Water Gipsy - ‘Antiope’ newsletter August 2009

 Blog from original Newsletter August 2009          

It’s all the same but different

Burnham on Crouch, in Essex is where I learnt to sail, run aground, read a tidetable, drink beer and discover girls.
Here I am again, hopefully older and wiser, and this time with a big motor boat!
Yes we have bought the boat in which to explore Europe. Her name ‘Antiope’ or ant-eye-oh-pee.
It nearly didn’t happen, as our sortie to Holland failed to come up with the goods. Yes, there were some very smart and well presented craft over there but in the end, very few ticked all of our boxes and none were within our budget. It seemed that the Netherlands are not feeling the recession and there were no bargains to be had. Our funds were in Sterling which is still suffering against the Euro.
 We did however find friendly folk and some wonderful old towns, owing their heritage to the waterways. We developed a must-come-back feeling, and a determination to explore the country more slowly by water, and in our own

A Watergate in the Netherlands at Sneek

Taking stock on our return to England we now had a firm idea of what we were looking for in a boat.

So it was head down, back on the internet again, and there, just listed on the ‘Boatshed’ website, a sort of boating Trade me, was what looked like the perfect fit. A phone call to the broker and we headed down to Gallions Reach marina. This is a rather grand title for a forgotten corner of the old London Royal docks near Woolwich and directly under the end of the city airport runway. There, covered in a layer of avgas soot was ‘Antiope’ a ‘Branson 46’, or 14m of steel trawler style motor yacht. It seemed that a buyer had pulled out and the owners having bought another boat just wanted her sold.

Antiope unloved in a London Dock

With a bit of courage, a survey, sea trial and a huge leap of faith, we became her new owners, with co-conspirators Roger and Robyn who have been working alongside us on this project for the past two years.
The deal done, we had a hasty planning meeting before our new partners had to fly home that same evening back to work and family in Australia.

For us, a run up the Thames to check that the essential systems worked seemed like a good idea, also a chance to visit friends in Shepperton, and to the familiar non tidal waters that we knew from Water Gipsy days. 

                                                    Visiting friends in Shepperton

We were learning more every day as we delved into Antiope’s past, finding papers and records in various drawers.  She learnt that she was built to cross the Atlantic and explore polar waters but more of that later.
We quickly gained confidence in her good natured handling ability. But it was clear that recent years of neglect demanded a haul out for a good bottom paint and to give us the opportunity to set her up for European waters.
Burnham on Crouch came up in conversation as an affordable place to do the work. So here we are. We had an interesting run down the Thames in typically stormy July weather, vivid memories of estuary shallows and tidal currents times came rushing back. Many centuries of silt have washed down the river and settled in a web of very tricky sandbanks. Wind turbines now march out along these ridges. We had to voyage 8 miles out to sea before there was enough water for us to turn north and head back inland and up the river Crouch for a well earned beer.  Burnham can still boast 15 pubs,
 4 yacht clubs, and a yacht marina that did not exist when I last sailed here.
                     

                                    Hauling  out at Burnham, ready to start work on the hull


  Charles and Annie

The Rhine River?

Blog from our August 2010 newsletter 

No, not quite Cologne, Paris, Amsterdam or Bruges, but with a real summer in England, cruising the Thames has been hard to beat.
We arrived in England in May to find that Antiope had fared well through one of the hardest winters for decades, and once re-launched our plan was to head out for sea trials, before making the crossing over to Europe..
We soon found that winter was not exactly over. The onboard heating system needed an overhaul, the anchor winch wouldn’t, and fuel was finding its way to places it shouldn’t. There is nothing like going to sea to find out what needs fixed! Our partners Roger and Robyn also had to cut short their cruise, called back to Australia unexpectedly.
Time to take stock..  After all, Antiope had languished, unloved in a London Dock for a year or two before we found her and since then we had only cruised a few miles in calm waters, while also treating her gently.
Better to sort the problems and finish the refit in England we thought.
Invitations to do a bit of offshore sailing were also in the air.
It did seem like a good idea to at least escape the clutches of the river Crouch before the doom merchants in the bar started muttering about us rotting in harbour.
The Suffolk rivers of the East coast just a day’s run north was my boyhood playground and worth revisiting. We soon found that driving a launch from the shelter of the cabin has its merits punching into a cold northeaster, not a trip that I would have enjoyed under sail. Ipswich dock became our home for a few weeks, this historic area long since disused commercially has been transformed into a friendly marina close the heart of town

Spritsail barges in Ipswich dock.

In the days of sail, these barges would load grain and hay here to feed London. Some of these lovingly preserved Spritsail rigged barges still charter and barge races are a spectacle on this coast.
For much of June a persistent strong NE wind churned up the North Sea and ideas of exploring the Norfolk broads dimmed. A run up the Thames became more appealing all the time. After a few jobs had been ticked off, taking advantage of a lull in the weather, with an early start and a fair tide,  we made a trouble free day’s run up to Limehouse dock  London.  Antiope sensed that she was back in familiar waters. For us too Limehouse dock had been a favourite stop in the Water Gipsy days.
It also heralded a turning point in the summer weather. 

           
                                                 Antiope, a tight fit in a Thames lock

Locks,Bridges and Pubs punctuated our voyage over the next ten days, all the way up river to the heart of Oxford.

       
              
                                            Moored outside the famous ‘Angel’ pub Henley

The very low arched Folly bridge was the final test, if we could clear this we should be able to navigate through most of France. For the Riverhead pub full of Oxford students with a grandstand view of the bridge, waiting for craft to get it wrong is daily entertainment.
                         

                                                   The ‘Folly bridge’ Oxford,   

With canopy down and a careful line up we made it with 10cm to spare, winning a cheer from the shore.
Antiope was able to cruise 150 miles in from the sea, and while there always seemed to be another job to do, we have also enjoyed the company of friends aboard. It has been a busy season. 
As the northern summer cools and the autumn winds start to drive the leaves from the trees, we will put Antiope to bed once more in North Fambridge, Essex. She is now much better prepared for the waterways of Europe in 2011, her crew too now have the measure of handling locks and bridges.
Our plans for 2011 have yet to be set in stone.  An Antiope website is on the job list.

Cheers Charles and Anne,
‘ Antiope’   Shepperton on Thames