The Restored Cutty Sark

Yesterday's picture was from the Cutty Sark which it is fair to say has proved a controversial restoration, with one critic calling it a grade A turkey.

Having a spare Sunday I took the tube from Putney to Greenwich to make up my own mind, and found myself conflicted between delight and a hollow emptiness.

On the plus side there is much to enjoy, from the rigging gracing the sky, the blocks and spars wired up with ropes as they should be. The space under the hull is a amazing, full of light, the old tea clipper glowing in gold. The much debated main deck (composites not real wood) doesn't distract from the overall look.

But... it felt wrong.

The old, real Cutty Sark didn't have a lift forcing its way between decks. It didn't have a visitors trail leading you between exhibits, it didn't have fake tea chests, it didn't have sailing computer games, it didn't have a whopping great hole cut into its side:

It felt like the Cutty Sark "experience": it was no longer a ship that could set sail, and when that happens something for me dies.

But was that an option? Things were in a bad way before the fire, as can be seen by this unrestored beam:

The metal was similarly corroded, so it would have been less of a restoration and more of a rebuilding.

There is that philosophical question if you replace something bit by bit at what point it is no longer the original, and that could have been a choice for the Cutty Sark. However that option still remains as someone out there could build their own tea clipper, using her as the design template.

While saddened by what she has become I feel that her current form has a chance to survive for future generations, who can then decide what they want to do with her. There is the question about whether raising the hull is the right solution structurally but I am not qualified to judge, though I understood there was a steel shell holding everything together taking the load.

The Cutty Sark does look good, and it is a great day out for families, which means more people will see her, learn about her and be impressed, being less conscious of the lack of sailability. She is part of Britain's maritime history, part of the National Maritime Museum.

The Cutty Sark is dead. Long live the Cutty Sark.

What? Where? Whatyathink?

Book Review: Rivers of London

Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London is not a book about the rivers of London, though in a very unreal sense it is about the rivers of London.

The tag line is "Harry Potter grows up and joins the fuzz" - aka the bill, the boys in blue, the met, bobbies, plod or to give them their full title, the Metropolitan Police force.

But that isn't right either, as the hero, Peter Grant is no Hogwarts educated orphan, but a true Londoner, born and bred in its council estates and comprehensive schools. Joining the force hoping for a career solving crime he's about to be moved sideways into paper pushing when he meets the only witness of a bizarre murder case, a ghost.

Soon he's sworn instead into the Met's specialist force to handle all the weird and wonderful of London, hidden in the bureaucracy as Economic and Specialist Crime Unit 9 or ESC9, and then out on the streets battling a malicious spirit while learning magic.

The rivers of the title are gods and goddesses ("real" ones, not the fantasy of Peter Ackroyd) namely mother and father Thames and all of their tributaries from hoity Tyburn to the sensual Beverly Brook (and it really adds zest to that line "I found a gun on Beverly Brook").

Its a great read, rattling across London like one of its underground trains, zippy language and plot.

And the real star is London itself, sprawling, magnificent, historic, modern, rich, poor, art, music, life, death, architecture, character, legends, its people and places.

Appropriately the cover of the UK edition is taken from Stephen Walter's The Island, its intricate minute drawings capturing the density of stories within this city. Alas in the US there is a different cover and title "Midnight Riot" which I don't think is as good.

But the book inside is as good in either, and there are two sequels to enjoy, "Moon over Soho" and "Whispers Under Ground".

Best read on the tube heading home late at night, but if that's not an option don't worry as it will transport you there.

One to put on the Christmas present list - for others and yourself.

Moon over Putney

The Bursledon Blogger was not the only one out early in the morning to capture the lovely full moon glinting in the water, though here on the Thames as it flows through Putney.

Though it really needs that fancy HDR technique to show the moon in all its glory.

Ben Ainslie and Catsgore

Couple of mid week quick questions:

1. In the Vendee Globe, has the current leader Armel gone too far east & is about to fall into a wind hole watching the others go zooming by?

2. Now that Ben Ainslie has announced he is focussing on AC rather than Olympics, what does that actually mean? I understood he's not actually skippering an AC72 next summer

3. We've been having floods here in the UK, and the village of Muchelney in Somerset has been cut off. In Google Earth I spotted a number of really good place names nearby, but which of the following was made up:

• Curry North
• High Ham
• Queen Camel
• Tintinhull
• Catsgore?

