Kalessin of Orwell is a 33ft Westerly Storm. In 2006-8 we sailed her down to Portugal, into the Med, and home through the French canals. In 2011 we explored Baltic Germany and Denmark. After Sam's stroke we cruised gently on the East Coast, the Netherlands and Brittany, and in 2021 sailed to Cornwall and back. In 2024, following Sam's death, Camilla plans a memorial round-Britain cruise
Sam in the bosun's chair
We'll work towards using a harness just for security, rather than as a hoist. In the meantime, at least we know that Sam can get on and off a Storm...
Success!
Well, here we are on board a Westerly Storm, Cyclone of Langstone, in Chichester Marina, all tucked up and ready to sleep.
Thank to the generosity and ingenuity of the Storm's owner, Rob, Sam has been on and off the boat twice. The best option seems to be to use a bosun's chair & topping lift to help him get up on to the boat and then walk/stagger along - the only problem being that it's quite hard to walk in a bosun's chair, even when you're fit!
After Rob rejoined his family and friends for the evening, Sam came up the companionway steps with only me to help and we sat in the evening sunshine drinking wine and eating M&S lasagne. How very lucky we were to have such a lovely evening. There are 1100 boats in this marina and it's a bank holiday weekend, but still remarkably peaceful and very beautiful.
Thank to the generosity and ingenuity of the Storm's owner, Rob, Sam has been on and off the boat twice. The best option seems to be to use a bosun's chair & topping lift to help him get up on to the boat and then walk/stagger along - the only problem being that it's quite hard to walk in a bosun's chair, even when you're fit!
After Rob rejoined his family and friends for the evening, Sam came up the companionway steps with only me to help and we sat in the evening sunshine drinking wine and eating M&S lasagne. How very lucky we were to have such a lovely evening. There are 1100 boats in this marina and it's a bank holiday weekend, but still remarkably peaceful and very beautiful.
We're going back to Augustenborg...
Augustenborg, last time we were there.... |
For the last few days I have been researching, dithering, agonising and generally messing about. However, as of yesterday morning, we have a Plan, as follows:
Sam, Guy, Ben and I, plus car and a lot of equipment, will be on a Stena ferry overnight from Harwich to the Hoek v Holland on 24 June, and will then drive up to Augustenborg.
There is a direct DFDS ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg, which is only 90 minutes' drive from Augustenborg. However, the return trip via DFDS would cost over £800, with no option to cancel, a charge for changing dates, and a four-berth inside cabin. The Stena ferry to the Hoek means a six-hour drive to Denmark for me, but costs just over £400 return. Stena is also much more flexible - you can change dates or even cancel - and allows us to book one disabled cabin and a separate one for the boys at modest cost. I had made up my mind to do DFDS direct to Esbjerg going out and Stena on the way back, then I went to the DFDS site to make the booking and the price had gone up another £50 overnight, so I got cross with the whole thing and went for Stena. The main thing is I MUST go to bed when we get on board - I have always failed so far because I love seeing Harwich harbour from the ferry as we leave, and then I don't get to bed until after midnight and end up with about five hours' sleep.
We will arrive in Augustenborg on the afternoon of Tuesday June 25, DV, and then have two full days to do antifouling and all the below waterline stuff. We have asked Anders Dahl, who runs the marina, to prepare for a launch on Friday 28th so we can sleep on board thereafter. With luck we will be able to sail early the following week. Guy will probably stay with us for a few days while we shake down. We can head down to the Flensburg Fjord on the Danish/German border, which is said to be very beautiful, very sheltered, is close to Augustenborg if things go wrong, and gives us access to Flensburg station where Guy can get a train south. Thereafter we can explore the Schlei (which we visited in 2011 with Ben, when we we spent a night at Maasholm and another at Kappeln) and the Eckenforde, and see how things go. If all is ok we can then loop up into the Danish LilleBaelt, explore a few islands and ports, and then go back to Augustenborg. Our return ferry is booked for 24 July but this may change.
Fallback plan: if things go very wrong we can (a) come back early or (b) take the car to Wulkow. The advantage of Stena is that we can come back any day they have space, as long as we pay any extra fares for that day. If things are ok but it becomes clear that sailing Kalessin is not a sustainable option we will take her back to Augustenborg, return to the UK by ferry, and arrange a delivery crew to bring her back to the UK.
The biggest challenge is going to be getting Sam on to and off the boat. His is walking more and more, but his right leg is still very weak, his right arm and hand non-functional, and his balance uncertain, and he depends on grab handles or a stick. We have had various thoughts about using a bosun's chair and a block and tackle slung from the boom, but because Kalessin's freeboard is relatively low we think the easiest option may be to lower the guardrails, get Sam to sit on the (wide) side-deck and then he can slide, crawl or stagger into the cockpit. Obviously this will only work if we have an alongside pontoon or jetty - we haven't worked out an option for a box mooring yet, other than the fact that we'll have to be stern to. Kalessin has a split backstay which will get in the way of any possible access over the stern. Sam may just have to stay on board!
On Saturday we're going down to Chichester to spend a night on a Westerly Storm - I asked for advice on the YBW forum and the owner offered us his boat to get on and off and has now offered it for an overnight so that we can practice living on board, which is incredibly generous (he isn't using it this weekend, but even so....). It will also allow me to measure up a few things which we might need.
