Party time again

 Sailing down the East Coast of England has been interesting and challenging. Safe harbours that can be entered at any state of the tide and all wind direction are few and far between. 

Our party port at Blyth, was great. The local North East Gaffers had done a fantastic job in organising a welcome for us at the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club and the team at the RNYC were super. The weather was dreadful but we had access all day to the cosy light ship that is the RNYC’s clubhouse and local gaffers stood by to give us lifts to the laundry, the shops, local sights and anything else we might need. A special vote of thanks to Des and Anthea who were simply amazing. 

The barbecue was fun and the band was tremendous. Yes, we were outside in the rain with leaking gazebos but that encouraged us to dance and get warm.  A great night. On the Saturday it was lovely to have a visit from Pete, who was my Chaplain and a good colleague.  We were invited to board Barbarossa for a cup of tea and were fascinated to hear her history from Rob and Sue Hart.  Rob and Sue met when she was sixteen and he was twenty and they built the boat together and had lived on it ever since. 

On Saturday evening we had an hour of shanties in the clubhouse before dinner - this was great fun and the group were very gifted musicians.  After dinner we had the chance for audience participation and many of our fellow sailors had musical talent.  Else from the Netherlands had a wonderful singing voice and our favorite was her adaptation of No, Nay, Never. 

I”ve been an Old Gaffer for many a year, And I’ve spent all my money on topsails and beer. Sailed all kinds of Gaffers and I’ve loved them all, But I couldn’t get on with Bermudans at all. 

And it’s no, nay, never, No, nay never no more, Will I sail a Bermudan , No never no more!

Late Saturday night, Rachel came back to the boat. She’d had a long day’s journey from Rhodes and had to make the transition from a very hot Rhodes to a cold, windy and wet Northumberland. It was so good to have her back. This last week has been a time of great anxiety for Rachel and Alan as they have a house on Rhodes and the terrible spread of the wild fires made the situation for their house and village very perilous. Something like this puts all kinds of other worries into perspective. We all wanted to go to church on Sunday morning to offer up prayers for the people of Rhodes, both those who had lost homes and businesses and those volunteers and firefighters showing real heroism. We went to St Bede’s in Newsham, a deprived area of Blyth whose parish priest, Fr Ian, was my Chaplain when I first arrived in Newcastle. It was very spirit lifting to share in worship there.  We have now heard (yesterday (Friday))  that the village and their house is safe and people have returned to their homes. 

Blyth barbecue - we know how to party!