Narrow Seas Club Rally Calendar 2018 is now available.

See Calendar -> Rally Calendar

The final departure from St Katherines Docks was scheduled for 10:02 on Saturday the 19th. But after the lock gate jammed and was finally freed by a young man with a sledge hammer the NSC boats, Pax, Storm, Quintet, Emma Rose and Blue Moon finally motored out leaving Rioja in St Katherines for another week. The six boats and a multitude of crew had spent an interesting week of socialising, drinking (yes we had a few) and visiting various venues. But the week started with a drama when on Saturday on the approach to the dock, about a 1/2 mile short of the dock, Rioja had picked up a rope floating beneath the surface which resulted in a sudden loss of power so a quick thinking skipper ( I ain’t getting into who that is ) put out a call for help. They and their two additional crew; Peter and Tracy Hayward of Shearwater, were quickly assisted by a 20 ft riverboat rib, a Police boat and a Fire Rescue boat all responding to the call for help from Rioja as they quickly raised sails again to regain some momentum. They were subsequently towed into Limehouse where Mark donned a wet suit and took a dive into the murky depths to cut the rope from the prop, some men just love being a hero so he was rewarded with a box of Cadbury’s Milk Tray, honest he really was.

The rest of the week was less dramatic but lively. There was also a trip around The Tower of London, organised by Rioja. A group meal attended by all crews at a local curry house organised and attended by Mark and Barbara Salmon who live locally which was also attended by Chris and Jenny Higgs who drove from Burnham to be with us. A total of 16 members and crews.

The exit which as already mentioned was slow but interesting and thanks to Lynda and Mark (Rioja) we have several pictures to show you.

All in now for the long haul home

Whilst Quintet made for Queenborough, they obviously like a carvery, the rest made for Burnham arriving at about 20:30. The carvery is another tale for another day.

My personal thanks to all for a wonderful week.

The annual St Kats rally will set off on Friday 11th August at approx, 08:00 with the ebb tide to enable the first group of 5 participants to take the flood tide from the Whittaker up to the Medway and then overnight at Queenborough, although some may use Holehaven on the North side. The plan is to leave on Saturday morning and take the flood up river to enable our booked lock in at 16:30. The return will be on Saturday 19th leaving at the earliest high water lock out and return to Burnham in one long hit.

Those who have done this before will know the fun and excitement of milling around at Tower Bridge waiting for the call to enter the lock into St Kats, those who are doing it for the first time, “stay awake” the ferries need a sharp eye and you need to be alert. It is normally a fun trip and the stay in the dock is a great week, no matter how many times you have been to Tower Hill it is spectacular from the river and the social scene once inside is usually up to or above the normal NSC party standard.

If you are not going by boat why not come and have a drink on board  with us in the dock. We don’t at the time of writing know where in St Kats we will be placed but you can find us easily just look for the NSC ensign…