There's a lot of preparation to do over the next month and it's all rather terrifying, but I think we are all agreed that we have to give it a go. Anyway, it means at last this blog can return to what it was meant for, and report on our adventures on board Kalessin of Orwell.
After the cruise
Farewell to Madeira |
We got back to the UK on 10 May and updated many friends via email about how we got on. This post is a slightly adapted version of the email.
We were on
P&O Oceana,
a "medium-sized" cruise ship with a mere 2000 passengers. We had an
adapted cabin with a sea view on Deck 8 (out of 15). We sailed from
Southampton and visited Lisbon, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La
Palma and Madeira.
On
the whole we had a really good time. The weather was pleasant, not
baking hot, but when the sun finally came out Sam got sunburned for the
first time I ever remember, so probably it was just as well that we had
some hazy days. P&O were very helpful in ensuring Sam could get
anywhere he wanted to go, with assistance to get on and off
the ship, on and off coaches (we went on three tours and also used
transfer buses) and in the restaurants on board. Pretty much all of the
ship was accessible to a wheelchair with the occasional heavy door
and/or lip to make it interesting. The down side was that because it's a
big ship Sam spent much more time than usual in the wheelchair, which was probably not ideal for him and hard work for me!
Our
cabin was spacious (to allow for a wheelchair), which was nice, but the
main adaptations were in the bathroom where there is a roll-in shower
and a good range of hand rails. I
gather bathrooms in normal cabins are much smaller. The wide open
spaces proved a bit of a liability on the last couple of days when we
had force 8 winds and a big swell on the beam - Sam finds balancing
difficult in bare feet, so using the shower and loo were a bit tricky.
The motion of the ship was really not a problem otherwise, although it
did make wheelchair pushing a bit difficult. My main issue in the cabin was
with a mysterious noise, apparently from a hydraulic feed to a lifeboat
- after a couple of appeals from me they managed to reduce the decibels
and the frequency, but I did have a few nights of rather poor sleep.
Life on
board was pretty luxurious with a wide range of activities - we had six
sea days in total so plenty of time to enjoy them. We weren't too
bothered about the evening shows and cabaret acts, but I enjoyed yoga
and used the gym, and Sam went to art classes (see pictures, link
below), and attended several lectures relating to WW2 history and the
operation of the ship. Food became a bit of a preoccupation, although we
did manage to stick to three meals a day, but there is always something
to eat available (I think there is a hiatus between 3.30am and 6.30am
but we coped ok with that). The standards are high but I did develop a
longing for crunchy bread and bean salads, neither of which were on
offer. In between times we spent a lot of time on the promenade deck
which is how cruising ought to be, with steamer chairs, teak decks,
quoits and other deck games, and the opportunity just to gaze out to
sea. (There is a lido deck on top of the
ship with swimming pools and plastic sun-loungers for those who like
that sort of thing). P&O offers a middle ground between formality
and relentless fun, but it is a rather Daily-Mail-reading, ITV-watching
kind of world. Unfortunately, I don't think we could afford a cruise for
Guardian readers and BBC4-watchers, if such a thing exists.
Many
of the ports of call slope up from the sea, with lots of steps on the
steeper islands, so generally we didn't venture too far inland.
Nevertheless we managed to find some delightful, quiet spots away from
at least some of our fellow passengers. It was lovely to see Lisbon
again, although it was a bit of a rush, and we also loved Madeira where
I had never been before, and would be more than happy to go again - we
took a coach tour a little way inland to see the fantastic views and
plant life. On Gran Canaria we visited the little port of Puerto de
Mogan, which was lovely (at least compared with the rest of Gran
Canaria, which displays Spanish enthusiasm for covering hillisides in
concrete boxes) and where I managed my only swim in the sea - I couldn't
persuade Sam to venture in :-). Santa Cruz de Tenerife brought back
memories for me of being there in a hurricane in 2005 and we found a
lovely area near the church for lunch.
The $64 million question is, would we do it again? I've been looking at alternatives for this time next year (or a bit earlier),
including a couple of weeks in a nice hotel on Madeira, different
cruise lines, and even a trip on Tenacious (the wheelchair-accessible
tall ship). At the moment I'm veering wildly between views. I think part
of the value of a cruise, which is hard to quantify, is the feeling of
being part of a community - there was always someone for me to talk to,
which certainly wouldn't be the case if Sam and I travelled alone, and
always someone to organise things or offer help. It was wonderful for
Sam to be able to participate in so much with very little worry about
whether things would be manageable. On the other hand being part of a
group of 2000 people everywhere you go, and having only a few hours to
explore each destination, is not my ideal kind of travel. Any
thoughts you may have on the best option(s) would be very welcome!
There are more pictures of the cruise in a separate post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Merry Christmas from just me
Video of photos made for Sam's funeral Dear friends and family As I hope you all know, this year has been a difficult one for me. On ...
-
Video of photos made for Sam's funeral Dear friends and family As I hope you all know, this year has been a difficult one for me. On ...
-
I thought it might be helpful to put details of Sam's funeral online. There will be an inquest into his death because he had a fall, but...
-
Sam Brown, 28 May 1940 - 6 September 2023. On Sunday 27 August, Sam was feeling a bit under the weather and stayed in bed for most of ...