Tag: Denis Johnson (Page 1 of 2)

In Safe Hands

Reggie Andrews, 3rd Hand

Reggie Andrews, 3rd Hand; picture by Denis Johnson.

I hear from a variety of sources that the Cambria Team are currently well pleased with the three guys who have become our regular crew. Obviously we know from past experience of the Skipper Ian Ruffles and First Mate Denis Johnson but we now have a brilliant new-ish recruit as 3rd Hand, Reggie Andrews. These guys all work together really well and we have some recent pictures of examples of this. They are particularly good with the Young Carers who come to us on sail training breaks sponsored by the Rotary Club and we have had lots of good feedback from the trainees.

Warping Cambria alongside.

Warping Cambria alongside; picture by Basil Brambleby

Reggie is a dab hand with the barge boat and our new, more powerful outboard which he has found can be used in some places as a very effective method of propulsion in and out of confined spaces. Cambria, as you know, has no engine, so moving when there is no friendly wind can be an issue and Gillingham Pier, where we are currently based, is one where the tide goes out, leaving you high and dry. The guys can now bring Cambria in towards the Pier ‘too early’ when there is not enough water, so that she grounds near to the dock. Reggie hops into the barge boat and runs a line ashore so that as the tide finishes coming in she can be ‘warped’ alongside as she would have been ‘back in the day’.

 

Reggie mans the boat for a shove

Reggie mans the boat for a shove; Picture by Basil Brambleby

The barge boat (and Reggie) is also the method for getting her out to deep enough water for a day’s sailing when the trainees are due to arrive at a time which would be low tide. The barge is moved out at high tide and the trainees are ferried out in the boat. She can also be turned round at the dock using this method. The stem or stern are secured and the barge boat used to swing the ‘other end’ round. It works as long as there is not too much tide or windage. They tell me the boat is good for about 3 knots, so provided any adverse tide flow and/or wind do not combine to more than that we can still move in the direction we want to.

 

Sounds like fun but I’m sure it’s all hard work and hard-won skills. Fair play to Reggie and the guys. There are plenty of us who envy you the chance and the life! Well done to you for making it happen.

Doris LO284

Doris and Cambria

Doris and Cambria; picture by Denis Johnson (Doris’s owner)

Yesterday I managed to sneak in a ‘boat other than Cambria’ and I think I got away with it.  Today a couple of rather nice pictures of another but this one is at least closely related being the sailing smack belonging to our 1st Mate, Denis Johnson. Here she is moored alongside Cambria at Gillingham pier with Carole Pettipher smiling up from her deck. She is Doris LO284 and is a Harwich “Bawley” built originally in 1909 by famous boat builder and shipwright, John Cann. She has had no end of continuing restoration while in Denis’s hands and looks superb in her new paint.

The Bawleys get their name from the word ‘Boily’ – they were used for shrimp fishing and had a big boiler aboard so that the shrimps could be boiled on the way back to port to improve the retention of flavour and condition.

 

For more information on Doris, there is a website at http://www.smackdock.co.uk/smacklist/doris/doris.htm but I regret that I cannot review it for you as my bandwidth ‘over here’ is not up to opening this one!

Doris LO284

Harwich Bawley, Doris LO284 on the hard for a bit of work. Picture by Denis Johnson

Master Class

Sail-maker Steve Hall helps rig the Cambria March 2013

Sail-maker Steve Hall helps rig the Cambria March 2013

The Cambria team were treated to a real master class in rigging over the weekend. The tops’l had been damaged at some point while the gear was down by, we believe, some careless use of an angle grinder by a quayside contractor using an angle grinder to cut away (perfectly useful!) old mooring chains. The shower of sparks had burned small holes in the sail cloth. With our gear still down, our Sail Maker, Steve Hall from North Sea Sails (Tollesbury) was booked to come down to patch a repair into the sails prior to heaving up.

 

Driving all the way from Essex, Steve decided to bring friend and fellow sail-maker, Jim Lawrence down to help him. I apologise for the pictures which make these barge-world VIPs look like soggy scarecrows, dressed as they were in wet weather gear as befit the day, but apparently they all had a brilliant time and were treated to a master class in rigging, sail repairing and heaving up by the visitors. Jim apparently kept up his usual flow of anecdotes and chatter, both the guys were stitching at one stage and we even had Jim on the windlass helping to heave up. We are honoured humbled and delighted.

 

Thank you Jimmy and Steve, Thank You Skipper Ian Ruffles and Mate Denis Johnson, and I have also seen Basil in other pictures from this set which were taken by (Thank You, too) Dave Brooks.

