I was "persuaded" to clear out some old magazines from the sitting room this afternoon to make way for the Christmas tree. I came across an old issue of Y&Y with a very interesting article all about Frank Dye, which put me in mind of Phil and his epic adventures up and down the Severn. Here is a bit of the article for your interest. I think the idea was that you should go out and buy Frank's books "Ocean Crossing Wayfarer" and "Sailing to the Edge of Fear" so I don't think Y&Y will be suing me for copyright:
Early Cruising Exploits:
Of his crew Frank is very appreciative. "I owe a great deal to my many crew - tough, adventurous and plain nice people. Invariably I have learned a great deal from them."
His first cruising was in a Hornet! "Bob Wright, a friend from school days, sailed with me on my first cruise from Kings Lynn to Brancaster Staithe. With a fair wind and almost no knowledge of the ebb and flow of salt waters we were unable to stem the tide into Lynn Cut before dark. We dragged our Hornet, a 15ft racing machine, to the top of the sands and laid out an anchor so as to swing clear of the shipping channel during the night. I remember being badly scared in the early hours watching navigation lights heading straight for us and swinging away at the last moment to follow the channel (and we were without any means of showing our presence).
"Surprisingly Bob crewed for me again at Easter to the Humber. This was an ambitious project as we had not learned to reef afloat and were equipped with wet weather gear of gas capes, cycle leggings, and gym shoes.
"We departed Brancaster Staithe on the last of the ebb tide, crossed the Wash with a small reef in the mainsail and pulled the Hornet ashore at Chapel St Leonard in Lincolnshire some hours later, and rigged the tent alongside the dinghy. Next day we headed north with the weather unsettled, the wind freshening and the dinghy beginning to plane. We planned to cross the mouth of the Humber and pull ashore for the night in Yorkshire."
Log Extract:
"Bob overboard! We had been planing in rushes for some time with Bob on the end of the sliding seat. A sudden gust, the Hornet heeled, Bob's gym shoe slipped off the wet gunwale, he slid down the plank into the water - and was gone! I just managed to keep the dinghy upright although she was much over-canvassed. Scared of capsizing due to my lack of weight, I was afraid of losing sight of my crew in the choppy sea. I came along side him at the second attempt but his clothing was so sodden with water that he was too heavy to climb over the transom and the Hornet was too tender to bring him aboard over the side. After several attempts I tied him to the stern and sailed him ashore to get him back in the boat - a distance of something over a mile.
By the time we were off Donna Nook, the southern entrance of the Humber, the wind was heavy and we rolled in a deep reef and tied down the jib. We estimated the wind to be almost gale force, as we were showing only 30 per cent of our sail area, and would dearly have liked to pull ashore until it blew out, but it was only just after low water, the gently shelving beach floods for over a mile, and with no shelter from the wind Bob was cold and shivering violently after his swim.
I had read that a boat should stay in deep water to make maximum use of the flood tide, so we stood out into the deep water channel. It was a mistake. The tide was running into the eye of the wind and we were soon in heavy breaking seas. Badly scared, we stood back close under the shore - and so we learned the importance of getting a lee from the land!"
The article goes on to explain how Frank and Bob decided that a Hornet was the wrong kind of boat for this kind of thing. Undeterred, they went on to do a crossing of the North Sea to Holland in a Force 8 gale, and cruised round Denmark in a Wayfarer the following Spring. Proper tough guys in those days.