burgundyben
Well-known member
So here is the story of this weekend, well, it sort of stretches back to the middle of last week. I suppose the best place to start would be the beginning. Wednesday nite I went down to bateux and did some fiddling about, mainly clearing up, then bout 9 ish, rowed ashore, tied up dinghy securely and went off to pub.
So Friday, I get down to boat yard to get boat ready for fireworks and guess what, dinghy has gone, apparently seen drifting off on Thursday evening, so I borrow another one, which has got bout 3 inches of weed on bottom and consequently very hard to row (remember this point for future reference) row out to pontoon, about 50 feet, leave dinghy there for later and take my boat round to pontoon at outside of boat yard so that guests don’t have to be ferried across.
So weather was a bit shite and some of the party due to come to fireworks wimped out and so there was only 3 of us (remember this point for future reference). So off we went, had a great time, going back up river, I thought, as there was only three of us (remember?), I would put the boat on its mooring and the three of us would get in the dinghy (remember the weedy bottom?), well, the tide was running really fast and with three of us in the dinghy with the weedy bottom and only one oar to paddle with and no rowlocks I could not make headway against the tide to get back to the boat yard, I was paddling like a bastard too, but managed to get across the tide to the next pontoon, then, we man handled ourselves round the end of the pontoon and out of the tide where with a lot of effort I managed to get back to the boat yard….phew….in the rain…..wet and puffed out, bollocks.
So then, on Saturday , I went and bought anuvva dinghy, £40, bargain, bout 11 foot long so much more useful than the one that repeatedly makes Steve McQueen style breaks for freedom, took now dinghy down to boatyard, messed about on boat, had lunch and beer and fell asleep and was jolly nice day, oh, and asked lovely blond harbour master girl if she had seen missing dinghy, nope, gave her description just in case.
Sunday, woke up with a spring in my step, got Triumph out of garage and cleaned it ready for viewing by perspective purchaser (subsequently sold) and then dragged £40 seagull out of shed, changed plug, fitted HT cap (found one on the Lambretta in the lounge…) cleaned out tank and carb, got a bit of string, put knot in end, gave it a pull (the outboard) and putt putt putt. Marvellous. Feeling very chuffed.
Off to boatyard with seagull in van, put seagull on new dinghy (as opposed to missing one) and went of in search of missing dinghy up river, outboard running fine, but not much load on engine as going down tide, down wind and not yet towing missing dinghy. Got above motorway and past last boatyard on river and round bend and found lovely harbourmaster girl with blond hair, who had seen dinghy, and two kids with it who claimed they had been given it by their grandad, so, I said where?, she said follow me into this creek, I thought mmmmm, so off we went, at a slow pace, her in harbour master dory, me in dinghy with ancient seagull outboard. Got to creek entrance she said, they were in there, may have dumped it or may have carried it off, so in I go, tie up dinghy, set off on foot with an oar, find missing dinghy, abandoned and muddy but otherwise in same condition as it was (bit scruffy), paddle back to new dinghy, ah ha, creek blocked by fallen tree, so, poke nose of dinghy over small submerged section of tree, then, crawl to front of dinghy ooo eeer wobble, so that part of dinghy on wrong side of submerged bit rises up, then paddled forwards, ohh, it worked, very chuffed now, everything going to plan, what can fail? Get back to new dinghy with outboard, tie dinghy that is no longer missing to back of new dinghy, climb into new dinghy, start ancient seagull, set off back to boat yard, making quite good progress and see nice blond harbour master girl, who can see that I have got previously missing dinghy in tow, so give her nice wave, mmmmm, and carry on putt putt putting along the river, ooh, oooh dear, engine seems to be slowing down now that it has to work hard, pushing into wind and tide and towing, ooh, oooooh bolloxs, its stopped, so start rowing, cept oars for previously missing dinghy to short for new dinghy so bit of a struggle, anyway, row over to bank, bit of a struggle in wind and tide, oh bolloxs, raining now, get to bank, quick look at outboard seems ok, pull string, it fires then stalls, oh, prop in mud and tangled sea weed, bollocks bollocks, lift outboard, clear prop of weeds, row away from bank, try to start outboard and fail, bollocks, now blown back on to bank, f*ck, row away from bank, leap to back of dinghy, pull string, fail to start, back on bank, double f*ck, decide rowing is only option, so in for a long slog, ah, see a pontoon, tie up, study outboard, put choke on to richen mixture as it might be a blocked jet due to muck in fuel tank, get engine running and set off, oo er, engine dying again, bollocks, grab next pontoon, think, ooh, maybe turn choke off, forgot about that, turn choke off, restart engine, sounds ok, go to front of dinghy to un tie, oooh, funny noise and outboard stalled, look round, outboard at funny angle of dangle and no longer missing dinghy up closed and nearly sunk, eeeeek, closer inspection reveals that rope tying no longer missing dinghy to new dinghy has caught round outboard prop, nearly lifting outboard of back of new dinghy and nearly sinking no longer missing dinghy, f*ck triple f*ck, few mins untangling unholy rope/propeller/dinghy mess, re-tie no longer missing dinghy to new dinghy with much shorter rope to prevent re-occurrence of most recent mishap, re start outboard, go to front of new dinghy, untie, set off for boatyard, arrive a few ins later without further incident.
Whole palaver took, 3 hours, total distance covered was about 500 yards.
