Alan Smith – the sailor.
Alan joined WoSP in 2008. He has made / built / turned most things our members do – bowls, tables, etc. His current project is a scale replica of the sixth ship he sailed on – the Royalist. Spars are done then its onto the hull then cabins and last of all, the rigging.
Alan was born and grew up in Royal Tunbridge Wells many moons ago. This is a small town some 50 kilometres south east of London which, in times gone by, made its fame as a spa town with waters claimed to have medicinal qualities.
His formal education took a technical path, joining the Post Office on a three-year apprenticeship in 1965. These 3 years took him into many departments of the Post Office – underground cable maintenance, overhead construction, fitting, exchange construction, exchange maintenance and subscriber maintenance. After his marriage to Susan, Alan moved to Sussex – to a village called Rotherfield then to the village of Forest Row.
During this time, Alan attended a training course at Bletchley Park which, completely unknown to him (and almost everyone else), was where Alan Turing and his team worked at breaking the Enigma Codes during WW11. And Alan had his 21st birthday party at this mansion.
On completion of his apprenticeship, Alan joined the underground maintenance team, worked hard for long hours (running up lots of overtime) and enjoyed his downtime at the local hostelries. He made many good friends among his work mates with whom he would spend many happy hours at places like the Elm Tree in Paddock Wood. Around the mid ‘70s, Alan transferred to circuit provision at the Tunbridge Wells Repeater station. It was while in this job (in 1983), Alan applied for and landed a job as a Ranger at the newly built Weir Wood Reservoir west of Forest Row in East Sussex.
Thus started an entirely new chapter of Alan’s work life. During the warmer 6 months of the year, life was busy with general Ranger duties with the cooler 6 months very quiet. This reservoir was a mecca for trout fishmen. Alan became an accomplished fly caster while in this job. The job also entailed the raising and releasing of Rainbow and Brown Trout. With the completion of the nearby Ardingly reservoir, the duties of the Weir Wood staff expanded to include this new facility. Alan has maintained an interest in trout fishing – bay or surf fishing was never his scene.
Then came an offer of Yacht Broker and manager assistant at the marina at Hastings – the Western Port Marina. Friends had already made the move to Australia so the offer was too good to refuse. Living first in Frankston then building a house on 5 acres of land at The Gurdies. This was a somewhat idyllic location but somewhat lonely for Susan. Hence the move to Rosebud.
While at the Marina, Alan was asked to retrieve a boat from Hamilton Island. However, it turned out that there was a dispute over who owed who money and the boat was going nowhere till this was resolved. And the police were no help either. Eventually, resolved it was and Alan was on his way to Hastings (Victoria that is). Work at the Marina took an ‘interesting’ turn as the financial viability of the Marina deteriorated. Alan eventually moved on to a job at the St Kilda Marina for the next two years. This job was not to his liking so Alan moved on and took up full time study at Deakin University doing a BA then an Honours in Community Development (interest in completing a PhD faded when his computer failed with no backup….). Some part time jobs came his way during this time. Then – retirement.
BUT – starting back in England in 1959, Alan joined the Sea Cadets – a branch of the Royal Navy. This took Alan on many interesting – even fascinating – adventures on tall ships. He served on the following vessels:
- Centurion – 70 foot Brigantine,
- Kenya Jactaranda – 80 foot Ketch
- Kaylena – about 68 foot,
- Duenna – about 45 foot Brigantine,
- Gorch Fock – 200 feet,
- Royalist – 92 feet,
- Acteon of Hamble – 55 feet.
- Sarie Marais,
- Martin,
- Petrel.
In 1966, Alan joined the Centurion was a 70-foot Brigantine in which, Alan and the crew entered and won that year’s Tall Ship’s Race from Falmouth to Shaw in Denmark. It was on the return from this trip that the First Lieutenant had a heart attack and died – an interesting experience so early in his sailing career.
1967 saw Alan aboard the Kenya Jacaranda. Then in 1968, Alan was appointed boatswain on a Ketch called Kaylena – in a race from Harwich on the English east coast to Kristiansand in Norway – via a buoy in the middle of the North Sea. They came in second this race – the buoy proved elusive plus the genoa (sail) failed needing hours to repair.
In 1969, Alan was aboard the Duenna.
1970 saw Alan on a German Navy Braque called Gorch Fock. This journey took them from Nantes in France to Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. This proved to be a great learning exercise for Alan on the management and workings of a large square rigged sailing vessel. There were over 200 men on board, most of whom were Officer Cadets and Midshipmen from the West German Navy. This was an opportunity to get involved in German efficiency at its best. On one occasion while at anchor off Sardinia, the crew set every stitch of sail and weighed anchor in a new record time of for the ship – this complicated procedure had taken just over 20 minutes.
1972 saw Alan aboard the Acteon of Humble then the Sarie Marais.
In 1977, Alan joined the crew of the Scottish Topgallant Schooner, the Captain Scott as Boatswain. This had been bought by the Omani Government and was to be delivered to Oman. The crew was 50% Omani Officer Cadets – the remainder being British Sea Cadets. The Omanis, being Muslims, were non-drinkers thus a challenge to the Brits on board. The Omani Government renamed the vessel Shebab Oman (Youth of Oman). A dispute saw Alan leaving the boat in Palma, Majorca and returning home.
Then followed the twins Martin and Petrel in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
1986. Next, Alan joined the 65-foot vessel Aztec Lady, rigged as a Bermudian Ketch. Alan resigned his job as a Ranger to work full time on this Ketch – to be sailed to Australia to compete in the Tall Ships Race (Hobart to Sydney) – part of the Australian Bi-Centenary celebrations. This was a trip to Australia and back – ‘a once in a lifetime’ experience and a whole story in itself.
This is just four of the 10 training vessels Alan has served on. There is so much more to Alan’s sailing career and more tales to tell – but this would fill a book. I strongly recommend that readers sit down with Alan to explore these adventures.