Abingdon Cruise June 16th to 26th, 2025The Commodore reported on a very successful cruise to Abingdon from 16th to 26th June with six boats attending (Scotch Mist, Laird Tommy, Zephyr, Enterprise, Lady Farrington and Kerry Anne). Boats mostly made their own way to Abingdon and met up on the lock island where we had reserved mooring spaces for 5 boats. Laird Tommy rafted to Scotch Mist. The bank moorings even had an electric supply which, in the lock keeper’s absence, we didn’t have to pay for! The lock island is almost private, and an idyllic spot to spend a few days. Mandy, Sharon, Lin and Geraldine went swimming (a great relief as there were heatwave conditions throughout the cruise) and dinghies from Lady Farrington, Enterprise and Laird Tommy set out for a tour of Abingdon from the river. Lin led a walking tour of the town in her inimitable fashion. Supper on Saturday was an excellent meal at the King’s Head at Sandford lock, with everyone piling aboard Lady Farrington for the trip upriver, with canapes and pre dinner drinks provide by Mandy on the journey. The Commodore wished especially to thank Mandy & Terry for organising the event and for the great forethought of having a car available, which greatly aided Tony in getting about.
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Farewell to an old friendEulogy for Maurice Marshall, delivered by Club Commodore Tony Rogers...
Maurice suffered from a strange and lifelong affliction that some here will recognise, and may indeed also suffer from – he was addicted to boats. It may be difficult for those not so afflicted to understand how this can affect one’s life. The main symptom is an irrational habit of throwing money at marinas; yacht chandlers and any business related to boating. B O A T, after all, stands for “bring out another thousand”. Anyway, Maurice caught the affliction and had it badly. He started his boating as a diehard sailor with a yacht with the wonderful name “Skedaddle”. – We who move on the water under engine power refer to these hardy types as “rag and pole” men. I am glad to say he latterly saw the light and converted to the “Tupperware Navy” by buying a motorboat called “Venture”, and, along with Ann, joining the Albany Motor Yacht Club in June 2017. Maurice put his knowledge of navigation and seamanship - essential when you are bobbing about in a vessel at the mercy of the wind and tide - to excellent use as Chief Navigation Officer for Albany MYC when we undertook our cruises beyond the non-tidal Thames. His detailed passage plans were a work of art, produced as computer spreadsheets with every waypoint marked with its GPS co-ordinates, and bearing and time to the next one. The Prussian general, Helmut von Moltke might well have had Maurice in mind when he said, “No battle plan survives the first contact with the enemy”, and so it proved with one of Maurice’s passage plans where the Albany fleet left Teddington, the start of the tidal Thames, on their way downriver to Chatham, only for Maurice and Ann to run aground within the first half mile! I am glad to say my wife and I were able to pull them off, and no harm was done, except to reputations! Later that evening, when safely moored at our destination for the day, Maurice shared a very nice bottle of Merlot with us, something that became a regular feature of club meetings. Maurice was an excellent raconteur and would often regale us at club meetings with stories of his career spent “blowing things up”. I recall at one of my first club meetings listening to him give a talk about the SS Richard Montgomery, a WW2 cargo vessel laden with ammunition that ran aground and broke her back at the mouth of the River Medway. He delighted in informing us that much of her cargo was still aboard and considered too dangerous to remove, and that if she detonated, Sheerness and Southend would both be obliterated, and a tsunami would race up the Thames as far as the pool of London. He added in his mischievous way, “I’d really like to see that!-and nobody would miss Sheerness anyway!” It was Maurice who proposed that Albany MYC should hire a “Le Boat” to cruise the Venice Lagoon and outlying islands in September 2022. This became a wonderful trip that has gone down in Albany folklore. Sadly, he was unable to join us, as he had, by then, suffered a disabling stroke, but he was keen to be kept up to date with events on the cruise via his computer and WhatsApp. Despite his disability, Maurice attended Albany club meetings whenever he and Ann could, and it was always a pleasure to share a bottle of Merlot with him. I am delighted to have had the opportunity of sharing AMYC cruises in company with Maurice and Ann, and to have counted them as great boating friends. Farewell Maurice – Wherever you may sail in the afterlife, “may the wind be forever at your back, and the sun upon your face” The members of Albany MYC, wish you Fairweather and God Speed, old friend. |
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