A view from the shed

by John Tunwell

 

This section is devoted to the records of the members who bought, built, maintained the boats over the years. The hours spent in the dark days of winter, in boatsheds and yards, sometimes in appalling weather, meant that countless young people had cheap holidays and learned to sail in the seven or eight weeks of Club cruising. Sadly, we have to recall that it was not always smooth sailing. Banham's Pirate exchanged blows with Reedham Bridge and never sailed again; Favourite  attempted to order a round at Buckenham whilst ignoring the quay heading; Vanessa, as fine a cruiser that ever sailed the rivers, was destroyed in the Eastick's fire.

 

The boats are out of the water, winter is here and the most active part of the year for Green Wyvern owners has come. Rumour has it that, in times gone by, owners would descend on yachts for a couple of pre-season weekends, slapping on paint and tidying up. The current Green Wyvern winter is an intensive programme of replacement and improvement.
   

November and December are really depressing months. It's the start of the 'Oh dear . . . ' season, with the opportunity to discover the obvious holes, rotten planks and soggy bulkheads. To find the plank you've just leaned against has disintegrated, see the daylight through the hull, the broken ribs and the cracked hog. The pile of wood-based compost on the shed floor mounts, as does the immediate vision of heaped up £ signs. The loose change in the bilges makes only a token contribution to the cost. The two biros never work, the three playing cards, the condom packets and broken comb are pretty useless. The lonely re-chargeable battery never seems to find a mate. The owners have a chance to look closely at the outside of the boat. This year, Shruff has gained grooves below the bobstay that remind one of Jaws, whilst other boats show the apparent evidence of lengthening short dykes, attempting to move the dickyworks and dolphins, or other boats.
   

'Oh dear  . . . look what I've found' soon leads to, 'Oh hell, what can I afford?' Surprise, surprise . . . some of the non-essentials don't ever get sorted. Luckily the monetary concerns soon disappear in the intriguing question, 'How can I sort it?'
   

The lunchtime pints usually result in a lively sharing of ideas. Peeled open beer mats are the yacht draughtsman's drawing board, as all round the table can contribute on how to solve that problem. The level of lateral thinking and ingenuity is daunting. The newcomer fears to show his ignorance in such erudite company.
   

The final phase of the winter is the, 'I'll never finish, but the boat goes into the water on March 18th  . . . '
   

All sorts of metamorphoses have been written about in the past but few writers have recorded the wondrous change from undecked skeleton, with broken ribs and missing planks and strakes, to glistening yacht ready for another year's cruising. The howls of drills, planes and sanders, the deafening hammering of planks being nailed up, the persistent dull thud of caulking mask, the measuring, cutting, painting and varnishing that are going on at the same time. It's all very urgent, the pace has quickened. There's the miracle of all miracles . . . half a litre of gloss paint will cover the whole of the topsides, but two litres of black goo (cheapest, thickest bitumen paint or tar varnish) are needed to cover the hull below the water. Dust and damp days become a problem. No-one wants to paint or varnish when the hull is covered in condensation, or the bloke on the neighbouring boat is sanding or planing a metre away. Not that anyone notices the finish when the boat is in the water.
   

And the tone changes . . . 'I will finish . . .' Vacuum cleaners appear and the sails, awnings and hatches return from their winter holiday. Ready at last and time for launching and rigging . . . but that's the beginning of another story. Oh . . . I forgot to mention; wellies are essential . . . high tide in the shed is quite an experience.

JT 1993

“. . . and they say he’s a good Doctor too!”