Solent to Scotland

Tintin treks north

John Simpson looks back on a summer trip up the North Sea then across the Caledonian Canal to the west coast that has taken on an extra poignancy

Sometime has elapsed now for me to write about my good friend Clive Anderson’s last fight with life. It has been a bit raw to write before. He bought his secondhand 43-foot yacht from another Scotsman at Moody’s at the top of the Hamble then asked me if I would help to sail her back to Scotland, starting at the beginning of March from the

Hamble. At the time he was already fighting for his life, having been diagnosed with cancer but he opted to seize the day and carry on cruising.

Our early legs were great, making many quick miles, due to a named storm blowing through just before we left. Heading east from the

Solent, we were lucky to have on board Lisa: she is a very fine crew but could only do the first leg.

Clive needed treatment for his PHOTOS JOHN SIMPSON cancer every two weeks, which meant we did quite a few miles in hire cars, scooting from north to south and back again. Very few serious problems occurred with his Ovni 435 Tintin, particularly as she had been a charter boat before Clive bought her and had clearly been well cared for.

Berthing her was easy. Though I did experiment with her keel lifted in Lowestoft - we were immediately blown sideways quickly onto another boat.

Leaving from there was tricky however as we were poorly charted and his plotter was not updated fully. We left before dawn to catch the tide with a big swell after an easterly gale, which was not very comfy; we could easily have lost her with the shifting banks there.

Benefits of shallow draft

At Hartlepool we lost the morse controls after locking into the marina. This was alleviated by a local shipwright who saw our plight from his own boat and towed us into a berth with his flubber. We left a bit late from there and just got away with her keel and rudder well raised by slithering down the mud bank after the lock. Watched by the lock staff in total amazement.

Given the cold, mostly northwest or northerly winds about Force 4 to 6 plus after Clive’s latest chemo, many of the early part of each of these legs he naturally felt very poorly. Those early passages were mostly on my own; whether driving to windward under sail or motoring; she was a lovely tough cruising yacht.

The autopilot did most of the work, I would just duck under the sprayhood, which was okay; then do the odd trip below to check on Clive, to make a brew or eat some scoff.

It felt very quiet down there; often I would start the heater to keep him warm until he felt better from his treatment. If we arrived early enough and we’d found a good fish restaurant we ate very well. Arriving later there would still be a curry house or even Chinese still open.

ABOVE

Friend and skipper Clive on the Hamble prior to our trip north

Bonny and Blyth

My wife Janet had fallen and hurt herself during our first leg; but my sister stepped in like a brick giving me her car to get home

to Argyll rapidly. After that we had easily driven Tintin into the north of England to Blyth; then had to head back a few miles to Newcastle due to bad weather; we could not leave her at Blyth.

Another of Clive’s friends, Doug Cameron, joined him from Newcastle to Peterhead, which I felt rather bad about, but he understood Clive’s illness a lot better than I. Actually, worked out well for me as this was the start of my wife’s Alzheimer’s. So, this was also probably a blessing for Clive because he was forced to skipper Tintin more and he got to know her well. Clive took a long break plus small refit at Peterhead, which allowed his family and friends to go on board his new toy. waters after visiting 23 ports.

We met many interesting characters in these places sailing round the UK coast. This type of voyage is much more difficult than crossing an ocean and many of these fine yachtsmen reflected this.

Clive was a giant soul, his tough Highland spirit carried him through the tough times.

A few weeks later we took Tintin out further west to St Kilda and you could positively feel his joy. This was his wonderful penultimate summer. The next season we did some more cruising on the west coast, but he left us soon after his cancer finally took to his brain.

His big heart and optimism is still with me whenever I am feeling down. The fact was we were quite

Caledonian Canal

After that it felt much easier continuing the journey as we both understood his boat more, plus the weather was mostly kinder. Joining him again at Peterhead, we took her to Inverness and the start of the Caledonian canal.

Because I was still working, I did not have time to go through the canal. Stuart and then his wife Linda joined us for these legs.

