S.O.I.A. Anglia Group newsletter – January 2006
Greetings all ye puddingeaters,
Well, I did start this just after Christmas…… Sorry about the long silence. I will try and deafen you now.
The few days twixt Christmas and the New Year that we hoped to spend on Avocet turned out to be our annual dose of ice and snow. We did get to her, but only to check her over in her mud berth, and remove batteries and anything going mouldy. As it turned out, everything was going mouldy. There was fungus in the forepeak and mildew on the mugs, and drips, drops and dampness everywhere.
All was not lost however; there was coffee in the cupboard and the gas lighter worked (the matches were practically floating away) and the kettle is indestructible. There was a slight hiccup when I produced the last two mince-pies from Christmas, and they flew overboard through a hole in the bag. Brian was very upset, and seeing as they were home-made with my amazing pastry, they floated. (Sainsbury’s would have sunk). So I fished them out and put them to dry in the sunshine. Everything else was salty and damp - why not the mince-pies too? Brian ate his but I couldn’t fancy River Wyre water. I very generously gave mine to some seagulls.
I had better also mention that the engine started first time. (That was before we took the batteries off.) Avocet is now booked to be craned out in February and Brian is going to gently rip off her rotting deck and do a proper job on her. Then hopefully we will have our dry boat back.
The After-Christmas Meal was held at the ‘Butt and Oyster’, where they had built an extra dining room to accommodate us, and sparkling new facilities too! We had a record attendance, and that was after a car-load of East Midlanders failed to make the trip because of electrical problems. I expect the real problem was that Dave Milner’s car was sulking because the lovely Polly wasn’t rolling along behind. Consequently we had quite a sober, well-behaved, but very enjoyable evening. (But it would have been even more enjoyable if they had come and it was less sober and less well-behaved). The food was good too.
Subscriptions, or not. Because of the erratic nature of newletters lately, and because there is a bit of accumulated money in the kitty, I am not going to ask for any subscriptions this year. I now e-mail most of the letters; if you would still like a real paper letter, please send me a book of stamps to cover postage, and we will call it quits! I will still try and produce regular letters but I won’t feel so guilty if I don’t. And if anyone wants to take over, please don’t be shy in coming forward!!!
Dates for your diary…...
Spring meeting: April 28th – May 1st,
somewhere on the East Coast.
Brightlingsea meeting: July 14
– 16th
Next Boat Jumble: Sunday 26 Feb, North Weald
Airfield,
Next Next Boat
Jumble: 2nd April,
The Extract; You know about Sudoku
– now try ‘Kodoku’! This a
book, published in1964, is by, and about, a young Japanese man, Keniche Horie, sailing east
across the Pacific to
Four storms later, he was running out of clothes…
“Laundry was a real headache. I hated to
spend any time on such a domestic chore in the middle of the Pacific. But, I
was running out of my supply of dry clothes. Reluctantly I dragged all sorts of
oddities out of the cabin and onto the deck. By the time sleeping bag,
blankets, trousers, jackets, underwear, pillows, and swimming trunks were
spread out on the Mermaid’s deck, they looked like the
display of a second-hand clothes dealer. My original plan with regard to
clothing had been to have sufficient supplies to avoid doing laundry during the
voyage, ever. Underwear, worn two or three times, would simply be dropped over
the side of the boat. Now that scheme was a luxury I couldn’t afford. During
the storms, my clothes had gotten so soaking wet that I had to change two or
three times a day. It was a nuisance, especially in the tossing cabin. But, wet
underwear was simply unbearable. That clammy feeling around my stomach – it
felt as though your insides were soaking wet. When I changed, I dumped the wet
clothes on the floor of the cabin. They soon made a small pile. I would then
pick up the whole bundle and toss it into the stern hatch. And now the stern
hatch was full, and I had no more dry clothes. All right! So I would dry
everything out in the sun. But, as far as washing was concerned, I would wash
only underwear. Trousers, jackets, shirts etc would be dried and worn again.
The biggest job was the sleeping bag, clumsy
and awkward to handle and damp inside and outside. Spread out, it took up a lot
of space and it had to be turned from time to time. And even when it seemed
reasonably dry, it felt clammy and damp at night. I suppose it was the salt
that absorbed the moisture in the air. So, I had to do with a damp sleeping bag
for the whole voyage.”
So, no hot water bottle and no bin-bags on that boat! I sympathise.
Bill Bass would like you to know that his
lovely fibreglass SII
The next meeting will be 8pm at the Orwell Yacht Club on Saturday Feb 11th. As it’s nearly Valentine’s Day, perhaps everyone could come dressed in pink? We were wondering whether to find a different venue, or move it around, so that it is sometimes closer to far-flung members. Any ideas?
Elizabeth Letzer Jan/Feb 2006