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I once owned a Fairey Fulmar, and I kept her on a mooring at
Hullbridge. She remained afloat at all times, which was a bit unusual for that
part of the River Crouch. There were two reasons for being able to remain afloat:
her shallow draught when her keel was raised, and because the mooring was located
in an ever present pool at low water.
Laying the mooring was a bit of hoot, because my meticulous
plan didn’t quite work out as I hoped. The story goes as follows:
I had a child’s wooden wheelbarrow that I filled with
concrete into which I inserted a loop of iron rod before it set - So far so
good. The result was a nice mooring block conveniently placed in the
wheelbarrow for transporting it to where I may want.
At low water I went to the spot of the proposed mooring, and
I tried digging a hole in the mud which was about two feet under the surface of
the water, but it proved to be very difficult. Eventually I was satisfied the hole
was big enough, and at each of the four corners I inserted long canes as
markers. Before the tide came, in I wheeled the barrow and its
contents to the middle of the river, adjacent to the Up River Yacht Club’s
slipway and buoyed it.
As planned, I found myself standing on the bow of my Fairey
Fulmar an hour before high water hauling the rope which was tied to the mooring block. Because
of the combined weight of me and the block, the prop almost came out of the water!
To make matters worse, I could not at first remove the block from the wheelbarrow,
because it was buoyant. To reduce the weight at the bow I kept the block
submerged. Meanwhile the yacht was drifting out of control. By forcefully
prodding the barrow with the boathook I was able to free it. I returned to
the cockpit to gain control and to bring the yacht back to her designed waterline for
the prop to have enough drive for making headway.
Approaching the wiggling canes, and about fifty yards away from them,
I set an anchor from the stern so as to position the bow by the markers. By the time this was accomplished it was almost high water at the stand of tide with just enough current
to keep the yacht by the markers. I cut the engine and went forward. Apprehensively I lowered the block between the four canes. A later inspection showed that the hole was not quite large enough for the block, but there was
still enough depth at low water to keep my Fairey Fulmar clear.
She turned out to be a fine yacht for East Coast cruising,
on account of her lifting keel, but care had to be taken when traversing
swatchways because of her 5’ 9” draught when the keel was fully down. Winding
it up and down took ages. At 20’ LOA and
with a beam of 7’ 9” and headroom of 5’ 5” she was a comfortable two berth
cruiser. Despite her top-hamper, her performance to windward was exceptionally
good. Her one big drawback was her inability to hold a course. Having to always
steer by hand was a nightmare. The inboard engine situated under the cockpit
floor was easy to get at.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of her, and I can’t
even remember her name. This is a shame, because I have not been able to
include her in ‘Photos of Boats I Have Owned’: http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/photos-of-boats-i-have-owned-part-1.html
Links
Atalanta Owners Association
Fairey Fulmar – 1960 – Picas Web
Fairey Owners Club
Fairey Owners Club Forum
Fulmar 20 (Fairey Marine)
Fairey Marine Ltd
Fairey Marine
Fairey Fulmar for Sale £1,750
Ebay Bidding for Blue Belle 20 May 2014 £760
Atalanta 26
