Contents:News from Base - Tim writes.Life after JaneSince Jane left at the end of August, Tim has been left to run the office on his own. He has kept his head above water (sort of) while appreciating more and more just how big a job Jane held down for four years. The conclusion is that, while we probably do not need a full time Administrator, we do need a part time person as soon as possible. An advert. has been sent to about sixteen local churches. At the time of writing some promising enquiries have begun to come in, and we are hopeful of making an appointment by Christmas for someone to start early in the New Year. Any longer than that, and the chaos may well become irretrievable!That Autumn periodOnce again, the last weeks of the season were some of the busiest of the year. The further activities with youngsters coming via Pupil Referral Units were a major feature, and it was good to see four of these young people return for the final five day trip of the year, using funding from our own Kent Youth Bursary Fund and from the ASTO bursary fund. At the other end (?) of the social spectrum, Stuart Tranter used Morning Star for a corporate “Day out” for some of the clients of his marketing business. Not quite what we exist for, but a good way of raising the profile plus some extra funds. Jemma laid on brilliant executive catering, and a good time was had by all.And on into the winterBoth boats are ashore this winter, together on Anchor Wharf in the Dockyard. The five year cycle for taking the masts out has come round, and we have been able to get them, and all the other spars, into a first floor area of the old Naval stores building. The crane that lifted Morning Star just lifted out the masts and fed them directly through the open warehouse doors. Mind you, it was some time the next day before the main mast was completely inside, using a borrowed chain hoist and various seamanlike tricks. Even over 20m of mast only fills half the length of the one room, so we are wondering about holding a fund raising barn dance in the other half. Not sure how we would make it warm enough.1998 programmeYour copy of next year's programme is enclosed with this edition of “Revelations”. We hope you like it, it has been designed and produced for us by Stuart Tranter who, in addition to running his own marketing business, is a Trustee of MST. There is a wider than ever variety of activities on offer to individuals, so have a good look at what you might want to book for. Do also pass your copy on if you know those for whom a voyage on Morning Star would be just the thing. Further copies available from the office. I have to report that our Tall Ships crews are already full, except for a few places on the cruise in company from Lisbon to Vigo - do ring for details of this. While this is good news for us, it is a shame that others will not get the chance this coming year. Instead, why not consider booking for ten or fifteen days at the end of August for a major cruise bringing Morning Star home from Dublin via UK and French ports. Mike Ling, veteran of many successful long cruises at this time of year, will be skippering throughout.Volunteers neededMorning Star is totally reliant on the input of volunteers of all sorts. Our current new full time volunteers, Lucy and Peter, have made a good start and are getting to grips with the rigours of the winter period. Refurbishing the spars is well under way. Meanwhile we are looking over the horizon in vain for our next two vols who will start in September next year. Please can you help us with this? We need young people, usually taking a year out before or after a degree course. Ideally they should have some sailing experience (in or out of sail training), plus some technical ability of at least the DIY variety, and be willing to work hard in return for the rewards of plenty of time at sea working with a variety of crews. They also need to have some Christian commitment, and to be willing to learn to share that in appropriate ways with those who come to sail.Financial updateOnce again, we can report that our finances are satisfactory, and we should survive the winter without starving. However, the fund from which we pay salaries is still way short of what is needed, and there is also a need to replace a good deal of equipment on Morning Star this winter. If you have enjoyed and benefited from sailing with us, and would be in a position to do so, please consider the idea of supporting by regular or occasional gifts. In this way we can keep our prices around the lowest in the business, and hence accessible to many young people, while providing a high standard of service. For more information as to how you can help, please tick the response sheet and send it in to us.New CommitteeThe AGM of the Morning Star Trust took place during another happy weekend at Dovedale House. As a result, your committee now looks like this:
If you have a point you want to make, do contact any of the above, or, of course, speak to Tim at the office. We welcome Heather and Françoise as new members on the committee, and our thanks to Andy Rankin, who did not survive a very close vote this time. Perhaps it has something to do with his being out of the country on a cycle trek to the middle East! During the weekend at Dovedale, a presentation was made to Sara to mark the end of sixteen years of catering for Morning Star. Yes, until this year, everything you ate on board was organised (and usually physically bought and carried) by Sara, who was also the original author of the famous cookbook. Thanks to appreciative donations, Sara is now the proud owner of a Magimix food processor, plus a sizeable cheque that she will use to buy a picture. Jane was not able to come to the Dovedale weekend, but a presentation
has also been made to her, in the form of book tokens which should help
her as she continues her year's training for a teaching qualification.
