For love of a boat – Birling Gap

/ Bill / 1 Comment

Birling Gap 2009

Here is a problem most fisherman don’t have to face. Note the tideline.

Not only has the boat to be dragged up the shallow beach out of the tide’s reach, but, having hauled it up the scaffold, there is the further irritation of the gear falling out.

The Birling Gap section of this very beautiful coast is eroding faster than the rest, the buildings at the top of the cliff heading for the sea.

Seven Sisters, East Sussex 2009

For the origins and full set of images in this series, here

On sailing a Folksong – small jobs

/ Bill

The weather was due to set in yesterday afternoon and I was late getting aboard – so no sail, but a happy couple of hours doing small jobs:

  • A small brass cleat plus a short lanyard on a brass screw will stop the lid over the stove crushing the kettle every time we go onto a port tack.
  • Two O-rings will hold the chart table firmer to its fittings. The play wasn’t much but just enough to cause concern.
  • The greaser for the stern gland has been recharged. How do you stop grease travelling around a small saloon? Answer: wear gloves, have a couple of cloths handy and be very, very careful!
  • The oil has been checked. We have used a little since the last check, but it’s ok.
  • The screws on the autohelm attachment below the tiller needed tightening. I have used it much less this year – enjoying the helm myself or letting the crew steer. It was only when I removed it  last time that I noticed the fitting was moving. I shall watch it more closely in future.

~~~

I have been playing with a tubtrug as a simple solution for extra stowage in the fore cabin.

They are large enough to hold all sorts of odds and ends that you don’t need often, but when you do need them, it’s always in a hurry and they are always buried somewhere.

Because space (including headroom) is limited in a boat this size, stowage is critical. It’s hard work searching beneath piles of loose gear. Using these for bins, clears the fore cabin and makes it easy to open the lockers in the sole.

As from yesterday, this one holds various coils of rope, lines etc; it was  sea boots, awning, hand-bailer and a couple of fenders (as in the image) before that.

They are flexible, meaning they are very easy to pull into the saloon or up on deck.

I like the versatility  – it would bail a lot of water in an emergency.

This one  fits snugly just forward of the main bulkhead. It needs a simple fastening to hold it steady on a starboard  tack.

They are an excellent place for wet heavy-weather gear in a boat with no hanging locker.

I am going to buy another one in a garden sale.

~~~

Oh, and I took a some of bearings and transferred them to the chart. Just practising 🙂

For love of a boat – Keep turning left

/ Bill

I’ve been watching and thoroughly enjoying Dylan Winter‘s short videos of his trip round the UK.

The series is called ‘Keep Turning Left – around Britain in a small boat’.

The boat is 19 foot. He starts in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. I have just watched No 16 – we are in the Medway!

I am not convinced by every one of his opinions, but his description is excellent and the camera work great – particularly of the working boats and especially the Thames barges.

Gentle stuff to idle away an evening – passed parts of the country I have visited recently.

On sailing a Folksong – an October Saturday

/ Bill

A perfect sail yesterday – sunshine and steadyish wind (maybe needed a little more for absolute perfection).

Starboard tack out through the eastern entrance to Shag Stone, then a close reach to Cawsand.

Plenty of other boats out.

We anchored for an hour or so’s picnic close inshore, a short distance from Cawsand and Kingsand

And enjoyed the run home to Cattewater wharves. picking up the mooring around 1700.

Good sail, good company. Thanks, guys.

For love of a boat – photography

/ Bill / 129 Comments

I have introduced a new category in my links column – Marine photography.

Over a year ago, I started the ‘For love of a boat’ series. It originated during a walk on a Croatian beach in June 2008.

Since a child I have been fascinated by small inshore craft and will seek them out whenever I can. I have photographed them, watched them, read about them. They were always there, there was never a shortage. But now, in later life, I have woken up to the fact that the shapes I love are disappearing – fast. Others are taking there place but in very different times.

In that first post, I wrote:

“The problem is this: here is a fine-looking, well-built, working boat sitting on a beach.

It’s not in its original condition. The hot sun shines on it every day, the seams have opened, a piece of the forefoot has come away. Whether this is repairable or not is irrelevant, this boat is no longer required for its original purpose and it will finish its life as a theatrical prop on a beautiful beach in Croatia.

So, do we care? After all, there are plenty of other boats in the world. What’s special about this one?

Well,  somebody had the idea to build it. Perhaps he designed it – or perhaps he took the lines off another boat-  (I say ‘he’ because it’s less likely in this country to be ’she’ – but not impossible). Somebody sawed the timbers and found the rest of the materials required, then they built it. Maybe he sold it or maybe he used it himself to fish from, and certainly he would have put in the time to maintain it.

You see, this boat has gathered a history around it. It is the story of a life lived on the water. We may never know the details of that story, but it deserves some respect and, at the very least, it can be preserved in a picture.

I hope to post pictures of similar boats (most of them in a better state than this one) at regular intervals.”

I have been posting pictures ever since – more or less weekly. There are now well over 100 images in the back posts of this blog, and rather than invite people to browse back through them, I have posted them all in one set. Each time I add a new Love of a boat post, the image will automatically add to the set.

I have also discovered other people who share my passion, notably AA, whose insight into Greece and Greek boats has been another revelation. He also has built a similar set of images, and has kindly given me permission to link to it.

At the same time there are fine sets from Kostas Sarris and Simone Pierotti.

As time goes on I shall add sets relevant to the other themes in the blog, notably the Folksong, and the Ceres.

My interest in photography is in its ability to inform and to record, as well as in its status as an art in its own right.