White Heather and I
I imagine a few of you might begin to read this and dismiss it as sentimental twaddle. The truth is that White Heather and I have a very real relationship.
She is an old Manx herring lugger due to celebrate in a few weeks (as I write) the 100 th anniversary of her launch.
She was built in Peel, launched on Christmas Eve 1904 and fished for mackerel and herring out of Peel from 1905 to 1913 after which she was sold off to Portavogie, where more or less she remained till I bought her in 1989 and returned her to the Isle of Man.
She was bought with a very effective pair of rose tinted specs. All I could see was the reflected glory of bringing her back to her native land and nothing of the decaying planking, cobbled together rig and totally rotten deck.
As I write this, 15 years on, all of the work is done. She has had her new hull planking, and the frames beneath, she has had her new deck, and the beams beneath plus all the other hundreds of components, a covering board, belting and rail (all in Greenheart), bulwarks, hatches etc etc etc… and I suppose she is in many ways stronger than when built.
But this piece is about my relationship with her. It is impossible to carry out all that work, make all those sacrifices (and there were many sacrifices) to say nothing of the sailing and the adventures, without forming a bond. That bond is a very strong one – I always get the feeling that she is looking after me when times get hard and I do something stupid. Conversely I try to look after her to the best of my ability and means, never taking unnecessary risks with her and always taking the cautious approach. I am acutely aware that she is pretty much unique and could not be replaced.
I must say that I could not have done all this alone. Over those fifteen years there have been many many people who have given time and materials to help me. It would not be fair to name any of them for fear of leaving someone out but perhaps this is the best place for a long time to publicly thank those people for their help. Without you she would not still be here!!
So how can I explain what it is I get from her?
It is very difficult to put in to words but here goes. She gives me peace and tranquillity, she gave me a bolt hole, a place to live when my divorce was in process, She gives me huge pleasure when out at sea. She gives me adventure when we are on passage. She is something I can take pride in as an achievement.
We have been as far afield as Brest in her but generally favour local festivals and regattas. On numerous occasions, especially in Ireland, someone will often pop up who knew her at some time in her past – I love that and am always keen to hear their stories.
When asked I often say that White Heather gives pleasure on at least three levels; first is obviously the sailing pleasure, second the pleasure of working on her, although sometimes hard it is not hardship. Third is the history and provenance, meeting people who have worked or sailed her, occasionally finding photographs of her in the most unexpected places.
I have learnt such a lot from her as well. When I bought her I had only fairly rudimentary carpentry skills but of course that soon changed. I now have a well equipped workshop and a fairly good range of skills together with the confidence to hit most jobs fairly hard; as you must do to achieve much with a boat the size of White Heather. The learning came at some cost though, many 5am starts in the spring time when the pressure is on to get her back in the water for the sailing season
When I look back over the time I have owned her I feel the greatest affection for her. Every time I step aboard her, with out exception, I immediately relax. There is a mental shedding of cares and a psychological return to more simple things like checking the bilge, running the engine to charge batteries, lighting the fire, odd bits of maintenance, making a cup of tea and so on.
What does the future hold? I don’t know. My circumstances have changed recently and I am no longer sure I can afford her upkeep so we will have to see. If I do have to part with her it will be a very sad day in my life that’s for sure.
Mike Clark
Isle of Man – Dec 04