London's Christmas Lights

This weekend, while out on the town at the Royal Opera House and last night at the Wigmore Hall I also had a chance to catch up on some of the Christmas decorations, and here's just a sample:

Some of you should recognise these locations!

Opera review: L'elisir d'amore

I've never been a big fan of Donizetti's music but it's hard to remember an evening as much fun as Friday's trip to his opera L'elisir d'amore, or The Elixir of Love.

I've blogged before about The Royal Opera House's sometimes bizarrely bad choice in stage design, such as the Don Giovanni set made of those glass bricks used by interior designers for fancy bathrooms.

This time however they've created a gem, set in what felt like a remote 1950s Italian country community, all hay stacks, Vespa electric bikes (working), isolated roadside tavernas and fields stretching to the far horizon. Apparently it was inspired by Fellini - see this video.

The cast was superb too, with Aleksandra Kurzak (above) a peachy Adina, sensuous in her summer dresses, and Roberto Alagna as the smitten Nemorino, plus Fabio Capitanucci as Beclore and Ambrogio Maestri as the quack Dr Dulcamara.

Well acted through-out it was very funny, its wit and good humour making it impossible not to smile pretty much from beginning to end.

There was even a dog! Think Eddie from Frasier, racing across the stage to steal the scene and leave the audience gagging for the next act.

A total joy.


Image from: here

Good things

Last weekend I traveled to north London, bringing gifts to my new niece including this ginger cake with lemon icing (*) and was rewarded not just by the sight of the little one but also a compliment.

"When I grow up I want to be like uncle JP" said one of the nephews.

I'd like to think it was because of my adventures on the high seas, slick gybes on Aeolus, cleaning up at the Fowey Regatta, or being alone on watch at midnight somewhere in the Arctic Circle.

But no, it was because:
a) I could make this cake any time I liked and eat, if I wanted, all of it (alas the bathroom scales say I can't)
b) Because of my gadgets (iPhone and Nexus 7 tablet) that have cool games on them

To quote Tillerman, life is good


(*) you might have noticed that the lemon icing does not cover the entire cake. This is because one of the nieces likes the cake but not the icing and I try to be a good uncle.

Nature's Radar in the Journal of Navigation

Now the evenings have well and truly drawn in, what better than a good article to read on the topics of sailing, navigation and the natural world.

The Natural Navigator Tristan Gooley's paper based upon observations during our sail to the Arctic Circle has been published in the Journal of Navigation and in it you can learn all about how to navigate simply by counting the birds.

Download the PDF from the Natural Navigator's web site here.

Regatta

More archive film today, this time of sailing back in the 1970s along the south east coast of England from the East Anglia Film Archive.

Regatta is a 10 minute short based around the 1973 dinghy and punt races at the the old town of Manningtree, with a dollup of history added for colour (actually in black 'n' white).

I wonder how many bloggers or blog readers remember sailing here - or even better, can spot themselves?

From the sea to the land beyond

I've just watched the BBC4 film "From the sea to the land beyond" which explores Britain's coastline through archive video, and it was an absolute gem.

Unlike most TV documentaries that over-focus on the presenter's character this had none. Nearly wordless it connected well chosen historic clips full of truth and life, together with a soundtrack from one of my favourite bands, the appropriately named "British Sea Power".

Sailors and fishermen, soldiers and dockers, nature and developers, babies and dancing girls, lighthouses and lifeboats, over a hundred years of life at the shore of our seas flowed by in a poetic, lyrical way. Apart from one glance at twitter to make sure others were watching this too, it captured my attention from beginning to end.

If you've got access to iPlayer you can watch it here - and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Like a song to the sea it was magical, wonderful and moving.

Drama on and off the water

Work levels are still pretty manic so its good to have the distraction of the Vendee Globe to escape into.

Alas its all gone pear shaped for Sam Davies (above, from here) after she lost her mast in the first few days, and she sounded pretty gutted in this video.

But its not all bad as JP has a brand new niece - woo hoo! I have baked the parents and other nephews & nieces a ginger cake with lemon icing a bit like this earlier trial:

If it would help I'd send a slice to Sam in the hope it would cheer her up, though I'm not sure how to attached it to an email.

