MESSING ABOUT ON THE RIVER

Active water sports on the River Tees

Thanks to the generosity of the Primary Club

On 21 September 17 blind and visually impaired people, including 6 youngsters from local schools nervously gathered at the Teesside Watersports Centre for a full day of Powerboating, Sailing and Kayaking. All of this was possible because of a grant from the Primary Club.

 The weather was glorious and all participants were kitted out in waterproof clothing, life jackets and crash helmets. Skilled instructors were available to ensure that all went well and that nobody ended up way out in the North Sea half way to Denmark. Word quickly spread the instructors were extremely handsome young men so there was the inevitable flirting from some of our female sailors.

The day was particularly nostalgic for our Chairman George Glass. In his youth whilst still sighted George was an active and enthusiastic Sea Scout. His last trip on the river in a boat was in the late 1940s when his sight was rapidly fading. To go back onto the river after almost 60 years was a most moving and emotional experience for him. George has vividly recounted the emotions of this last trip before he became totally blind. This is attached to this report.

Powerboating was the most popular activity because of the speed of the boats (almost 40 mph) and the fact that the blind sailors could actually drive and steer the boats themselves. An instructor was precariously perched on the side of each boat just to ensure that nothing went wrong. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic experience.

Sailing involved two blind people with an instructor in a small yacht. The blind sailors were actually trained to steer the yacht and to operate the sails. There was some quite tricky manoeuvring required when sailing into the wind. But somehow everybody returned to the starting point quite safely.

Kayaking consisted of one blind sailor with an instructor in a 2-man kayak. This was hard work as the instructor ensured that the blind sailor did most of the paddling. This was probably the most tiring activity.

Our intrepid roving reporter, Jean Ward, went out onto the river with a camera and was able to produce some excellent action photographs. The whole day was thoroughly enjoyed by all participants. To do so many different activities on the river was beyond their most optimistic expectations. The staff of the Watersports Centre were magnificent and our grateful thanks go to them and to the Primary Club who made this wonderful day possible.

The Lad that is Gone

It is a grey sky morning in April not long after dawn. The river is dark in the pale light and almost motionless at the peak of a big spring tide. The industrial riverside is silent and almost deserted. The only sign of life is at an old wooden wharf on the North bank where a boat casts off its moorings and moves slowly out into midstream.

The boat is a Merchant Navy Life Boat long retired from active service, old and battered but still proud and seaworthy enough and not without a certain bulldog beauty. At present she is crewed by a man and ten teenage boys all in Sea Scout uniforms. They are setting off on to what seems to all of them except the skipper a voyage of exploration into unknown waters. This is the first time they have ventured down the river to salt water and most of them to a greater or lesser degree feel a sense of adventure.

Of none is it more true than the youngest, a bespectacled bookworm of a lad too much given to daydreaming and introspection. He is in love with the sea and sail or rather he is in love with his own romantic idea of the sea. Of its reality he knows nothing. So as the boat under the heavy fourteen foot oars moves slowly down the river he is filled with suppressed excitement for this long awaited voyage which in cold fact is nothing more than a fifteen mile excursion in sheltered waters but to him a great adventure.

Not only does it offer the opportunity to escape from the narrow confines of the upper river and have a taste of real sailing on broad salt waters but it is an adventure journey to the very fringe of that romantic world of ships and seafaring which has dominated his imagination for so long. Nor is he to be disappointed this day. There are to be fascinating glimpses into maritime life such as the storm battered Swedish Oil Carrier limping over the bar with a heavy list caused by the shifting cargo. An eloquent reminder of the perils of the deep.

There are to be unforgettable experiences. The breeze will rapidly strengthen the red tanned canvas and replace the tedious oars and there will be some fine sailing. The old boat heeling under the weight of the clean salt wind fights her way windward, thrashing through the water at exhilarating speed. There will be foam and spray, seabirds and sunlight, movement and colour, changing skies, bright sun and blue water.

When they reach their destination and tie up at the pilot jetty he will climb ashore with his mind full of vivid images which in years to come will form the memory of a bright, glad day. A day of blue and white and gold which he will take with him to illuminate his mind, to comfort and torment him when he is exiled from the sunlight to that bleak world of everlasting night which is known only to the totally blind.

"Sing me a song of a lad that is gone, say could that lad be I. Merry of soul he sails on a day over the sea to Skye".