Finally, Clive finished his long struggle from down south to where he had planned to keep her in Arisaig on the west coast. His voyage round about two-thirds of the UK had started off in Spring with the cold North Sea; then ended three and a half months later in warmer, wet and balmy Hebridean

ABOVE LEFT

St Kilda was a stunning conclusion to our northward trek

ABOVE RIGHT

Gennaker up en route to St Kilda

BELOW LEFT

Crewmember Linda at the sea lock at the entrance to the Caledonian Canal

BELOW RIGHT

Coming alongside and Amble, Northumberland

different as a Highland Scot and an Essex sailor, but it never made any difference to us. Except when watching rugby at either Twickers or at Murrayfield; then we could fall out quite badly, even though on my Mum’s Yorkshire side of her family there were family members who originally came from Scotland. Perhaps that helped us to not be totally at odds most of the time; or was it just that we had both been world travellers, seen a lot of life and recognised what was more important.

Ovni advantages

Personally, I would not buy an aluminum French Ovni yacht. I prefer tiny yachts I can singlehanded with plenty more performance and much faster; but if I was heading right up north or south they are perfect for these adventurous voyages; an Ovni would be on my list. We had very few problems with the boat and although quite technical, it was mostly easy to fix with an excellent manual. We had a wee Morse problem in Hartlepool; another tiny fault in Scarborough before that with the bow thruster, which took us about three hours to fix. The electronic self-steering let go on the way up the Forth into Lossiemouth, having lost hydraulic oil from an old pipe connection. Plus the aft bog went wrong, but these were all minor problems; especially for a 10-year old bareboat ex-charter yacht.

The lifting keel and rudder gives this boat another special dimension, which is why this concept of cruising yacht is the way to go - provided

Clive’s maiden trip would be a remarkable achievement for anyone, more so for someone who had almost no intestines left. Once he summed it up with his Scottish way, “I’ve got a very small tail pipe now, John. Dinna you worry how often I have to go to the loo, after eating.” 10 days later Clive, Stuart and I took Tintin out to St Kilda and back during a 10-day passage for her first west coast jaunt. I will never forget the smile on his face and his joy walking on a bit of virgin sand in Village Bay with a huge amount of seabirds around.

At one stage we were running down to the south to Skye with his Tintin spinnaker set; watching a sea eagle being mobbed by smaller buzzards in Loch Bharcasaig in Skye. Even tried to fish (illegally) in the shadow of the Grey Corries at Loch Coruisk in competition with Stuart, when we had dropped the pick overnight in Scaviag. It was fun being able to show him some of my favourite spots on the west coast.

My mate Clive was not the same as most normal men from the northeast of Scotland. He had worked offshore all round the world, and was incredibly good at surveying to find oil. He had worked offshore for most of his life and was paid big money, then he would stay ashore for equal periods of time. He loved many women, but his time at sea and a travelling lifestyle did not lead him into any long-term relationships. He was great fun; special times would be freshwater fishing for salmon or trout in either Scotland or New Zealand (his mum was Kiwi) in extremely fast rivers. I'll treasure the memories of our last cruise together.

you can afford one and want to push out your cruising parameters into ice, shallow water, etc. But it would keep you very warm and is a beautifully designed long-distance cruising yacht. In fact, it is one of the warmest, quietest, most efficient yachts for the size I have ever sailed on. The French, the French, what is it with the French? They are always pushing design things on; as perhaps they have always done. Obviously, some is by computer design; but then they say: “let’s go and see how this works offshore?” Perhaps because I have an Anglo-Saxon brain these concepts are way beyond me; but I don’t lose any sleep about that.

Remembering a friend

It was interesting meeting voyaging people sailing round the UK that season; most were heading south to the sun. Many of them have impressed me about our island’s ability to give them this freedom for travel; particularly those doing it on a small budget with scruffy, often cramped, craft. We were lucky to enjoy their company.

ABOVE

A good portent at Tobermory

BELOW

Clive giving Tintin a good scrub down

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Simpson grew up on the Thames Estuary at Leigh-onSea, sailing with his parents on an old sailing smack and later racing dinghies. Once married with children, a career in yacht racing, delivering, coaching, and examining followed. He has plenty of single-handed miles and three Atlantic crossings to his name, and no plans to stop any time soon