So I might just have to eat it myself.

C'est la Tweet en Francais!

Ca va, toute le monde? Monsieur Buff ici! Buff par nom et Buff par nature!

Maintenant, JP regardé le fil twitter du Vendée Globe et rien compris, car il est tout en français.

Oui, c'est Vive-la-France pour Twitter et tant pis pour les anglais: regardez à Sam Davies, elle habite en France maintenant!

C'est Monsieur Buff, tous les Français aujourd'hui, dire au revoir


Image: ici

An autumnal weekend in London

It's a lovely crisp but sunny day today here in the London, just right to walking through the park kicking at the leaves.

Yesterday was a bit wetter and cloudier for the Fuller's head of river fours:

I watched just long enough to feel the cold before heading off to the shops to buy the ingredients for a warming beef casserole.

Today went to the most civilized of musical events, namely one of the Wigmore Hall's Sunday morning concerts, complete with free coffee or sherry, overlooked by its stunning cupola.

Now just re-grouping before heading off to see the latest Bond, Skyfall, which will be louder and less civilized, though hopefully in a good way.

Isn't it nice not to work over a weekend?

How to buy a wetsuit?

It's about that time of year when JP becomes Uncle JP and starts making lists of present ideas.

One possibility is a wetsuit for a dinghy sailor, something for south coast Britain sea temperatures and those pesky little Lasers that keep tipping over.

I've never bought a wetsuit before so I'm looking for pointers and thought - why not ask those readers who actually have one to tell all.

So, please, let me know what did you buy and why?

Woo hoo!

The result is finally in after a grinding process that many wondered would ever end.

There were shocks and twists along the way, with the Rhodes Island surprise catching many out - who would have thought that Tillerman would turn to the dark side?

But after literally billions having not been spent there could only be two winners.

So congratulations to Britain and Oracle Team USA's Ben Ainslie and China's Lijia Xu - ISAF sailors of the year!!

Buff's message to America

G'day all! Buff Staysail here! Buff by name and Buff by nature!

Tomorrow's a big day for you yanks but alas yours truly won't be on the menu after the sad demise of the Buff for President campaign, though I should say that the Billionaires for Buff PAC is still accepting contributions via the Cayman Islands (hint hint Mitt) if you want this expert's endorsement.

Couple of points for you, first up JP's been asked a couple of times on his travels across the pond "how do you think we're looking after your colonies?" and its been puzzling him.

The thing is those darn limeys have invaded almost everywhere. Indeed according to the map above from The Telegraph (see here) they've only missed 20 countries in their rampage across the world.

But JP says that doesn't count as that's all a long time ago, not like the modern Britain (see the London Olympics etc).

Anyhow the point is you're in a boat with pretty much everyone else and so hopefully its clear why they don't spend long worrying about any one country in particular.

Secondly note that this is not a competition!! Don't feel you have to beat the Brits at this! That's what the Olympics is for (see London 2012).

Finally if you do find yourself invading (say) the Marshall Islands (4 athletes at the London 2012 Olympics) it might be polite to ask them if they'd like join in, for old times sake.

Well that's a lot of words for Buff, so I'll say over and out and head over to the fridge for a cold one!

Best of luck from one ex-colony to another!

The colour of water - part 2

Back in July, just before the Olympics I posted this picture:

It shows two examples of the colour of the water we saw when sailing to the Arctic Circle.

The change was dramatic, almost like the boundary between two rivers, and we crossed between the two colours several times while we were between Iceland and Greenland.

Since then I did a bit of Googling and found the picture at the top, taken by NASA's Terra satellite. It beautifully shows the phytoplankton bloom that caused this colouration.

It is also this bloom that makes these waters so rich in wildlife, such as the dolphins and whales we were lucky enough to see.

Fireworks in the sky

It's a good night's sky at the moment, with the Moon and Jupiter bright in the East.

Oh yes, and a couple of fireworks!

Remember, remember the 5th of November

Gunpowder, treason & plot

 - or the 3rd, if its the nearest convenient Saturday.

Get well soon New York

Seven is a magic number

G'day all! Buff Staysail here! Buff by name and Buff by nature!

Well Sassi and I decided to throw ol' JP a party to celebrate his blog's 7th birthday but he's no fun at all going on about how's its not right given the mess Sandy's made and anyhow he's got to work.

