Stephen eschewed convention. He revelled in being different, and in excelling at all the different things he did. Who else would take a two or three year break from work and then return to be even more successful than before? And not just to do it once… Not for him hours of watching television, following football, drinking in pubs or bars, or beach holidays in the sun. For Stephen recreation meant some outdoor activity at which he could excel, preferably involving his family. This might be sailing round the world, climbing Aconcagua, orienteering, four wheel driving in Iceland or running the New York marathon.
After his latest business success he bought another boat and as a ‘shake-down cruise’, to find out what was wrong with it, planned a trip to the high Arctic, to the very edge of the polar ice-cap! Unconventional I think you would agree? He took me along as part of his crew and we set off from Ipswich in May 2003. We sailed non-stop for four days through some quite stormy weather to reach Torshaven in the Faeroe Islands. Most skippers, after four days at sea in inclement conditions would say ‘lets go ashore for a drink’. Not Stephen. We were berthed in the middle of the town within sight of several bars and when he said ‘let’s go for a walk’ we mistakenly reached for our shoes. ‘No’ he said, ‘you’ll need walking boots’. After 15 miles during which we had inspected the mountain site of the original Faeroes parliament, photographed the oldest inhabited log cabin in Europe, climbed up and down several thousand at times precipitous feet, got lost and employed Stephen’s orienteering skills to re-discover our route, we were eventually allowed to sample the bars of Torshaven!
I first met Stephen in 1973 when we were both undergraduates at the University. A mutual friend, Nick Donaldson, and I had decided that we were going to spend part of the long vacation on our first sailing trip across the Bay of Biscay to the Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal. Nick and I had done lesser trips around the English Channel in previous years, but this was to be something much bigger and more challenging. The only problem was that we needed four others to join us – four who were prepared to spend six weeks with us on a cramped little boat and share the costs! Stephen was one of our first recruits - he had never sailed before. After nine days out of sight of land I have a vivid recollection of waking up in the middle of the night, in a full gale off Cape Finisterre, to see Nick and Stephen pouring over a chart discussing our situation. No mere bystander, Stephen was earnestly debating the merits of carrying on to Portugal or putting into a Spanish port. Nominally the skipper, I was informed that it had been decided we should put into Vigo in northern Spain. It was apparent from this early stage that Stephen had an aptitude for offshore sailing and that it wasn’t going to be in some mere crewing role!
In 1979 Stephen was once again at sea, holed up in a Scottish Loch sheltering from the storm that reaped so much havoc on the Fastnet race of that year. In such circumstances, with the wind whistling round the boat, most would tuck up down below, probably with a large meal, a few drinks and a good book. Not Stephen – ‘see you shortly’ he said as he emerged in running kit and proceeded to row the dinghy ashore. Two hours later, having run up a mountain of well over 1000 feet during the storm, he re-appeared on board…
In 1983 he bought his first boat. It was quite a fast boat, not quite a Porsche amongst sailing boats but definitely equivalent to the higher powered BMWs. This he proceeded to race around the buoys off Harwich, unusually for Stephen, with only mixed success – the lure the yacht club bar was nothing like as great for Stephen as it was for the other competitors! Quickly tiring of this he bought another boat, something much less conventional, although in the right conditions, even faster. This was a Freedom 35 called Magic Dragon. It had two unstayed masts, a cat-rigged ketch and a very shallow draught – ideal should you wish to travel rapidly to a muddy creek and then navigate further up it than anyone had done before – and of course that was exactly what Stephen wanted to do! But while he was fascinated by muddy creeks, something he intended to return to after his recent polar adventures, at this time his ambitions extended to Norway and across the Atlantic.
