A daytime launch? Me? Must have been a special occasion. Well yes, it was. It was a game of two halves and this first bit saw me meeting up with Pavman, Westie, Fenboystu and Trimanyellow for a spot of paddling about and training. The latter pair had not launched at sea yet and were keen to do some anchoring and self-rescue practice. All dressed and ready we trolleyed down to the water’s edge and got ready for launch. The wreck of the White Swan was very prominent, the boiler completely visible and the sea was flattish with just a slight choppy swell brought on by the fresh north easterly. A small dumping wave at the shoreline was also present and the conditions couldn’t have been better for our plans other than the tide having slowed down a bit much for truly illustrative anchoring practice.
We launched, some of us twice and headed north for a warm up, against the wind and the start of the flood tide. Stu and Lee soon got to grips with things and were more than happy and after about half a mile Tim and I started to get excited at the site of the cauldron kicking off in the distance though we didn’t go for a play in the end. While Pav tried for a few herring – we were very optimistic and brought out tiny feathers in the hope one might be able to swim close enough to spot them in the murk – I paired off with Lee and Tim with Stu and we set about dropping and hauling anchor a couple of times. No problems there! We carried on north.
Self-rescue time. We dropped our buoyed anchors over the side and stowed rods and then it was time to get in the water. Lee was first and as he rocked his Trident from side to side more and more the knowledge of how far it’ll go and what it feels like when it is about to tip hopefully stashed themselves away in some corner of memory. Then he was in, a balmy eight degrees or so, and I hopped over the side and went to talk him through from the water while Tim took my Scupper in tow.
I described the routine, demonstrated and then let him get on with it. Right first time. Again? Yep…and he did it with no bother. No further practice needed and I swam over to Stu and he did the same. I should charge for this, I could buy some old rope; D Seriously though, very well done the pair of you, after a brisk paddle and in less than inviting conditions you nailed it first time.
We fetched the anchors and then drifted back to the launch with the feathers out to no avail. The wreck was covered now and boiling away and we’d mistaken the time (hadn’t we Tim!) so had to rush in through a small but fast surf and couldn’t spend the time to have any real landing practice; next time maybe. Then it was up the hill, change and head for Great Yarmouth. I called up the Coastguard to inform them of our return, as requested and just managed to resist the temptation to ask them to get the kettle on!
I was supposed to test out a new paddle too, a glass version of the Carlisle Enchantment , but as I’d have plenty of time to do so over the weekend I gave it to Stu to try as he wasn’t keen on his RUK one. A bit of a difference to say the least! Ninety quid retail fellas, available as of now from your local JO dealer and a bit of a bargain…commercial bias noted as I work for the distributor but yeah, it’s a good set of blades.
Ten minutes later and we pulled into the car park. The session wasn’t finished yet. I’ve been in touch with Mario Siano, local Watch Officer and the National Angling Liasion Officer, a fair bit over recent months and we’d been invited to come up to the Maritime Coastguard Control Centre in groups over the coming months. This was the first visit and we joined Paul, John, Don and Marty who I have adopted into our ranks because he stocks my freezer when my mojo gets soggy ;D
Coffee and Jaffa Cakes awaited and we sat down to watch a video that Mario wasn’t going to show us. It was very informative and quite dull as most corporate videos are; ugly women, bad radio procedure and now-sold tugs kept us all amused no end as did some funny noises coming from an i-phone and of course Mario himself. We spoke of EPIRBS and DSC, VHF and AIS, ugly women and cod, safety and how Don doesn’t know where he is because he’s a pilot, how the Coastguard and its European equivalents co-ordinate rescues and invite the Royal Navy to come and make tea if it’s a big disaster, of lifejackets and coalfish, sharks and ugly women…and then went through to the control centre where all but Glyn were off ill and everyone on the sea was off the sea for Easter and not calling in. Then it was charts and screens and computers, more tales of fish, fishing, ugly women and so on and what worked on which computers and why it’d be appreciated if we put our names on our kayaks, our details inside the hatch, registered on the CG66 scheme and called in to let people know where we were and what we were doing. Oh, and not saying 'for your information' or 'over and out'! The importance of personal flotation was reiterated and brought home to us locally in the telling of five Broads deaths last year that could have been one. Then, after a couple of very useful, informative and amusing hours it was time for everyone to head home, bar me who stayed until midnight nattering and looking at stuff, catching up with Glyn (who I’d known years ago). Quite the afternoon, so thanks Mario and Glyn for your time and thanks to all of you who came along on Easter Saturday.
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