From time to time Wyverns attempt a marathon cruise. In July 1988, Nyanza and Stella Genesta left the head of navigation on the River Bure determined to reach the head of navigation on the River Wensum ,in twenty-four hours
BROADS EVEREST
A diary of an epic voyage by Andy Gordon on Nyanza
At 00.00 hours Saturday 9th July Nyanza and Stella Genesta
having waited, pressed against the weir at Coltishall, for the time signal.
Their object . . . to sail from the furthest navigable point on the northern
rivers to the furthest on the southern within twenty four hours, and to
raise money for the Gorleston Branch of the RNLI.
The head of navigation on the Bure is the end of a narrow, tree lined
stream set in the middle of a meadow. At a brisk pace one could walk to
Norwich in three hours. We hoped to sail in under twenty four. Brian Holden,
the official photographer, saw us off.
The boats soon separated, Nyanza in front, to quant through a perfectly
still night. We picked up a breeze at around 4.45 a.m. In a steady south-westerly,
both boats made excellent time to Yarmouth. Nyanza, stopping for a few
minutes at Acle Bridge, made it in time for breakfast. Stella Genesta
breakfasted at Acle Bridge and arrived in Yarmouth at midday, judging
low water to a nicety.
Both boats tacked through Breydon Bridge and settled down to a long tack
up the Yare. Nyanza was somewhat over-canvassed, and having gone aground
decided to reef. No further distraction occurred, and apart from the Brundall/
Surlingham reaches, both boats sailed to Thorpe.
This was, for many of the crew members, the hardest part . . . to arrive
at Norwich yet realise, with dismay, that another four or five miles quanting,
and nine bridges,
all against the current, awaited. For me, at least, it was the best part
. . . to quant and tow past noisy, well lit factories, and rowdy pubs
and restaurants (including a small reception committee at the Ferry Boat),
with a very impressive Mayor’s Procession fireworks display as backdrop
was quite wonderful.
Two small vignettes will remain in my memory. The first was catching a
couple very much inflagrante under Bishop’s Bridge! The second was
a policeman who, deciding that the nearest thing in his manual to a yacht
was a bicycle, instructed us to moor up so he could apprise us of the
rules concerning 'front lights'. Spurious laws were quoted and we quanted
on.These two episodes gave our journey through the city a certain unreality.
Suffice it to say, Stella Genesta succeeded with fifteen minutes to spare,
and Nyanza with thirty-five. Nyanza ground to a halt twenty yards from
the weir; Stella was brave enough to enter the weir-pool, describe a coquettish
pirouette, and emerge rather more rapidly than she entered.
It was a brave and happy little party which celebrated with champagne
to the sound of falling water. And we had the additional satisfaction
of knowing that we had raised over £400 for an excellent cause.
For me, it was a weekend of firsts. Apart for the trip itself, I saw my
first kingfisher (in Train Reach during the trip to Coltishall) and ate
meat for the first time in four years (sausages for breakfast). I also
realised with astonishment that it was the first time that I had ever
drunk Champagne. A fitting seal to something that I am proud to have taken
part in.
AG
1988
THE MARATHON
by John Duff on Stella Genesta.
'The object is not to be first, or fastest, but to get
there (Timothy Duff . . . The Longest Sail). This statement would seem
to encapsulate the ethos of cruising. It was with this philosophy in mind
that Stella Genesta and Nyanza set off from Coltishall Locks at the stroke
of midnight on Saturday 9th July 1988. The task ahead was to sail to New
Mills, Norwich in under twenty-four hours. Any form of propulsion (except
mechanical) was permissible and the aim was simple . . . to get there
in the time allowed.
The marathon marked the occasion of Nyanza's 90th birthday. The forerunner
for the event had occurred the previous year when both yachts commemorated
Stella's 80th birthday by trying to sail from Geldeston to Coltishall
in one day. That venture had been frustrated by a combination of a good
party, no wind and the local constabulary.
Coltishall to Norwich represented the longest journey possible between
the northern and southern rivers, a total of sixty miles from the head
of navigation on the Bure to that on the Wensum. July 9th offered long
daylight, a mid-day tide in Yarmouth and few motor cruisers (it being
changeover day). Nyanza was crewed by Andrew Christie, Rex Wade, John
Craven and Andrew Gordon, Stella by Tony Tomkins, Timothy Duff, John Duff
and James Duff.
The success of the marathon was due to a number of factors. The most important
was the strength and direction of the wind which blew a fresh south-westerly
during most of the daylight hours. Another important factor was the tide
at Great Yarmouth; slack water at Bure Mouth was not due until 1330 hours
but, due to a very neap tide, we were able to enter Bure Mouth at 1230
hours. Without this extra hour we would not have arrived at Norwich in
time. A final vital ingredient was the Broadsmanship of the crews. Techniques
employed included quanting by night, towing through Norwich and paddle-assisted
close-hauling through Breydon Bridge against the last of the ebb.
Amidst all the analysis it is easy to forget the superb sailing on the
day itself. Who else has tacked over Wroxham Broad at 4.00 a.m., ghosted
through Horning at 6.00 and charged past Ant Mouth at 7.00. Or tacked
over Breydon slightly over-canvassed, reached up the Yare and delighted
in a tack to Bramerton when the wind had threatened to fall out completely.
The marathon finished as it had begun . . . quanting in the dark. The
journey under Norwich's nine bridges seemed interminable despite Brian
Holden's advice cheerfully hailed from Tingha that we were 'nearly there!'
And then suddenly at 2347 hours we rounded a corner and arrived to congratulations
from Nyanza who had reached New Mills twenty minutes earlier.
In recalling a successful venture achieved nearly seven years ago, it
is easy to slip into 'eulogise mode'. But surely a modicum of satisfaction
and pride can be gained from accomplishing the marathon. To my knowledge
no-one else had achieved the feat before or has since equalled it. We
were not the first, or the fastest . . . Nyanza took that honour . . .
but we definitely got there.
JCD
1988