The East Midlands Summer Sail Ian Godson writes:-
“The day dawned bright and sunny, with only a slight breeze on the mighty River Trent. Twenty-two intrepid sailors boarded two vessels to make the upstream voyage to Trent Bridge, adjacent to the hallowed cricket ground of the same name.
During the morning, we were served chocolate biscuits and steaming cups of tea or coffee prepared by the lady members; saw vast numbers of birds, including – would you believe? – a black swan, many herons in flight or just standing watching the world go by, a family of great crested grebes with three chicks (one of them hitching a ride on Mum’s back), etc, etc.
This was the sum total of the excitement until our lunch orders were produced at the Trent Bridge Inn. Parky was given a supersize mixed grill (unknown to him), when he’d only ordered a standard sized one. He was happily munching his way through when it became apparent that the irate orderer of the large mixed grill was giving the waiter a hard time for down-sizing his meal! In his defence, I can confirm that the waiter, on delivering said meal, simply called out “Mixed grill”. Things changed in many ways for the return trip. The skies darkened, and the threatened rain descended on us in bucket loads, so that we had to close all the open orifices on board, to keep us dry. Of course, the gallant steersman/woman and the official brolly holder stuck manfully to their open-air tasks and braved the downpour. As if this wasn’t enough excitement, we steerage passengers, down below, felt and heard a number of clanking/grinding noises as we raced downstream at a rate of knots. These did not cause undue concern, until the good ship “Gunthorpe Belle” ground to a halt, after a repeat of the noises from below. We had grounded on a bank of gravel!
Our sister ship was hailed for assistance, and whilst Skipper McMurray brought his vessel about, some of our number felt it imperative to don their lifejackets! They need not have feared; the “Gunthorpe Star” soon had us re-floated and we returned to our landing stage unscathed and
only five minutes later than our ETA! Perhaps more important, was the fact that salvage fees were not demanded by our saviours! ”