On a trip to Norway in Magic Dragon, with Catherine and Mike Wade, they encountered some rough weather and the boat was rolled on its side. Stephen was washed overboard but was attached by a safety line and was pulled back into the boat as it came upright. He was OK but lost his glasses, which for Stephen was a serious handicap. Undeterred by this little incident he went on to enter the two handed transatlantic race, with Mike Wade. On this occasion they were well over half way to the finish line, when Steve put his head through the hatch and called ‘Er, the mast has just fallen over the side – you’d better come up on deck…’! Calmly analysing the situation they found that with just one mast they were unable to sail upwind towards the finish so they turned tail and set off for home… after these two incidents even Stephen hankered after a more conventional boat with a stayed mast and keel… and that was the seed of a love affair with Oysters…
To coincide with the successful culmination of his role at Madge, Stephen persuaded Catherine that they should give three and a half year old James a proper introduction to sailing and, wanting the very best for his family, argued that nothing short of a full circumnavigation would do… Naturally this had to be on a proper boat and an Oyster 55 was commissioned, to be named Magic Dragon of Herm, and this was entered for the 1995-1997 Trade Winds Rally. Stephen was a very proud owner of his Oysters, and his Magic Dragons must have become amongst the most photographed sailing boats. Whenever they stopped, Stephen would set off in the dinghy with his camera. The scenery, whether in the Caribbean, Galapagos, South Pacific, Barrier Reef, Indonesia, Red Sea or, on subsequent cruises, in the Artic or Antarctic, seemed always to be considered to be merely the backdrop for a photograph of Magic Dragon…
On returning from their two year circumnavigation I was told by Stephen that he was going to get a proper job. He became Chief Executive of Geneva and Magic Dragon was sold – he said it would have been a distraction…
Having sailed round the world there’s not much left to do – but how about sailing from north to south? And so the idea for the next major cruise started to take shape as the Geneva venture reached maturity. He bought another, larger Oyster to be called Magic Dragon of Wroxham. Why Wroxham, not a major seaport but rather a small inland town a long way up a shallow, muddy river? Well the logic was that Wroxham was where the boat was built but as Stephen was to discover, it may not always be best to be strictly logical in making decisions – ‘Magic Dragon of Wroxham’ proved to be a considerable challenge on many occasions when it had to be communicated over poor quality radio links, to pedantically bureaucratic officials, in a foreign language. In Chile, for example, this had to be done twice a day – but always resourceful, Stephen decided this was a task best delegated…!
It was on Magic Dragon of Wroxham that I spent most time sailing with Stephen. It was to have been some six months in total but tragically was curtailed to a little over four. The sailing often seemed only the means of getting to another spectacular setting for a walk – altitude rather than distance was what mattered to Stephen who relished every opportunity to enjoy a breathtaking view, often out over the sea and often with Magic Dragon featuring prominently! It was immediately before this trip that Stephen had climbed Aconcagua and prior to that run the New York marathon. You might imagine, therefore, that I was apprehensive about my ability to keep up with him – while I had been rowing once a week on the Cam I had done no intensive training. I was, therefore, surprised that I could, just, keep up with him, albeit stretching my lungs fully and definitely requiring a shower on returning to the boat. When I asked whether he was being considerate and controlling his pace for my benefit I was told not at all but rather that he had learned he could walk much further if he avoided getting out of breath…!
We had a magnificent cruise to the high Arctic, experiencing weeks of midnight sun, getting to 80 degrees north, just 600 miles from the North Pole, burying the bow of the boat in the polar icecap, seeing walruses and polar bears, and much more besides.
After the trip north, Stephen, Catherine and James, along with Chris amd Mel, their Kiwi crew, sailed Magic Dragon to Chile, taking the long route via Brazil, the Caribbean, Panama, Galapagos, Marquesas, Tahiti and then back across the Pacific to Chile. It was while on this year-long trip that Stephen once again stepped into the now familiar role of King Neptune. As they crossed the Equator there were novices to be initiated, a ceremony Stephen always enjoyed; always because he had never been initiated himself! On this occasion there were two novices so, dressed in a sheet and beard, armed with a trident, and ably assisted by Catherine as Queen Neptune and James as master Neptune, large quantities of shaving cream and ketchup were applied to the novices who were then doused with bucket fulls of sea water.
During the trips north and south we were exposed to several unusual delicacies. These included whale, seal and beaver. Whale products included fresh steaks, dried meat but also blubber, eaten cold and on its own, a taste for which he never acquired - it looked like cooking lard and tasted similar but a little fishy! Wherever Magic Dragon went she would always encounter friendly people. One such was the harbour master at Torshaven in the Faeroes, who was determined we should eat yet more of his whale products – I think I can honestly say that this well-meaning gentleman is the only person I have known who Stephen was genuinely nervous of meeting and sought to avoid… ‘Ehm blubber’ when said with feeling would be guaranteed to make him wince.