 

Former Barge Skipper Jimmy Lawrence aboard Cambria

Former Barge Skipper Jimmy Lawrence aboard Cambria

Re-Rig and a new Cabin

Happy Mothers’ Day to any Mums out there from all the team at Cambria. Today a lovely selection of pictures of the current works aboard the barge. We have the re-rig going on courtesy of frequent Skipper, Ian Ruffles, First Mate, Denis Johnson and (introducing) our new Third Hand, Reggie. He’s the guy there in the Davey Crockett head gear. I have to admit my spies have been a bit quiet on this one and the first I had heard of him was when he appeared in an email in these pics. Welcome aboard, Reggie. Hopefully the spies will do me a better introduction soon. Also ‘a bit quiet’ would describe the construction of a new cabin on the aft end of the main hold, port side. I have 2 pics here and my guess would be that this is either John-the-Joiner’s work or one of the original shipwrights, Ryan or Tim maybe. Again I’ll let you know.

Anyway, here are the pics.

Gear Down; into action!

Gear down

Cambria’s gear is now down for maintenance and rigging.

A busy weekend for the Volunteer team. They have wound the gear down for maintenance, painting and ‘bending on’ the sails (fixing them to the spars). Dave Brooks on Facebook tells me, “Here are some pictures of Cambria yesterday morning and yesterday afternoon. Gear is down ready for painting the mast and sprit and then for the epic fun that is re-rigging. Lots of very hard work ahead of us plus a visit to Oare Creek. At least the sailing season is a another step closer”. They will miss Nozz, I am thinking. He was an expert on de-rigging and re-rigging.

Meanwhile in an email I get a nice programme of events, which I will add to the calendar when I get a chance. There is also a progress report as follows, from DB.

“It was a busy weekend on the Cambria. Yesterday Skipper Ian Ruffles and Mate Denis Johnson came down and got the masts lowered ready for painting. Today Boss of Volunteers, Basil has cleaned and sanded the topmast in readiness for oiling and varnishing. Mark Chapman and I have washed and sanded the sprit, and thanks to the weather we managed to get it painted as well. Julie Brooks has been busy getting the galley ready for the new season. She was duly dispatched off to Tesco’s for Mr Muscle oven cleaner and the cooker is now looking like new again. Word for all our prospective charterer’s (And Skipper’s cooking Pizza) the Mr Muscle oven cleaner will be in the kitchen cupboard”. I think we’ll take that as a ‘pointed’ comment, Dave!

“Lowering the Gear” Video

Lowering Cambria's Gear

Lowering Cambria’s Gear; Still from a video taken by ‘Den Johnson’s Carol’

Something a bit different today! Mark Chapman has sent me a link to  video of the Cambria’s gear being lowered in Faversham’s Standard Quay a couple of weekends ago, Skippered by Ian Ruffles. If you’ve ever seen this process in action you’ll know it’s not a quick job, so the video is 13 and a half minutes long. We are not sure yet how to, or whether we can, embed video in this website so it’s been posted on that haven of cute kitten videos, You Tube. Click on the link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMcFsLWLGDM&feature=player_embedded. It was taken by Denis Johnson’s Carol, so thanks for that, Carol.  In Cambria’s case the gear, as lowered, is watched continuously to ensure the spreet and then the mainm’st and topm’st do not foul first the mizzen itself with its radio aerials etc, then the mizzen shrouds and boat davits and finally the wheelhouse. Obviously too, all its own stays and tackle have to be slacked off or manouvred accordingly. The spreet ends up sitting on the metal fairlead on the starb’d side of the saddle-chock (aft rail) and the mainm’st sits in a notch at the top of a thick plank stood on it’s end just aft of the main hold hatch. It’s a fascinating process to watch and even better to be part of. You might be able to get involved in this kind of thing if you join the Volunteers team. Thank you for the link Mark, and thank you again for the video, Carol.

One Final Charter

Gravesend Chart

Gravesend Chart; Picture by Matt Care

Cambria is now getting readied for her final charter (as far as we know at present) of 2012. These last three are the Young Carer ones sponsored by The Rotary Club, the first two (now completed) were skippered by Ian Ruffles, the final one this weekend will have our Master Shipwright, Tim Goldsack in charge. After the weekend sail they will finish up in Faversham where the barge will be prepared for winter and any maintenance she requires. In all three charters the Crew has been our old friends Denis Johnson and Shipwright Ryan Dale both of whom are, by all accounts, thoroughly enjoying the experience and getting used to the role and very good at it. It’s no easy thing sailing a barge anyway and to mentor the sail trainees and keep them safe and well at the same time while ensuring they enjoy the break is an achievement worth ticking off on your CV. Well done to all four of you guys. You are part of the Trust’s pride in our old girl and the good works she is currently involved in.

 

Once she’s in Faversham, of course, the usual opportunities will start up to try a bit of volunteering yourselves. We use volunteers for all kinds of tasks from tidying and cleaning to painting and to showing members of the public around the barge, selling merchandise to polishing the brasses, helping with lowering the ‘gear’ and messing with rigging. It can be hard work (if you want it to be) or it can be simply “messing about in boats”. If you are interested in getting involved, contact either Secretary Dave Brooks, or Company Secretary Basil Brambleby, both on CambriaTrustSecretary@live.co.uk . Give it a go!

Just to prove…..

