It is with a very heavy heart that I write this blog as we lost one our most avid readers and Gemini J’s 3rd Skipper last week when our great friend Paul Mountford passed away after a long illness. Some of you readers will have met Paul as Skipper Nigel’s best man at our wedding, others will have heard him mentioned in various sailing stories that are often fondly told aboard Gemini J.
Little did Skipper Nigel know 20 years ago when he fell asleep on a lilo in a swimming pool in Egypt what a friendship it would lead to. We met Paul and Chel later that evening when Paul recognised Nigel as the chap who had been drifting about the pool asleep all afternoon. The next day a firm bond was made when we all went out sailing on Hobie Cats. Similar ages and with similar interests we all got on really well and soon met up when we returned to England since we lived less than half an hour away from each other.
Paul soon invited Nigel to join him on many sailing trips aboard his yacht Big Mac. Nigel had sailed before but it was Skipper Paul who really developed his love of life aboard. Over the next few years they enjoyed various adventures sailing from Poole harbour – often sneaking off night sailing never telling us girls too much about their adventures in case we worried about them.
There was the time they lost Big Mac’s engine and Skipper Paul had to frantically problem solve as they headed towards the notorious Needles off the Isle of Wight – only to find Nigel had thrown his shoes down below and knocked the emergency engine cut off switch. Or perhaps the time Nigel followed a cross channel ferry light rather than a star whilst Skipper Paul took a nap.
Chel and I did sometimes join them and it was aboard Big Mac that Nigel proposed to me ….. although even that didn’t quite happen as planned when the wind picked up as we were on anchor enjoying a quiet moment and rather than proposing Nigel exchanged a nod with Paul and we were soon hacking along under sail at 6 knots back towards Poole. The proposal eventually took place on a candlelit deck at 9pm that night !!
It was only natural that Nigel’s stag night took place aboard Big Mac and whilst I obviously don’t know too much about it I do know that a fair proportion of the night was spent on the beach playing guitar and possibly enjoying the odd drink and a cigarette or two.
Paul steered a very nervous Nigel through our wedding weekend, making sure he got a quick whisky before the wedding ceremony and thankfully remembering my birthday when the registrar asked Nigel (who was too nervous to remember) otherwise the whole thing might have been off !
Times moved on and later that year Paul and Chel welcomed beautiful baby Joshua into the Mountford household with much joy and the odd sleepless night. Nigel and I moved to Spain and for a few years Nigel and Paul were long distance amigos, Big Mac was sold and the sailing days appeared to be fond memories.
Fast forward to six and a half years ago and it was Nigel’s turn as Skipper when we bought Gemini J. Before Nigel was even fully qualified to sail her, Paul was out here lending a hand to get everything set up and being crew on Nigel’s final Skipper test.
Our first major trip on Gemini J was into the Mar Menor with Paul …. we had a fabulous weekend getting to know the boat and mooring up in difficult conditions. There were a couple of cases of what became known as “two skipperitis” with Nigel and Paul issuing slightly different instructions to me as inexperienced crew – we always had a good laugh about it once we were ashore enjoying our post sail drinks.
Of course Paul was also aboard for our first major adventure to Ibiza and Formentera and we had some truly amazing times on that trip. We proudly launched our lobster pot and got up in the morning to find it missing !! It was a team task to retrieve it (me snorkeling with boat hook – Paul getting it aboard) we found a beautiful fish in place of any lobster – operation fish rescue began and Paul tried his level best to release the fish …… Nigel ended up with scissors cutting it open and I released it back into the water. All that before morning coffee too….
Paul and Nigel had great fun that trip heading off in the dinghy boat spotting round the anchorages. There was also the time we departed San Antonio in gusty conditions – Paul was keeping the boat straight using the boat hook onto a neighboring boat til Skipper Nigel was ready to leave – only then the hook was stuck ….. Paul ended up with half a boathook in his hand as we departed and we left half an extending boathook hanging from a boat in the marina, who knows what their skipper thought when he or she returned !
Our crossing back to the mainland after that trip remains our most challenging experience to date and I don’t know what we would have done without Paul. He crawled down the deck and fought with the lines to fix a problem with our Genoa sail in 4m swell……it was a very hairy manouvre but one that saved our sail and made us safe for the rest of the crossing. Paul and Nigel took 30 minute turns on the helm for over 10 hours as we battled the conditions, we all deserved our beers aboard in Calpe that night.
The next longer trip for Paul and Nigel was moving the boat from San Pedro del Pinatar to Cartagena – of course they did the journey faster than we had ever done it before on our previous trips! Paul was such a good friend he declined the offer of a video someone took of the now famous time Skipper Nigel cycled into the marina (having not set up the handlebars properly) – so that day lives on only as a legend.
Our last trip was the last great blast before coronavirus really, when we sailed up to Valencia and Paul and his friend Dave joined us. I headed to Munich to celebrate our friend Al’s birthday and I left the boys sailing away and messing about in the dinghy. The conditions were fabulous for them and we had a great mooring, right in the heart of the marina action. Once again, I don’t know all the tales of the boys time aboard and their various sailing trips from Valencia but I was on the jetty waiting for them as they came back on the Sunday – all 3 of them with huge smiles after a great time. We enjoyed a couple of fabulous meals (steaks and red wine, Paul’s favourite of course). There were very tired but happy goodbyes after the weekend with great intentions to repeat the adventure soon.
There are so many more stories of adventures that were and thoughts of adventures that might have been. coronavirus and illness put paid to other trips that might have happened more recently but Skipper Nigel and Paul were always in each others thoughts and once they both met Alexa she kept them in touch.
We are now on another trip to Ibiza and it was with very heavy hearts we departed – in fact it was the hardest departure in easy conditions we will probably ever have just the day after we lost our beloved friend. Gemini J will always have her 3rd Skipper in spirit and we will often think back to our times together. Our thoughts are now with Chel and Josh and all our love is going to them as we sail onwards and revisit some of the places we enjoyed visiting with Skipper Paul – forever in our hearts.
The Adventures of Gemini J 