22nd June - Our grateful thanks

Mission accomplished - tying up at Gravesend 16:15 Fri 19 June

First and foremost, our grateful thanks to our support team leader:- Sarah Maltby. Without the Master Marinette, the crew would have died of thirst, hunger and exhaustion. Our bags and assorted kit were always where they needed to be (which was frequently in three different places on the same night); bananas, Mars Bars and water were always on board and, just like the RNLI, she was always there for us - with arnica, Nurofen and a smile.

To Commander James and Diana Ekins, who provided a superb escort RIB and without them we would have been mere jetsam on the tide. In Xanadu they escorted us throughout our time on the tideway and covered well over 100 miles there and back. Without their support we could not have safely considered the tidal part of the odyssey. Martin Stanley also gave much-needed support and encouragement on Friday on his RIB Bear All, and crucially arranged the mooring of both Gannet Ripple and Xanadu on Cadogan Pier.

To the station managers and crews of four RNLI lifeboats (Chiswick, Tower 1 and 2 and Gravesend) who acted as splendid outriders and gave us invaluable advice on handling barges, catamarans and the Woolwich ferry. Their advice was, basically, get out of the way, as they won’t even feel you.

To Alexanders Roe and Ross, the remainder of our support team, who have helped us with the planning and stepped in to run the households during the odyssey, as well being a crack team of administrators and photographers.

We want especially to thank our hosts who were so incredibly generous and hospitable to us on our voyage downriver:

Philip and Christine Blackwell
Jono and Anna Gage
Nick and Belinda Boyd
Tony and Nicola Lawrence
Anthony and Liz Hudson
David and Catherine Bertie
Andrew and Gilly Howard
Alastair and Jessica Speare-Cole
David Rosier

You have all helped in so many and varied ways:

Jollyon Coombes, for lending his oars (Jollyon rowed the Thames in May). Unfortunately, we had to use them a great deal more than we anticipated.
Rob Gray, for the loan of rowlocks.
Mike Samuelson, our BSC cyber-secretary and blog co-ordinator.
Bill Mitchell, Coombes Boatyard, Bembridge.
Rod Rowsell, BSC Boatman, for unearthing an old tiller in his boatshed for us to modify.
Alan and his team at Spinnaker Chandlery, Bembridge.
Sarah Fremantle, for the loan of her trailer.
Preston family, for the loan of everything from their scow as spares.
Fabian and Pippa French, for the loan of their Laser spinnaker.
Lechlade Marina.
Simon (President, RNLI Gloucestershire) and Penelope Preston.
Peter and Dick Freebody, Boatbuilders and Restorers at Henley.
Lord Boyce, Chairman of RNLI.
Lord Iliffe, for Penton Hook Marina.
Mike Gates, Marina Manager, Penton Hook Marina.
Dave Chawick, Penton Hook Marine Services.
Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, for organising a waving crowd from the Houses of Parliament.
Gravesend Sailing Club.

And, finally, to all of you who have so generously donated to this cause, from us and the RNLI Bembridge Lifeboat Station, our heartfelt thanks.

20th June - In conclusion

At Fundraising HQ, the administrative nerve centre, Figurehead was back at her task of monitoring the Just Giving website, methodically recording the cheques you have sent (if you’re reading this and haven’t yet donated, we know who you are and where you live) and arranging the thanks to all you kind and generous people. Her siblings are sent an updated funds spreadsheet daily. She goes to the gym. (She also goes back to the Pinot and fags.)

Meanwhile, Master Mariner and the Ship’s Bimbo drove to Gravesend Sailing Club. We found the town in a bit of a stew as we had left our RNLI banner flying from the forestay at half-mast. Several calls had been made throughout the night to check on the health and whereabouts of various RNLI coxswain and crew. Once matters were sorted, we were kindly taken by launch to collect our trusty scow and then Gannet Ripple made a somewhat undignified and lopsided exit from the water by hoist. (There again, this isn’t the first undignified position she has got into since she started, and that includes the tussle between a willow tree and her mast in which the willow lost.)

Having been delayed by essential centreboard repairs, our only regret is having to accept, reluctantly, a tow on Thursday evening to avoid being sucked back up-river to Richmond on a surging flood tide. We had to make Cadogan Pier that night or our entire tidal schedule would have been scuppered. Failure to catch the tide and the broken centreboard were potential showstoppers.

England in June, a glorious river, the kindness of strangers, perfect company and an adorable little boat. A lot of sweat, remarkably little blood and absolutely no family feuds. As Gannet Ripple would say, if she could speak: “Who needs abroad?”

19th June - The Tideway: Central London and beyond...

'Soaring' past the Houses of Parliament - 19 June

Master Mariner had skilfully arranged the entire odyssey to end on kindly tides through London (11:30 at London Bridge) so we had a leisurely 09:15 start. We spent the first hour unravelling shrouds, stays, sheets, painters, warps, springs and banana skins after a slightly undignified and extremely delayed arrival at Cadogan Pier the night before. (We thank all of you who live nearby and turned out last night to witness the crew crawl shivering onto the pontoon.)

