IN PRAISE OF PORT OFFICERS

Graham and Avril Johnson

(Graham and Avril were awarded the Rambler Medal for their cruise to Iceland last summer aboard Tigs, their Moody 33.)

What particular benefits has the OCC to offer long distance cruising folk?' is a question often asked of us as membership secretaries. One of the great strengths of the club, we always emphasise, is the worldwide network of approximately one hundred Port Officers who are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to offer help, advice and hospitality whenever called upon.

Last year we decided to break new ground and head north, rather than follow our usual, and many would argue, more sensible route south for our summer cruise. We thought that Iceland would make an interesting destination. Our holiday schedule and weather considerations dictated that to do this we needed to sail the boat as far north as possible at the start of June, leave her for a month, and then resume the passage. Where to safely moor Tigs, our elderly Moody 33, provided an ideal opportunity to demonstrate that our praise of Port Officers was fully justified.

Originally we thought that it would be possible to make it as far as Scotland on the first leg, and so took the opportunity to discuss this plan with Ian Nicolson (PO Clyde) at the January social function in London. To describe Ian as `PO Clyde' is altogether too constraining -- he has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Scotland's waters and anchorages and was able to give the most detailed and constructive advice for which anyone could wish. Not only that, but he was also prepared to transport us from or to wherever we stopped and if possible arrange to have the boat looked after.

Family obligations prevented us leaving as early as originally proposed and further planning led us to realise, reluctantly, that Scotland was too ambitious in the time available. Ireland was a more realistic destination. Being unfamiliar with the area we wrote to our Port Officers on the east coast of Ireland enquiring about likely places to leave Tigs.

It was not long before replies came back from Cormac McHenry (PO Dun Laoghaire), John Gore-Grimes (PO Howth) and Jim Blaikie (PO Northern Ireland).

From all the information received we decided that the best place to leave Tigs would be Belfast Lough. There is an excellent marina at Bangor which provides the ideal departure point for transiting the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland to head for all points north. It also has the advantage of first class communications with the UK mainland. An alternative was a yacht club mooring further south at Dun Laoghaire, but Cormac had advised us of possible problems with the mooring facilities due to the proposed introduction of a new Super-Cat ferry service. He also mentioned that he, along with most other sane people, would be heading south for the sun and bikinis!

It was sometime after arriving at this decision that we got a phone call from Jim suggesting that we might be interested in borrowing his friend Bill Cuffe-Smith's mooring in Strangford Lough. The combination of a free mooring, close to the ideal point of departure, in reputedly one of the most beautiful and sheltered locations in Ireland was too much to miss and our decision was made. Having thanked Jim for his help you can imagine our surprise and delight when the postman delivered a complete set of charts of the eastern Irish coastline, including a suspiciously new large-scale chart of Strangford Lough with a large cross marking the position of the mooring. We had already been sent a copy of the ICC East Coast pilot by John Gore Grimes, and so found ourselves in the unique (for us) position of having comprehensive information about a new cruising area as well as the added benefit of considerable `local knowledge'.

There is little point in dwelling on the passage from Southampton to Ireland -- sufficient to say that it started with a gale and we had head winds all the way. Having said that, our passage along the Irish coast was pleasurable as we were able to sail close inshore inside the banks and enjoy the magnificent scenery. We have to thank our POs for this too, as our normal scale of chart encourages a more offshore route. The one major let down was that our late arrival meant we were unable to participate in an ICC rally at Carlingford, where Jim had invited us to join him. This was our only disappointment. The hospitality we received was overwhelming and the place itself is truly beautiful. We left Tigs and flew back home, sad to leave but confident that the boat would be safe and well looked after until our anticipated return.

Of course one of the other great strengths of our club is the incredible depth of knowledge and experience represented by the membership. It is doubtful whether there is an area of water on the globe which has not been sailed by one or other of our members at some time. This situation makes a significant difference to the activity of planning a voyage since valuable advice can be sought and gained.

Iceland is not the sort of place one casually casts off and heads for without some serious forethought and sensible planning. With this in mind we contacted various members whom we knew had experience of the region. John Gore-Grimes we have already mentioned, but also Willy Ker, Mike and Pat Pocock, and Peter and Caryl Aitchison were only too ready to give practical and relevant advice. Where else would you expect to borrow charts for the Faeroes and Iceland than our PO London, Peter Aitchison?

Five weeks later we returned to Belfast. `We' had now temporarily become Graham and his son Adam, who was joining the boat for a week to help sail as far north as possible before Avril could rejoin.