There was two dinghies, one outboard and one harbour master.
For sale, 1970 Triumph Spitfire-sold, 1947 Lambretta, 1922 Great grandmother, PM for details.
So Friday, I get down to boat yard to get boat ready for fireworks and guess what, dinghy has gone, apparently seen drifting off on Thursday evening, so I borrow another one, which has got bout 3 inches of weed on bottom and consequently very hard to row (remember this point for future reference) row out to pontoon, about 50 feet, leave dinghy there for later and take my boat round to pontoon at outside of boat yard so that guests don’t have to be ferried across.
So weather was a bit shite and some of the party due to come to fireworks wimped out and so there was only 3 of us (remember this point for future reference). So off we went, had a great time, going back up river, I thought, as there was only three of us (remember?), I would put the boat on its mooring and the three of us would get in the dinghy (remember the weedy bottom?), well, the tide was running really fast and with three of us in the dinghy with the weedy bottom and only one oar to paddle with and no rowlocks I could not make headway against the tide to get back to the boat yard, I was paddling like a bastard too, but managed to get across the tide to the next pontoon, then, we man handled ourselves round the end of the pontoon and out of the tide where with a lot of effort I managed to get back to the boat yard….phew….in the rain…..wet and puffed out, bollocks.
So then, on Saturday , I went and bought anuvva dinghy, £40, bargain, bout 11 foot long so much more useful than the one that repeatedly makes Steve McQueen style breaks for freedom, took now dinghy down to boatyard, messed about on boat, had lunch and beer and fell asleep and was jolly nice day, oh, and asked lovely blond harbour master girl if she had seen missing dinghy, nope, gave her description just in case.
Sunday, woke up with a spring in my step, got Triumph out of garage and cleaned it ready for viewing by perspective purchaser (subsequently sold) and then dragged £40 seagull out of shed, changed plug, fitted HT cap (found one on the Lambretta in the lounge…) cleaned out tank and carb, got a bit of string, put knot in end, gave it a pull (the outboard) and putt putt putt. Marvellous. Feeling very chuffed.
Off to boatyard with seagull in van, put seagull on new dinghy (as opposed to missing one) and went of in search of missing dinghy up river, outboard running fine, but not much load on engine as going down tide, down wind and not yet towing missing dinghy. Got above motorway and past last boatyard on river and round bend and found lovely harbourmaster girl with blond hair, who had seen dinghy, and two kids with it who claimed they had been given it by their grandad, so, I said where?, she said follow me into this creek, I thought mmmmm, so off we went, at a slow pace, her in harbour master dory, me in dinghy with ancient seagull outboard. Got to creek entrance she said, they were in there, may have dumped it or may have carried it off, so in I go, tie up dinghy, set off on foot with an oar, find missing dinghy, abandoned and muddy but otherwise in same condition as it was (bit scruffy), paddle back to new dinghy, ah ha, creek blocked by fallen tree, so, poke nose of dinghy over small submerged section of tree, then, crawl to front of dinghy ooo eeer wobble, so that part of dinghy on wrong side of submerged bit rises up, then paddled forwards, ohh, it worked, very chuffed now, everything going to plan, what can fail? Get back to new dinghy with outboard, tie dinghy that is no longer missing to back of new dinghy, climb into new dinghy, start ancient seagull, set off back to boat yard, making quite good progress and see nice blond harbour master girl, who can see that I have got previously missing dinghy in tow, so give her nice wave, mmmmm, and carry on putt putt putting along the river, ooh, oooh dear, engine seems to be slowing down now that it has to work hard, pushing into wind and tide and towing, ooh, oooooh bolloxs, its stopped, so start rowing, cept oars for previously missing dinghy to short for new dinghy so bit of a struggle, anyway, row over to bank, bit of a struggle in wind and tide, oh bolloxs, raining now, get to bank, quick look at outboard seems ok, pull string, it fires then stalls, oh, prop in mud and tangled sea weed, bollocks bollocks, lift outboard, clear prop of weeds, row away from bank, try to start outboard and fail, bollocks, now blown back on to bank, f*ck, row away from bank, leap to back of dinghy, pull string, fail to start, back on bank, double f*ck, decide rowing is only option, so in for a long slog, ah, see a pontoon, tie up, study outboard, put choke on to richen mixture as it might be a blocked jet due to muck in fuel tank, get engine running and set off, oo er, engine dying again, bollocks, grab next pontoon, think, ooh, maybe turn choke off, forgot about that, turn choke off, restart engine, sounds ok, go to front of dinghy to un tie, oooh, funny noise and outboard stalled, look round, outboard at funny angle of dangle and no longer missing dinghy up closed and nearly sunk, eeeeek, closer inspection reveals that rope tying no longer missing dinghy to new dinghy has caught round outboard prop, nearly lifting outboard of back of new dinghy and nearly sinking no longer missing dinghy, f*ck triple f*ck, few mins untangling unholy rope/propeller/dinghy mess, re-tie no longer missing dinghy to new dinghy with much shorter rope to prevent re-occurrence of most recent mishap, re start outboard, go to front of new dinghy, untie, set off for boatyard, arrive a few ins later without further incident.
Whole palaver took, 3 hours, total distance covered was about 500 yards.
There was two dinghies, one outboard and one harbour master.
For sale, 1970 Triumph Spitfire-sold, 1947 Lambretta, 1922 Great grandmother, PM for details.