Hair and make-up for Figurehead and the Ship’s Bimbo, but Master Mariner declined the opportunity, citing time and tide, and we left Cadogan Pier in naval time for our journey downriver to the Houses of Parliament. Unfortunately, being early isn’t always best, and the tide was still on a furious flood. We hugged the south bank and ‘soared’ under sail and oar with an escort provided by the RNLI (one Chiswick and two Tower lifeboats) and Commander James Ekins in his RIB. At the critical moment the wind decided to take a short break, forcing Master Mariner to row across the river to Westminster on a flood tide; the Ship’s Bimbo and Figurehead then did shifts on the blades in front of Parliament. Never again will we complain about rowing out to a Bembridge harbour mooring. Keen to test the nation’s security, we toyed with the idea of ‘soaring’ inside the yellow security buoys. However, the sight of several blokes with sub-machine guns trained on Figurehead sent us scurrying for Westminster Bridge.

Once the tide turned, we screamed down the river towards Tower Bridge. This stretch is like the M25, Hyde Park Corner without traffic lights, Marble Arch, the Solent on a sunny bank holiday and Rome rolled into one; tugs towing colossal barges, aggressive ferries and vast catamaran water taxis, all driven by white van Italian man on a boiling, swirling, soupy tide, a Thorpe Park ‘Stealth’ of a ride.

On a powerful ebb and with a force 5 westerly behind us, we ran past Greenwich, radioed permission to pass through the Thames Barrier and then Gannet Ripple settled comfortably to her task. Here our river charts ended. We had dropped off the edge of the riverine world. As we fished around for our sea charts in Master Mariner’s handbag, it felt as though Gannet Ripple herself knew she was back where she belonged – massive container ships, channel buoys, cardinal marks and one heck of a tide. She is truly a sea boat and, whilst making an incredible 7.6 knots over land, the shake of the wind in her sail and the slap under her hull, she sounded at home for the first time since we left Gloucestershire 8 days before.

At times it became a howling, Magwitch of a landscape; grey scudding clouds lowered over mile upon mile of rotting, skeletal factories, redundant chimneys, hillocks of stinking landfill, the odd wind turbine and distant towerblocks. Occasionally, with a chill wind on our backs, we would pass signs of life: a belching stack, sliding cranes, a dirty British coaster, and gliding portainers at quietly active Friday afternoon Tilbury.

After travelling 30 miles from Chelsea, and given that our trusty scow was only insured up to 5 nautical miles off land, we decided to call it a day. With Thameshaven, Canvey Island, Southend and the open sea in sight, we executed a final lap of honour and the Gravesend lifeboat escorted us to an RNLI swing mooring just off Gravesend Sailing Club.

Arriving at Cadogan Pier, cold, tired but still able to drink champagne - 18th June

Cadogan Pier RNLI Escort - 19 June

Photo shoot passing the Houses of Parliament - 19 June

London Eye - 19 June

Big River, little boat

HMS Belfast & Tower Bridge - 19 June

Thames Barrier - 19 June

Friday afternoon rush hour on the M25 QE2 Bridge - 19 June

18th June - Follow-up

With a strong westerly we made up some time under a properly filled sail, part short-tacking and part running, and quite a bit of paddling as the river twists up and down on its way into London. At Richmond lock we were outraged to have to hand over a £2.50 toll for our tiny sailing boat while our escort RIBS driven by Commander James Ekins and Martin Stanley went through free.

Once past Teddington we were in the tideway, where we were accompanied by the Chiswick RNLI lifeboat, but our centreboard failure meant that we didn't catch the full ebb, and by Hammersmith we were fighting a vicious flood tide. In order to make Cadogan Pier in time we had to accept, reluctantly, that events were against us, and that we needed a tow. But we managed a final run close to the south shore under Battersea Bridge and up to the Pier and a welcoming crowd.

Tomorrow (Friday): hair and makeup for a 11:30 photo call below the Houses of Parliament.

18th June

We are very grateful indeed to Dave at Penton Hook Marina, who managed to weld a small plate to the centreboard lever that we hope will stop it snapping in half on the tideway.

More than an hour late as a result of the urgent repairs, but the Master Mariner bent to his blades and we were off.

We reckon our timings today - all being well - are roughly as follows:

Hampton Court Bridge: 13:30
Teddington Lock 15:30
Kew Bridge: 16:15
Hammersmith Bridge: 16:45
Putney Bridge: 17:30
Cadogan Pier: 18:30.

If you want to wave please be ready to wait a bit if we're not there - it all depends on the wind and the waves, as always!

17th June - Windsor

Eyes right for the Royal Salute - 17 June

We broke the speed limit today. Our humble scow came into her own as we short-tacked down the river from Marlow in the face of a stiff southerly. We made 6 knots on a 5 knot river - our first real day of sailing. As we sailed past Eton we responded to Charlie E-W's challenge and gave a fair rendition of the Eton boating song, although being sailors rather than oarspersons we decided to alter some of the more tiresome rowing references.

A major disaster occurred soon after: we hoisted the sail along with the Ship's Bimbo's 'handbag'. The sail stayed up; the 'handbag' didn't. The Master Mariner executed a superb MOB drill and the Bimbo recovered her rucksack from the river, but all was in vain: mobile, camera, credit cards, and worst of all the Chanel make-up were ruined.

