SoC Send off - a Tribute

Keith Hart · 01 April 2002, 16:45

With apologies to William Shakespear (he's dead anyway so he can't sue me!).

WE WERE THERE (Henry V act 4)

The scene: Just inside Cardiff Barrage lock, a group of hardy RIBsters and a little (the boat not the owner) Sibster, gather having returned from the SoC send off flotilla. They bob up and down gathered round the SIB named ‘Quicksilver’. A ruddy faced SIBster stands in his boat and addresses the crews on the waiting RIBs.

This day is called 'Spirit of Cardiff' Send off Day:
He that outlives this day and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of 'Spirit of Cardiff'.
He that shall live this day and see old age,
Will yearly on this vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, 'To-morrow is Spirit of Cardiff Day:'
Then he will strip his RIB and show it's scars,
And say 'This damage I had on Spirit's Day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day, Then shall our RIBs names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Alan P the King, Clive Tully, Alan Carter and Steve Lloyd
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered
This story shall good men teach his son;
And Spirit day shall nere go by,
From this day to the ending of the World,
Be we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood and fuel with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’re so vile
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in RIBNET, now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That sailed with us upon ‘Spirit Send off Day’.

The RIBS and SIB turn towards the Cardiff Bay Yacht Club and blast into the distance!

Keith (it was really Christopher Marlowe) Hart

Nadia Lehmann · 01 April 2002, 18:02

Keith
that is brill
I am going to print that and take to the guys in GIB to take with them.

Andy.R · 03 April 2002, 15:39

Nice verse Keith!

Sorry about not staying with you on Sunday, but got caught up in the excitement of chasing SOC! Was probably the smallest boat playing with all the big boats!! Nearly got got run-down by the RNLI boat

Also I picked up your flag from POB to give back to you when I got into the Sailing Club... but as you know, I ended up being stranded on an island for 4.5 hours!! PM me you address and I will post it.
Cheers for a great weekend to everyone involved!!
Andy.
z

Keith Hart · 03 April 2002, 15:46

Hi Andy

I forgot about the flag (skull and crossbones).

We were wondering what happened to you. Graeme, Sian, Bill and me were comming out to POB when Graeme's prob hit bottom so we had to go back.

So, what's all this about being stranded for 4.5 hours?

Please tell all......

Keith (waiting with baited breath) Hart

Andy.R · 03 April 2002, 16:04

Ah, the island saga....
You remember Jools mentioned using the POB as a base and going to the island with the very friendly bunny rabbits as there are no preditors??? Well Cherie wanted to talk to the the Bunnies! So off we went, landed on a particularly rocky beach. I put down an anchor so the boat was just afloat and Cherie went to find someone to enquire if there was a proper jetty/landing area anywhere. I realised she had no cash on her and there was a £3 each landing fee, so chased her up the beach with some money, not realising just how fast the tide was moving. Got back to the boat after about 5 mins and the boat was nearly on the mega rocky beach, just got it afloat again and saw some rocks had popped out of the water behind the boat so coiuld not get back out to sea. And this was about 2.5 hours before low tide of that lovely mega-low tide.
It turned out the island was deserted, so we spent the next 4.5 hours walking round the island. Explored the lighthouse (well outside of it) and fog horn buildings. The field centre was well locked up (Cherie wanted to break in to use the toilet!!). We talked to lots of bunnies and sheep and sea-gulls...

Finally got afloat at just before 6 and made the 6.15 slot through the barrage. Was a bit concerned about the 5 mile sprint from the island to the barrage, but we managed 25mph as the sea was so flat and luckily had it way-pointed in GPS as weather got a tad misty-drizly. Got back to club just after 6.30 and were all alone...

I suppose we were quite lucky, could have gone really pear shaped being stuck out there by ourselves. But at least I had confidence that POB was in the location until 19.00hrs and we had good kit (ie spare clothes, food, drink, marineband, gps, phone [all with spare batteries], flares and fog-horn).
As we say say in Scouts "Be Prepared" and I'm glad we were!!
Cheers,
Andy.
z

cherie · 03 April 2002, 17:59

HELLO! MY FIRST REPLY EVER ON RIBNET!!! hehehehe!

Hey people

Shall we say, it was actually me who was talking to sheep and chickens - i fed the chickens, got andrew an egg (who was very ungrateful that i got him a proper warm fresh egg on easter sunday. i risked my life to get that egg, and what did he do? left it there as he didn't want it

))

So, there i was talking to sheep, and i even had them eating out of my hands and letting me stroke their noses, after about 3 hours of trying! I'm sure it was only because andrew had buggered off by this point

This is about all I have to say on the matter for now, except does anyone have Steve's number, so I can give it to Andrew to phone him about the tornado!!!

