement for this event is unusual.

There is nothing on the list that I was not bringing any way.

I might not have brought an anchor, but I would have brought a spare engine and a vhf radio.

We can't all rely on Neal to give us all a tow home.

If you expect to use the facilities of an established marina (for free) then it would not be good policy to rely one their own safety measures.

H-A

Thanks HA, I did not want to repond..

We are on trust here and can only use the facilities (free!) under certain rules. There was a hint at one stage that we would have to produce insurance. Now I have it and many other will have too, 3rd party that is, 3 million, but I suspected some might not, so was relieved they did not push it. When in Rome mate!

black tights optional!

John

Oh Well ...
suppose I'll have to turn up then .....If I must !!! (with all the grace of an RBT licking cat wee off a thistle )

I'm sure in the dust of the shed I can find something that fires up for more than 5 minutes ....and that'll be a record !!

No tights available, just the gold lame jockstrap !!!
Oh Yeah ...and my RNLI Seagull World Champion (2009) hat

Of course in the spirit of such events I'll bring 1/2 doz tow lines, so when HA's latest wonder bit of engineering packs a sad at the mere hint of real water we can tug the poor old sausage home

was down @ blackwater sailing club today ....
pure chance ...nothing to do with checking out the lie of the mud ...er land ...er sea ...well all depends on the tide out there in the Wild East
tide goes out and UK plc gains another county ....

civilised places the tide goes sort of up and down ...Out in Issex innit, when it's in, it's in, and then WAYYYY out

Anyway, in the spirit of a loose "let's-have-a-bit-of-a-crack-and -a-giggle" I'm all for it

Weather forecast for tomorrow over the River Crouch is good. Sunny intervals, temperature rising 10 to 16 degrees C, 7 mph wind from the south east. High water at our part of the river will be approx 1430 hours BST.

Video camera charged so I hope to be able to post something on here for those of you who haven't flown in from the Southern Hemisphere. Oh, and there's no water skiing on this stretch of the Crouch - sorry Charles!

Tim

Tim that would be a video well worthy of Utube, me being nicked for speeding, if they can catch me.
I can keep going in about 150mm of water, bet they can't!

If I repaint the boat, they'll never take me alive.

Wish I could be there, but circumstances do no0t permit.

Have a great day!

powder monkey trained and efficient

guns on their carriages run out and ready

slow match quietly burning ......not that it's a serious race or anything ....

looking forward to meeting up with some familiar old mugs ...and meeting new faces

On the mist covered waters of the Crouch (ok, 2 stroke smoked waters) the small fleet returned after its successful outing today.

The last pic says it all ... 'the Tortoise IS faster than the Hare'

Please notice the "Hare" seems to be missing his prop!

Thanks John for a gteat day.

Most of my pictures had few boats in them.
RBT you can see that a life jacket was a good idea.

Charles will need to stop rolling fags and start smoking Hamlet cigars.
Shame he lost a good prop, but at least it stopped him getting told off for speeding.

It was great that Jan and Martin made it over from Holland.
Thanks Jan for the bits that you were handing out. Hope you can make it over for more events.

H-A

'...Please notice the "Hare" seems to be missing his prop!...'

I assumed it was removed for less drag when being towed.