The flight from London to Ireland was delayed by three hours but Jim Blaikie was still there to meet us. He provided a car service to the boat, with stops for shopping along the way. Back with Tigs again we were delighted to meet Bill Cuffe-Smith and his crew for a very convivial evening. Jim and Bill provided us with the benefit of their considerable local knowledge in planning our passage to Bangor Marina. The entrance to Strangford Lough is long and narrow with a bar at the entrance and more than its fair share of rocky bits. The tide runs fiercely through the channel with numerous whirlpools and eddies, so it pays dividends to get local advice.

Once round in Bangor Jim was there to meet us once again to check that we had been able to buy all the things we wanted. As before he was able to give excellent guidance as to the best route through the North Channel to take most advantage of the strong local currents.

With all this planning, definitely more than our usual `okay, let's go', the only remaining thing to do was the passage itself. Leaving Bangor on a grey miserable day we headed north. Two days later we were tied up in Stornoway on the island of Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland. We had a pleasant few days exploring Lewis and Harris by car. This cost us less than hiring bicycles and we saw so much more, including the standing stones at Callenish, the Butt of Lewis mentioned four times a day on the British shipping forecast, and the green enchanted hills and unspoilt beaches, all enlivened with an infinite variety of wildlife.

Avril arrived by plane after some complications caused by railway strikes, her baggage following a couple of days later. Adam flew back to England, and Avril and I set off towards the Faeroes. The trick is to ride up the front of the depressions that sweep across this part of the world. These provide a good easterly to southerly wind that gives a fast passage and avoids any of that unpleasant windward work, as the Faeroe Islands are almost exactly due north of the west coast of Scotland.

The forecast for our departure was exactly as we had hoped. The wind was currently northeast, but was soon to veer southeasterly and carry on around the compass as the depression passed across. It is only 250 miles to the most southerly of the Faeroes group, or two days sailing in our boat. In the event we carried on past this point as the wind was still favourable, and eventually finished in the capital, Torshavn, just before the wind swung around to the north and started blowing a gale.

Our time on Streymoy was interesting, and passed quickly. We visited Kirkjubour, where St Brendan may have landed in the Faeroes and where Tim Severin spent time preparing for the next leg of his modern `Brendan Voyage' in the leather boat. We also explored Torshavn, reputedly the smallest capital city in the world, with the oldest (turf roofed) parliament building.

Leaving Torshavn we transited the interesting passage between the islands of Streymoy and Eysturoy. At its narrowest it is less than 400 yards wide, spanned by a bridge of uncertain height and with a current of up to 14 knots. We were not worried about the bridge as the Pococks had told us that they had passed safely under in Blackjack. We timed the passage well, berthing at Eidi, situated at the head of the channel in the northwest of the Faeroes. This is an ideal departure point for Iceland. Similar plan to before -- ride up the front and across the top of a depression and yes, it's only another 250 miles.

Once again it was a two day voyage with reaching and following winds. During the passage the wind swung around so that it was dead behind and stronger than we would have liked so we altered our destination to give a better point of sailing. This was unfortunate, as the only seriously large-scale chart on board for that region was for Seydhisfjordur, our original destination. The biggest problem was with the visibility. It had been nothing special in the Faeroes but we were about a mile up the Djupivogur Fjord in Iceland before we first caught sight of land. This justified the echo sounder's place on board and no, we don't carry radar. We might have seen land fractionally earlier if we had looked upwards, instead of restricting our gaze to sea level and at first missing the mountain peaks caught in the rays of sunlight above the fog.

We found Iceland spectacular and awesome. It has some of the most desolate regions we had ever seen. There is an amazing clarity of light and sharpness in outline, never experienced in our more polluted regions. We did all the things we had hoped to do. We went up on the glacier, the third largest in the world, and swam in hot springs in the interior of the country, hundreds of metres above sea level. We sailed to the port of Hofn and travelled to see where the glacier comes down to great inland lakes linked to the sea. Here we saw icebergs and heard the cracking and growling sounds coming from the glacier as new bergs were being spawned.

We hadn't planned to leave as early as we did, but suddenly a depression that had been held back to the west of Iceland started to move through. The problem had been an exceptionally persistent high pressure system over the UK and Europe. It had been blocking the normal passage of the lows, the backs of which would provide fair winds home. We initially headed for the Faeroes, but the prospect of a landfall in an onshore gale and thick visibility in the middle of the night determined that we sailed directly back to Stornoway.

From there it was a leisurely cruise home. We called in at Bangor and were treated to an enjoyable and relaxed evening out with Jim and his wife Nancy. We managed to arrive in Falmouth in time for the OCC West Country rally organised by Ben Pester. We met up with many old friends and had the pleasure of meeting several members we had not previously encountered. We always enjoy being able to associate faces and personalities with the names lurking in the depths of the computer.

After the rally it was back to Southampton and work. Of course, one of the first tasks is to catch up with all the OCC mail! The trip had been a fantastic experience, and there is no doubt in our minds that one of the main reasons for its success was the help and advice we received from fellow members and especially our Port Officers.