Just when it seemed all was well, the temporary fix on our centreboard gave way, leaving the centreboard hanging off a single nut below the boat out of reach. We have spares of almost everything, even the Ship's Bimbo, but a spare centreboard lever is not in the box. We shall probably have to sail through London in this state.

Locks: 8, Sail hoists: 14, Miles: 22

16th June - Henley

A technical hitch on Henley’s Golden Mile delayed procedure today. The centreboard lever developed a crack almost the entire way across. It required fixing immediately otherwise we would lose all use of the centreboard and therefore all steerage.

We were absolutely determined not to be forced to abandon the tidal part of our fundraiser so we put in a call to Bill Mitchell (Coombes Boatyard, Bembridge). He pointed us in the direction of Peter Freebody, a former Bembridge man, who builds and restores the glorious slipper launches at Henley. Incredibly, Freebody’s Boatyard was only two miles downstream and, despite being fantastically busy in the lead up to Henley Royal Regatta, Peter, Dick and his team downed tools and set to work welding the lever. We are eternally grateful to them for their time in support of the Bembridge RNLI Appeal. A humble scow repaired amongst the aristocracy of the river.

Essential repairs

Short-tacking across the Henley Royal Regatta Course

Warm welcome at Henley from BSC members Andrew and Gilly Howard

Watch out there's an eight about to bump you

Total for the day - 6 locks, final mast drop, 16 miles covered, 10 minutes sailing & no spinnaker hoists

14th June

Hot Girls - 14 June

'Soaring' down the Thames

Rural idyll

Trying to fill the spinnaker (the exciting new 'Maltby rig') on a mill pond

Andy, the lock keeper at Sandford Lock, very kindly allowed us to tie up longside his lock, and he kept Gannet Ripple's sail and kit in his office overnight. Tonight, Sunday evening, Bob, the lock keeper at Benson Lock let us do the same thing.

Our thanks to Jim of the good ship Yr Brach who called us over and gave a fantastic donation to the RNLI Appeal.

We were hoping, at this stage along the river, to find some wind to relieve the tedium and the sheer physical effort of rowing a scow. But, while others chugged, glided and paddled on a hot Sunday in June, we were slogging away on our oars in order to reach Benson Lock before nightfall.

It's clear that our assumption that there would be at least a little wind was wildly over-optimistic. As we hauled past the Sailing Club at Abingdon, we asked a man undersail (just) in a Lark if there was ever any wind. He looked up at his limp canvas. "Couple of times a year", came the reply.

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
Locks	6	7	7
Mast Drops	8	7	1
Successful Spinnaker Hoists	0	1	1
Unsuccessful Spinnaker Hoists	1	9	23
Miles Covered	19	18	19
Hours Rowing	10.5	10	9.5
Hours Sailing	0	2 mins	5 mins

13th June

Another bridge to drop the mast for ... 13 June

Its a long way down - 13 June

"You gotta remember that the wind always goes up-river", called out a helpful fellow mariner as we slogged the final mile of the day to Sandford Lock. Having passed through the peaceful Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire countryside, we are now just south of a drunken Saturday night Oxford.

Gannet Ripple is moored by a roaring pub and, as we shall have to do every night from now on, has been stripped of all her loose parts. We put in our first tack on the most northerly point of the Thames just west of Oxford, and were rewarded with a Red Arrows fly-past.

We have slithered through 13 greasy locks in two days and crawled under the lowest bridge on the navigable river. We dropped our mast 8 times yesterday and 7 times today using a spectacularly slick technique. The Master Mariner's awfully good at dropping things too. A brisk halyard release meant the gaff reached terminal velocity on his forehead.

The sail has been up most of the day. But the oars have also been out all day. More rowing than sailing; 'soaring' perhaps. Three knackered Maltbys out of a boat signing off.

12th June - The Start: Gloucestershire

About to start the epic voyage - 12 June

Heading off into the unknown - 12 June

First lock - 12 June

Scow in a rural setting - 12 June

Scows & Cows - 12 June

In the dank depths of Rushey Lock, Chris and Wendy on board Star Gazer, presented us with an offer of a lifetime - Saturday night at a Pirates and Wenches party. So whilst the Master Mariner downed his third pint, Figurehead and the Ship's Bimbo spent the afternoon fashioning their outfits from 3 RNLI burgees. Between them.

The Ship's Bimbo, with her usual skill, managed to make it to The Trout without so much as lifting an oar. And got her lunch paid for too. At the same hostelry, the Master Mariner received a fantastic donation from Phil Miles who, coincidentally, has a good friend on the Bembridge Lifeboat crew, Jason Bayliss.

So we finished the day as we began: with a shore party. BSC member Simon Preston, President of the Gloucestershire RNLI, and Penelope, leading the launch party at one end and their son, Mark, and nephew, Philip Blackwell, welcoming us at his boathouse near Appleton, some 20 miles and 11 hours later downstream.

There is no longer a telephone line to Lechlade Marina. Our mast took that out 10 yards out from the slip.