Tag: Gillingham Pier

A Chance to go Sailing!

Oyez Oyez!

This just in from Dave Brooks, Secretary

Good Morning All.

An opportunity to sail aboard Cambria has arisen for the dates of 26/27 July.
You will muster at Gillingham Pier at 10.00am on the 26th July for a midday departure.
Sit back and enjoy a trip down the River Medway. Lunch and Evening meal will be served.
27th after breakfast a return sail back to Gillingham Pier, arriving midday.
Cost £150 per person.
Kit.
Suitable Clothing for wet and dry weather. Sleeping Bag and Pillows

We need a minimum of 8 people by the 22nd July.
Please contact Dave Brooks at cambriatrustsecretary@live.co.uk or ring 01634 660997

This will be on a first come first served basis

Regards

Dave Brooks

GET IN!

 

Jed Pearson Writes

On the Mud at Gillingham Pier

On the Mud at Gillingham Pier

We were all hugely relieved recently when we were able to finally get one group of young carers away on a successful sail on Cambria after 2 false starts in 2013 when bad weather stopped play twice for the same group. We are, as you know, a motor-less barge so completely reliant on the sails, and therefore sensible winds, to move us about, and if the assigned Skipper on the day decides that it is not safe to sail, then we are as wind-bound as would have been the Sailormen of old. They would have lost their livelihood; at least we ‘only’ lose the pleasure of being able to take the carers out, though it is surely just as galling for them.

Well, on our first charter of 2014 we were finally able to fix this and one of the young trainees has been generous enough to write us a report of his day. I hand you over at this point to Jed Pearson who needs no further ‘wrapping’. Thank you very much for the write up Jed, which I will almost certainly reprint in the next newsletter also.

Jed Pearson: My trip on the Cambria.

It was third time lucky for Crossroads Young Carers to sail on the Cambria; it had been called off twice (in 2013) because of bad weather so when we got to Gillingham Pier and it was chucking it down our morale was not at its best.
We had to wait for the tide to rise before we could get aboard and by this time the weather was improving so it looked like we would finally get to sail. We met our fabulous crew and had a safety briefing before we set off.
We set off up the Medway because we couldn’t fit under the bridge downstream. I had a chance to hoist the mainsail and then we had to turn around and head back because another boat was coming in our path. Once the boat had passed we turned back again and I had ago at steering the Cambria, this was hard because the wheel was so heavy and the wind was pulling the boat off course.
We dropped the anchor and had lunch of bacon sarnies and brownie, YUM!! But had to help with the washing up. After lunch we practiced our knots, I learnt the figure of eight, round turn and two half hitches ready for the Great Knot Race. We got put in teams and had to bounce along the deck on the fenders then when we got to the end Reggie or Ian gave us a knot to do, the team I was on won YIPPEE! Our next task was to scrub the decks and hatches ready for the Sunday open day.
We winched the anchor back up and my job was to put the anchor chain away tidily in its box, we headed back up the Medway to Gillingham pier where had to beach the boat in the mud because the tide wasn’t in far enough, we waited long enough to be able to float the barge boat back to the pier.
We said our thanks to the crew for an amazing but tiring day and I cannot wait to go again!
Thank you Cambria, Crossroads and the Rotary Club

Good Man Jed!

 

Movements update

Cambria drifts aft from Gillingham Pier on the dolly line.

Cambria drifts aft from Gillingham Pier on the dolly line. Picture by Dave Brooks.

The following update on Cambria’s movements comes from Dave Brooks. We must also thank Dave for this lovely pic of Cambria leaving Gillingham Pier under sail power. The barge is here being allowed to drift aft on the tide while the dolly line, controlled by those new-start sail trainees from Rotary Club, keep the bow on station. When the bow has cleared the pier and the tops’l simultaneously set, the line is let go at the Pier and reeled in and the bow drops to starb’d to let the sail fill with wind. The crew quickly brail out some mains’l and we are under way. The trainees have her under sail, partly by their own efforts, within seconds of casting off which is always a complete thrill for them, and is poetry in motion for anyone on the quayside.