GraemeCooper · 03 April 2002, 18:07

Hi Cherie

I have Steves numbers - if you want to PM me Ill let you have them

Graeme

Andy.R · 03 April 2002, 18:10

NOooooooooooo
Please don't give her Steve's number!!!

Andy.
z

GraemeCooper · 03 April 2002, 18:12

Andy

Sorry, but as a gentleman if a lady asks for it I have to give it to her

G

Keith Hart · 03 April 2002, 18:16

Ah, adventure on the high seas.

Now I wonder, did any one who went to the SoC send off have an incident free time?

Keith Hart

GraemeCooper · 03 April 2002, 19:04

Keith

As you seem to be the one with the 'Artistic Flair', and the access to paper and printing ('Access All Areas') !!! - How about producing a 'Roll of Honour' type certificate. This could either have all of the RIB names on - though that may proved difficult as some only turned up for certain parts - or just the boat name and Crew etc.

Itshould also have a piccy of Spirit, and perhaps some other representations of the weekend - crossed broken props perhaps, or punctures at dawn - we did have 2 of each after all!

If not Keith, does anyone else thik they could produce such a document?

Just think it might be a good idea to have a mometo of the weekend

Graeme

cherie · 03 April 2002, 19:13

I think that's a fantastic idea

If I had my big computer working, I'd do it.

Give me a few weeks!

A tiny laptop doesn't cope well with making things like that!

Let me know if you need help Keith

-xx-

Keith Hart · 03 April 2002, 19:59

Okay, sounds like a good idea.

I have some hand made paper I import from Tibet for making scrolls. I could use that.

How about the speech from Henry V act 4, as adapted by myself (check out the original), with the name of the RIB on top and the crew on the bottom, plus a 'Spirit' logo. Or a complete roll of all the RIBS and SIBS.

I can't remember all of the RIBNET persons who were there. Does anyone have a record of them all?

Over to you......

Keith (best crew passes) Hart

GraemeCooper · 03 April 2002, 20:03

Hi Keith

Being an avid collector I would love both. I would love a scroll with Topaz and the crew on, and the Henry speech would be perfect for it.

I would also like a full list of the RIBs that were there along with names of crew to remember them by.

Would it be too much to do both?

Also - you must let us know the cost - I know you woulnt take anything for th stickers but this is totally different

Graeme

Keith Hart · 03 April 2002, 20:14

For those who weren't there, Bill, my first mate and I had proper crew passes. We may have been the smallest but we had the best passes!

Right Graeme....thinks........

How about an antique looking scroll with the speech on it and a 'contemporary' certificate with the roll call of RIBS (don't forget the SIB)?

Back to you folks.........

Keith Art

Andy.R · 03 April 2002, 20:22

Hi Keith,
I'm very interested too. Is it worth starting another thread for people to add names and if they want one to??
Andy.
z

jools · 03 April 2002, 22:47

You thought the SoC weekend was expensive!

I caught Cath checking out the Ribs for Sale page earlier - seems like she fancies a bigger boat (Well if she can be persuaded so can I

)

So what was Steves Tornado? and what was his number? - I seem to remember he had quite a deal

Sorry - you didn't make it back out to us - and Andy hank goodness you got back OK - you should have radio'd us to let us know what was happening!

So.... When (and what) is the next trip planned!

Scubakid · 04 April 2002, 07:33

Hi all

Count me in please let us know costs, we all know that Keith is a multi millionare but we would not want to impose. The next trip may be to Anglesea, but I have to get repaired first if I am to attend. We could have a logo like "We came, we saw, we bust them !!"

John

Keith Hart · 04 April 2002, 08:09

Hi Scubakid

"...we all know that Keith is a multi millionare ..."

Yeh, that's why I have a 3.4m boat!

So how do we proceed?

How about my suggestion for 2 scrolls? Lets get together a full list of all the RIBS there and see how many I would have to do.

Nadia, do you have a list of all the RIBNET ribs that were present?

Keith (wife, daughters, dog, boat, car, motorcycle and two houses to support) Hart

cherie · 04 April 2002, 11:49

I have a pretty good memory - but people need to add to this

Andrew Reid and Chérie Davis in 4m 40Hp Mariner 'PILGRIM'
Graeme and Sian in TOPAZ
Jules and Cath on TOMCAT and POB
Jahno and Launa?? plus dog in TSUNAMI RIDER
Keith Hart and Bill in QUICKSILVER
John and Yvone in DROMEDERY
Steve and friend in CHANNEL SPIRIT
BRIAN etc in CYANIDE
TOBY etc in B4
Alan and his lot in SOC
Nadia Lehmann in ??????????
Charles (Stealth) and friend in ???

Anyone else? This is only from memory. Don't know how to spell all the names of the boats - sorry for any mistakes with boats or people! I am only lickle and new to this!!!

Is Yvone or Cath on RIBnet? And if not, why not? I need to talk to them

-xx-