What a party pooper!! But Sassi and I decided to have one anyhow-

Hi guys, Sassi here! To be honest its a bit of a washout with just Buff and his beer cans (what no cocktails?) so I'm off!! Luv yah!!

-....oh, well it looks like its just me then. I had this whole speech about sailing more and working less but it can wait.

I'll just have to put my feet up and watch a moovie!

This is Buff Staysail, the one man party, over and out!

A bad day in the office...

... is better than a worse one at sea.

This photo (from here) was taken a few years ago in heavy seas on the replica HMS Bounty, currently lost at sea out in hurricane Sandy.

Good luck to all those on the US Eastern coastline - and keep safe.

Best of London 2012

Currently putting in 60+ hour weeks so not much time for blogging or indeed anything else but did find 4 minutes to fit in this video of the best bits of London 2012.

It brings back some good memories from this summer - in fact I might watch it just one more time before turning to the work laptop.

Buff says its curtains for AC72s

G'day all! Buff Staysail here! Buff by name and Buff by nature!

What a week its been for the America's Cup, with the biggest prang ever for an AC72 boat as Oracle 17 nose dived into oblivion out on those choppy waters of San Francisco Bay!

Can these beasts be ridden or are they destined to overpower the crews? Are even Olympic Gold Medallists up to the task or do they need the Buff-Meister's advice?

Yes, that's right, your's truly has the answer and it came to me as I was drawing the curtains at JP HQ early this morning (Ed:  the neighbours INSIST you remember the bathrobe!!)

It came to me in a flash - curtains! Or rather, should I say blinds!

These wing sail things are built with a thin skin over a skeleton but why should it be static: why not design the skin to be retractable? Split the wing into segments, each controlled separately and you could reef an AC72 wing!

When you find yourself in a bit of a blow and the foiling wing-sail cat is a bit over-powered & nose-heavy you could just wind in one or more sections of skin to leave bare carbon fibre. It would be like rolling in and out tin-foil!

So what do you think? Ready to join the Buff Staysail: 2013 AC Team!!

BS: ACT now for 2013!!

This is Buff Staysail, without his bathrobe but with a vision, over and out!!




Picture from: here

This one works

(With apologies to Tillerman)

It might be crazy but that's what makes it interesting. Pushing the edge of the ol' envelope on foiling carbon fibre wing sail big-cats, that's the bleeding edge technology for sailing in 2012.

And lets not forget it involves the likes of Jimmy Spithill, Ben Ainslie, Grant Dalton, Russell Coutts, and Tom Slingsby.

 That's a long list of the world's top sailors.

AC 72 Crash

"Breaking things will be bad" - in this case a destroyed wing.

How many spare wings do you need to defend the America's Cup?

High Tension

The latest video from the Oracle AC72 is pretty amazing but equally scary: the loads on this thing must be huge - just look at those hulls flexing.

And Ben Ainslie's been out there sailing them and he's reported back, emphasising again the need for a shore crew.

This is just after the row when with under a year to go the organisers turned round and told the competitors they'd have to cough up for shore based facilities. New Zealand's Dean Barker wasn't impressed and blogged about it (gosh, these bloggers eh?).

While I'm quite impressed with the high tech beasts it again highlights one of the worst sides of the AC, namely the extent to which success depends upon funding.

At least they are out there sailing, but no one really knows what's going to happen when they go head to head for real, except breaking things will be bad.

And very, very expensive.

Bond and Ben on Saturday

Ah, the joys of Saturday morning, when the alarm is switched off, the cappuccino machine is switched on and the newspapers are piled high.

And what do I discover but Bond, James Bond, on-board the luxury yacht Regina (above, from here) with Berenice Marhole, and the reviews of Skyfall are equally good looking.

Also in the papers was an interview with Ben Ainslie, talking about racing in the Olympics, sailing AC boats and his new girlfriend, Olympic sailing medallist Marit Bouwmeester below (from here):

I do like Saturday mornings.

Volvo Ocean Race documentary on YouTube

It's been a manic week work wise so it's very nice to be able to put my feet up, and what better way to start the weekend than this rather enjoyable documentary about the history of the Volvo Ocean Race aka the Whitbread.

