Robert Wilson
Well-Known Member
What is your favourite boaty music of ALL TIME?
Mine is Morning Has Broken, heard whilst drifting on the ebb tide down The Percuil River very early one July morning aboard the true love of my life.
Cat Stevens famously sang it, but I'm not sure if it was him that oh-so-memorable morning.
One July day in 1962 I was asked by two local skippers to crew on The Manacles Race; Falmouth Bay to The Manacles Buoy and back. The boat was to be an old (1897) gaff cutter named Benbecula; I had neither seen her nor heard of her. She was still on the mud in the Percuil River by St. Mawes and we’d have to float her off on the early-morning tide, with the aid of four 45 gallon oil-drums for extra buoyancy. Then we’d have to rig her and get to the start line. She had no engine (working) and with no sails we’d have to drift down the river with the ebb.
A very early start was required. Daybreak was somewhere around 3.30 so we would be working by torchlight to get ready to float-off.
The early hours were flat calm, and very chilly – we hoped for a decent wind for the race. As the light hardened her form began to show; exquisite! 21ft waterline, 36ft overall with a beautiful clipper bow and long bowsprit and a long counter-stern. She was long-keeled and slim.
Eventually we floated her off the mud and punted her out through the myriad of moored yachts into the flow of the river. We had a transistor radio switched-on ready for the weather report; it was quietly playing music, suitable for the few early-risers or those late abed.
The sky turned from deep blue to a pale yellow; nothing was stirring apart from an occasional oyster-catcher “peeping” away across the flat water. We drifted silently towards the curve in the river and the wider bay of St. Mawes. A more serene and emotional experience is hard to imagine.
The radio started playing Morning Has Broken, at its most haunting and beautiful. It still brings goose-bumps to my body and tears well-up in my eyes whenever or wherever I hear it. The memory of that experience will stay with me forever.
Benbecula? My family went on to buy the old girl and enjoyed many thrilling and instructive years sailing her. Eventually we sold her in the late 70s - to the two skippers who introduced me to her. They were expert joiners by trade and totally rebuilt her. She is still in the Falmouth area, I HOPE.
Oh, and by the way, we won that long and testing race, on handicap!
Mine is Morning Has Broken, heard whilst drifting on the ebb tide down The Percuil River very early one July morning aboard the true love of my life.
Cat Stevens famously sang it, but I'm not sure if it was him that oh-so-memorable morning.
One July day in 1962 I was asked by two local skippers to crew on The Manacles Race; Falmouth Bay to The Manacles Buoy and back. The boat was to be an old (1897) gaff cutter named Benbecula; I had neither seen her nor heard of her. She was still on the mud in the Percuil River by St. Mawes and we’d have to float her off on the early-morning tide, with the aid of four 45 gallon oil-drums for extra buoyancy. Then we’d have to rig her and get to the start line. She had no engine (working) and with no sails we’d have to drift down the river with the ebb.
A very early start was required. Daybreak was somewhere around 3.30 so we would be working by torchlight to get ready to float-off.
The early hours were flat calm, and very chilly – we hoped for a decent wind for the race. As the light hardened her form began to show; exquisite! 21ft waterline, 36ft overall with a beautiful clipper bow and long bowsprit and a long counter-stern. She was long-keeled and slim.
Eventually we floated her off the mud and punted her out through the myriad of moored yachts into the flow of the river. We had a transistor radio switched-on ready for the weather report; it was quietly playing music, suitable for the few early-risers or those late abed.
The sky turned from deep blue to a pale yellow; nothing was stirring apart from an occasional oyster-catcher “peeping” away across the flat water. We drifted silently towards the curve in the river and the wider bay of St. Mawes. A more serene and emotional experience is hard to imagine.
The radio started playing Morning Has Broken, at its most haunting and beautiful. It still brings goose-bumps to my body and tears well-up in my eyes whenever or wherever I hear it. The memory of that experience will stay with me forever.
Benbecula? My family went on to buy the old girl and enjoyed many thrilling and instructive years sailing her. Eventually we sold her in the late 70s - to the two skippers who introduced me to her. They were expert joiners by trade and totally rebuilt her. She is still in the Falmouth area, I HOPE.
Oh, and by the way, we won that long and testing race, on handicap!
Last edited:
