MY BIOGRAPHY. |
1. Early the next morning Claud, driven once again by Sue, picked me up and we returned to Bridlington. 2. From where we had been allocated a berth and the state of the tide, at that time in the morning, we struggled a little to get out and clear the Harbour but once out and under a grey sky we set course for the North Smithic Buoy which marked the start to the safe passage round the notorious Flamborough Head. We could see clearly the large breakers rolling in on the skyline and steered for a point just to the inside of the buoy, which the local fisherman had assured us was the calmest passage through at that time of the day, and at that state of the current and tide and with that amount of sea running. When we reached the buoy the waves were horrendous, but seemed that bit less at the point just inside from it, as the locals had assured it would be. Well battened down we ploughed ahead with each subsequent wave that we ran up and over and down the back of, appearing to be higher than the last. We clung on and squared up to the worst sea conditions we had experience thus far on our trip. Having circumnavigated the South Landing of Flamborough Head we hoped that once round the corner conditions might improve, although at that time all we could see, off to the left, were the cliffs towering above us and the rock face going rapidly up and down as we rode the waves and ahead of us one continuous wall of water after another. It was somewhere near that point that we passed very close, having not seen him until we were almost on top of him, a small fishing boat, with his anchor out and with those on board going about their business as if nothing untoward was happening. Having an anchor out the boat almost stood on its stern, bow up to the sky, each time a wave ran under it and as it passed on it threw it in the opposite direction where it was bow down into the water and stern up to the sky. It was incredible that anyone, onboard, could work in such atrocious conditions but they seemed happy enough and gave us a wave as we ploughed passed. We battled on with first our bow in the air and then down as she dipped her head on the back of the wave before ploughing into the next and taking on several tons of water, that having come over the bow spread along the deck draining the heat from out of our feet, despite thick sea boot socks. 3. Round the actual head and past North Landing, and in the lea of the cliffs under Bempton, things settled down. Then it was a relatively pleasant trip, though choppy, across Filey Bay. A bay that is some seven miles long and one of the longest, if not the longest, bay along the North east Coast, before we changed course and on to a heading north east to pull away from the land and get round Filey Brigg end, which sticks out some considerable distance into the sea. 4. Once round the Brigg End Buoy we could pick out Scarborough Castle, perched on top of the headland that juts out into the sea and effectively cuts the town of Scarborough into two. Sadly the weather we had hoped for was not to be. There was a very heavy sea running as we continued north and crossed Cayton Bay and although it was not raining it was heavy, dull and overcast. 5. At that point and just off Knipe Point, two maroons were fired from Scarborough and the Scarborough Lifeboat came out to escort us in. Coxed by Richard it was more as a courtesy than a necessity for having been through what we had and our intimate knowledge of Scarborough Harbour, getting in, for us, presented no problems. As we approached and each time we rose to the crest of a wave, we could make out people gathered on the pier ends. I think we both felt quite chuffed, I know I did and the wet and the numbing cold were quickly pushed behind. As we entered the Harbour and rounded the corner of the West Pier there was a tremendous cheer from hundreds of people, and, at the same time, over the radio Richard asked us to go across the harbour and moor up alongside the North Pier, where a space had been cleared for us and the Town Mayor was standing and waiting to greet us. After that there was music playing from somewhere on the harbour top and everyone, or it seemed like everyone, came down the slip and crawled all over the vessel. She is stabilised to carry forty casualties plus a crew of seven and her stability was certainly put to the test on that day. We were told that there was a reception, with invited guests, waiting for us in the Crew Room of the Lifeboat House. We staggered along, sweating now that we were out of the wind and the cold of the open sea, in full 'Oil Skins' and with our legs like jelly and going in every direction until we got used to walking on solid ground as opposed to having to constantly adjust to the motion of the moving deck beneath our feet. 6. Having greeted and shook hands with dozens someone gave me a can of beer and Claud' s wife, Sue, approached. I asked if she had seen my wife and she said that the last time she saw her she was heading for the Lighthouse Pier end to watch us come in. When she finally came back and into the Lifeboat House she was laughing and talking to another woman about that 'stupid television woman.' Apparently there had been a television crew on the end of the Pier and as we approached, and on each occasion we slid down into a trough, between the waves, it seemed to take us longer and longer to come back up. My wife had remarked and voiced her concern over this when a Television Commentator had turned and said something to the effect, 'Do you mind we are trying to make a news clip of this bloody Lifeboat.' To which my wife had replied, 'Do you mind not swearing. My bloody husband is on that bloody lifeboat so sod your news clip.' Since that day, every time that same reporter is on the TV my wife remarks that she is the one that tried to tell her to shut up although the eventual news coverage that they gave us, at the time, was good. 7. We eventually returned to the harbour and made the boat secure before going home for a well deserved rest and Claud, having said he would be in touch, rang a few days later and asked if we could meet and talk. Richard had finally decided that he wanted to pull out of the venture and that presented certain problems, as he wanted his share of the capital back out. That left three alternatives. Sell the boat. I buy his share. Borrow the money to buy him out. 8. Selling the boat left nothing but cold shivers and horror: all that work and a trip of a lifetime, during which we both fell in love with her. Me buy his share. Wouldn't I just love to have been able to do that but a bankrupt on Social Security has no chance what so ever. Even if I considered borrowing the money, who would have lent it to me and then if they had how would I be able to pay it back? After much soul searching and getting my promise that I would help him run the boat, Claud persuaded his Bank Manager to lend him enough to be able to buy Richard out. The boat survived but would we? 9. We had to do something in order that this beautiful lifeboat could be kept, operated and maintained in tip-top condition. 10. That has proved to have been, and still is proving to be, an ongoing, and mammoth task. 11. There were hundreds of ideas initially put forward and the majority were immediately dismissed as being totally impractical. We had no working capital to throw at any publicity schemes and so we had to concentrate on the things we were able to promote ourselves. 12. During the summer the attraction of the Lifeboat itself would generate enough interest and traffic for us to make money, doing trips round the bay, or so we thought. Then in winter we could do charity and fundraising trips on a real Lifeboat. Then there were the schools and outward-bound trips. You name it and it was there to do and we were there to do it, or so we thought. 13. The way in which the Harbour is designed and the way in which we had to operate, within the terms of the license issued by the local authority, to take out paying passengers was ludicrous, to say the least. 14. To start with we had to contend with the brain dead shit heads that also operated from the same, allocated area. These were retired, semi-retired and successful Coble owners who earned good beer money in the summer taking parties of eight out in their coble boats. Not only did it cost them peanuts in terms of fuel and running costs but when push came to shove, they didn't really need to do it, so why should they co-operate with a vessel that could carry twelve when they could only take eight. Those twelve were twelve they could have had if we didn't take them or that was the way they thought and chose to interpret it. So because the rules also said that you must take it in turns to moor up and fill, why should they bother touting when we were up there and eagerly waiting our turn, but it was alright for us to tout and get them filled up in order to get them out of our way. Then when it was quiet and the coble at the front had six or seven on board they saw little point in trying to fill up. It gave them more satisfaction to just sit there, often for long periods, knowing that they were hindering us. Also the few who expressed a particular preference to go on the Lifeboat were subject to verbal abuse and told they would have a long wait as those in front had no plans to pull off. We also got reliable feed back, my wife actually standing close by and listening to them, that when we were out, prospective customers were told we were on our last trip and not going to run anymore that day or that they should be warned that we were always breaking down. Also it was standard practice for those who left the harbour before us or came out shortly behind us, to cut short their trips to ensure they were all back up on the mooring before us. This was a metal gantry mooring which incidentally Claud and Richard had had erected and paid for, as the original facilities were fine for cobles but not for a larger boat like ours. Ours is also a boat that was more difficult to manoeuvre, than a coble, in a confined space and so they took great pleased in arranging with their mates, in the Pub, for them to tie up, at the end of the days fishing, in such a way that if it didn't make it impossible for us to work it made it very difficult. These same day fisherman would even hang over the railings on the harbour side and laugh at us as we struggled to get in and out. They didn't want what we had but at the same time they didn't want us to have it either. All they wanted to do was demonstrate to us that they were arseholes: always had been and always will be. 15. I have already mentioned, briefly, those passengers that expressed a specific desire to go out, on a trip, with us. They were not that many as, sadly, we discovered fairly early on that a Lifeboat has a strange attraction. To start with it attracted thousands of Lifeboat Enthusiasts who travelled from miles around, waste hours of our time and took hundreds of photographs of both us and the boat, but fewer than a handful wanted a pay for a ride and we quickly got fed up of the free rides which we initially thought might have some knock on effect. It had no such thing. We chased publicity, none of which did us any good and from that realised that we were the only two genuine enthusiasts and 'Joe Public,' if he decided he would go on a boat trip, was only interested in how long it was going to be for and how much it cost, if children, from the age of 20 downwards went for free and whether we would be back before their Coach left or their Car Parking ran out or would we wait while the wife went for a 'wee' and then listen to her complaining that Scarborough was the only place that charged 30 pence to use the loo. 16. When we decided, only for a short time and when tempers got frayed, that we would undercut on price, for the same trip, we were told, in no uncertain terms, to knock it off or we would be reported to the Harbour Master for unfair competition and that they would go forward to complain, mob handed, and they would have. We also learnt, the hard way, that a very high proportion of people have something about going on a Lifeboat, I suppose that could be because of the image promoted by the RNLI, but the same people are quite happy to go out on less stable and less reliable boats and take their kids. 17. Not being able to do anything about the overall shambles and the fact that we were not taking enough to pay our way, we decided that we would have to look for other things. We wrote to schools offering education trips, nothing. They were having enough troubles loosing pupils in canoe accidents and drowning on overseas group holiday trips. Outward bound organisation, all full of enthusiasm: super; yes, send all your information; this is just what we want. None of them ever came back. No takers yet they get loads that will go parachute jumping, white water rafting and abseiling off bridges and down the sides of high buildings and yet they will not come with us round Flamborough Head and experience a Lifeboat trip. 18. Charities; super, yes, do it and make your cheque out and send it to us. What about your input, we enquired? Publicity: getting people to go on the sponsored trips? No, you do all that but you must not do anything before submitting your proposals, in writing, to us along with proof of suitable and acceptable, by us, insurance and third party liability and then getting our written permission to go ahead. You must not use our name on any publicity beforehand without approval from our senior management but don't forget to make your cheques payable to us and send them in. If however you feel this poses problems we are quite willing to accept a, no strings attached, donation and your cheque should be sent to- and we will publicise the fact in our next news letter. Bollocks, and this was from well known charities that are supposed to be desperate for money and throughout the year organise, back and publicise all sorts of events. We became very disillusioned as they were all the same. Do it all and send the money but don't do it unless we approve and say you can. I know they have a reputation to protect but so have we and if only they would have sat down with us we could have raised a lot of money for some very worthy causes. We may lack a little in professionalism, as far as fund raising is concerned, but we are not thick and learn fast. |
CHAPTER 55. The Last Leg. |
MY BIOGRAPHY. |
