Author Archives: Bertie Wheen

Astrid Dixon / Llewellyn: skippered first all-female crew in the Tall Ships race

Posted on by

by Julia Jones

Dusmarie.

No-one, sailing through Ramsholt in the later part of the c20th will have failed to notice Dusmarie, moored just below the entrance to Kirton creek, unique, beautifully maintained and always with that indefinable air of capability and class. But what of the people connected with her? Astrid Llewellyn (née Dixon) who has recently died (22.1.2026) grew up on Dusmarie, sailed many thousands of adventurous miles on board, was the first woman to skipper an all-female team in the Sail Training Association Tall Ships race and supported her mother in making a distinctive contribution to girls’ outdoor education.

Continue reading →

So, who’s the oldest boat on the river? A report from the Boats Still Floating 2025 project

Posted on by

By Julia Jones

The Boats Still Floating project was an attempt to list as many as possible of the boats on the Deben during 2025 (including houseboats) which had been built before 1950. We found 66. Click HERE to go straight to the list. 

Thank you to all who contributed.

I won’t keep you waiting for the answer: in 2025 the oldest boat, still floating on the Deben is TRY AGAIN, built in Guernsey by George le Maitre in 1861. Then, she was registered as an oyster fishing boat. These days she’s a thoroughly capable family yacht, moored at Ramsholt during the summer and owned by Matthew Longfellow. Many ‘owners’ of these historic vessels – Matthew may be one of them – prefer to describe themselves as custodians. They know that it takes unremitting vigilance, care, effort and expenditure of both time and money to ensure that the boat will continue floating even when the former owners are six feet under.

Try Again (1861).

Continue reading →

Some Portable Magic: RDA Books for Christmas and the New Year

Posted on by

Introduced by Julia Jones

‘Books are a uniquely portable magic,’ wrote Stephen King. Although Stephen King is not on my personal favourites list—and isn’t on this RDA list either—he is undeniably someone who understands about the relationship between words and readers and the ability of books to lift us away from our everyday preoccupations, fire our imaginations and extend or transform our understanding of the world. It doesn’t always happen, but when one finds a book that seems to speak directly to one, one has found a treasure. In this article, for Christmas and the New Year, some of the RDA Committee members and magazine contributors share their finds from 2025.

Continue reading →

Beyond the tides: how salt shaped Suffolk’s economy and coastline

Posted on by

By Ned Biggs

The unassuming coastline of Suffolk holds a fascinating and ancient secret: it was once a hub for sea salt production, an industry that has ebbed and flowed with the tides of history. From prehistoric fires to Roman industrialisation, and from medieval monasteries to the Victorian era’s final curtain, the story of salt-making in Suffolk is a compelling one, and one that is now seeing a modest, modern revival.

Continue reading →

Go to the South Cerney Open!

Posted on by

By Alice Thorogood

Alice Thorogood has been the parent of three children (Gwen, Hettie and Kemmel Thorogood) in the Waldringfield Cadet Squadron for the last eight years. She and her husband Frank have been fully involved with the practicalities of race management, regatta organisation and committee work as well as ferrying their own children and their dinghies to innumerable events at home and abroad (including world championships as far away as Australia). Cadet sailors must retire at 17. Suddenly it’s all over.

Alice used the lyrics of the Baz Luhrman song ‘everybody’s free (to wear sunscreen)’ to reflect on the friendships she’s made and the experience gained.

Hettie as a junior sailor (left) and at the 2024 World Championships (right).

Ladies and gentlemen of the cadet class of 25:

Go to the South Cerney open.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, camping at the SC open would be it.
The long-term benefits of attending this open have been proved by the existence of enduring friendships beyond the class, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
Than my own meandering cadet experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Continue reading →

Two Debenham Walks

Posted on by

By Sue Ryder Richardson

Introduction

Some thirty-four miles inland from the mouth of the Deben, the village of Debenham nestles in quintessential Suffolk landscape. It is one of the unspoilt medieval gems of high Suffolk. To the west of the village, around Mickfield meadow, lies the source of the Deben, a sometime trickle of water in a field of flowers.

Continue reading →

The Making of a Mizzen Mast

Posted on by

Matt Lis

If a mast breaks in a marina, and nobody is there to hear it, did it really happen? Well, sadly, yes and it won’t take long for everybody to hear about it.

In my case, it took about 10 minutes to hear about it when, late on a Sunday evening, the work mobile rang and I answered to find Julia close to tears. A misjudged approach into a marina berth in semi-darkness had led to ‘Peter Duck’s portside mizzen shroud catching on the cranse iron of a neighbouring boat. For those less familiar with the particular peculiarities of traditional boat rigging, the cranse iron is the fitting on the end of a bowsprit on to which the bobstay, forestay and bowsprit shrouds attach and it is designed to handle immense loads so it had no trouble winning this particular battle.

Continue reading →

Nancy Blackett goes VI Sailing

Posted on by

by Mark Taylor

Editor’s Introduction (Julia Jones)

I’m aware that we offer surprisingly little disabled sailing (or other diversity projects) on the Deben. (Shout at me if I’m wrong because I’d love to hear from you – [email protected].) HOWEVER there are many people from the Deben who volunteer at the Woolverstone Project on the Orwell and also at EAST, the East Anglian Sailing Trust. Among their activities they have a Visually Impaired Section which welcomes additional volunteers and yachts to get involved in their cruising programme. If you are interested in helping please email [email protected] or leave a voice message on 0333 0883278. This article by Mark Taylor, sailing secretary of the Nancy Blackett Trust, describes the day Nancy got involved. (Reprinted here by kind permission of the Trust.)

Nancy alongside at Suffolk Yacht Harbour.

Continue reading →

Conservation and Climate Change: The National Trust on the Suffolk and Essex Coast

Posted on by

By Matt Wilson

RDA co-chair Colin Nicholson, NT countryside manager Matt Wilson and RDA vice chair Liz Hattan at the AGM

The speaker for this year’s River Deben Association AGM was Matt Wilson, countryside manager for the National Trust for the Suffolk & Essex Coast. His subject was Conservation and Climate Change: his topics were varied, reflecting the varied nature of his responsibilities in this area.

Matt’s title is countryside manager – and that gives him a wide remit, which he’s still exploring. He’s already spent 25 years working in Local Government, within green spaces and blue spaces including for Essex County Council, the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, and Exmoor National Park authority. Now, with the National Trust for the last 2 and a half years, he has a team of Rangers (currently six) who undertake the practical management and wildlife monitoring on the ground while Matt’s remit is slightly more strategic. He has a particular interest in developing partnership work with other local conservation and environment groups, working at a landscape scale. The area for which he’s responsible runs from Northey Island on the River Blackwater in Essex, to Darrow Wood, over the Suffolk / Norfolk border.

Continue reading →