The March of TechnologyAt last the office has a computer that works really well. Many thanks to Jane and Dave Rowley for acquiring the system we now have, and also to Steve and Clive who have spent long hours recently upgrading and debugging it until it is now the fastest thing for miles (well, at least metres). We are also now on the Internet, and plan our own web site, though this may take a little while. Meanwhile, the brochure can still be found at: http://www.morningstar.org.uk/mst.html and the Revelations Index is to be found at http://www.morningstar.org.uk/revelat.html.....AND OUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IS:THAMES ESTUARY WEEKENDHaving spent a week on Morning Star at the beginning of September, I was fairly knackered, but as I had offered Tim to stay on for the following weekend, I wasn't terribly worried - a quiet weekend pottering about the Thames Estuary with a group from a local Baptist Church, couldn't be hard work, could it?It could. Friday night started well, though late, with a gentle motor down the river. Fine, but Chris decided to anchor in Sharfleet Creek - not an easy place to anchor in pitch darkness and a rising westerly wind. Lucy navigated us in beautifully, but in the dark we drifted away from our intended anchoring spot and ended up very nearly aground on the saltings. The mud could be seen glistening in the moonlight less than a boat length away. There was nothing for it but to lift the anchor and chain (40 muddy metres of it, as in the dark I had missed the markings at the intended length of 30m) and drop it again, this time without mishap. The forecast for Saturday morning wasn't encouraging - westerly force 5 or 6 increasing to 7 later in the day. Lucy and I did a deal - I could have a snooze in the morning while she ran the deck, and we would swap in the afternoon. I had a delightful doze as we drove out of the estuary at 8 knots dead downwind with full sail up, and woke to find us just at the edge of a sand bank bordering the Black Deep Channel near the mouth of the estuary. Garrison Point was a long way to windward. Chris suggested that it might be time to turn around, so we tacked and came hard on the wind. For the next nine hours we leaned alternately to port and starboard at ridiculous angles as we merrily tacked our way back up the Thames shipping lanes. Our poor taken-sick crew member slid from one side of the aft deck to the other, trying to keep pace with the ever-changing leeward rail. The rest of the crew were loving it, despite the spray and the cold wind. That weren't so keen when I suggested that two of them might like to help cook dinner, But I managed to obtain a couple of volunteers eventually. Ten minutes later, they were back on deck, looking rather green. Perhaps removing the giblet bag from the chickens wasn't the kindest job to give them in the circumstances. Roast chicken is not the easiest meal to cook beating to windward in a Force 7. But somehow we managed it, getting it ready just as Chris called All Hands On Deck to get the sails down. As Chief Chef I excused myself, wedged myself in the galley and stayed dry as Lucy and the crew got soaked on the bowsprit. It wasn't until we finally moored in Queenborough at nearly 10pm that we were able to ravenously descend upon those chickens. Sunday was a doddle by comparison - a quick clean and motor back up the river. But if you ever consider doing two consecutive trips on Morning Star, beware, because if you're tired after one trip, by the end of two you'll be completely shattered. Andy Rankin The day after this trip, having spent several weeks continuously
on Morning Star, Andy set out on a mammoth cycle ride, to Eastern Turkey.
He wrote this article by candlelight in a tent, somewhere in Hungary, drinking
wine from a saucepan.
VOLUNTEERSHIPPeter Brook writes about life as a Morning Star Vol.The first two things I noticed when I became a volunteer in September is that volunteers have no name and no sense of time. “Vol.” becomes your name and everything associated with that title is now associated with you. I like this, as it gives me a sense of identity. Time also seems to disintegrate into nothing: Autumn week was the other day, the boat came out of the water the other day, and the conference was the other day. Actually, I tell a lie; time is distinguishable by three very exact categories: Coffee time, lunch time, and home time.There is no typical day for a volunteer, except that they all begin before coffee time. When the boat is in, during the sailing season , most of the time is taken up with cleaning and essential maintenance, such as broken stanchion bases and light bulbs. Now the boat is out of the water and the laying up jobs have been done, all the spars need to be stripped and varnished which will probably take all of the next few weeks to finish. As a volunteer, it is very likely that you would live in the area around Tim Millward’s house, close enough to everyone else to become part of what I now call “Pooh Corner”. This community is unique, and I think part of a cunning plan to prevent volunteers forgetting about the monthly prayer marathon. I am settling in well, and I think I can safely say that in between
chasing men, Lucy is too.
