Page 122 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

130 EAGLE AND CARBINE
The Continued Adventures of Tintanic
(This article is a follow-up to one which appeared in the 2020 Eagle and Carbine)
By Major (Retd) Mick Stanley
I would like to respond to the generosity of the hundreds of individuals who have donated to my charities over the past three years. I have now completed, since the beginning of ‘lockdown’, over three hundred miles rowing my home made tin-boat Tintanic in canals, rivers, lakes and in the open sea, in all parts of the UK, but mainly in Chichester harbour.
I built my boat at the beginning of lockdown out of two sheets of corrugated iron, rowing the first year, from Hunston, up and down the Chichester canal, for 100 miles. Last year I rowed the same distance in England, Scotland and Wales, in rivers, lakes and canals. This year I wanted to do something a little more ‘edgy’ and row in salty water, mainly in Chichester harbour but also in the Solent and rivers in Sussex and Hampshire
In April I launched my boat for this year’s adventure in aid of ‘Children on the Edge’, a local charity, that supports women and children fleeing the Ukrainian conflict. The launch by Simon Benson, Commodore
of the Chichester Yacht Club, took place at the club on the 29 April 2022. The event was attended by friends and family and a surprisingly large number of the Press.
My aim for 2022 was to row another 100 miles. I started at Bucklers Hard on the Beaulieu river with a short row of three miles down river to the Southampton Yacht Club. Lord Montagu was there to ‘see me off ’. At the request of the photographer from the Daily Telegraph he gallantly removed his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers, and pushed Tintanic out from the slipway! It was with some embarrassment that the only cloth I could find for him to dry his feet, after his paddle, was a very dirty oily rag that I use for cleaning Tintanic, his Lordship was un-phased and entered into the fun of the occasion!
The Queen’s Jubilee was a very special event for the Country and to celebrate. I rowed along the Regents Canal past London Zoo from the ‘Pirates Castle’, an
Crossing The Solent