London Boat Show: Ladders

There're always some off topic stands at the London Boat Show.

For some reason many are basically the sort of thing you'd see at an Ideal Home Show, in particular kitchen and bedroom focused, with knive and pans sets or new beds. I did wonder if they never left but the stands stay there all the time.

This one make me immediately think of one of the Greendale courses on the TV show Community, namely Ladders:



Though they didn't describe itself as ladders but instead something about "Access Solutions".

London Boat Show: Two Cars and a Helicopter

At a boat show you expect to see... well... boats, though for some reason other vehicles seem to creep in.

The amphibious car (above) did sort of make sense but this one less so:

Though maybe if you're buying a massive white gin palace you might as well colour coordinate the Bentley while you're at it.

But then what happens if your helicopter is charcoal grey???

That's done it! Cancel those orders!!

London Boat Show: Rowing the Indian Ocean

At the London Boat show saw another of those cross-ocean rowing team expeditions things. I know its all for a good cause (*) and terribly hard work but really can't get that enthusiastic - sorry guys!

I just can't see why you'd row when you could sail. Maybe I've seen too many SV Delos videos but they seem to be having a lot of fun while this just seems like making life hard for yourself.

Also, wasn't that the route that the debris from that the Malaysia flight 370 aircraft crash followed, washing up at Mauritius too?

Anyhow, there's a web site about there voyage here.



(*) raising money for to support those with Parkinson's Disease which really is horrid so worth funding

London Boat Show: Kraken Travel

A couple of years ago I went to a talk by Skip Novak at the Southampton Boat Show (as blogged here).

Afterwards wandered around looking at boats with two chaps I'd met at the talk called Henry and Emil. It turned out there were planning to charter a Challenge 72 to sail to high latitude destinations such as Jan Mayen island, home of the mighty Beerenberg.

Alas that sailing trip didn't work out due to complicated reasons and it was to set a pattern for the next few years where I'd get all excited about an adventure sail only to get sick and not go.

Anyhow, I met Henry again at the London Boat Show where he and his company Kraken Travel had a stand. They do just the sort of exciting sailing to interesting places that I'd like to be doing - see the video above (gold stars for those that spot Henry in it) - so had a good chat and catch-up.

Here's hoping at some point will be able go on voyages like these again.

London Boat Show: Golden Globe Race Anniversary & Susie Goodall Racing

I used to go round the boat show visiting the yachts on display and imagining sailing away in them. But now there aren't that many boat builders at the show and those that are on display are usually either plastic gin palaces or the potter round the Med types with fat beams.

However this one did catch my eye: a tough, go-anywhere Rustler 36 and it really is going on an adventure as Susie Goodall is racing it around the world as part of the 50th anniversary of the Sunday Times 1968 Golden Globe Race.

The new Golden Globe Race will leave on the 30th June 2018 from Portsmouth and re-create the classic race, avoiding modern designs and technology. As this web site puts it "iPhone, no mod cons, just solo with the sun stars and horizon".

Sounds fascinating!

London Boat Show: Emma Bamford

I'd met Emma Bamford at last year's boat show and bought her two books about her cruising life, Casting Off & Untie the Lines, which I'd read, enjoyed and reviewed (see this post).

But they left me with the inevitable question about what happened next, so went along hoping to hear there was a third book out that would give answers.

Alas it was just the two books I'd already read available but I had a quick chat afterwards as to what she was planning.

Apparently she is working in sailing journalism in the UK and is writing a novel about yachties in the Indian Ocean arriving at Chagos Islands where there's a baddy and the plot thickens (so to speak). One to look out for ... whenever. Not sure when as it sounded like it might not be available for next year's boat show.

So I left the Boat Show without picking up another book.... ah well, I have a good stack at home.

London Boat Show: Sam Davies and Tracy Edwards

I arrived particularly early for the Legends sailing talk with Tracy Edwards and Sam Davies (above) and that was just as well as it was really popular - with good reason.

Tracy Edwards, MBE, was of course skipper and driving force behind Maiden, the first female crewed yacht in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht race (now the Volvo), which won 2 of the 5 legs and ended up second overall.

She has inspired many others to follow her footsteps and helped them directly, including Sam Davies, inviting her to join the crew of the multihull Royal SunAlliance.

Both have mega projects they are working on. Edwards has rescued Maiden and is now planning a global voyage to raise funds for charities that support female education. Apparently there will be berths available in return for contributions - worth looking out for that later this year. You could even sail with Edwards, though I get the impression she could be a bit of a tough cookie.

And Davies is off again on another Vende Globe! Must admit to be rather thrilled by this one in particular as she really lit up the 2008-9 circumnavigation. She really seemed to be not just relishing the challenge but actually enjoying it, and you can see why France has taken her to heart with her natural girl-next-door charm:

Her new boat is being upgraded to the latest foils and then she'll have a good long period to get familiar with it before the race. Bon courage, Sam!

London Boat Show: Navigation Tips with Stokey Woodall

My chat with Conrad Humphreys touched on navigation techniques but later there was to be a whole talk about it from Pete "Stokey" Woodall (above).

I'd seen him at a previous London Boat Show when he'd described the star clock (below) for which the answer was not 42 but 41.5. I'd even gone off and done a bit of maths to work out that it was really 41.58 which I guess is close enough.

