This time last year I was in a very different place, worried sick about what the future held and of the approaching hospital operations and radiation treatment visits that are now done and dusted.

Looking back it was ‘easy’ for I was in good hands and all I had to do was lie back and ‘think of England’ and not fret … ‘easy’, I said. Actually, I was S-t scared!

See for the story:
http://nickardley.com/ditch-crawler-has-a-happy-autumn-prostate-test-is-good/

2019 began with a sail … which will not be a surprise to many!

We kept at our walking too, even when it became a challenge to hike more than six miles in one go. I well remember a walk out on the Dengie, starting and finishing in Southminster … on a leg back up from the St Peter’s Way, I faltered and ground to a halt. A handy hay bale was at hand for a seat – after a long rest we ‘marched’ on. Southminster doesn’t have a lot in way of services, but there is a cafe run by a youngish couple, there, we found cake and coffee!

And that was the way I decided that I would have to approach the year.

The previous year (2018) began with life on a high – Christobel and I celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary in March and family and friends were looking forward to time afloat aboard Whimbrel. One group, my sister, Theresa, friends Hannah and Steve had been promised a trip up to London – from mid June 2018, life fell in tatters around my feet.

So with a bucketful of positive thoughts for 2019, I knuckled down, got on with life and planned: surely a future full of brightness lay ahead…

Last May, a week after my final radiation session, Whimbrel was on the club hard for her annual bottom clean and anti-fouling treatment. Christobel did the grafting and even cleaned the propeller!

Soon after we had weekends away on the River Medway watching barges and over my birthday week we visited Conyer.

First to enjoy the boat were my youngest brother, Andrew, and our cousin, Roger – both good company and keen to have fun, love them both! We had a quiet sail over to Queenborough before setting of early on a Saturday morning – the 22nd of June – bound for Brightlingsea.

Christobel and I had a glorious week or so ‘bumbling’ around the Blackwater, Mersea Quarters and Colne with a night up at Colchester Hythe, before berthing in Brightlingsea for the eighth Finesse Rally. Some twelve craft attended with the owners and crew of several more coming by road.

Then it was the turn of my sister, Theresa, and friends Hannah & Steve. A good crew they are too! Steve is Welsh – well, in part, No English, he insists, just lives in England – love him and I’ve a Welsh flag for when he is aboard!

We enjoyed a romp around the coast from Bradwell. Taking in Lawling Creek, Maldon, Pin Mill, Brightlingsea and West Mersea before returning to Bradwell.

Then Christobel and I settled down to a summer of simple sailing, going with the weather and simply enjoying ourselves. At the end of July, I had a visit to my hospital. It was fantastic news: the treatment appeared to have been effective, my psa level had dropped to less than 1. (Told about in blog run)

We eventually arrived back in Bradwell where I had arranged to pick up New Zealander Paul Mullings. He and his lovely wife came aboard for coffee and chat before departing … as we did soon after.

We enjoyed a relatively benign week in which we covered a little under 170 nautical miles, taking in Bradwell, Brightlingsea, Butley river, Orford (via Iken Church and Aldeburgh), Pin Mill, Brightlingsea (planned for West Mersea), Queenborough and then home to my Canvey Island mooring. A great trip with a grand shipmate. A Yachting Monthly article is due out during 2020 about this trip.

During the autumn the three Finesse 24s at my club planned a heist to Conyer. One was still out of the water having new main decks fitted, so just two of us went.

We settled into autumn and enjoyed our regular walks, days out, sailing and a holiday based in Deal, Kent. A grand place to visit … we plan to have another dose next year!

As I’ve said to many people, who have all been aghast, I had just one letter of disapproval about going public with my health issues and my ‘prostate challenge’ to others.

Tragic really, especially in the light of recent history for I feel it a great pity some of the high profile men who have ‘come out’, e.g. Rod Stewart, didn’t do so at the beginning of their prostate journey’s. The BBC TV presenter Bill Turnbull, who has a serious case of prostate cancer, had a retrospective documentary on television about his journey from finding out, his subsequent treatments and the aftermath of living with an incurable case. Brave man.

Two sailing chaps I met recently in Leigh-on-Sea thanked me profusely for my stance, citing the fact that down in ‘their’ club’s foreshore headquarters men had actually sat and talked about it. And, more importantly, done something about it. Women do this all the time! We men all think it amusing, but they react … men, on the whole sit back and do nothing when something is blindingly wrong.

Don’t forget, my tale, there are those among us who don’t have those signs – hence the advertising campaign: the ‘Government’ too has noticed the rise and rise of prostate cancer deaths among us men.

Caught in time it can be fixed…

And now, driving along the streets of this fair land of ours, big posters can be seen at bus stops advising ‘you’ to save a life … your life.

During the mid part of the year Yachting Monthly published Dick Durham’s wonderful column about the need for men to talk and get tested. It was an inspiring piece which makes the point…

The editor of Yachting Monthly told me that he had one ‘ardent’ objection to Dick Durham’s article, a few notes of ‘what is this doing in a yacht mag and many more notes of approval. If you’re a yachting man, you can be afflicted too: there are no boundaries.

So, to all of you who came aboard, sailed and chatted. To those I met ashore in the many places visited during my afloat times over the last year. To those that contacted through this site from afar (Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada, picking out notable countries). And those of you who just had a few kind words to say when met ‘out and about’ local to home, like the two gentlemen mentioned who I met in Leigh-on-Sea this last week – both Finesse Men. To all of you, my and Christobel’s heart-felt thanks go out with our very best wishes for a healthy New Year.