Spring and Summer 2021

The Prince Philip Tribute and Improvements to Aquabelle’s Hull

With 2020 events (almost) laid waste by Covid, by the New Year we were all looking forward to 2021 and the prospect of enjoying Aquabelle with fewer restrictions, both for attending events and when entertaining visitors. We hoped to be able to visit her regularly whilst obeying any extant rules; these visits would be essential in our view as we were still learning how to manage the inevitable cold, damp and condensation arising from the winter weather. In early February we were concerned that the Thames was flowing strongly after heavy rains and had flooded some parts around Chertsey and Shepperton. Thankfully, and almost certainly due to the Jubilee River performing its role as a flood by-pass, the river at Windsor only rose by about 12 inches and caused no trouble for the moored boats. Our friendly boating neighbours, Annie and Jed, kept a lookout for Aquabelle and made sure that the mooring lines were properly adjusted for the changing river levels but they (and the Marina staff) noticed a high level of condensation seen on the cabin windows and went out of their way to let us know.

We consulted other owners of “Little Ships” and they advised us that background heating minimised the condensation problem. So we bought three tubular heaters and one larger space heater, all with anti-frost settings and, as soon as we were permitted to travel to the marina, fitted them in the various spaces on board. Supplemented by three chemical dehumidifiers, these measures made a great improvement to the atmosphere on board. Aquabelle was more comfortable and habitable after these improvements but as winter moved into spring, we continued to chase (and partially fix) a number of rainwater leaks made apparent by the inclement weather. Nevertheless we were faced with a lot of cleaning to remove mould on surfaces such as the aft toilet plastic walls and the cabin ceilings to make Aquabelle suitable for visitors and for overnight stays. The hull was also showing signs of distress from winter weather, with cracking of the paint along some plank seams, particularly on the port side, which had been exposed to a greater level of sunshine during the previous summer. This was worst at the stern where some small dents added to the generally sad appearance so something had to be done about it.

When Aquabelle had her engines changed at Dennett’s Boatyard the previous winter, Stephen Dennett offered to give her (metaphorically!) a “shiny new hull” using a special combination of paints and fillers. The resulting finish, displayed by many of the boats leaving his boatyard, seemed both smooth and robust. Colin exchanged views with co-owner Alain and eventually both agreed that the time had clearly come for Aquabelle’s hull to be similarly treated. Plans were made to return her to Stephen’s boatyard near Chertsey when a time slot became available in his busy schedule.

Coincidentally, at the time we were looking for the most convenient day to travel down river to Dennett’s, Royal approval had just been given for the ADLS to gather at Windsor to pay a special tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, who had died in early April at the age of 99. Prince Philip had consistently been very supportive of ADLS and had visited the “Little Ships” several times, the most recent being at Windsor in 2017. A sailing plan was promulgated to interested owners, involving the flotilla assembling on the (normally prohibited) Windsor Great Park side of the Thames opposite Datchet, followed by a sail past that would include Prince Michael of Kent, the ADLS Honorary Admiral. This was not only a “must do” for us but also very convenient as we could take part in the event on our way to Dennett’s Boatyard and so not have to find two crews for two separate trips. Dress code was formal with jacket and ADLS ties (3 were bought at some expense for the occasion!)

On the 23rd April we welcomed Simon Palmer on Hilfranor and John Calvert on L’Orage to raft up alongside us at Windsor Marina, both having travelled from higher up the Thames en route to the Tribute. The next day Christine, Stephen, Ian and Tom arrived to act as crew for the downriver trip, with Stephen expecting to leave Aquabelle as we progressed downstream owing to other commitments. After the usual shuffling of cars to have one awaiting us at Penton Hook we set off to follow Hilfranor and L’Orage down river. We only needed to pass through Boveney and Romney Locks so after about an hour’s cruising we reached our allocated mooring with 16 other “Little Ships” and rafted up to the riverbank, outside Wanda at the downstream end of the flotilla with L’Orage and Fleury 2 to our stern. Colin joined the other skippers for detailed instructions and to await the arrival of Prince Michael.

Conducting the tribute would require all to sail upstream to Victoria Bridge then turn to head downstream. When the lead boat (Lady Lou) carrying Prince Michael passed under the bridge, a pipe would be sounded on board and transmitted to us all by radio as a signal to lower our ensigns to half-mast. The parade would continue until Lady Lou passed under Albert Bridge where a second pipe would allow us to raise our ensigns again.

