Halloween

Our neighbour had a bumper year growing pumpkins, lets hope they don't come to life tonight.

Classic Sandpaper

My regular reader Joe Rouse commented on my recent post Classic Varnish  "Varnish is the first thing to come to mind, the second, sandpaper. " so I thought  this might be a better title for these pictures of an amazing classic captured by my friend.

From the cove line I'm guessing it's a William Fife design and I should know what it is but I just can't remember possibly an 8 meter?

Sure is nice, in Joe's words "God bless the blokes with money."

Nightfall a gaff cutter

My friend Malcolm know's I'm into classic yachts and he has kindly sent me pictures of some great examples while cruising around the Solent, you gotta love whatsapp.

Seen here in Bembridge harbour is Nightfall a classic gaff cutter.

Originally built for a Mr WD Silcock and his wife to gently sail on the Norfolk Broads and around the Suffolk Coast. She was designed by Harold Lidston who lived in Cowes

These days Nighfall is based on Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight and fantastically maintained by marine artist Martyn Mackrill

Classic Varnish

Just lovely, they say a picture paints a 1000 words,  in this case the varnish brush certainly had a hand in things.

Seen in Hamble Point marina, no idea what she is but it's great that there are folks around with the money, time and enthusiasm to restore these beautiful classics.

Some Classics

I completely forgot the Hamble Classics race during September, but was reminded when these two classics were seen heading off down river while we were having an early lunch

H4 I think is the  Herreschoff half rater Winifred,  she certainly is nice. Built as a replica of the original 1892 fin-keeled  Wee Win in 1999 using the epoxy coated strip plank method.There's a great video on My Classic Boat

Further afield this looks to be an old (late 1960's or early 70's?) Merlin Rocket,. When I was in the Sea Scouts in my early teens the Merlin Rocket was the aspirational boat in our small fleet,  I was desperate to qualify to sail it and did. It wasn't always kept in the best of condition and I recall going swimming when a toe strap broke while hiked out.

Hull shape is very different from the modern wide dish shape.

Top Banana

Looking on the bright side (pun intended) high visibility would be useful if they had to call out the lifeboat.

I still don't really understand motor boats.

Duck

An interesting vehicle parked down at Swanwick hard the other day, loosely based on the WW2 DUKW amphibious truck, colloquially know as a Duck.

The original DUKW was designed in partnership with non other than the naval architect firm Sparkman &Stevens. This more modern interpretation was remarkably,home built based on a variety of components the builder collected from various scrapyards including. What a fantastic project.

Chatting to the owner/builder he's crossed the Solent a couple of times down at the western end between Lymington and Yarmouth. He was down at Swanwick accessing the slipway and how the harbour dues introduced by the harbour board might be applied, after all he's already fully paid up on his road find license.

Would have been great to see it afloat.

End of the season

Saturday was the last session for peanuts and cadets down at Hamble River SC, despite the overcast weather and prospect of high winds around 40 children showed up for what turned out to be a really good day's sailing.

It's been interesting to observe some changes during the year, there's been an increasing number of children of Joseph's age moving away from the Optimists. Laser Picos are favourite since the club has a good fleet, but also a Topper and even the club RS Fever's. What's become apparent is a split between those children who want to race, predominately staying in Opti's and those who just like to get out on the water and have fun and there was certainly plenty of that on Saturday.

Pretty much all of the RYA training is focused towards racing and presumably trying to develop the next Ben Ainsley, but we seem to be leaving behind a whole group of children. Sailing is a big subject and there's plenty of skills to learn around seamanship, safety, navigation the list goes on and we shouldn't loose sight that that a lot of kids enjoy sailing with their friends.

There's a plan next year to split the groups and introduce more "adventure sailing" for those children who don't especially want to tear around a triangular course. As a tester we sailed the senior fleet up river on Saturday, the Opti's stopped off at "Shipwreck Bay" where a course had been laid out for race training while the Pico's and Topper carried on for an impromptu thrash up to Bursledon pool and the long beat back. Judging by the smiles back in the clubhouse both groups had a good time, so something we need to develop next for season.

I'm sure everyone involved will join me in thanking Richard and Rachel who do a fantastic job of organising peanuts and cadets, and also sharing appreciation to all of the parents who help out.

Sunset

A twilight run along the river with the setting sun back lighting the old MFV wreck shows how little of the hull planking remains below the high water mark.

Grey old day at the Jolly Sailor

Winter is on it's way, or at least the chilly, overcast days of autumn make it feel that way. So at the end of a wet Sunday we walked up to the Jolly Sailor.

Only the leaves still on the trees gave clue that this wasn't a mid winter scene.

Boats on their mooring, no one around, everything still and quiet.

By contract inside was warm and cheery, a good way to end a gloomy day.

Tender

There's a saying that everything on a boat should have two purposes and this certainly fits that description.

Seen at the Museo dell'automobile Turin.