A Life Aboard: The beginning

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A Life Aboard The River Dart

It’s been a steep learning curve for the newest recruits to Dartmouth’s live-aboard boating community, but Nigel and Marianne Bartram say they wouldn’t move ashore again if you paid them.

Since their 68-year-old, 47-foot long converted fishing boat, Treshnish, became their home in October the couple have endured Force 9 gales, an exploding gas canister, broken bones, a sunken tender and have even been pecked by a crow snagged in their fishing line, but they say the joys of living on the River Dart far outweigh the calamities they have suffered.

‘We have had more injuries in the last six months than our whole lives put together but when you see a seal or a dolphin bobbing by, you think this is what it’s all about,’ Marianne, 60, said.

‘We have received so much kindness from everybody on the river and so much help from the Dart Harbour Authority, it’s been amazing.  If you are humble enough to admit you don’t know what you are doing and are not arrogant, you get all the help you want.

‘We are the kind of people who find life mostly amusing anyway and there’s plenty to laugh about here.  We spend our time between being delighted, terrified and humiliated.  Moving on to a boat has been much tougher than we thought it would be and I love it and hate it in equal measures.

‘Sometimes I have yearned for a thatched cottage with a log fire, Aga and a garden with pond but when I’m ashore I gaze longingly across the water at Treshnish and I can’t wait to get back on board.

‘She’s a classic boat and I love the fact she is all brass, mahogany and oak.  She’s very solid and I just love everything about her.

‘You couldn’t pay me a million pounds to move back ashore now.’

The couple have no boating experience but decided to take the plunge and live on a boat when Nigel, a former IT consultant, retired.  ‘We had a three bedroom house in Torquay and I thought I’m not going to be able to run it on a pension,’ Nigel, 65, said.  ‘We wanted to sell up and downsize a bit and we thought about a live aboard boat or a one bed flat.  We wanted an adventure so it was a no-brainer.

‘I happened to see in some magazine or other the advert for Treshnish and we came to see it on a lovely, sunny August day and thought it was lovely.  We didn’t think about Force 9 gales.  It has been a lot harder than we imagined. It’s been very hard, physical work and we are both fitter and physically stronger than we were eight months ago.

‘An old wooden boat takes all your strength and all your money, but we do love it.’

Marianne has borne the majority of the physical injuries, suffering two broken ribs after tripping over a mooring line and falling onto a bollard and another broken bone after a heavy container of water Nigel flung from the dinghy to Treshnish fell on her foot.  A speeding yacht caused such a big wake that Marianne fell down the companionway stairs and knocked out a tooth.

Nigel has also received his share of misfortune, drifting out to sea after forgetting to pull in the dinghy mooring rope so that it snagged around the propeller.  He had the presence of mind to row over to a nearby yacht and cling on to its boarding steps until local fellow live-aboard and shipwright, Guy Cottam, came past in his dinghy and offered him a tow.

There was also the incident with the crow.  Marianne explained:  ‘I stupidly left our fishing rod on deck with bait attached.  I was woken in the early hours by a scampering sound.  I could hear the heavy bottom fishing weight being pulled around and realised a bird had been snagged by the hooks.

‘Nigel went onto the deck and found a large black crow had been caught by the wing and, I know I shouldn’t laugh, but as he was releasing it, it pecked him very hard four times.

‘The bird was exhausted so he put it on one of our deck chairs and it was fine. Nigel however was quite put out and I was in disgrace.’

The pair have also braved a series of mishaps together.  Marianne laughed:  ‘I do not know which of us caused the problem but somehow, in getting into the dinghy to bail it out we tripped and ended up entwined – swearing - face down in four inches of rainwater.

‘Wet bums and bad mood could have occurred but we ended up laughing our heads off, which we pretty much do every day anyway.

‘Then another time while entering the dinghy from the pontoon, I fell and Nigel, reaching out to help, knocked the tiller which span us round in eight high speed circles under the gaze of hopelessly guffawing tourists.

‘It is so embarrassing but we console ourselves by the memory of a fellow mariner who leapt into his dory and promptly shot backwards off the seat getting his backside wet and saying, somewhat girlishly “Oops” – again sniggered at by onlookers.  You get photographed so much that you feel like a Z - list celebrity.’

Marianne has finally found her sea legs, but it has taken her eight months.  ‘Balance is a real problem,’ she said.  ‘It is hard to understand at first but you are moving all the time, even when you are moored so at night if you get up to use the loo (heads), if you don’t take a moment to orientate, you fall down.’

Strong winds terrify her – “it’s the noise really, the screaming howling winds and the crashes and bangs” – and a recent Force 9 gale left her in tears.  ‘The wind and waves can become surprisingly violent.  In our naivety, sitting on the deck whilst sipping a G&T, thinking of buying the boat while enjoying the sun, somehow we didn’t factor in a gale,’ Marianne admitted.

‘I have never been so frightened in my life.’

Despite the misadventures and fearful experiences Nigel and Marianne are looking forward to many more years on board Treshnish and life on the River Dart.

Nigel has successfully completed the day skipper theory course and Marianne wants to take the competent crew course.

‘If our health holds up we’d like to stay here longer,’ Nigel said.  ‘We want to be able to sail her out and about around the South West coast.’

Marianne added:  ‘We thought we were good for one last adventure and we are certainly having one of those.’

First Published August 2012 By The Dart