Zen and the Art of Boat Maintenance ?

Lymington classic day boat Sailfish was getting a lick of paint and tidy up for the season which got me thinking about boat maintenance and the merits of wooden boats.

It was a very pleasant spring day, the town quay was busy and buzzing with passers by. It's a great spot to do a bit of maintenance, with coffee shops and pub nearby for refreshments

 Apart from the water being a little chilly it looks like a nice way to while away a Saturday morning and then be able to stand back with satisfaction once finished.

IKEA?

You just can't not see it at first glance

 Wonder if it was flat pack home build?

Yacht Club Open Day

 A few more pictures from the Royal Lymington YC open day. 

This Royal Enfield cafe racer what exactly what my first bike aspired to, but pretty much the only similarity was the 250cc single, although mine did have a better seat and a propensity for breaking down all the time.

A 1921 GN chain driven Vitess, 101 years old and looking great.

My absolute favorite, what can you say worth a post all of it's own, a 1932 Model A Ford Mcdowell sprint car built by Indianapolis Hall of Famer Myron Stevens - just wow.

A bit closer to home another GN chain drive from 1915 with a V twin side valve engine and body work from 2mm aircraft plywood covered with linen. Certainly predates all the ideas Colin Chapman had for small lightweight Lotus sports cars

Boat tail Austin seemess entirely appropriate for a Yacht Club transport

This is probably the best Karmann Ghia I've ever seen, absolute luxury sports car with that lovely cream leather interior, put the Jaguar alongside in the shade somewhat.

It was a yacht club open day so I can't post without a couple of lovely and well turned out yachts.

Royal Lymington Open Day

 Walking back to the car after breakfast and  a wander around town a couple of weeks ago, when we came upon the Royal Lymington YC open day, with a few boats dressed overall in the river.

Ashore there were a selection of dinghies including a classic International 14 (with the cream sails) and a Flying Dutchman which either was or was a homage to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (that took some typing).

And there was this lovely SCOW, - sailing or varnishing take your pick as it might be difficult to do both

There were a selection of classic cars on display

And a selection of classic and interesting motorbikes - more of both in a later post when I've had time to go through the photo's properly

Keyhaven

 First sail of the season down at Keyhaven, late afternoon HW and near perfect conditions, does it get any better.

In addition to a race there were lots of us just out for a leisurely Sunday afternoon sail.

I was gladly lent a hand recovering the 14' 300lb Wanderer by a generous passer by, which remindined me that dinghies are about handling both on and off the water. In the pictures are a Gull, a SCOW and a Mirror all light weight and easy to manouver ashore. There's probably a direct link between the ease of launch and recovery and the amount of sailing that gets done.

Jolie Brise - under sail

I've written often about Jolie Brise the famous pilot cutter built by Mr Paumelle in Le Harve in 1913 and winner of the  first Fastnet race in 1925.

Most recently I spotter her newly painted in the river and looking fantastic at the start of her 109th season. Better yet friend Malcom was out in the Solent on Saturday and took these great photos of Jolie Brise in action.

Just great to see her out sailing, topsails set in such wonderful conditions.

 

Brewing Heavy Weather

 Which is actually a line forma Jethro Tull song, but sums up this picture pretty well, down river the sky was clear and the setting sun was shining under the dark gather cloud to the north. The wind was howling and kicking up small standing waves in the river.

Fortunately it passed to the north, but was quite a squally.

The Lines form heavy Horses - Jethro Tull

Bring me a wheel of oaken woods 

A rein of polished leather 

A Heavy Horse and a tumbling sky 

Brewing heavy weather

Oysters return to the Hamble?

 I was walking along the river at dusk and at very low water and spotted something on the far shore which looked odd. It was large and only exposed at low water on the mud adjacent to the old (now derelict) steamer pontoon.  

It was too far away to see in the failing light and thought no more about it.

 

Until. coming back past Bursledon pool, I spotted this, I've seen the yellow marker bouys when rowing past at high water, but assumed they were for mooring. It looks however,  like they mark out a small area of oyster culture or similar. 

From the size it would be a very small commercial operation so might be experimental?  A hundred years ago the Hamble had a thriving oyster business with oyster ponds on both the Hamble and Warsash foreshore's.

Small and simple

I like small yachts like this one, which were produced by a few boat builders in the early 80's, I had a Jaguar 21 and guessing by the colour this one might be a Hunter or similar.

 Really simple, fun and easy to sail, they are really versitile evolved for club racing back then, they also make a great day sailer or over nighter easy to get into our local crowded harbours. 

I spotted this guy going off for a mid week sail on his own, it probably took minutes to rig those sails redy to hoist and get going.

Cheap to buy, cheap to run, generally they sail well although can be a bit bumpy if the weather gets up due to their light weight, what's not to like.