9th April: Nancy’s fitting-out, delayed by the mast problems, takes place in appalling weather. It includes a replacement for the Origo spirit cooker – the old one was in a sorry state. Later, the volunteers enjoy a convivial evening in the Cherry Tree pub.
[fsg_gallery id=”40″]12th May: First of this season’s evening sails – a popular addition to the schedule, from about 4.30-9.00pm for a modest donation to funds.
21st May: BBC Radio Suffolk visits Nancy’s ‘Push the Boat Out’ open weekend at Woolverstone, and roving reporter Simon Warr is shown how to tie a bowline knot by Peter Willis. Made surprisingly good radio, especially as it enabled us to claim he’d succeeded!
9th June: The cast of Eastern Angles’ “We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea” visit Nancy for some familiarisation and publicity photos. Peter shows Rosalind Steele, who plays Susan how to tie a bowline, only to discover she’s a dab hand at the smart way of doing it (forget about the bunny and the tree).
[fsg_gallery id=”41″]21st June: Christina Hardyment comes for a sleepover, with her lovely golden retriever Leo and friend Doug. A cheerful dinner at the Butt is attended by Doug’s sister Penny who lives locally and promptly joins the Trust.
23rd July: Aldeburgh YC’s Junior Lapwing weekend, which includes a showing of “Swallows and Amazons”, with a Q&A by Sophie Neville (and the Nancy Blackett stall) at the town’s cinema. Swallow attends. Nancy herself doesn’t make it, but comes up the river a couple of weekends later and her crew, headed by Richard Wainwright, are welcomed to a dinner as the 7th August log records: “A jolly dinner yesterday evening with the Lapwing class in the Aldeburgh Yacht Club”.
[fsg_gallery id=”44″]30th August: Nancy takes a trip down Orwell to Harwich for a photo-shoot, and coincidentally met some Trust members in their own boat, Lizzie. On the way home, Nancy was coincidentally spotted by Lucy Wilson of Imray who had also been on the Orwell for Imray’s annual sailing day with the authors of their East Coast Pilot book. Serendipty led to Trust President Peter Willis e-mailing a request for a pilot book the very next day, and before long Lucy and her daughters had joined the Trust and enjoyed their first sail on Nancy on a beautiful late September day, with a return visit planned for the next summer.
16th September: Salvage! As Nancy was heading up the Orwell at the end of the Pearson family cruise, the crew spotted a drifting yacht, the 21ft Firefly, evidently broken free of her moorings. Nancy and another yacht, Yellow Welly, circled Firefly while Yellow Welly called up assistance from Geoff Prentice at the Royal Harwich and King’s workboat from Pin Mill, which arrived first on the scene. Meanwhile Nancy hauled alongside the drifting yacht and, well fendered, managed to secure lines aboard and take her in tow alongside.
4th October: Year 4 pupils from Brandeston preparatory school visit for a day exploring Nancy and working on signals, flags and other nautical stuff.
15th October: Lift-out: After a week of nervously watching the weather, Skipper John Smith makes a dawn break and brings Nancy round to the Tidemill for pre-lift-out stripping. She arrives at 12.15, and by 3pm she’s all ready for the yard to collect. And the season ends as it began with a convivial dinner at the Cherry Tree.
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