The Lord Mayor of London makes an appearance

Posted November 2024

Blue Mermaid Cruise September 2024

Report by Dave Cooke

Participants & Funding

Woolverstone Project sailors

Seb
Tyler
Robin
Simon
Andrew
Stephen

Volunteers from Woolverstone Project

Leslie
Ted
Dave

Specialist carer

Lanie

Blue Mermaid Crew

Richard
Oli

Funding

We were funded by a generous grant from Norfolk Boat with additional funding from Alpkit, The Clay Family, Active Thames, The Worshipful Company of Builders, and ASTO.

The balance was funded by sailor and volunteer contributions.

The Voyage

The Blue Mermaid does not have an engine and like any other sailing boat the details of the voyage are determined by the wind, weather and the tides. However this trip had a definite goal, we had an appointment with Tower Bridge and the Lord Mayor of London at 1200 Sunday 22^nd September. We were to take the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress through Tower bridge and land them at the Tower Millenium Pier so they could attend the inaugural Thames Day.

We joined at The Blue Mermaid at her home mooring at Heybridge. The first day, we tacked slowly against the tide in light winds out of the shallow water in the upper reaches of the River Blackwater and anchored for lunch near the old pier on Osea Island. Another short afternoon sail to anchor Near Brightlingsea for the evening.

The forecast for the week included quite a lot of strong winds from the north and east on Wednesday and Thursday so Richard the skipper chose to make the longest open passage on Tuesday across to the Medway.

Tuesday into the Medway passed the wreck of the Richard Montgomery anchored in Stangate creek off the Medway

Wednesday day off with a trip to a local shop in the ‘Jolly boat’ for some fresh supplies.

Thursday a sail up to Gillingham where we anchored for lunch by the sea wall and then returned anchor closer to the entrance of Stangate creek ready for an early start on Friday.

Friday out of the Medway and headed up river to anchor by Thurrock Yacht club in sight of the Queen Elizabeth II bridge, some of us managed another trip ashore for some fresh fruit to ward off scurvy 😊

Saturday was an exciting day! We weighed anchor about 0930 and turned into the last of the ebb to slowly sail in the light winds up river. We passed under the QEII bridge and into the series of ‘Reaches’ that make up the outer Thames.

The landmarks from the river always add a bit of excitement, after the bridge.

In Gallions reach we were met by the tug ‘Alfie’, skippered by Chris who would take us under tow to our berth at Butlers Warf.

Woolwich Ferry and the Milenium dome/O2 arena, etc.

As we approached Tower Bridge we were surrounded by skiffs taking part in the ‘Great Rowing Race’ We estimated around 200 boats, quite a sight!

We arrived at the bridge and moored at Butler’s Warf alongside The Dixie Queen.

Fantastic views from our berth…

Lots of deck washing and polishing in prepartion for the Lord Mayor’s visit

Going through the bridge with Michael Mainelli the Lord Mayor of London

Lots of selfies with the Mayor…

A view of The Blue Mermaid towed by Alfie from the bridge

Lots of visitors…

The Thames RNLI came to see us for tea!

Our friends from another Thames barge, The Alice came alongside while we were moored near London Bridge

Food

The menus for the week were prepared in advance in consultation with all the sailors. Meals were prepared in advance and frozen. This helped keep the cool boxes on board cool and allowed us to store other cold food and ensure it maintained a safe temperature. The shopping was done over the few weeks prior to the trip.

Once on-board food and drinks were prepared based roughly on a watch system. This ensured that everyone had a role in the catering for the trip and helped created a greater degree of cohesion with everyone on board. Washing-up was done on the same basis. There were plenty of opportunities for making tea as, although the barge has no engine or therefore fuel on board, it seems that barge crews are fuelled by tea!

Sailing

Sailing a large barge, particularly one without an engine, required a high degree of collaboration and teamwork. The barge crew were very focused on getting all the crew working as hard as possible to the best of their abilities. Each of our sailors had different abilities and strengths and the barge crew ensured that everyone was actively involved – active being the operative word …..!

One of the key things that came out from the debrief session for all the sailors was that the trip had been hard work physically, testing, but a great experience – socially and from the point of view of getting together and working as a team. The learning curve is steep – there are miles of rope on a barge and learning which was which took some time for all of us, but the crew were incredibly patient and supportive in helping us to learn …..

The skills learnt extended to going out on the bowsprit to set the foretopsail and climbing up the ratlines to loosen the topsail at the start of the day and secure it at the end of the sail.

Everyone on board had a chance to steer – something which can be quite challenging on a boat of this size. The wheel is quite heavy and turning it rarely gives an immediate response, so steering involves anticipation of where you need to be at an indeterminate time in the future. This is a skill that can take some time to master, but everyone had a go, with varying degrees of success – particularly amongst the volunteers!

All tasks on board had to be completed – even washing the decks.

The trip was a great chance for all on board to develop their abilities. Living in close company on board meant that people demonstrated respect and caring for others and an awareness for everyone else’s needs and privacy. The sailing also helped them develop teamwork and coordination skills as well as testing them physically in a positive way.