Just to prove we do occasionally do some work when we’re swanning about aboard the barge, here’s quite a nice picture of us moving the barge from one side of Gravesend pontoon to the other. Last Sunday strong winds and bad weather had meant that the barge, returning from charter under Skipper Ian Ruffles had had to be brought in to the outside of the pontoon rather than attempting the more difficult manouvre of either the ‘S-bend’ onto the inside, or the gentle kiss against the unforgiving concrete wall of St Andrew’s Wharf. The outside of the pontoon though, is not as nicely visible to the passing public and might, anyway, shortly be needed by the Gravesend to Tilbury Ferry or the visiting paddle steamer Waverley who was due in at 16:00 Friday. We needed to move Cambria in once we had sensible weather and the back end of an ebb tide, but Mr Insurance Man (quite rightly) says we can not move the barge about without a qualified Skipper on board. These days that is either Tim G, Richard T or Ian Ruffles and Ian was available first, so the manouvre was booked for 16:00 Thursday.

 

Hauling her in

Hauling her in to the pontoon at Gravesend; Photo by Jason Arthur

The short version of this task’s description is that you let the barge drift backwards off the pontoon while controlling the drift with the thick mooring warps (ropes) and then, when the bow is clear, put the helm over so that she slides sideways in the current till she’s line up with the other side of the pontoon, and then winch her back up against the tide using the dolly line. Needless to say it’s not as simple as that and there’s a lot of preparing by, for example, hauling the barge-boat inboard, then nipping about letting go one rope and making fast another, setting ropes up so they do not tangle on bits of pontoon, fending the barge off the sharp corners of the pontoon and, of course, heckling Ops Manager Rob Bassi (red overalls) on the pontoon. Also hauling up the anchor, taking the outboard back off the boat and squaring away ropes etc at the end.

In this, another pic from new contributor Jason Arthur, on deck (l to r) are Denis Johnson (admiring the view while dangling a fender ‘bladder’), Skipper Ian Ruffles keeping an eye on things and issuing instructions, my good self taking up some slack on the big yellow and black warp and Dave Brooks giving it some on the dolly line, a surprisingly strong but thin cord. Looking at it, you’d not think it could start a 90+ ton barge into forward progress against a 3-4 knot tide flow, but it did with Dave leaning on the windlass. All good clean fun!

 

Crackin’ Along

14 knots on the GPS

14 knots on Cambria’s GPS navigation kit; Photo by Ryan Dale.

Cambria is currently in the capable hands of Skipper Ian Ruffles and Mates Denis Johnson and Ryan Dale (who is also one of ‘our’ Shipwrights) and is out on 4 short charters with the Rotary Club sponsored young carers. Ryan posted this photo of the GPS navigation kit recording a GPS speed (speed over the ground, i.e. including any help from the tide flow) of 14.2 knots which is fair pasting along. Ryan tells us they peaked at 15.9 knots not long after this shot was taken. You can see from the screen map that they are off Shelly Bay which is an industrial oil-terminal ‘inlet’ (a man made bay) on the north shore of the Thames estuary between Stanford-le-Hope and Coryton. Tricia Gurnett adds that this is “the end where Shell Haven was” so possibly explains the name. These speeds mean the sails must we well stretched and set up beautifully and the rigging tuned to perfection after the Summer spent at the hands of Richard Tichener and the Sea Change team and then more recently by the current crew. The hull will also be nicely scraped and smooth, free from barnacles after her visits to the blocks at Pin Mill. Well done and Thank you to all of you. We’ve got us a fast barge!

September Charters

Today’s picture of Cambria battling through mountainous seas and lashed by a Force 8 comes from the lens of Phillip Barnes-Warden. Thank you for that, Phillip. The Barnes Warden family have made a very generous bequest to the Cambria Trust in the name of a recently departed, barge-related family member. I have added their name to the list of Sponsors under the ‘Funding’ tab. If you are aware of any other sponsors or donors who are not currently showing on this list please advise us.

 

Becalmed

Cambria becalmed during the Thames Match 2012: photo by Phillip Barnes Warden

With her racing season over, Cambria is now moored against the inside of Gravesend Pontoon being serviced and readied for her next job(s). It is the inside of the pontoon because the pontoon is shortly to be used as a dock for the Gravesend ferry and also the Waverley may be calling by. We are involved now in 4 short charters sponsored by the Rotary Club in the “Respite for Young Carers” programme. This is where youngsters who are tied up most of their lives caring for, for example, a blind or disabled family member, get a break sailing while the Rotary Club pays for a substitute carer to look after the family member. On these trips, Skipper will be Ian Ruffles, with Denis Johnson and Shipwright Ryan Dale as crew.

 

This brings us through to 23rd Sept when Cambria will move to the ‘wall’ at St Andrew’s Wharf in Gravesend for a week or so of mooring and being open to the public to look round. I’ll actually be there myself, living on board and meeting the public, so please come up an introduce yourself and be as rude as you like about this blog!

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