Ed Sullivan

I was a nine year old boy during this storm. My parents had sold our family home in Ramsgate and bought a boat that was moored in Bristol. The boat was a German luftwaffe vessel from ww2 that was captured by the RAF following the end of the war. We took her from Bristol, along the Avon and across the Bristol Channel. We had already began our journey when the winds began to pick up. Things became a lot worse very quickly and waves were soon crashing over the top of our new 90ft long home! I had never been at sea before and so didn't realise the severity of it at the time, I just thought it was what being at sea was. We eventually made it to Barry Island and moored up at low tide against some very rotten wooden sections. The next day was beautifully calm and we set foot ashore in search of a laundrette to dry our soaking wet clothes. We then endured the great storm of '87 in Ramsgate, right on the south east coast where it hit hardest.