Tag Archives: Boats

Leave Only Ripples

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By Matt Lis

“Leave only footprints. Take only memories” they say of walking in the countryside, for those of us who enjoy hours afloat I suppose that translates to “Leave only ripples” so how do we achieve that?

When Julia asked me to write an article on how boaters can reduce their impact on the Deben I wonder whether she appreciated the enormity of the topic. I will fail to answer all questions for all people but by focusing on just a few topics I can try to summarise those things in just one long article.

‘Evoelectric’ afloat

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Felixstowe Ferry and Flyingboats

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By Phil Boak

Between the years 1913-1962, Felixstowe was a major flyingboat base, with the aircraft operating from the River Orwell on the site now occupied by the Docks. Operating during WW1, flyingboats partook in anti-submarine patrols of the North Sea. In the interwar years, the focus switched to research and development, with the performance of the seaplanes and flyinboats carefully evaluated through tests and trials. On completion of their operational lives, several of the larger flyingboat hulls were taken to the hamlet of Felixstowe Ferry and repurposed as houseboats, providing picturesque, if not cramped accommodation. This short article brings together before-and-after images of six such flyingboats, with a summary about what is currently known about them. Continue reading →

Willow Bland – the ex-Waldringfield Cadet who’s about to race round the world

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By Alice Thorogood

It’s been a BIG summer of sailing. Every year since my three children started in Cadets there has been a BIG summer of sailing. This year we’ve been to Newport in Belgium for the World Championship, a long weekend back home for the Waldringfield Cadet ‘Week’ then a quick wash of everyone’s kit before we headed off to beautiful Abersoch for the National Championship.

Sometimes I find myself asking if all this packing/unpacking and travel is worth it…

Then I see some of the wonderful things our Cadet Alumni are up to, and I know that the work we all put into Cadets – as parents or volunteers as well as sailors — is more than worth it.  We are helping to develop resilient, capable young people who will go on to achieve different successes in the future.

It was a real honour to take a break from the crazy whirlwind of The Nationals and talk to an inspirational ex-Cadet sailor who embodies more that we might have dreamed of.  Willow Bland is about to take part in the Ocean Globe Race as part of the crew of Tracy Edwards’ boat Maiden. Continue reading →

Protecting the Lady

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By Julia Jones and Charles Payton

On August 9th 2023 Historic England put out the following press release:

The iron hulk of the Lady Alice Kenlis, designed by the same shipwright as the Cutty Sark, has been granted protection by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of Historic England. 

The Lady Alice Kenlis was an iron steamship designed by Hercules Linton in 1867. He is the designer of the internationally renowned Cutty Sark, launched two years later in 1869. The Cutty Sark (now at Royal Museums Greenwich) was a state-of-the-art Victorian tea clipper. It was one of the fastest of its time, making the journey from Sydney to London by sail in 73 days.

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Michael Rines, Annie Leech, Stephen Lines

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with thanks for their enduring contributions to the Nancy Blackett Trust, Maritime Woodbridge, the Longshed, River Deben Association & Woodbridge Cruising Club

Micheal Rines (1933–2023)

Mike Rines restoring Nancy Blackett.

Peter Willis writes…

Mike Rines, rescuer and restorer of Nancy Blackett, has died, at the age of 89. He first discovered Arthur Ransome’s boat virtually derelict in Scarborough Harbour in the early 1980s. Initially unaware that she was the inspiration for We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, and the original of the Goblin in that book, he simply saw a boat that, as he said, ‘was too pretty to die’. He eventually persuaded her owner to part with her, and had her transported back to the River Orwell in Suffolk, where the opening of the book is set, and where he himself then lived, as it happened only a few hundred yards from where Ransome had lived when writing the book. Continue reading →

Working Afloat

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By Ben Grundy

Last year Julia asked me to write something for the RDA Journal and I had agreed without much thought what to write about. Then in January the opportunity to become the new Chair of the Kyson Fairway committee came, and then came again an email from Julia asking if I was still interested in doing an article. Yes, I was still interested but the theme didn’t come until late April when I was voted in as the KFC chairman.

Making fast our towing gear in the “Deben” to the “MSC Tessa” on her maiden call to Felixstowe last week – Photo credit Jeff Welch photography

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‘La Mouette’: a Seagull’s Story

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By Matt Lis


The vintage Everson-built 11 footer (Blue sail) with award nominated replica ‘La Mouette’ (Red sail)

A little over a year ago I was asked to write a piece for the RDA Journal covering the work carried out in restoring a yacht named ‘Falcon’. ‘Falcon’ had been shortlisted in Classic Boat Magazine’s annual awards in the Restored Sailing Vessel Under 40ft category and my piece began “An International One Design is not a typical Deben boat” but this year I am pleased to say that I am writing about a very Deben boat. Continue reading →

Advice for Newbies

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By Alice Thorogood

When your child starts dinghy sailing for the first time, it can be daunting to know what they need, especially if you are not a sailor. Credit: Alice Thorogood

Before my children joined the cadets I had very, very little experience of sailing. Everything was alien to me, from the sailing language, the kit they needed to what it meant to spend a day out on the water.

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GBR Cadet Sailing Team Training at Shotley Sailing Club

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By Neil Collingridge

The Cadet Sailors at the Paying It Forward event.
Adults in the photo are: Melanie More (Kestrel Liners – shipping sponsors), Julia Jones (Golden Duck – event sponsors), Lady Carla Stanley (recent Chair of GBR’s Olympic Sailing Selection Committee).
Photo credit: Kevin Ward.

The preparations for the Cadet World Team going to Australia in December have a particular interest for the River Deben as no less than seven of the thirteen boats competing are from Waldringfield Sailing Club. For the first of three specially organised training weekends they needed to test themselves in unfamiliar waters. Shotley Sailing Club offered hospitality. This is a report from a weekend that was rather special.

Thanks to Yachts and Yachting magazine for permission to republish.

All photos in this article from here onwards are thanks to Andy Stoddart.

The GBR Cadet Sailing Team gathered on the weekend of 15/16 October for the first of their three training weekends ahead of the 2022 World Championships in Australia over Christmas.

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WSC Cadet Development Squad 2022

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by Frank Thorogood

The Waldringfield Sailing Club Cadet Squadron has long been a source of pride for the river. As well as giving a lot of young people a great deal of fun over the 70+ years of its existence, it has also launched many into lifelong sailing careers and underpinned success for some at international level. Former Waldringfield Cadet sailor Daisy Collingridge is currently part of the British Olympic squad sailing a Laser Radial. Six of the ten boats who will be competing in the Cadet World Championships in Australia this winter will be from Waldringfield.

Cadet sailing is age-dependent. Its essential feature is two young people sailing together: a ‘helm’, typically aged 12-17, and a ‘crew’ who may be as young as 7. It’s obviously important to keep the youngest children coming in but also to support the transition period between crew and helm. Here, RDA and WSC member Frank Thorogood describes the Cadet Development Squad programme, which was conceived as a response to the impact of the pandemic on this process, and which has also succeeded in reaching out to a group of new sailors and bringing them in to the Cadet ‘family’.

The pandemic only saw relatively short periods of the cadet sailors at WSC being completely kept off the water. With a mix of single handing, sibling sailing and “Better than Nothing” racing we kept going whenever the rules allowed and had some great competitions along the way. The 2021 Nationals in Brixham got by with minimal covid impact and will be long remembered by everyone there, especially for the two days of big wave sailing when easterlies piled into Tor Bay. Continue reading →