Interesting boats

A couple of traditional boats spotted down in the western Solent.

I think this is a Tela previously built by Salterns, I was talking to the owner of one a couple of years ago who was rapturous in his praise of the boat. Very nice looking as well

This picture could equally have been taken 100 years ago.

Splendid Isolation

I got up early for my allowable excursion out of the house this morning thinking that it would be easy to avoid contact with anyone. It was a perfect morning, crisp, clear and slightly frosty

Good advice at the start of the river path, even though it was just after 6.00AM I passed three other people, one runner and two walkers. We all took to care to pass on opposite sides of the path maintaining a good distance, well more that the advisory 2 meters minimum.

I like the sentiment on this gate for these unprecedented times" The greater the storm the brighter the rainbow."

I'm fortunate being able to work from home using video conference and digital channels (although not without some downsides like the occasional 4.00 AM conference call). What I'm observing working both in and with global companies is that as we all race to adapt to these challenges of COVID  the world will never be the same again. What's working in the short term crisis will be adopted and evolve changing the ways we do many things in the future, hopefully for the better.

Probably a good example this morning (day 3 of lock down) I heard some thumping  around in the house and went to investigate. I called up the stairs "Aren't you supposed to be doing school work?" A smiling reply came back "Yes we're doing PE."

Stay safe and lets get through this together by being apart.

Firebrand

A local classic looking fantastic

Dinghy dock

I've always wanted a dinghy dock, and I guess if you have one you might as well have something spectacular like this.

I like the launching rails, but curious as to why it stops on the platform and not extend down into the water.

Beaulieu boats

Some interesting boats hauled out for the winter at Buckler's Hard boat yard. This cute little cutter caught my eye.

All wrapped up inside a custom tent type cover this motorboat is clearly safe and protected against the winter weather, given the amount of wood and varnish wintering under cover makes a lot of sense.

I've seen this boat a few times, which I think is a Jouet Golif, which was a derivative of Jean Lacombe's Cap-Horn design with that distinctive raised section to the cabin and the reverse shear.

I guess this will be a good working space when the cover goes over, nice looking boat and I especially like the picnic table not sure it would be conducive to getting much work done though.

It's that time of year

New to us a Wanderer dinghy, small relation to the Wayfarer both designed by Ian Proctor.

At 14 feet LoA and while no means a light weight, it should be easier to handle ashore that a Wayfarer, but seems to have similar good sea keeping qualities. We wanted something suitable for sailing out in the western Solent which is where we will keep her.

It seems to have pretty much rained every weekend since I towed it home, I'm looking forward to setting up and rigging and generally go over our new toy.

Axebridge

We had a recent trip to Axbridge near Cheddar gorge which is a part of the country I've not really visited. The village center still retains the old medieval square, centered around the church, the hotel and the obligatory pub.

Really charming village center which has been well preserved.

Nearby Cheddar reservoir looked like a nice place to sail.

Beach launching

Years ago I hauled a stuck Land Rover off the foreshore at Brancaster Overy Staithe and have been very wary of driving on the beach or foreshore. I had a Discovery at the time and in between breaking down pulling out a stuck Land rover was one of it's better moments.

Probably a lighter car like this would be better on the hard Normandy sand, just hope he gets back before the tide.

Much better if you have a tractor like the sailing club at St Aubin.

And just as well given the amount of stuff they haul out to the water, it's probably a quarter of a mile across the sand at low tide.

In Luc sur Mer the tide was in which made launching the beach cats much more easy.

Little Devil

I like the graphics on this racing boat spotted in the marina compound in Lymington.

 
Not so sure about the name, normally it's motorboats that have the unusual names. Maybe they were having a bad season when the boat was named?