One delicacy we didn’t try was penguin. Penguins, however, made good subject matter for photographs, almost as good as Magic Dragon herself! On one occasion, shortly before he died, Stephen sidled up to me and asked if he could have a quiet word. Rather taken aback I wondered what I had done wrong. I knew that turning on my shower diverted all the hot water from his which was something we had already ‘discussed’; I knew that turning on the gas cooker to make an early morning cup of tea would wake him up, as we had discussed that; I knew that putting a mug of tea on the chart table was an ‘owner’s privilege’; we had discussed that too…but what else? To my surprise I was asked if I would go ashore to take photographs of him with a penguin – normally entirely self-sufficient on these occasions he needed help and almost seemed embarrassed to ask. So off we went to the penguin rookery and I was given a quick lesson in how to operate his camera. The penguins seemed very interested in the camera and came almost too close – but would they approach Stephen, or allow him to approach them – of course not! We tried every ploy we could think of but couldn’t get them really close to him – I’m sure you can imagine the scene, the pandemonium, the screeching and flapping of flippers! But I think we still got some nice photographs with plenty of penguins in view even if none were ‘holding hands’ with him!
The 12th January was a beautiful day on the Antarctic Peninsular. There was not a cloud in the deep blue sky, a few vertical streaks of jet black rock contrasted with the brilliant whiteness of the snow that covered the mainland and all the off lying islands. The sea was calm and reflected the blueness of the sky. It was littered with floating ice in sizes varying from a football to a cathedral, the larger bergs often being dramatically sculptured. As we motored south the scenery became even more stunning. At about midday Stephen took over the helm; we were about to achieve the objective he had set a couple of years earlier – the crossing of 65 degrees south – and he wanted to be in every sense in charge of Magic Dragon as we did so, just as he had been as we reached 80 degrees north, exactly 18 months previously! Stephen was thrilled, we all were, and he grinned from ear to ear as we sipped champagne. I have drunk champagne in some interesting places but never before anywhere like that – it was breathtaking – and a very fitting climax to an expedition that had taken so much dogged determination and sheer effort to organise.
Having travelled some 25,000 miles to reach a point over 7,000 miles south of Magic Dragon’s base in Ipswich, she was only able to make another two or three miles before the ice became too densely packed for it to be possible to go any further. So we turned about to set off for the long trip home, but with plenty more cruising planned along the way. The first stop was Port Lockroy, a former British Antarctic Survey base, now run as a museum and post office! We anchored there for the night and set about celebrating the achievement of our objective. Stephen didn’t run a dry ship but equally he didn’t believe in free flowing alcohol. He had instituted a regime of ‘Happy Hour’ marked at 6pm every day with the consumption of an alcoholic beverage of some sort. In his case it was usually a gin and tonic and that evening they were large ones! We occasionally shared a bottle of wine between the five of us at dinner and if it was a special occasion he could sometimes be persuaded to let us open a second bottle, responding as if he was dealing with indulged and naughty schoolchildren. That night, however, he chided me for not having the second bottle ready as soon as the first was drained… It was a very jolly evening and he was revelling in his latest success.
The next day we went for a walk, enjoyed some more magnificent views, feeling in every sense on top of the world, when tragedy struck, suddenly and unexpectedly. That day we lost a very dear friend and the world lost one of its very greatest achievers…
We continued to try to run the boat in the way Stephen ran it but ‘Happy Hour’ was no longer appropriate; it was renamed ‘Memory Hour’. The first ‘Memory Hour’ was the next day, a Friday, and a number of us continue the tradition by raising our glasses to Stephen at 6pm each Friday evening. You may wish to consider establishing this tradition in your households in memory of someone who was universally liked, who achieved so much and was a friend to all of us.
For pictures of Stephen see the Magic Dragon website, and on that site there are pictures of Stephen with Penguins.
(c) Copyright 2005 Robert Bradfield, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED