LittleSister
Well-known member
It must have been '67 that I first did my two major boating firsts, both with my local London branch of the the Sea Cadets.
Boat cruising - out round the Solent in MFV 1060 (how on earth do I remember that?) for a long weekend, visiting (I think) Yarmouth, where we bounced around for the night moored to a skeletal pier-head, too scary for all but a few daredevils (not me!) to attempt to leap for the metal ladder to get ashore for a few minutes. I also recall, on another day, sunlight reflecting off windows or roofs miles away across calm water. Also 'on watch keeping duties' standing in the pouring rain in the bow of the vessel watching out for timber baulks etc. in the water as we were underway, and on the few occasions I did see something unable to make myself heard by the officers on the bridge (who would anyway have had a much better view than me!). The gruelling, repeated chore of bilge pumping, using stirrup pumps lifted from or screwed in to deck. Peeling vast pans of spuds, stood at night in the doorway of the galley. Watching one of the older lads buoy jumping, to secure our bow line to some huge ships' mooring buoy. Standing on the open railway platform at the end of the trip, having to hang on to a lamp-post because the ground was moving around a great deal.
Sailing - I'd been down to Gosport several times 'pulling' big wooden whalers and cutters from the naval Royal Clarence Yard, staying at (on?) HMS St. Vincent and drinking orange squash in the NAAFI of an evening. One day an older cadet asked if I wanted to come sailing, and off we set in a Bosun for a truly exhilarating hour or two blasting round Portsmouth harbour. It must have taken hours for the grin to come off my face, and changed my life.
Boat cruising - out round the Solent in MFV 1060 (how on earth do I remember that?) for a long weekend, visiting (I think) Yarmouth, where we bounced around for the night moored to a skeletal pier-head, too scary for all but a few daredevils (not me!) to attempt to leap for the metal ladder to get ashore for a few minutes. I also recall, on another day, sunlight reflecting off windows or roofs miles away across calm water. Also 'on watch keeping duties' standing in the pouring rain in the bow of the vessel watching out for timber baulks etc. in the water as we were underway, and on the few occasions I did see something unable to make myself heard by the officers on the bridge (who would anyway have had a much better view than me!). The gruelling, repeated chore of bilge pumping, using stirrup pumps lifted from or screwed in to deck. Peeling vast pans of spuds, stood at night in the doorway of the galley. Watching one of the older lads buoy jumping, to secure our bow line to some huge ships' mooring buoy. Standing on the open railway platform at the end of the trip, having to hang on to a lamp-post because the ground was moving around a great deal.
Sailing - I'd been down to Gosport several times 'pulling' big wooden whalers and cutters from the naval Royal Clarence Yard, staying at (on?) HMS St. Vincent and drinking orange squash in the NAAFI of an evening. One day an older cadet asked if I wanted to come sailing, and off we set in a Bosun for a truly exhilarating hour or two blasting round Portsmouth harbour. It must have taken hours for the grin to come off my face, and changed my life.