by Jan Harber
My sister Judy and I have been doing walks around the Suffolk coast and rivers for many years. We often remark how, if we do a route at a different time of year or the other way round, it can look so undiscovered. For this reason we are occasionally convinced that we’d never been that way before. Continue reading
By Beverley Yates
On Bank Holiday Friday evening, 24 May, 2024, a total of 36 boats arrived by road, sea and river at Waldringfield on the River Deben. Why were they all converging on this quiet village to moor up and sleep aboard or set up camp in the ‘top field’ above the Boatyard?
By Ruth Leach
This is an extended version of Ruth Leach’s article ‘The Deben Bluetits Swim Group’, published on The Deben #68. It’s written in her capacity as co-founder of the Save the Deben campaign group and contains an update on water quality. This topic is scheduled for panel discussion at the River Deben Association’s forthcoming AGM, April 24th 2024.
During the recent pandemic our lives were deconstructed in so many ways, ‘free time’ – that precious commodity, was suddenly in abundance for many of us. People reconnected with their natural environment and for those fortunate enough to be near a blue space the love affair with nature soon flourished. Continue reading
By Alice Thorogood
Credit: Corinne Whitehouse
The UK Cadet Class World Championships take place in Plymouth this summer. They are completely volunteer run. Alice Thorogood of Waldringfield Sailing Club explains what’s involved and how you can show your support for these young sailors:
How did we get into this? A personal introduction
My eldest, Gwen, was just eight when she first stepped onboard a Cadet with Waldringfield sailor Hattie Collingridge and disappeared across the Deben. We didn’t plan it, we had never thought about sailing as a hobby for our children; I’m not from a sailing background at all and though it turns out that my husband, Frank, has the water of the Deben in his veins, he too had very little experience of dinghy sailing. That world felt “other” to us, with its strange new language and an elitist image that felt slightly difficult to navigate. However, we were charmed by Hattie and her clear love of the sport, that teamed with the easy welcome of Waldringfield Cadet Squadron and we were as hooked as Gwen clearly seemed to be when she came bouncing up the beach all wide eyed and exuberant from her first taste of Cadet sailing. Continue reading
By Julia Jones
Tim Curtis.
On November 12th 2023 the Riverside Cinema Woodbridge will show two wartime documentaries by Woodbridge-based director Tim Curtis. Tim is probably best known to RDA Journal readers for the highly successful Life on the Deben project – 6000 DVDs and Blu Rays sold in the first year, more than 15,000 cinema and festival viewers and over £5000 donations made to Deben good causes. Earlier this year (2023) Tim made a short film ‘How Polluted is the Deben?’ which was shown together with ‘A Surge of Memories’ (not by Tim) commemorating the floods of 1953 and tidal surge of 2013. Continue reading
By Alice Thorogood
It’s been a BIG summer of sailing. Every year since my three children started in Cadets there has been a BIG summer of sailing. This year we’ve been to Newport in Belgium for the World Championship, a long weekend back home for the Waldringfield Cadet ‘Week’ then a quick wash of everyone’s kit before we headed off to beautiful Abersoch for the National Championship.
Sometimes I find myself asking if all this packing/unpacking and travel is worth it…
Then I see some of the wonderful things our Cadet Alumni are up to, and I know that the work we all put into Cadets – as parents or volunteers as well as sailors — is more than worth it. We are helping to develop resilient, capable young people who will go on to achieve different successes in the future.
It was a real honour to take a break from the crazy whirlwind of The Nationals and talk to an inspirational ex-Cadet sailor who embodies more that we might have dreamed of. Willow Bland is about to take part in the Ocean Globe Race as part of the crew of Tracy Edwards’ boat Maiden. Continue reading
By Sue Ryder Richardson
Looking towards Waldringfield from Hemley.
Walked in that no-mans-land of time ‘twixt Christmas and New Year, when weather can be as tiresome as the turkey left-overs, but on this day the sun shone, the west wind blew sharply into our faces, the dogs ran, and the tide was low.
By Alice Thorogood
When your child starts dinghy sailing for the first time, it can be daunting to know what they need, especially if you are not a sailor. Credit: Alice Thorogood
Before my children joined the cadets I had very, very little experience of sailing. Everything was alien to me, from the sailing language, the kit they needed to what it meant to spend a day out on the water.
Continue readingBy Robin and Gillie Whittle
The proposed plan for the Medway rally, Thursday 14th to Friday 22nd July, was to sail to or launch on the River Crouch for a night at Burnham Marina, then onto Queenborough via Havengore Bridge. After a visit to Chatham Dockyard the plan was to explore the River Medway up to Tonbridge.
Route to the Swale
We had already enjoyed a rally in May, 2009 which had the same plan and we decided that we would explore the creeks around the Swale instead. In order to make the journey from the River Deben to Queenborough more balanced we decided to spend the first night at Bradwell Marina. Continue reading
By Neil Collingridge
The Cadet Sailors at the Paying It Forward event.
Adults in the photo are: Melanie More (Kestrel Liners – shipping sponsors), Julia Jones (Golden Duck – event sponsors), Lady Carla Stanley (recent Chair of GBR’s Olympic Sailing Selection Committee).
Photo credit: Kevin Ward.
The preparations for the Cadet World Team going to Australia in December have a particular interest for the River Deben as no less than seven of the thirteen boats competing are from Waldringfield Sailing Club. For the first of three specially organised training weekends they needed to test themselves in unfamiliar waters. Shotley Sailing Club offered hospitality. This is a report from a weekend that was rather special.
Thanks to Yachts and Yachting magazine for permission to republish.
All photos in this article from here onwards are thanks to Andy Stoddart.
The GBR Cadet Sailing Team gathered on the weekend of 15/16 October for the first of their three training weekends ahead of the 2022 World Championships in Australia over Christmas.