It's all available on YouTube via this link here and you can watch Steinlager 2 (above) and co sail around the world in the dry, warm comfort of your own home.

Polished nicely

I was going to post a detailed description of tonight's GBBO (*) but this is meant to be a boating blog. Well, of sorts, anyhow.

Anyway I've just made myself some crepes in sympathy with this week's patisserie-themed semi (well, they're French, and yes still GBBO) and jolly good they were too.

To keep the boaties happy here is a well polished Holt designed boat sailing nicely along on Sunday.

I'd like to see James (the baker) make a boat shaped choux gateau with lots of chocolate, nuts, caramel and cream - yum!

Even better, I'd like to eat it.


(*) Great British Bake Off - do keep up

The Jack Holt Centenary Race

I had to work over the weekend, which was of course a bit of a bore, particularly as I kept getting distracted by these dinghies. Sailing down then up the Thames was a regatta of little boats - not the usual one design fleet but a range including some lovely old wood ones.

It was a race to commemorate the centenary of Jack Holt and appropriately it was organised by the Ranelagh Sailing Club on Putney Embankment.

Jack Holt was a prolific designer and builder and had to his name the following classics:

• Cadet
• Diamond Keelboat
• Enterprise
• GP14
• Heron
• Hornet
• International 10sq m Canoe (posted yesterday)
• International 14
• Jacksnipe Lazy E
• Merlin Rocket
• Miracle
• Mirror & Mirror 16
• National 12 & National E
• North Norfolk 16
• Pacer (Puffin Pacer)
• Rambler
• Solo
• Streaker
• Vagabond

Here are just a few of his creations out where they should be, sailing on the Thames:

Picture puzzle

What is this and why is it a good day to post a picture of it?

GBBO and the ship's biscuit

With work loads at press gang level highs I've been escaping into the gem that is the Great British Bake Off, or GBBO as it is known to fans and twitter.

For those that haven't seen the GBBO it's a BBC TV show that involves amateur bakers being whittled down by a series of challenges until one is crowned the winner. It is one of those rare programs that attracts a wide audience while being both super nice and hyper competitive - to say nothing of being packed with as many double entendres as the creations have calories.

One of the contestants has even created a drinking game on the lines that you must drink a finger every time someone uses phrase like "soggy bottom": you won't be surprised to find out he is a medical student (go James!)

Tuesday saw the departure of the lovely Cathryn with her dictionary of facial expressions, defeated by the humble biscuit. Ok, there might also have been an epic gingerbread self-build task, but the result was the same, namely tears and group hugs

So in her honour I had to get baking, and what better than the classic ship's biscuit.

Recipe

Traditionally ship's biscuits was made from the minimal ingredients of flour, water and salt and the result tough enough to challenge both teeth and jaw to destruction. Having heard a colleague describe the dentistry required to fix a tooth that suffered a hairline fracture I was rather keen to avoid this.

So I allowed this variation that included a very little butter and milk instead of water - both of which would have been available in the classic days of sail. Cooking time was given as 30 - 40 minutes on a moderate heat though this one said 30 minutes at 210C, while this one said 30 minutes per side.

In the end it was a case of seeing when they were going brown with one turn during the middle, which was just over 30 minutes. I did as instructed prick them with a fork but it turned out not enough as there were bubbles all over the place.

Results

Pretty indestructible and nearly inedible, even with this "improved" recipe. Basically think of all the good things about a biscuit involving taste and texture, then take that away and replace with something with the texture of teak decking tasting burnt.

Dunking in tea made no difference - solid as a rock before and after. An experiment with dipping in rum (in the name of science you understand) was slightly more successful.

Lets just say its a good thing I halved the quantities and it could be argued that was still twice the amounts needed.

Verdict on the Biscuits

Bricks: I'd be reluctant to present these to either Mary Berry or Paul Hollywood in person though it would be quite entertaining to watch someone else volunteer them up.

Verdict on the Sailors that ate them

They must have been as tough as ship's biscuits.

Top tip for those thinking of baking them

Don't.

Memories of the Nothe

Recently Tillerman made a visit to the Nothe, home of the London 2012 Olympic sailing: I think he found it a bit quiet.

Unfortunately he missed out on what was a very special atmosphere, so here are a few photos to recapture the magical mood to be found there during the summer: