Contents:EDITORIALWelcome to this issue of Revelations.The job of editor has passed to me so firstly I need to say a very big
thank you to Lucy, who has edited Revelations faithfully
for the last three years - apart from the one issue while she got married.
She is now moving on to a new role within Morning Star (although what job
she is going to get landed with has yet to be decided by the team). Like
Lucy, I am a civil engineer. I am based in Epsom, but am currently
working on a site near Exeter. I have sailed several times on Morning
Star, and on the last trip sailed as second mate. I would like to thank
those people who have contributed to this issue - it is your contributions
that make up this newsletter so thank you! If you have any items (stories
from trips, anecdotes, illustrations, thoughts, etc) for future editions
please send them into the office.
Preferred format is Word document on 3.5 inch disc.
NEWSThe 1998 Season so farSo far this year has been as busy and successful as any I can remember. Even the weather has mainly been kind but not dull, allowing some good sailing. As I write, Morning Star has lost a day in Ramsgate on a tight schedule to get to the Solent, and still faces fresh headwinds all the way to Hamble, but that is the first weather problem of the year. Some excellent crews have come together. Our mates training activity brought together a larger than usual number of potential new leaders, and set the pattern for a succession of high quality groups. Although no activity has been for more than five days, Morning Star has been to Calais and also to Lowestoft. The new log, which cannot be reset to zero, shows well over 1,000 miles already this year. Woven into it all has been the presence of the Spirit of God, mostly very gentle but with plenty of sharing and questioning going on. One hitch occurred when the main gaff broke (snapped at the throat fitting) as a weekend was getting under way one Friday evening. We were all, however, very conscious of God's protection. For a start it was good it happened then, not with the boat in the middle of Biscay in July. Jemma and her team were able to get the mess down and return to base in good order before enjoying an excellent weekend despite no mainsail, and Chris was able to devise and implement a strengthened repair at little cost before the boat went out again. Bookings are good, too. Individual activities have sailed full, which hasn't always been true in recent years, and weekends are all taken to the end of the year. Except for a few days scheduled maintenance in early September, the boat does not really stop between now and the end of that month. So we are grateful, and look forward to the main summer season that is just beginning in anticipation of many good things to come. All that new equipmentAmazingly, and rather excitingly, it all works. The generator makes a big difference. Faced with a pile of crew members soggy gloves one weekend, I stuck them in front of a fan heater and dried them. Hot water is available at any time, not just when the engine has been running. More importantly, the new batteries are being kept fully charged without having to worry so much about using lights and so on. The new instruments look good, though of course they only do the same job as their predecessors. With certain crews the front has to be taken off the stereo and hidden. The echo sounder has an annoying habit of going haywire when you run aground (20m in Ramsgate harbour entrance?) Though not new, the GPS repeater is now mounted on the main panel, and its buttons actually work following attention from Clive and Andy in the winter... Standard raising project beginsSteve and Jemma have raised enough of their own support to allow us to go ahead with this 15 month project. Jemma started this Monday. So far she has a desk next door to the office, but we have to share the computer. With any luck a new machine will arrive before we start fighting over it. Steve joins in next month, and they have a list of project items ranging from training and qualifications via web sites and office procedures to completing the original build of Morning Star. Tall Ships 2000 - to beThe committee met on 6 June in the delightful surroundings of Françoise' Mother's house and, among other things, decided that we will go ahead with our intention of entering Morning Star in the major millennium Tall ships series round the Atlantic (Southampton, Cadiz, Bermuda, US ports, Boston, Halifax, Amsterdam). Our eyes are open to the enormity of this, and we did not take the decision lightly. In many ways, however, it is not an opportunity to be missed. For instance, it will provide a means by which we can become a foremost provider to Medway young people. More fundamentally, it gives the chance to work with a group of people over a two year period. As well as planning it alongside a normal programme in '99, we shall need some alternative programme in 2000, since Morning Star will be away from early April to early September. All this has implications for our base staffing. Indeed the whole thing will produce an upheaval that should leave us never quite the same again. Exciting - yes. Scary -definitely. See the Autumn Revelations for details of how you, or young people you know, can get involved. Volunteers - Now you don't see them, now you doFor a long time there was no sign of the two volunteers we need for the year from September. Never mind, we said, God knows what he is doing here. Now we still have to say that, but for a different reason. We have two vols. booked in for September, and no fewer than three in sight for the year after! Peter Wood (completing A levels) and Liz Golledge (unemployed MSc) will come this year. Joel, Camilla and Clare are all possible for the year after. Perhaps we need all three, given the plans for 2000? We shall see. Meanwhile the hunt for vols has produced some other interesting contacts, especially via an advert. in Yachting Monthly. So what can you still book on?Actually, individual bookings this year have gone well beyond the level
of recent years. At the time of writing, everything is full up to
9 September when Morning Star arrives home in the Medway. Looking
ahead to the Autumn period, there are a couple of activities that should
be of interest to MSA members. These are:
Plenty of space on each of these at the moment. Come, and bring a friend. Please contact the office for more details. Meanwhile there will be full programme again in 1999. The details will reach you in the Autumn, so do look at that and see what you can involve yourself with. Eagles Wings coursesThere are a couple of courses planned in August that have vacancies for Day Skipper or Coastal Skipper candidates. For any aspiring Coastal Skippers we can usually arrange an exam to follow the course if that is going to be appropriate. For details, contact Jemma at the office. Medway CouncilThe new Medway unitary authority came into being on 1 April. Neil Colbeck, who is on our committee, is responsible for Outdoor Education within the Education Department of the new authority. He tells us that his colleagues and superiors are genuinely concerned to raise the aspirations of Medway young people. I am not sure how these aspirations are measured, but they are statistically very low by national averages. There is an enormous challenge here and great opportunities. Through Neil's involvement and through such things as TS2000 we hope to be in on the ground floor and become a significant contributor to the future for this area with its 250,000 population. We are looking again at ways of making a small start on the youth work project involving dinghy work as a lead in to sail training. This has been on the books for some time, but resources for the youthworker/ instructor have not been visible. Now a start is possible, given the right person, who needs to be a dayboat senior instructor based locally, and a committed Christian who would share the vision of the Morning Star Trust. Initially we could only offer a couple of paid sessions a week. And finally...Very often this last item has contained news of Morning Star people getting married. Actually, things seem quiet on that front at the moment, but I can report some happy news of a couple who met on board and married the next year. Sara and I went to Martina and Joly's wedding in Germany two years ago, and we can now announce the safe arrival of Freddie. Despite this complication (however welcome) in their lives, Joly is filling a gap on board for a weekend this month, and Martina is keen for him to be involved in TS2000! THE JOYS OF BEING A SKIPPERIt is only very recently that I have reached the exalted ranks of those who hold the privilege of skippering Morning Star, but already I have learnt that being in charge has its pleasures and its pitfalls. The skippers bunkThe skippers bunk is without a doubt the least comfortable in the whole boat - even worse than those cramped forecabin bunks. At least there you have lockers to put your kit in, rather than having it spewing out of your rucksack and crawling into the dark, mysterious hole that lurks under the fuel tank at the back of the bunk, there to join the odd socks, dirty underpants and lost teddy bears of the previous occupants. And although those in the aft cabin lower bunks have to put up with playing footsie all night, at least they can wedge themselves firmly against their lee boards when the boat is rocking, rather than crashing from side to side, knocking the engine battery switch off with every roll to starboard. ParkingDriving 35 tons of floating concrete that is about as manoeuvrable as a juggernaut on an ice rink can be great fun, especially in the vicinity of small plastic yachts. The bowsprit in particular can be used to inflict huge amounts of damage on navigation buoys, motor cruisers, and even, with careful aim, lampposts. (Not that I have chosen those particular items for any special reason, you understand.) We haven't quite reached the standards of one sail training boat, though, who finding no bollards to tie up to on one wharf, put a line around a conveniently situated telephone box instead. Unfortunately they didn't slacken out the line as the tide went out, and awoke the next morning to find it lying on its side. The cash sheetMy legs still turn to jelly when I think of it. No matter how scrupulously careful you are, the receipts you have at the end of the week never match the amount of money missing from the cash box. I wish I had the guts of one skipper, who would collect receipts from the floors of supermarkets and simply select a few that added up to approximately the right amount, adjusting the difference to or from his wallet. You can now delegate the task of unblocking the headsNo need to worry any more about how many sheets of bog roll you use - and
if your first mate was rude about your last parking manoeuvre, a couple
of sheets of kitchen roll and the leftover spaghetti bolognese followed
by 20 good pumps of the handle will soon teach them a lesson.
THOUGHT FOR THE QUARTERMike LingSome of you know that I have a number of children - 5 in fact. What most of you may not know is that if you were to see us all together you might conclude that the children are not all mine. Such a conclusion would be understandable but wrong. Understandable because the two girls are coloured - one is Anglo-Caribbean (the colour I dream of being and risk skin cancer to try to emulate!) and the other very Afro-Caribbean. Wrong because they do belong to Maureen and me as we adopted them at birth. In law there is no difference between the children; in practice they are all ours and we treat them all the same. The Bible is clear that there is one Son of God, our Saviour Jesus. Yet there are many sons and daughters because the Bible is equally clear that when we commit our lives to Him we are adopted into the family of God. Paul says in Romans Chapter 8, verse 14 that, "those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." We become part of the family. Paul goes further to say that in God's eyes there is no difference between children. We are all heirs (verse 17) and even further we are "co-heirs with Christ". All my children will receive an equal share of the inheritance without favour. It sounds as though scripture indicates that that is also true for the inheritance of God's "estate." Mindboggling, if you think about it.
Please send any contributions that you have for the next issue of REVELATIONS to the office by 11 September 1998. Thank you! |
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