It was a very entertaining talk, including such gems as rolling up a chart into a cone and using it to locate fog-horn directions to within a few degrees (apparently that really works). Also a metal frying pan can be used to shield an AM radio so that the direction of the transmitter can be identified from the two possible directions 180 degrees apart.

There was also some more celestial navigation tips based upon one of the stars in Orion, Mintaka, that rises or sets due East / West:

Fun and informative!

London Boat Show: Conrad Humphreys and C4's Mutiny

Last year Channel 4 broadcast a programme called "Mutiny" in which they re-created the voyage of Captain Bligh after the Mutiny on the Bounty in which he was cast adrift in the Pacific in small boat.

The programme showed 9 men sailing a 23 foot open wooden boat 4,000 miles from Tonga to Timur and there was plenty of drama on the way. The boat itself was on display at the last boat show (as blogged here).

The channel's notes can be found here and it can be seen that there was only one named crew member, namely "Anthony Middleton, of SAS: Who Dares Wins".

There is a difference between a non-sailing commissioning editor and a sailor, because from my viewpoint the crew was round the world sailor Conrad Humphreys and some bloke from the marines (apologies to Anthony Middleton for that lack of knowledge).

In most cases there was perfect agreement between the two apart from the final leg where a lack of wind and water meant there was a discussion about whether to row towards wind patches.

TBH, if I'd been on that boat I know which of the two I'd have listened to the most carefully, namely the one that had sailed round the world and knew a thing or two about how to keep moving when trapped by a high pressure, but the episode was cut by someone who shared the channel's view that saw first and foremost a TV personality from the SAS.

Anyhow, it was great to meet Conrad Humphreys at the London Boat Show and hear about the voyage first hand and see some of the photos on his iPad. He also showed some of the ship's biscuits they survived on and if they were only eating a couple of those a day its no wonder they lost a lot of weight.

We also had a brief chat about navigation and the techniques they used which was pure old school techniques like dead reckoning and celestial navigation. I asked about whether he'd read Tristan's "How to Read Water" book and he hadn't but knew about Tristan and was wondering if he should reach out, to which I said yes, as that sounds like a great combination.

It was all very interesting and I look forward to hearing what he does next.

More London Boat Show photos for Tillerman

 Spent yesterday wandering around the London Boat Show in between listening to various talks.

More pics and stories to come but of course first up those all important photos for Tillerman...

The full moon and storm Eleanor in a tide gauge

The weather seems to be in the news a lot in the first few weeks of 2018.

The difference in temperature between my friends in Australia and east coast America seems to be about 60C compared to which our blighty weather seems comparatively mild.

But we did get storm Eleanor blow through around the time of the full moon which led to fears of a storm surge on top of a spring tide and so the Thames Barrier had to be closed.

Previously I'd posted how closing the barrier could be read in the behaviour of the flow and this time I kept an eye on the live tides at Chelsea to see what the impact would be.

From what I understand (via Twitter) the barrier was closed at 12:15 and it can be seen that there is a sudden dip in the water height at Chelsea, but not at the same time. It seemed to take 45 minutes for there to be a significant change in the height, but then there are several miles from the barrier to this gauge.

After the dip, the levels continued to rise but more slowly, due to the Thames river flow rather than incoming tide, with a maximum delta from predicted height of 2.23m - though the flow had been less than predicted anyway. Danger averted the barrier opened when the water levels equalised later in the day.

So lots of factors from the moon to the weather to one of London's largest infrastructure assets all influencing one simple gauge.

Top 10 Posts of 2017

Happy New Year all! Time to look forward at 2018 and back at 2017.

2017 was a difficult year as had to cancel two big sailing trips and so there was a distinct lack of boating. But what were the top ten posts of 2017?

By view count it was:

1. London Boat Show pics for Tillerman
2. Paddle boat Italie on Lake Geneva (above)
3. Scorchio!
4. So sad
5. Boating weather
6. Boats! Boats! Boats! ... on the Thames at Putney
7. Sleaford Mods going down like B.H.S on the Thames
8. Book review: "A Race Too Far" by Chris Eakin
9. London Boat Show 2017: Recreation of Bounty Voyage
10. Boris Staysail's vinning sailing "alternative truths"

By number of comments it was:

1. (Untitled post)
2. Boats! Boats! Boats! .... at Richmond
3. Five Gigs for Glastonbury Weekend
4. Niagara Falls trip 3/3 - Chicago!
5. Quiz: How many ferries across the Thames are there in London?
6. London Boat Show pics for Tillerman
7. Boating weather
8. Sleaford Mods going down like B.H.S on the Thames
9. Book review: "A Race Too Far" by Chris Eakin
10. Before "All is lost"

My favourites (in no particular order) were:

1. Totally Thames Installation: Future Dust
2. The Ferries of London: the secret Greenwich Ferry
3. The London Stones: Yantlet Creek
4. The Ferries of London: Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry
5. Visiting Bazalgette's magnificent sewers
6. Paddle boat Italie on Lake Geneva
7. Two lessons from my first yacht sail
8. Before "All is lost"

Yes, struggled to get the full 10 favourites.

It was noticeable how view counts decreased in Q4 - did anyone else notice that? Maybe should have posted more London Boat Show pics for Tillerman.

I wonder what 2018 will bring...