A Life, A Sail, A Changing Sea – Lord ‘Skips’ Riverdale
Aged 19, Robin Balfour had built a 10ft two-man dinghy. Equipped with tent cover, camping primus, paraffin lamp and galvanised bucket, he set out to circumnavigate Lincolnshire. It was 6 July 1920, when he and his friend Dick left Brough Creek for the Humber.
As we started down river, the whole sail breeze against the tide caused the short, hollow waves, inevitable in these parts and horrible in a small open boat.
We could neither point high nor move fast and were shipping water, so progress was slow and it was the tide that took us to windward and down river. For this reason we kept to the main channel where the stream was strongest, though the seas were worst. Off Hull, with the tide at full strength, the seas were larger but not more difficult as we began to rise to them. The wind increased and we reduced sail. We had passed Paull Creek at 8.15 p.m. but the tide was spent; we could not leave the Humber that night and there was no refuge for many miles before Grimsby.
We entered Paull Creek and secured to a small fishing craft known locally as ‘blobbers’. We had a meal and dried out slightly as everything was wet and so were we. Oilskins in those days were heavy, clammy, stiff and frequently sticky, imposing such a handicap to movement that we seldom wore them. [...]
At 3 a.m. we were underway just before high water, the wind had changed and we could hold our course to Grimsby on the starboard tack. A thunderstorm developed, there appeared to be three centres, the largest right above us with magnificent lightning and continuous thunder crashes. The rain was so blinding that only by the lightning could we see the buoys. A culminating flash and with an ear-splitting crash we both received a nasty shock. Perhaps the all-pervading wet, as we were practically sitting in the river, saved us from injury.
The water was over the floorboards, we baled with the half round galvanised pan, equally useful for the two Ps, one of which is paddle. There were no dinghy pumps, self-balers, transom flaps or plastic scoops. The storm passed and did a lot of damage to Lincolnshire. Behind it the wind was late and freer. We set our trysail on a boat hook as a spinnaker; murky weather with showers ensued until we had passed Grimsby at 7 a.m. Conditions were good enough for a cooked breakfast. The spinnaker came in as we rounded Donna Nook; we had left the Humber, this was the North Sea. The water lost its chocolate hue, the sun came out, there was an uplift of spirit and we made our maximum speed until the wind came ahead and grew lighter so that we were becalmed off Mablethorpe.
We were not popular and received many unpleasant hints as to our future!
The two young men sailed, rowed and towed from the shore until they reached Boston early on the Monday: 105 miles in 41 hours. They left Seamouse there and went to work.
The plan for the second weekend was simple. The Trent must be reached by canal and river, passing through Lincoln and that Saturday if we were to have any chance of returning to Brough by working tides on Sunday. On the chosen Saturday I arrived at Boston with another friend but it was 6.30 p.m. before we started up the River Whitham. The wind was ahead, the channel was narrow and sailing was difficult. We rowed until 8.30 p.m. The primus valve failed, it flared up and melted out. We alternated sailing and rowing until 1.30 a.m. and then slept. We were underway by 4 a.m. and rowed for four hours.
Robert (Robin) Balfour (1901-1998) was the son of a Sheffield steel manufacturer whose public service gained him the title Baron Riverdale. Balfour worked in the family business and served in the RNVR. He was an innovative amateur yacht designer and a Royal Cruising Club member.