​The scheduled club meeting on 12th August was replaced with a BBQ held at the Penton Hook BBQ area. This was a “bring your own food and drink” event, with the cooking facilities provided by the Commodore. Unusually for a British BBQ, the weather was excellent, almost too hot, in fact, and umbrellas were raised for protection from the sun, even as it sank as the evening progressed .

Sally & Geoff organised a cruise to Hedsor Water on 7th – 11th August. Hedsor Water is the name of that stretch of the river below the weir pool and behind the lock at Cookham and is an idyllic setting. Sally had pre-booked bankside moorings with the lock keeper. Five boats made the trip, namely Kerry Anne, Lady Farrington, Laird Tommy, Scotch Mist and Zephyr. The boats first gathered at Baths Island in Windsor on Thursday evening. Members ate that evening at the Windsor & Eton Brewery The following day we enjoyed the gentle cruise to Cookham and the stress-free mooring arrangements at Hedsor. ​

​Unfortunately, the path into Cookham village over the weir has been closed this season for Health & Safety reasons, but we were able to enjoy our own facilities on the bank.  The Saturday activities were Pirate themed, with everyone in pirate costume – a truly terrifying sight!  There was a dinghy race and water pistol battle, with old technology (in the shape of a 60-year-old Seagull outboard on Zephyr’s tender) versus new, in the form of electric outboards powering the tenders of Laird Tommy and Lady Farrington.  Sixty-year-old technology won! (albeit in a cloud of exhaust fumes!)  Even the Commodore was able to partake in the dinghy activities after shedding his prosthetic leg.  An unflattering photo of said leg appeared on WhatsApp with the caption “The Commodore, legless as usual!”  Sharon and Sally provided much amusement by their efforts to find the right forward facing seating position when it was their turn in the dinghy.

​The highlight on Sunday was lunch at the Ferry Inn in Cookham. Due to the aforementioned closure of the walkway over the weir, we all piled aboard Lady Farrington to be transported around the island and through Cookham lock. Mandy once again came up trumps with canapes aboard during the short journey. Fortunately, Terry was able to moor on the Ropeway bankside, upstream of the pub so the walk to lunch wasn’t too demanding. The Sunday Lunch offered by the pub was excellent, especially the “Three Roast” option! Calorie consumption for the day was not finished yet, as we adjourned back to Hedsor for a slap-up, bankside tea, with cakes and pastries, to which everyone contributed. This was a magnificent way to end what had been a terrific event, blessed with excellent weather. Many thanks are due to Sally and Geoff for the overall planning, Mandy for the canapes and lemon drizzle cake (doused in Limoncello) and Terry for offering Lady Farrington for the trip on Sunday, and to everyone who attended for getting into the spirit of the Pirate events.

​Sixteen members attended the Sonning Theatre on Saturday July 12th for a pre-theatre supper, followed by a performance of the comedy “Don’t Rock the Boat”.  This proved to be much more enjoyable than last year’s offering “Three Men in a Boat” (Do you detect a theme here?)  Not all members were able to attend the event by boat.  The Commodore arrived by car as Scotch Mist had developed mechanical problems following the Abingdon cruise. Lady Farrington and Laird Tommy both had a stopover enroute at the Henley Festival. This was John and Geraldine’s first visit to the festival, and they were hugely impressed.

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.
​

Eulogy for Maurice Marshall, delivered by Club Commodore Tony Rogers...
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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.

​Of the three boats originally intending to join the cruise, two started out on Thursday 1st May from Penton Hook, namely Scotch Mist and Laird Tommy.  Unfortunately, Chris and Lin had encountered engine problems with Enterprise and had to withdraw (though they visited the festival by car, staying at the Ship and Trades pub).  Scotch Mist welcomed aboard Sally and Geoff as crew (as well as “permanent crew” Donny & Jasmine, the two Italian Greyhounds) The two boats had a gentle afternoon cruise down to Teddington, where we immediately booked a lock down for 6.15am the following morning.  Teddington Launch Lock has been out of service since last year. At the present time, passage is only possible through the barge lock, and this is creaking under the strain!  On the day of travel, the lock was only available 9am to 5pm, and for a 90-minute window before high tide.  As HW was at 0645, this enabled us to lock out at 0615, giving us the benefit of the ebb tide down through London.

​The day dawned bright and clear, and both boats negotiated the lock successfully, and began a most enjoyable cruise downriver, through the sights of London, in perfect conditions.  It was particularly pleasing that sally and Geoff were able to enjoy their first tidal trip in such ideal conditions.  Both boats arrived in Chatham in the early afternoon after a seven-hour run, and were allocated berths close together.
That evening, John and Geraldine went into Rochester to meet up with Chris & Lin and watch Sur Le Dock perform. Tony & Sharon and Geoff & Sally ate at the Ship and Trades.

​The following days were spent visiting Rochester for various festival events, including the concluding parade on the Mayday bank holiday Monday.  The weather gods smiled, as a forecast thunderstorm skirted the town with hardly a drop of rain.
Scotch Mist set off for home on Tuesday, again in ideal conditions, leaving Laird Tommy and crew to linger a few days more in Chatham.  Tony had planned the return journey to arrive at Richmond lock as free flow started around 9.30pm, with the intention of locking up at Teddington around 10pm in their 90-minute window before HW.  This meant the stretch from Richmond to Teddington was navigated in the dark -a task made much easier by having a good chart plotter to keep us in the middle of the river!   A precautionary telephone call to the Teddington lock keeper, however, gave us the news that, as of 5pm that day, the lock would no longer be available outside of the 9am to 5pm time!  Thank you, Environment Agency!!!  In the event, the lock keeper gave us permission to moor on the pontoon for the launch lock for the night .This was achieved with Sharon lying on the foredeck, directing a torch beam at the pontoon. Luckily, this is a floating pontoon, so there was no need to worry about tidal height changes.  We were thus able to enjoy a good night’s sleep and got the first lock up sharp at 9am the next morning for a gentle cruise back to Penton Hook.  John and Geraldine, aboard Laird Tommy, took a much more leisurely trip back, with stops in Kingston, and Weybridge along the way, returning to PH in time for the Tuesday club meeting.

​Thank s to everyone who participated for making this a really enjoyable event.  Special thanks go to Geoff and Sally for their expert help as crew.  This was especially welcome, as it was the first tidal trip for the Commodore after his accident last summer, and he is still adapting to life on one leg around the boat.