This seemed clear to us and we would be proud to be the only boat dipping the Tricolour at our stern. However, we were flying the Dunkirk Flag at our foremast and, as it was too tall for both bridges, we would have to lower and raise it two times during the Tribute. So our crew was duly coached with Sue having the crucial job of releasing the mast pin at the critical moment before each bridge. Christine, aided by Tom, was allocated the responsibility of dipping our flag.

Prince Michael duly arrived and talked to some of the crews, chose not to visit any of the boats and climbed aboard Lady Lou to start the Tribute.

In the event, all went very well. Under clear blue skies but with a cool breeze we slipped our mooring and followed Mimosa upstream, with Janthea taking up her station astern. The crew performed perfectly and we turned downstream above Victoria Bridge with flags flying. We eventually passed Lady Lou with Prince Michael on board on our port side as we sailed under Albert Bridge (with the crew working hard managing the mast!) followed by the remaining Little Ships in line astern. It was a magnificent sight, all taking place with the background of Windsor Castle across the park. By the time we were thinking we needed to turn upstream again we received the signal that all boats not carrying VIP passengers were free to disperse. So we elected to continue downstream towards Dennett’s. A convenient mooring was found for a late lunch close to the Bells of Ouzeley near Runnymede and Stephen took the opportunity to leave us and find a taxi back to his car at Windsor.

With smaller crew Aquabelle continued downstream and, around teatime, we cleared Penton Hook Lock, made a sharp turn to starboard into the weir stream and reached our planned night stay at Penton Hook Marina visitor moorings. This is less than half a mile upstream of Dennett’s to give an easy run in the morning. Sue and Colin remained on board with the others departing after an evening meal.

The next morning, after positioning the car at Dennett’s, Colin and Sue took Aquabelle the short distance to the boatyard and moored alongside the Dennett’s Little Ship “Lady Gay”, met by Stephen Dennett’s father, Michael. After checking the work required with Stephen Dennett, (to include fitting a repositioned drain in the port well deck but retaining her varnished stern) Colin and Sue returned home, eagerly awaiting her transformed appearance.

At the end of April, when the hull work was underway, Stephen Dennett phoned Colin, as he was concerned about his discovery of some “soft” planks under Aquabelle’s stern. He suggested Colin should visit the boatyard to see for himself and advise on how to deal with the problem. At the time Aquabelle was on the slipway and part way through the hull painting process. By tapping areas under the stern, Stephen demonstrated that six planks were suspect and he thought it best to replace them whilst Aquabelle was out of the water. Colin agreed and authorised the work. It would seem that these were original planks and not those replaced by Eric in 2013. Perhaps this was a timely reminder that constant vigilance is needed to ensure the health of an old wooden ship!

At last the call came from Dennett’s that Aquabelle was ready for collection. We thought it would be best to return to the visitor’s mooring at Penton Hook Marina for an overnight stay and to ensure she was in a fit state to travel upstream to her berth at Windsor. So, on 15th May, Colin and Sue drove to the Dennett’s boatyard and were very pleased to see Aquabelle looking splendid with an immaculate white hull and with the requested extra drain in the well deck. However, she was quite dirty and dusty inside from the hull sanding and we saw she would require a lot of cleaning before she was fit to receive visitors. But first she had to be taken back to Penton Hook and, with a little trepidation; Colin and Sue decided they could move her the short distance without any help. This they successfully achieved although Colin was nearly caught out by a strong flow from Penton Hook Weir driving her sideways as she approached her mooring.

The next day our crew arrived, comprising Ian and Tom, followed by Christine a little later. The inevitable shuffling of cars was done so that we had transport both ends of the trip and then we were ready to cruise up river. The helmsmen (Colin and Ian) were nervous about the potential for damaging the new hull paintwork and we all concentrated on moving the fenders to the best positions when mooring and passing through the locks. To match the new hull, Aquabelle displayed 4 new fenders, white with blue ends, and these were deployed with good effect. We again stopped at the mooring next to the Bells of Ouzeley for lunch and reached our mooring in late afternoon ready for a cup of tea, and now with an unblemished hull!

30th May – Visit to Hedsor Waters

Another brief opportunity to meet fellow boat enthusiasts came to us from our membership of the Thames Vintage Boat Club. We knew that they were planning to re-start their regular boat rallies and had chosen a new location. This was on the weir stream below Cookham Weir and Lock, called Hedsor Waters after Hedsor Hill whose bank of trees loomed over the river at that point. Although a number of boats were mooring there for three days, members were encouraged to come and go as was convenient to them. With Stephen and sons Joseph and Edward visiting for the day, we chose to join our fellow club members for just the Sunday afternoon.

