London Boat Show: On The Waterfront

There comes a time when you've heard all the talks, checked out the interesting new boats, browsed the boat show and had a bite to eat when the day seems to have been rather long and the exit beckons.

Outside was the magic twilight in which docklands glowed, reflecting in the hotel-yacht nearby.

A quick peak out at the quay-side by the ExCel exhibition centre and it was clear there were no boats on display:

It was rather cold: time to take the DLR and head west.

London Boat Show: Random Photos

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...

The Boxing Day Cross Channel Trip

Buff LOLs Yachting!!!

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

Well here's one for the books. I gave me ol' ma an iPhone and she'd has been getting into texting me at all times of night and day. But she says she doesn't understand Buff's replies - all this OMG and LOL nonsense.

So as its Christmas, Buff offers this easy to remember translation of the most common terms:

LOL: Luff Or Leach? Jeez, who can remember which side of the sail is which? Does it matter anyway?

OMG: Or Maybe Goose-winged? That's sailing downwind, not the Christmas day roast, obv.

IMHO: I Might Hike Out. Or not. Probably not.

TLC: Total Lines Cock-up. Typically happens during a spinnaker hoist - the skipper should never have asked for a gybe set

WTF: Wingsail Takes Flight. As in the America's Cup, until that nose dive of course!!

FFS: F*** Foiling Sailing. What traditionalists say about the America's Cup.

BTW: Boat Taking-on Water. Now where's that safety boat?

ISO: I'm Sozzled, Ok? While not technically a sailing thing, it is a good excuse for navigators that "forget" one of the marks

YOLO: Yachting Optional, Lunch Obligatory. 'Nuff said, you know ol' Buff!!

NSFW: Not Sailed For Weeks. JP, I'm looking at you!!!

IRL: I-forget-what-about-the Reaching Line. Seriously, mind's a blank on this one

Well there are probably more but its xmas and ol' Buff needs to lie down for a bit for some mysterious reason. But maybe you can fill in some of the missing ones for me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

This is Buff Staysail, over - hic - and out!!

Its a boring machine!

Work on the Super Sewer (aka the Thames Tideway Tunnel) progresses fast up in Fulham.

As previously posted, a giant "acoustic shed" has been constructed down which a shaft is being dug to get down to tunnelling level.

Down this great shaft will be lowered the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) which was came up the river at the end of November in bits on a barge from Kehl, Germany:

These bits are currently being assembled into the TBM (top pic) before it is moved inside the shed and down the shaft to start its job drilling the main tunnel itself.

Before that it was, of course, important to get that all important photo of the crew with the cutting head:

It certainly gives a sense of the scale of the tunnel to see the engineers in their orange jackets dwarfed by the tunnelling machine they are constructing and will guide through those kilometres of London clay.

This TBM is called Rachel after Rachel Parsons who sounds like an amazing women. Her Wikipedia article describes how she was director on the board of the family's Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company and had a Master Mariner's Certificate. In 1920 she was one of a group of eight women who founded the engineering company Atalanta Ltd, which for a time had offices on the Fulham Road.

Sounds like she'd have got on really well with Victoria Drummond, who's book about her life as a marine engineer with the Blue Funnel Line (amongst others) blogger earlier.

I wonder if there's any record of them meeting?

The London Stones: on the charts

Earlier this year I visited the London Stones and there was a comment on one of the posts about whether they have any navaids so they can be identified to shipping.

The answer is no, which could partly be related to how they are historic objects and partly to the fact that they are typically close to shore in drying parts of the Thames estuary, well away from the shipping channels.

However they are marked on charts, which you can see for yourself above (the one off Chalkwell / Leigh / Southend-on-sea) and below (Yantlet Creek), in both cases taken from the Navionics Webapp.

The one on the north is described as "City or Crow Stone" while that on the south as "London Stone", and nearby the latter can be seen the buoy marking the creek's entrance.

There was no sign of the lost Yantlet or Lobster Island, washed away over the centuries, though I did notice an anchorage at the inlet to Yantlet Creek.

This remote location had no yachts bobbing at anchor the day I visited, though some yougsters did zoom up and down the creek in a jetski:

Wingardium Leviosa vs. Expecto Patronum

It might be a long time until the Oxford vs Cambridge University Boat Race but the crews and busy preparing out on the Thames.

Today the Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club crews have their Trial Eights match-up and they have name the two crews Wingardium Leviosa and Expecto Patronum.

Given that Cambridge University does indeed look like something out of Harry Potter this is very appropriate.

As to which is which (above & below photos) I must admit I have no clue.

However it is possible that I have been hit by a confundus charm.


Updated: victory for Expecto Patronum!

TBH, I'm not surprised as the Patronus charm was clearly more useful to Harry Potter than the levitation one

Book Review: Sailing in Grandfather's Wake by Ian Tew

I initially had the wrong idea about this book. For some reason my expectation was that given the author was someone's grandson he must be young, but it turned out if anything he was older than the grandfather in question.

The author sailed round the world in the years 1998 - 2000 while the grandfather did his half-circumnavigation just before the start of the Second World War in 1938-39. Indeed, it was the start of the war that cut the voyage short in New Zealand.

It was an enjoyable read though not without flaws. The book is part written by Ian Tew and part the diary of his aunt who was crew of the first voyage. It must be said that the earlier writing is a lot better and the later rather full of exclamation marks.

Indeed the first voyage seemed to have numerous advantages, including:
- a more beautiful yacht, 30 foot gaff yawl called Caplin
- more sympathetic crew and master in Commander Graham and his daughter Marguerite plus Dopey the ship's cat (the author admits he's quick tempered and not the easiest person to get along with)
- more unspoilt locations, before the times of ubiquitous development and no doubt plastic in the oceans

If you read blogs or vlogs of those doing circumnavigations you'll know the sort of thing they encounter. Things break and they have to wait for replacement parts, there's confusions and tensions about paper work not being right, locations are idyllic apart from those that are over-developed, crews get sea-sick and argue....

An addition to the circumnavigator's bookcase rather than a classic like Hiscock's Around the World in Wanderer III or Liza Copeland's Just Cruising.