Dory's

One thinks of the dory as a classic America design, characterised by the flat sides and tomb stone transom, simply built but seaworthy boats, stacked aboard the Gloucester fishing schooners. But dory’s are also common in the Langerdoc region, on the Mediterranean coast of France.



Between the Camarge and towards the Spanish boarder the coast is relatively flat and boarded by large salt water lagoons called Etangs. These are sheltered, shallow and are perfect for oyster cultivation – indeed some of the best oysters in France are reputed to come from Bouzigues on the Etang de Thai near Sete.



The dory with its shallow draft, flat bottom and good load carrying capacity is an ideal boat for this environment. We saw several traditionally built dorys as well as fibre glass versions in the towns of Sete, Meze, Marseiliang and Adge. Some were rigged for sailing, some fitted with an outboard, most were working craft.



There were exceptions this last one is clearly a pleasure boat based on the dory hull.

Remember Remember the 5th of November

Just over 400 years ago on 5th November 1605, Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellars below in the Houses of Parliament, where he and several co-conspirators in what became known as the “Gunpowder Plot” had placed barrels of gunpowder in an attempt to blow up the government of the day and the king James 1st of England.

Guy Fawkes was discovered with 36 barrels of gunpowder underneath the House of Lords in the early hours of the morning and the plot was foiled. Found guilty of treason Guy Fawkes was hanged, drawn and quartered, a particularly nasty method of execution.

From the following year 1606, it became an annual custom for the King and Parliament to commission a special sermon to commemorate the event. The sermon and the nursery rhyme would ensure that the crime was never forgotten and indeed it is “celebrated” to this day with bonfires and fireworks across England.



It is said that the phrase 'Please to remember the fifth of November' serves as a warning to each new generation that treason will never be forgotten, but given the enduring popularity of the celebrations I can't help thinking , while we're lighting bonfires and letting off fireworks, there might just be a sense, even subliminally, that we like to keep our politicians on their toes!!

Misty Moonbeam

For many years we would go over to the Isle of Wight and stay alongside the visitors moorings above the chain ferry on the East side of the river. It’s relatively quiet and sheltered from any swell that comes in, especially when here is any north in the wind.

That part of the river is home to many interesting boats including for many years Misty Moonbeam an unusual and bespoke schooner around 90feet or so. Misty was an out and out long distance cruising boat so when she disappeared about four years ago we guessed that she had sailed off to distant horizons.


So it was nice a surprise to see her alongside at in the marina in Cape D’Agde in the South of France.


The sheer scale of the boat is incredible, the booms are so high above deck that these special gantries are necessary to gain access for sail handling. Could be a very bad place to be standing in a gybe!!

I recall counting the winches once when were alongside in Cowes, I forget the exact numbers but there were around a dozen at the base of each mast.


As a live aboard home, she must be fabulous, although I doubt that Erica and I could sail her without additional crew, which makes demands on the extra space, organization, provisions etc. Hmm, nice, but I think I’ll stick to something we can sail just the two of us – of three if you count Joe.

A Halloween Story from Old Hampshire

Back in the late 1980's we lived in a very old house, parts of it dating back to 1530.

In the local county museum, I'd found some information on very old local customs dating back to when witchcraft was allegedly widespread in the area. One superstition was to leave three iron nails on top of a door frame, apparently the devil can't abide iron, so the story went, making it impossible for him to hide on the door frame and jump on your back as you passed through the door.

Shortly after I was making changes to my daughters bedroom when we found a tiny old door which had been bricked up and plastered over. As we uncovered it we found - you guessed it -Three Iron Nails.

We left them there - can't be too careful.

Scow update

The restoration of our Scow isn’t going very quickly, in fact all I seem to have accomplished is to take things to pieces. The deck, which I removed before we went on holiday seems to smile, provocatively at me every time I go in the garage.

But with a keen interest in Scows it was nice to find this one in the boat compound at Bucklers Hard on the Beaulieu river. I took loads of pictures to get some ideas of the fittings and arrangements which will be useful when I start rebuilding.



This nice example is a Beaulieu Scow, built locally, I’ve seen a few sailing in the mill pool below Beaulieu village, where there’s a small sailing club.



On the same subject I got a nice email from Leafy, who lives, paints and blogs from Mersea Island on the east coast, she is a Scow sailor and her delightful graphic is based on her restored Scow.

You just wouldn't!

But they clearly did!!

Just goes to show there's a little bit of Benny Hill in all of us.

With apologies in case you didn't guess wind is gas!!

First Frosty Mornings

Cold star lit nights and frosty twilight mornings demonstrate that Autumn is with us. A week from now it will be Halloween, then Bonfire Night followed by the run up to Christmas.

With daylight saving time (British Summer Time) in place for another week it's still quite dark at 7 AM, but the river has a seasonal beauty which well worth getting up and out early to see.

Above the mist is still rising from the river, the yachts lying peacefully at their moorings, while in the background a container ship makes it's way up Southampton Water.

Retuning back up the river the daylight was coming on quickly and by the time I got home for breakfast the sun was shining at the start of a glorious day.