The river was busy as we headed upstream mid-morning certainly due to the very pleasant and sunny weather that had attracted many boaters to this beautiful stretch of the Thames. Bray lock was trouble free and we soon passed “Eastbank” where Benjamin Taylor lived in the 1960’s, situated just below Brunel’s magnificent brick railway bridge downstream of Maidenhead. Boulters Lock was a different story as we waited 20 minutes for the lock and another 30 minutes before we could see Cliveden Reach ahead.

Just before 1pm we saw the gathering of about a dozen boats moored in a pretty and peaceful location next to a grassy bank. Also being TVBC members, some of our ADLS friends were there including Lady of Mann and Lady Lou. We were asked to raft up alongside St Joan, a lovely boat which we met the previous year at Temple Island near Henley. We picnicked on the bank with our friends while Stephen and the boys enjoyed our new inflatable canoe and took some stunning videos of the assembled flotilla.

We needed to return to Windsor at a reasonable time to allow our guests to return home in the evening so had to leave around 4.00pm, still in bright sunshine. Once again, Boulter’s Lock was very busy, giving us a 40 minute wait to enter (although the mooring is a lot easier when heading downstream) and this time Bray Lock also needed a 30 minute mixture of hovering then mooring before it was free to enter. Our berth at Windsor Marina was reached just after 7pm.

18th July - Welcoming the family of a previous Owner

In Antibes in 2019, during the prestigious sailing festival “Les Voiles D’Antibes” we were privileged to welcome Sally, daughter of Roy Harold Simon, together with her husband Ben. Roy, who owned Aquabelle in the 1960’s, kept Aquabelle in Poole as a member of the Poole Harbour Yacht Club and he was her owner in May 1965 when she took part in the first Dunkirk Commemorative Crossing.  With Aquabelle now conveniently close in Windsor Marina, we invited Sally and Ben to re-visit her and she asked if she could also bring her son Adam and grandson Zac. We had a very enjoyable day including a short cruise along the Thames in warm sunshine and allowed Zac a short stint at the wheel once we had found a stool for him to stand on!

The Thames Traditional Boat Festival

The TTBF has become a “must do” for Aquabelle. A gathering of Little Ships within a larger gathering of traditional small and larger wooden boats ticks all the boxes for enthusiasts, and, adding other distractions such as classic cars and amphibious vehicles, nicely ices the cake. For 2021 the organisers had prudently delayed the event from the usual July weekend following the Henley Regatta in order to minimise the risk of cancellation from Covid. They had managed to fix it for the August Bank Holiday weekend, hoping that any major practical constraints would have been minimised by then. A bonus from this decision was that the holiday allowed it to be a four-day event, Friday 27th to Monday 30th August, with the opportunity for exhibitors to assemble during Thursday.

With our entry safely booked several months earlier, we set about cleaning, painting and polishing Aquabelle during a series of visits to the Marina through the early summer so we could get her in the best possible condition for receiving the anticipated visitors. Thinking about the cruise to Henley, we decided that it would be best to travel up-river on the Friday and return on the following Tuesday. There was specific work to do immediately beforehand to prepare Aquabelle for the event so Colin and Sue travelled to Windsor Thursday morning and fitted curtains etc. then erected a small mast to fly the ADLS house flag whilst en route. Our crew of Simon and Dylan arrived in the evening and helped us to prepare the big masts for easy erection when we reached Henley, including preparing all the signal flags for hoisting in the correct order so we could be properly dressed overall.

Setting off Friday morning our young and inexperienced crew soon found their feet and we passed Bray Lock relatively swiftly. Boulters was difficult as usual as we had to queue mid-river then wait for the lock at the difficult port side mooring. Nevertheless, we passed through unscathed, helped by strict attention to the management of ropes and fenders in this deep lock. Cookham followed and we moored for lunch beyond the lock at one of the few public moorings on this part of the river. By Hambledon we locked in company with St Joan, a beautifully presented sister ship to the DLS Breda built in 1929 but having experienced a WW2 career elsewhere to Dunkirk, operating as an air-sea rescue ship.

Henley was reached by teatime but we missed some small words on a diversion sign and made a complete circuit of the regatta course before finding the correct route to our mooring. We were the first of our group to arrive so we moored alongside the bank and, after a welcomed cup of tea, we set about raising our masts and flags in what was becoming a stiff breeze. Soon we were dressed overall and looking splendid!

It became somewhat colder in the evening when we headed to the pop-up pub in the festival grounds for a meal. We joined a group of ADLS crews sitting together and ordered our food from a somewhat limited menu, seeking and following recommendations on those already eating. We chatted whilst waiting quite a long time for the food to be delivered as the evening darkened and the lights came on, comparing notes as to whether we had made the best food choice!

