Wyverns at Sea

by Henry Irving

 

Following Len Bromley's foray into ocean racing, Henry and friends, whilst still students, acquired a sea-going yacht. There began Henry's lasting love of the seas around Britain. and his knowledge of the East Coast, in particular, resulted in his publication : East Coast Pilot. A large number of Wyverns subsequently enjoyed their taste of open water, sailing with Henry over the years. There were  many eventful cruises.

 

Gazing out at the grey North Sea from Horsey, or peering curiously down the swirling Yare under Haven Bridge, led naturally to an urge to transfer Broads-learned skills to a harsher environment.  Indeed, on a sunny summer's afternoon in the middle 60's, we quanted Nyanza through Haven Bridge, sailed down the haven and out to sea, rounding one of the Scroby buoys before returning to the tranquility of Braodland. It was very obvious , however, that the flat bottomed slended construction of Broads sailing cruisers would not withstand much wave slap, even in quiet weather. A different sort of boat altogether was necessary.
   

Len Bromley was the first Wyvern to seriously attempt the transfer. His legal friends had offshore enthusiasms and he became involved in a small syndicate owning Lora, a well-found racing cruiser based at Burnham-on-Crouch. For several years Len raced out of Burnham and some of his yarns of East Coast races . . . the Cork and Sunk, the Harwich to Hook, the Shipwash and Gabbord . . . made fascinating listening. He even participated in the Fastnet one year; mercifully long before the disastrous Fastnet that killed so many yachtsmen.
   

Dave Nisbet, Roger Woolhouse and myself were inspired, as students, to emulate Len on a more sensible, parochial scale in keeping with our means and experience.  In the early sixties we purchased the Albatross, a two berth little gaffer and sailed it enthusiastically, if hamfistedly, around the Crouch, Blackwater, Stour, Orwell and Colne. We kept it at Pinmill, a delightful spot on the Orwell, and I can recall many happy weekends wading around in water and mud, becoming familiar with the vagaries of tidewater techniques. We used to greatly admire the big, black shrimpers and oyster smacks in that area and we vowed to graduate when times got better.
   

My first job was at Hull University and I immediately became involved with two boats that were to loom large in off-shore Wyvern cruising; Venture and Biddy.  Venture was a Humber shrimper built in 1908 and it had only recently ceased trawling for shrimps and soles. Dave Snutch and I acquired it, converted it to a modestly comfortable sailing yacht and spent the whole decade of the seventies in a series of memorable cruises to Scotland, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and France. These cruises are recorded in a series of stories published in Yachting Monthly, but suffice it to say that a great many Wyverns tasted their first sea-going experiences on Venture. Cecil and Gordon had a memorable voyage in the Helligenzee off the North Friesian Islands. Roger Woolhouse, Dave Nisbet, Barry Speakman, Mike Sarson, Dave Walker, Roger Hewitt, Bill Gowland, Dick Farrar, John Courtney, Pip Cork, Trevor Potter . . . the list of Venture hands in the '70s is legion. As a footnote, let it be added that Venture still sails, nowadays with an increased input from my sons and associated young gentlemen, and that we have developed the habit in the '90's of summering in the delightful Norfolk village of Thornham where Venture has a jetty in the salt marsh creek.
   

Biddy was a fine yacht of a similar age and size to Venture but with the important difference that it had always been a gentleman's yacht and never a working fishing boat. I use the pluperfect tense here because at the same time as Dave Snutch and I acquired Venture, Dave Nisbet acquired Biddy. At the time he was working in a quarry in Anglesey so we had a memorable voyage southabout from Hull to Bangor, North Wales. Almost immediately Niz was posted to a quarry in Northumberland, so off he set northabout to take Biddy to his new home. The voyage ended with a minor shipwreck in Loch Linnhe but it set a seal on Biddy as the eternal wandering Jew. Niz acquired some Wyvern partners, Barry Speakman and Jonathan Winterton, and a restoration job was performed at Ferriby on the Humber. By the time of completion, Barry and Niz were both Lancashire based, so off she set northabout once again, chasing house moves. Some memorable Lancashire cruising took place before Biddy was finally sold on to Liverpool owners. Niz now has a new steel centreboarder, Nemesis, in which he cruises far and wide to Ireland and Britanny.
   

In 1980, I retrieved from the Faroes, the hundred year oldsailing trawler William McCann. This 90 ton vessel took four years to restore to its sailing rig and to fit out for charter but, by 1984, its centenary year, it was ready for work, so I embarked on a second career as owner and master of a charter boat with five crew and sixteen passengers. A great many Wyvern friends enthusiastically supported me in this project and subsequently sailed as crew or charterers.  From 1984 until the Brest Festival of 1992, I chartered the McCann round Britain, Ireland, Holland and France.  We logged 30,000 sea miles and delivered a heady cocktail of fun and terror to hundreds of people, many of whom remain great friends. The McCann is now owned by the Excelsior Trust of Lowestoft who have been granted Millennium money to restore the old ship once again.
   

I can look back on a sailing career which has seen a mutually beneficial exchange of skills and techniques between river and sea. The standards of seamanship in the Green Wyvern continue to improve and are generally seen to be at a high level. The legacy of Broads helmsmanship under sail added a lot to seagoing experiences and on more than one occasion, saved me from disaster.

HI

Sailing trawler William McCann at Hull Marina.