Dave’s update reads, “We have just completed a series of successful Rotary charters and have also competed in and won our class in the Medway Barge Match. We have also experimented with a new berth at Gillingham Pier and it has been a great success. It is really something to watch the barge arrive and leave under sail. We are very fortunate to have an extremely good crew as it takes a lot of skill to do this in an engineless barge.

We are also very pleased to welcome our new third hand Reggie who has been learning the skills of barging from Skipper Ian and Mate Dennis and coming on really well. He is also a big hit with the kids on the Rotary charters.
Cambria will now be going off on her Sea Change Charter and she will be competing in the Gravesend to Pin Mill Passage Match next Saturday. She will also be competing in the 150th Thames Barge Match which has additional significance that it is the Mark Boyle Memorial Match who sadly died late last year. Mark was instrumental in the Thames Barge Match and also in the Cambria rebuild. The match is on the 13th July and can ben seen from Pier Road Gravesend and at the finish at Erith.
It is expected that Cambria will be at Pin Mill again on the 5/6th July to be prepared for the above race.
A few changes going ahead with Cambria’s programme. She was expected to be in the Colne Match but has not been able to get a charter. She will now be entering the 50th Southend Barge Match (25th Aug). The whole match can be viewed from the end of the pier. We may have limited space available for the match. We will also be entering Swale Barge Match (3rd Aug) will advise of spaces for this match as I have the information.

Will advise of further activity later”

Thanks for that and for the photo(s), Dave.

 

Medway Match and Faversham Nautical Festival

aI am trusting that you have the following dates firmly written into diaries.

First up, THIS SATURDAY the 18th, the 2013 Medway Barge Match. There are some more details on the website http://www.repertor.com/match-dates.php but for now,

MEDWAY BARGE MATCH — from and to Chatham
· Sail 0800 · Start at Gillingham Pier, downriver to Garrison Point, out into the Estuary, to the Medway Buoy and back · Return 1600

There is loads more now on this within Facebook, if you are that way inclined as Dave Brooks has started a group / community called Medway Barge Sailing Match. Go look.

Says Dave,

“Confirmed entries so far (expected entries in brackets):

Staysail Class – Edith May, (Repertor, Niagara)

Coasting – Ardwina, Cambria, (Orinoco, Lady of the Lea)

Bowsprit – Xylonite, Decima, Adieu, (Marjorie)

Shaping up to be a good turn out”.

Also, Restored lightship LV21 will be open to the public throughout the day at Gillingham Pier, perfect for those who wish to view the start and then have a mooch about until the barges return and also HELP REQUIRED – do you know anyone who will be on Gillingham Pier on the morning of the match? We are looking for someone to sell barge match programmes on behalf of the Committee. Greatly appreciate any budding salesman or woman.

favnautfest

Faversham Nautical Festival Poster 2013. Supplied by Nathalie Banaigs.

THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND (25th and 26th May) is the Faversham Nautical Festival. Come down to the Creekside and see plenty of boat/sailing based activities, plus please come and visit our CAMBRIA STAND on Sunday 26th manned by our volunteer’s selling our merchandise.

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.

Shake-down Sailing

Winch drum assembly

Winch drum assembly; Picture by Dave Brooks

As promised a while back, a shot of those winch drums built by our Master Shipwright, Tim Goldsack and now installed in their axles/bearings in the main mast case (tabernacle). For fast but harder-work straight-through winching of lighter stuff you wind your rope round the upper drum and crank away. For heavier work where you want a bit of mechanical advantage from the gearing down (looks like about 2:1 but might be 3:1) and slower is OK, you wind your rope round the lower drums and crank the top one.

 

These last couple of weeks Cambria has been out on her shake down with the crew of Skipper Ian Ruffles, 1st Mate Denis Johnson and 3rd hand ‘Reggiee Andrews’. I am sorry of that looks a little unlikely for a spelling but he comes up spelt that way on Facebook and who am I to argue? Ian tells us that Reggiee is doing brilliantly and learning fast and it was Ian with just Reggiee to assist, who brought the barge onto Gillingham Pier for the first time (ever?) when they were avoiding some bad winds recently. A safe pair of hands, Reggiee. Fair play to you.

