Rowing....in SPAAAACE!

Thanks for the top-tips on vacation destinations, NASA.

To be honest I was thinking that sailing the seas of Titan might be better, or skiing the polar caps of Mars or diving the waters of Europa, but then you never know until you've tried.

Book Review: Circle Line: Around London in a Small Boat

Most of London is on an island, sort of, bounded by the Thames to the south and various canals to the north. So you could in principle do a circumnavigation of London using a combination of sailing, oars and engine.

This was indeed the voyage of Steffan Meyric Hughes, documented in this book, starting at Kingston upon Thames. He then sailed downriver to Brentford where he joined the canals that would take him on a wandering route through west, north and east London to join the River Lee. This took him back to the Thames where he could head up river back to the starting point.

It was a pleasant, gentle read, with echoes of Three Men in a Boat, which might be why there is an old-fashioned feel to the style. It made me think of tweed jackets and it might (or might not) be appropriate that the author is a journalist for Classic Boat Magazine.

He certainly knows his boats and was more than capable of handling the navigation and inevitable moments when things break and the engine fails to start (it was every thus in sailing stories).

What surprised me was that he didn't seem to actually know or even like London that much, despite living and working in this city. He admitted, while passing through central London, that he didn't "know what half of London's landmarks are". For example he had no idea what The Monument was, which is strange given that the event it commemorates was so famous there's even a nursery rhyme about it beginning "London's burning, London's burning".

As a diversion from his loop he also kayaks down the Wandle River, which he calls "south London's unknown jewel", which is the sort of statement that makes me want to say something on the lines of "unknown to whom?". He then rails against the "cold hateful architecture" of riverside developments "denying access to river". Well, the architecture is a judgement call (and there is some undoubtedly some bad stuff) but my guess is that with the Thames Path access to the river is now a lot easier than when it was back to back factories.

A pleasant read, but I can't help but wishing there'd have been more about London in it.

Arctic Forum by Arthur Beale

Yesterday evening I went to a talk called "Arctic Forum" arranged by London's best ship's chandler, Arthur Beale.

We heard about two voyages from the UK, one from the nearby St. Katharines dock, up to 80N and Spitzerbergen. It was all very interesting and if I had a first choice of places to sail this year it would indeed be the Svalbard archipelago.

There was lots of good advice from people who'd actually sailed there, such as this:

For those that didn't go, this book on "High Latitude Sailing" includes lots and lots of good advice for expedition planners.

Afterwards there was a Q&A which I didn't contribute, though I was tempted to comment, relating to a discussion about the best heater to use, that from personal experience it was indeed possible to sail inside the Arctic Circle in an unheated 32' Contessa.

Or that advice about what to do when you land on a beach to find yourself sharing it with a polar bear (obv. get back to the yacht) is not academic but actually very practical. Also, there was nothing about what to do when out kayaking and you find yourself joined by a polar bear (which happened to a friend of mine).

But the key message is one I'd echo: we are lucky that in the UK we are not that many days sailing from some of the most pristine and beautiful wild landscapes in the world.



Update: interesting article on Arthur Beale in the Telegraph here

How to hold a heron and not get pecked

This story does not have a happy ending, so those with a sensitive nature might like to leave and watch this instead.

It begins with me walking along the Thames embankment, one of those bits where it has built high of stones, with at the bottom a short beach of gravel visible at low tide.

One this day and time there was only a metre or two of beach left dry while the tide was rushing in, and on this stony ground stood a woman. Now as many people each year get caught out by the rising waters I poked my head over the railings to see if she knew her peril.

It was then that I saw the heron, and her stick. She had grabbed the heron with the metal loop on its end and had pulled the bird towards her, and then she grabbed it.

Now there are stories (usually in the Mail) of the Queen's swan's being poached and barbecued, but it was immediately clear that was different, and not because it was a different species, but because she was wearing an RSPCA jacket.

Keeping a careful hold on the heron she made her way back to the ladder needed to climb the shear wall up to safety and the Thames path. But with one hand for the bird and another for the pole there were no hands spare to hold on.

So she called up to the passing stranger (that's me) to help out and of course I said yes and took the pole from her and placed it on the ground, ready to assist further.

At the top there was a difficult bit to get over the railings and even with the hand free from pole she couldn't work out how to get herself and the heron over the top. So it was my time to hold on the heron while she made the final part of the ascent.

On her instructions, I reached over the railings and put the first most important hand gently around the heron's neck, to make sure it didn't turn and peck me. It watched me, mostly quietly, its little eye fixed. I wasn't sure about the other hand, so put it lower down the neck by the body. Quickly I lifted it up and then placed it on the ground so it held its weight while I just kept it in place.

The RSPCA woman climbed over and I was happy to let her reclaim her heron so I could hear the story.

Alas the poor heron had broken its wing and been spotted by a member of the public and alerted the RSPCA. Now it was on land I could see the wing was not neatly closed on the body but stuck open, though the animal was making no noise.

What could be done? I asked. Alas nothing, I was told. All they could do was put the animal out of its misery more humanly than drowning in cold river water.

So with a brief thanks from her and a good luck from me we parted.

I tried to comfort myself with the thought that the Thames is so flourishing that there are no shortages of herons, we can afford to lose one.

But it was a shame that the only heron I have encountered up close was under such sad circumstances.

London Boat Show Visitor Numbers

 

So is the London Boat Show flying high as in the photo above, of the quayside and a take-off from the nearby London City Airport?

The visitor numbers (from here) are:
2016: 90,328
2015: 92,288
2014: 88,593
2013: 93,327
2012: 102,841

So its down from the peak but not as bad as 2014.

It didn't feel that "buzzing" (see below, Thursday evening) though maybe the weekends were busier.

