Oostende

I can remember Skipper, who was the harbourmaster at the North Sea Yacht Club in the late 1960's and 1970's with the wobbly pontoons and mooring buoys to pick up. He was a real character, but once he got to know you he was happy to stop and have a drink. Once he saw we had bought some peeled brown shrimps and said we should do them ourselves. We did buy some and tried, but the effort was not worth it. Even when he showed us how to do it we could still only do a few compared to the pile he did. It turns out he had to peel buckets full before he could go out to play as a child, so became very fast.
 
Concerto said:
I can remember Skipper, who was the harbourmaster at the North Sea Yacht Club in the late 1960's and 1970's with the wobbly pontoons and mooring buoys to pick up. He was a real character, but once he got to know you he was happy to stop and have a drink. Once he saw we had bought some peeled brown shrimps and said we should do them ourselves. We did buy some and tried, but the effort was not worth it. Even when he showed us how to do it we could still only do a few compared to the pile he did. It turns out he had to peel buckets full before he could go out to play as a child, so became very fast.
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Popeye

Popeye.jpg




Followed by Danielle

Daniealle1986.jpg


Then "The Man" when he was nought but a boy

Robert.jpg
 
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My first cross channel trip we went through the Rance barrier and thanks to advice from others took some Marlborough cigarettes and a slightly broached bottle of scotch for the lock keeper. Spent the night tied to the "No Mooring" sign!

Rob.
 
Sailorman. That first photo brings back many memories of Skipper (you labled him Popeye). Seeing him trying to direct the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association fleet of about 70 yachts after the race from Harwich was quite fun. The harbour was almost completely filled with boats. You could almost walk from one side of the harbour to the other across boats. When boats started leaving it was even more fun. Seeing early arrivers trying to extract themselves could take several hours. Frequently gaps were left as more departed. Trying to make everything ship shape again took ages and plenty of winching. All part of the fun!
 
Concerto said:
Sailorman. That first photo brings back many memories of Skipper (you labled him Popeye). Seeing him trying to direct the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association fleet of about 70 yachts after the race from Harwich was quite fun. The harbour was almost completely filled with boats. You could almost walk from one side of the harbour to the other across boats. When boats started leaving it was even more fun. Seeing early arrivers trying to extract themselves could take several hours. Frequently gaps were left as more departed. Trying to make everything ship shape again took ages and plenty of winching. All part of the fun!
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Been there , done it, had the T shirt
Fantastic times
& yes it was possible i did once actually cross from one side to the other on moored boats to the amusement of all the other drunks there at the time
 
So it was you!

Still remember some hardy sailors loaded with "provisions" trying to get back on their boat. Seeing them using a local small keel boat/large dinghy from stern to bow, rather than crossing a couple of dozen boats, was fun to watch.

Then there was the duty free deliveries. Watching boxes and boxes of booze and tobacco being passed across many decks again meant lots of teamwork.

Oh, those were the days.
 
Concerto said:
So it was you!


Then there was the duty free

Oh, those were the days.
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Yes like the customs officer in Burnham who completely stripped my boat from top to bottom because one of my crew had been caught smuggling 3 boxes of king Edward cigars even after i had warned him that we were down for an inspection due to the number of times i was going over there
The s..d tipped everything out toolboxes food etec etc all on the floor
Took me all day to put everything back
 
Daydream believer said:
Yes like the customs officer in Burnham who completely stripped my boat from top to bottom because one of my crew had been caught smuggling 3 boxes of king Edward cigars even after i had warned him that we were down for an inspection due to the number of times i was going over there
The s..d tipped everything out toolboxes food etec etc all on the floor
Took me all day to put everything back
Click to expand...
Those were the daze KE @ £10 for a box of 50. My FiL had them Birpday & Christmas. Then he stopped smoking :rolleyes:
 
Daydream believer said:
Yes like the customs officer in Burnham who completely stripped my boat from top to bottom because one of my crew had been caught smuggling 3 boxes of king Edward cigars even after i had warned him that we were down for an inspection due to the number of times i was going over there
The s..d tipped everything out toolboxes food etec etc all on the floor
Took me all day to put everything back
Click to expand...
Was that the the bloke in a white peaked cap who drove a motor launch?
He stopped us on the way to a Burnham Week start once.

"where are you from?"
"Priors"
"Where are you going?"
"Pile House"
" Next port of call?"
"Priors"
" Any alcohol or tobacco on board?"
" of course, it's Burnham Week"
All taken very seriously, he seemed to have had a sense of humour by-pass.
 
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