On the Saturday morning we had Janthea and Gay Venture alongside us, and also Nyula, which had travelled down the East Coast and up the Thames to reach Henley. In total 16 “Little Ships” were present in four ranks, all dressed overall and making a fine sight. Being the inboard boat we had a succession of visitors, both planned and random. Planned guests included a group from the Austin-Healey Club who were joining us as part of a weekend tour of the Chiltern Hills, cousin Ian and family and also fellow DLS owner Paul.

For each of the main days groups of exhibitors would perform a sail past, accompanied by a commentary broadcast over the PA as each boat crossed the centre of the Festival waterfront. Our turn was after lunch so, following a skipper’s briefing about our sailing order and to reiterate the need for skipper and crew to be properly attired, we began the complicated task of slipping our moorings and finding our position in the display line. As all our guests had arrived we had a large and willing crew and they helped make sure we were presentable by raising and stowing all fenders.

We slowly headed upstream to allow some of the DLS to get ahead, then turned before Henley bridge to cruise downstream for about a mile. Sue ensured that all our crew and passengers were kept refreshed whilst Colin managed Aquabelle’s speed in the busy water traffic. We then rounded Temple Island before heading upstream once again toward the Festival site. By then, all boats had found their correct station and we heard our commentary as we passed. Recovering our moorings was reasonably straightforward as the sailing order of our fleet had been arranged so we could raft up sequentially, following a plan drawn up earlier. We ended up three boats from the shore alongside Gay Venture then Janthea, with the smaller Nyula outside us, so we had a good view of festival traffic and of the river all the way to Henley Bridge.  We were particularly well positioned to watch the launching and recovery of a variety of amphibious vehicles at a slipway just in front of our bows. The day was reasonably sunny but a cool breeze never left us all weekend. We decided to abandon plans for eating at the pop-up pub as it was getting quite cold and we were advised the queues were even longer than Friday.  As it got dark we could enjoy a show of lights on several of the boats plus a spectacular display of illuminated vintage cycles parading along the show frontage. Afterwards we were invited for coffee and a warm-up in the snug saloon of Lady Lou with Ian and Karina.

The next day, Sunday, would follow a similar pattern, albeit with a slightly later sail past. We were expecting fewer guests, primarily son Ian with Lucy, Tom and Katie. However, owing to a positive Covid test, Tom was forced to self-isolate at home, much to his disappointment. Also joining us were some stragglers from the Austin Healey Club so we had more than enough to man the ropes. Once again we enjoyed a spectacular sail-past and were buzzed by a Spitfire flying low along the river. Mooring was as for Saturday’s plan with Nyula on our port side. For our evening meal, Lady McAlpine had seen the problems we were experiencing and invited all ADLS crews to enjoy the facilities of the VIP enclosure. We enjoyed much better service and some free drinks but the evening turned much colder and we were eventually driven back in board Aquabelle.

Monday was the last day of the Festival but it remained very well attended. Some of the Little Ships chose to leave during the day so there was some manoeuvring before the sail-past to ensure no-one was blocked in by rafted boats. Aquabelle welcomed Christine to act as crew member for both the sail-past and the subsequent return trip to Windsor the following day. We walked along to the Festival prize-giving and saw Alain of Breda scoop the top prize for the best restored boat. One special prize was given to a young female boat builder who had just started her own business after an apprenticeship at Dennetts yard. She was given a derelict pram dinghy, owned by Lady Macalpine, to restore! Later that afternoon we helped manoeuvre the said dinghy across Janthea, and Aquabelle so that it could be shipped back to Chertsey aboard Gay Venture.

Tuesday morning Colin, Sue and Christine set off on Aquabelle back to her mooring at Windsor Marina. We were delayed at a couple of locks and didn’t cover ourselves in glory when attempting to moor when waiting for Marlow Lock. We stopped for lunch above Cookham Lock close to the spot we found four days earlier but the bank was very crowded and we only just squeezed into a small and somewhat precarious space.

Approaching Windsor Marina and looking forward to a relaxing cup of tea at our mooring we were taken aback to find it occupied by a modern cruiser. We politely requested that they should vacate it but they said the marina staff had told them they could stay there overnight. After a series of phone calls they reluctantly moved to a berth inside the marina, which allowed us to finally tie up and put our feet up! We suspected there had been a misunderstanding about the location of the visitor’s berth that had been occupied by a small powerboat.

This last hiccup apart, we agreed that it had been a most enjoyable event, made even better by Aquabelle’s splendid appearance, remarked upon by several of our guests.