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THE LONG KEELERS RAMADAN CRUISE 1989 John Divall, Ken Murray, Jeff Paterson, Nigel Willis
John, Ken and Nigel duly arrived and settled in. Nigel and I went shopping while Ken and John stayed to keep Sufiana company. We ran the engine for half an hour at 0930 just to see if it would keep going - and it did. At 1240 we set off for the lock. On the way the engine stopped and as we got it started the gate closed. By the time we got through the lock we had wasted 2 hours. As the water was quite rough it took more than an hour to reach Pont de Sully where we waited till 1635 for the lights to change. As we passed Notre Dame the engine stopped again. On tick over it stopped and when it was going fast enough to keep running it raced and the prop came out of the water. Eventually it stopped and would not restart. We were heading for a bridge. We flung out the bow anchor and went through the centre arch backwards. By now there were three Sappeurs Pompiers ribs around us. We got the engine restarted and found the anchor was hooked on a cable. John, Nigel and Ken passed a rope round the cable and freed the anchor. After this the engine kept stopping and just before Bilancourt bridge it gave its last gasp.
We put the stern anchor in a duffel bag and lowered it to the bottom. As we were going slower than the current we could steer towards the bank. Someone came over in a rib and towed us alongside his barge moored at Bilancourt.
Nigel and I got a lift down river with the outboard to see if it would start. Mazura Marine eventually got it started after heating the plugs with a blowlamp. We were offered a new 9.9 Yamaha long shaft for FF 9000. When Simon did call it was to tell me that he could not come till Saturday afternoon and when he did we decided that he would return the money for the motor and we would go for the Yamaha. This we did and I paid for it with my Visa. We all set about fitting the engine which had electric start but no remote control. A table leg was fitted over the throttle twist grip and a broom handle used to put it in gear. We were ready to go again. We drove 200m upstream to fill with fuel then down past Mazura where we were given a fine send off. We passed through the first lock at 1905 and continued till dark finding that the Yamaha used half the fuel that the Chrysler had at the same speed through the water. We tied up to a rowing club pontoon at km 36 as darkness fell. The log just says “engine sweet”.
Sunday was a gentle cruise past others who were sporting on the river. Our Yamaha ran well
At 0700 on Monday morning we cast off and who should appear but P11501F with his barges. We followed him into the lock well astern to avoid his wash. By 1045 we had covered 36 km at an average speed of 10.5 km/hr. We entered the last lock Amfreville at 1125 and left at 1140 into tidal water.
We set up the storm jib on the spinnaker pole to give us an extra half knot as we approached Rouen which we reached at 1615. Here we did our last shopping and burdened ourselves with wine for the mile walk back from the supermarket. A fine meal finished off the evening and when we reached the pontoon there was Contessa. We had a drink aboard Contessa with Eric and John then they came aboard Sufiana for another and we decided on mutual aid to Le Havre with their engine doing the work and Sufiana lashed alongside. Perhaps it was our early start that alerted the customs... They came aboard Sufiana and went through our passports and those of Contessa’s crew. Then seemingly satisfied they set off. We continued down the river.
As ships started to pass we found that there was a bit too much movement between Sufiana and Contessa so we decided to tow astern. I emptied 12 gallons of diesel from Sufiana’s tank and passed it to Contessa. We cooked coq au vin on the way. We decided to use the Tancarville canal so that we could put up the mast in Le Havre rather than trying this in the Seine estuary. When we tied up in the marina the customs arrived again and went through the same paperwork. Contessa left for Dieppe and we put up the mast with the help of the customs officers. As we were ready to leave they invited us for a drink. So it was after midnight on the Wednesday when we were ready to go.
We drove gently out of the marina and called port control who asked us to wait till two ships had passed then gave us the all clear. Of course the wind was coming from where we wanted to go so we set off steering 290. Gradually the wind veered and we could make 320 on one tack and 065 on the other. the log started to play up and readings were unreliable so we were glad of the Decca.
At 0320 the log states “Nigel chucking, JD knackered. At 0515 we tacked to port and at 1000 back to starboard. At 1330 port again and the wind started backing. During the morning a spotter plane flew over, just nosey. Eventually by 1800 we were able to steer 350 and were crossing the shipping lanes. At 2100 we turned to head for Brighton 037M with 23 NM to go. When Brighton came in view we could not distinguish the harbour lights though Shoreham further away was very clear. Eventually we found the lights and as we neared the entrance we started the outboard leaving it ticking over in gear. The wind was now SW and waves were rolling us shorewards. The entrance was quite tricky but we sailed in on mainsail. It was not until we were in the harbour that we remembered the mooring warps and fenders but we had plenty time and space to get everything ready. We tied up at 0130. I called customs and checked in at the harbour office. Two customs officers came at 0330 - and another four with a dog in the morning to give us a full search. While they were there we took out the engine using the boom and mainsheet. We also took off the drive leg which had been giving trouble. These we left for Alan Plant of Silette to pick up.
We sailed out of Brighton with the engine running just in case. Wind was force 2 N and the tide taking us eastwards. We connected the Autohelm 1000. All it did was to give a steady whistle and it refused to steer. So much for English design. The wind veered and weakened during the night so we tacked back and forth past Newhaven, Beachy head and Royal Sovereign. At nine in the morning we were off Hastings and by mid-day had decided to head for Rye where we anchored at 1330. At 1430 we tied up alongside and there was a customs officer again. John and Nigel got a lift to Hastings. Then there were two...
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