Talking of increasing sailing skills, the barge’s ‘sparks’ Owen Pihama and Miranda, who was ‘Mum’ to the Volunteers, tell us that the two girls who worked so hard and well as Volunteers for us and gained Volunteer of the Year awards from National Historic Ships are now going through some sail training of their own. “Han,” says Miranda, ” is currently doing the very last bit of her Gold Duke of Edinburgh with the Tall Ships Youth Trust aboard one of the Challenger yachts.  She sailed from Portsmouth yesterday and will hopefully be going as far as the Channel Islands.  The trip lasts a week and she will hopefully qualify for her ‘RYA Competent Crew’.  She was very chuffed as they have already asked if she would like to sail with them as a volunteer.

However, poor Bee’s sailing lessons (courtesy of National Historic Ships prize money) was unfortunately postponed due to wind chill factor and sea temperature (apparently they spend a fair bit of time in the water when they first start!).  We have re-booked for later on when the weather hopefully gets warmer”.
Possible future barge crew and Skippers, there, Miranda?
Cambria at Gillingham Pier

Cambria at Gillingham Pier; Picture by Dave Brooks

Meanwhile, Basil reports that, “Cambria’s first charter didn’t go to plan. She was meant to be at Gravesend by now but instead the weather forced us to try out Gillingham Pier earlier in the season than we anticipated. It was quite a surprise to receive the message from skipper Ian Ruffles telling me that he and Reggie our new third hand had brought the barge in to the pier. We believe this is a first for the Cambria. It has been a few years since barges occupied the pier though Ian remembers Portlight and Ironsides and two other barges sheltering there after a rough Medway race early in the Nineties.
She makes an interesting picture, and will be there until Friday (12th April)”. Basil also asks that if “Anybody is interested in doing some painting, please to contact him”.

 

Cambria Watch!

This is rather fun. Cambria is currently off on Charter with the Sea Change Sailing Trust (see also our link from the ‘Useful Links’ tab on this website) which would normally mean that we volunteers would stop hearing about her for a while. But this time, First Mate Hilary Halajko has agreed with Dave B that she will text progress reports when she gets a few minutes in what are generally very long busy days training and keeping safe all those enthusiastic young trainees. It’s good that this has happened ‘this time’ because this is to be quite an exciting and varied trip what with trying to do beer deliveries and to re-enact Cambria’s final cargo shipment.

So, we have already had a text from Hilary saying “Cambria underweigh at just after 4am…ugh!. (Gillingham Pier). 8 gybes to get out of the Medway, gave us a taste for bacon rolls!  A fetch all the way to the knoll, 4 tack to bring up in Pyefleet at 12.15pm. Skipper won the sweepstake for nearest time to arrival.  Up to Maldon tomorrow afternoon tide. Crew damp and tired but happy.” Dave B adds, “Cambria left Gillingham this morning at 4 am and arrived in Pyefleet at 12.15. She is off up to Maldon on tomorrow afternoon’s tide”. Thanks for the update, Hilary.

Thames Match Tankard 1963; Picture by Nick Ardley

Thames Match Tankard 1963; Picture by Nick Ardley

We have also had a nice email from Friend of Cambria and Barge and Sailing book author, Nick Ardley who sent us this nice picture of a 1963 Thames Match Pewter tankard. Nick, who grew up as a boy on May Flower says “I was helping my mother to sort through ‘stuff’. She gave me this little pewter tankard. It is from the last commercial era sailing match on the Thames, dated 17th June – that would have been a Tuesday: the Medway was on the Thursday. Those matches took place during the normal working week meaning us kids on May Flower had to have time off school.

I wonder if any other of these tankards have survived – they were presented to participating barge skippers”.
Nick notes that he “Hasn’t seen Cambria for a while. (He has) seen loads of barges around the Pin Mill areaEdith May winning the passage match and Faversham’s Mirosa stamping her authority on the EDME! Oh yes, Repertor (beaten squarely by the Edith May) fending off the Melissa too…
Hope all is well…” says Nick.  Well, thanks for that Nick and, as you can see, all is well and Cambria is headed your way with a new group of trainees aboard. I’ll tell them to look out for the creamy coloured, wooden clinker hull of Whimbrel, shall I?

© 2024

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