In Brief
OCTOBER WEEKENDA snapshot view of one lady's experience as she literally took the plunge.I'm white, female, 50 years old and I've just thrown myself into the Thames. No, I wasn't desperate. I was having an excellent time swimming off the side of Morning Star on a sunny Saturday morning in October. There were only two words to describe it really, one was unprintable and the other was cold. But it was great! Our teeth were chattering with joy - no, really they were! Several things surprised me during the weekend and one was that I was standing on a deck in my underwear amongst people that I had met only the day before and feeling quite at home. (we'd nearly all neglected to bring our swimming things.) Morning Star seems to do that for you, and it was one of the things I liked. I must say, she was a lovely sight from the water and I shall never forget it.Ruth Bruid Oct. 15-17 Eagles Wings Adventures…the saga continues!A popular Yachting magazine runs a regular feature called ‘A Question of Seamanship’ I have often read it and puzzled out a solution to a problem that I often think (with immodest superiority) the skipper should never have got himself into. It is with this in mind that I relay to you, with a more humble and penitent attitude, the events of October 18th 1997. In order for you to have the opportunity to not only laugh, but also figure out what you may have done, I present you with the Revelations, Question of Seamanship…It is a warm autumn day with a gentle sea breeze having picked up on the River Medway. Two experienced sailors take Eagles Wings for a gentle potter down the river and back for a relaxing afternoon. High water Sheerness is at 2.45pm, the full mainsail is set as is the No. 1 jib. Motoring from the moorings at the Dockyard, the crew, aware of the exceptionally high tide due, decide to take the back routes down river. They successfully navigate round the back of Hoo Island and into the back of South Yantlet Creek enjoying their sandwiches and taking transits off the beacons for future reference. They ‘race’ another yacht who is sporting a very saggy main and a tiny mizzen and make rude self righteous comments abut their windward ability and their proximity to the mud at the edge of the channel (I can hear you murmur ‘pride always comes before a fall’ even as I write). Carrying on, the decision is made to continue the short cuts through
the back of Sharfleet creek and into Stangate creek before turning round
to potter home. By this stage the tide is finishing it's flood at a great
speed and has reached a height above which the charts were coloured in
at. The bits which the chart shows as always above the water are now conspicuous
only by their apparent absence which the skipper and mate both find a little
disconcerting as they were kind of navigating by pilotage. The tension
mounts as a decision has to be made about where to turn left to go up the
channel. The mate thinks a little further, the skipper is not convinced,
the mate isn't either, so they ease to the left. The skipper, afraid that
a veer left won't be left enough asks the mate at the helm to make a definite
alteration of course. The mate does so, unconvinced that the left should
be so soon. With lightening speed the depth on the echo-sounder drops,
skipping out the half metres in order to keep up with the reducing depth
and there is a definite thud as the bows rise and the boat stops. The time,
the mate notes is 2.45. What should they do? (Answer)
Thought for the QuarterThis thought from Heather Constance is about opposites, or two sides of the same coin.When some of us get together, to pray about the work of the Morning Star Trust, we often refer to the “nitty-gritty stuff”. That is, all the little practical bits ‘n’ pieces like getting the generator fitted in the right place, getting the masts varnished on time and packing enough food on board to last for 10 weeks without sinking the boat. You might think that God isn't interested in all these details, that - well, really, they all seem a bit mundane. Not like great, holy prayers about God working His purpose out and changing peoples lives. I mean, your average church service doesn't usually include prayers about sausages or generators, its mostly about how great God is and how small we are!But did you know that a pearl starts life as a piece of grit? The grit gets into the oyster shell and the oyster, to protect itself from this sharp little bit, wraps it up in a layer upon layer of mother-of-pearl, until it becomes a beautiful and very precious jewel. These little bits of grit are very precious to God - just as He values the simple prayers of children, so He wants to know the cares and needs of all his children - you and me. As a parent wants to know all the details and worries of their kids lives, so God longs for us to ask Him for what we need. The other side of the coin is that we can get too bogged down in the details. Just as it would be wrong to think that the nitty-gritty is too small to pray about, sometimes our prayers can turn into a catalogue of worries, when what we are really saying is, “Will the generator fit? Will we finish the masts on time? How are we ever going to fit all this food in?” Jesus said, “Seek first Gods kingdom and His righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6 v 33)
QUESTION OF SEAMANSHIP- AN ANSWERSee how you got on!They try reverse, no do’s. They walk forward and see fronds of grass waving at them from the bit of land which is usually above water. They drop the sails and swear at one another. The tide is pushing them on hard as it has just turned and the water is disappearing as if someone had pulled the plug out. The thought of still being there when Morning Star comes back to anchor that evening is more than they can bear, so all energy is summoned and they get out the kedge anchor. The skipper throws this over the side and the mate reverses, neatly wrapping the kedge warp around the prop till the engine stops. They swear a bit more. The skipper jumps over the side calling for a knife and cuts the warp free. The mate gets the dinghy out, blows it up and launches it. They get the bow anchor and put it in the dinghy and row it out. The skipper, now back on board helps pull on the anchor, thus pulling the boat off. This works, but the tide gets hold of the boat and pins it back on as they lift the anchor out of the water. The process is repeated, this time the skipper stays in the water (where his feet are firmly on the grass on one side of the boat) and pushes as the mate pulls on the anchor. As the mate reverses off the skipper tries to clamber back aboard, surveying the apparent field of grass they are on. At last, covered in Medway mud they are safely afloat.The names of Steve and Jemma have been removed in order to protect the
identity of the guilty parties.
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