Boat Show Picture Puzzle

What's the blogging connection between the two photos below from the London Boat Show?

For a bonus virtual point, what spread should be on the toast?

Yachts and Yachting Awards 2016 at the London Boat Show

For the last couple of years the highlights of my Boat Shows have been the people, meeting sailors and authors and hearing their stories. And the Yachts and Yachting Award 2016 ceremony is just the sort of place where real sailors can be found.

The "Show Theatre" was pretty small so I arrived early to get a seat but found it was guarded by a young chap with sports jacket who had a list of names and emails on a clipboard. I guessed mine would not be on it (nor, of course, Buff's) so stood at a well chosen position, just outside, to the edge of the walkway to the front.

So I got a good view of the likes of Volvo legend Knut Frostad (above) as he headed up not just once but twice, the first time for "Event of the Year", namely the Volvo, and secondly for his well earned life-time achievement award above:

It was on his way up to get the first of these impressive silver trophies that he accidentally rammed into me, so I did, as Buff indicated, bump into Kut Frostad. I also was standing close to Rick Tomlinson whose photography course I'd been on back in 2013, so said hello to him.

Another winner was Guo Chuan for his record breaking traverse of the North-East passage. There'd been a talk earlier in the day on that expedition that I'd been sorry to miss and he wasn't there so the award was picked up by another in the team:

The "Pro Sailor of the Year" award was won by Ian Walker who also couldn't be there so the prize was picked up by his mum, below, with Yachts and Yachting's editor Georgie Corlett-Pitt:

Ian had written a rather lovely message about how much he owed to his parents which was so nice his mum ended up unable to finish reading it aloud and Gorgie Corlett-Pitt had to take over.

Aaaah, what a nice family.

There were many other prizes which I guess can be found in Yachts and Yachting magazine. The most enthusiasm was probably for the prizes for "Youth Sailor of the Year", where there was a healthy representation from young women sailors, and many congratulations to Mimi El-Khazindar & Emma Loveridge (winners) and Eleanor Poole (runner up).

It was an event with a definite upbeat feel to it: lots going on, exciting days for sailors in the UK, with a big round of applause showing support for the Ben Ainslie America's Cup team, new faces and new yachts to get 2016 off to a good start.

Buff livens up party night at the London Boat Show

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

Thursday night was party night at the London Boat Show and there was free champagne flowing all over the Excel (oops, my bad)!!!

My eye was of course caught by the Sunseeker stand (above) and it was around then that I lost touch with JP as he was heading to the Yachts and Yachting Award thingy (yawn - there was a list and Buff wasn't on it) while I thought it would be better to check out the Riva Aquariva stand where there was even more champagne and a fashion show of beachwear from Nichole De Carle (holy cow JP, you so missed a treat there - see below!!!).

My head is a bit worse for wear today but I remember something about Volvo legend Knut Frostad and JP bumping into each other but maybe I got the wrong end of that stick.

This is your's truly, Boat Show Party Buff, over and out.

NDCM-boatshow-WEB-hd from Nichole de Carle on Vimeo.

London Walks: Limehouse Canal Loop

Over the holiday break I did one of London's urban walks along the canals and rivers of east London, starting and ending in Limehouse. It's a loop recommended in the book the "Thames Path in London" as a diversion from that route and very enjoyable it is too.

Starting from the DLR station it starts off heading north up the pathway on the east side of the Grand Union Canal (not the west as shown in the map in the Thames Path book, which apart from this small "feature" is very good indeed) passing locks and heading under one of the old bridges:

While the commercial traffic might have moved from the waterways to the roads, the canals still are enjoyed:

It's not all urban landscapes, with some welcome wildlife, plants and animals:

Ok, maybe not all the animals were quite so welcome.

Just after the Roman Road the route turns right into the Hertford Union Canal alongside Victoria Park until a wondrous sight, full of happy memories and glorious sounds:

Sigh.... the spirit of London 2012 lives here, forever (unless, of course, West Ham spoils it).

Anyhow, then its down the Lee River where to be honest the route is rather concrete jungle for a bit:

But its worth pushing on as there another's high-spot just a bit further down the Lee, at historic Three Mills Island:

From here leave the Lee behind and join the Limehouse Cut, a straight line bordered by rather anonymous new apartments, until you return to the starting point.

At this point I felt rather hungry, thirsty and in need of a bit of a rest but this being London there was just the thing nearby:

A great walk: the book says 6 miles but with the odd detour the Google Earth track above is nearer 7 miles (11 km).

Definitely worth a hike if you feel like stretching your legs and exploring this side of London, historic in its own way.

Natural Navigation Picture Puzzle

This photo was taken at noon on alongside one of the canals in east London.

Can you work out which?

Best Camera 2016 Update

I try where ever possible to use my own photographs for this blog and its no burden but rather a lot of fun trying to take the best possible picture.

Previously I ran a set of posts comparing three cameras: the Canon 550D SLR, the mirrorless Sony NEX 6 and the waterproof Olympus Tough TG-1. Since then I've upgraded one camera - but which one and why?

The new camera is a Sony A6000 and with it I've also bought some E-mount lenses and sold on eBay a couple of Canon ones as part of a transition to mirrorless.

The comparison posts were back in 2013 and in the two years that followed I found that more and more I'd take the NEX 6 as it is as powerful as the 550D but much lighter. I can't see the point of the mirror any more: it just adds weight.

SLR bodies are larger and heavier, as are their lenses, which means tripods (needed for long exposure pics like that of Kew Gardens above) must be heavier and if you're heading off to interesting places like Greenland (below) all that weight and volume is bad.

There is one application where the 550D still is a bit better - sports photography, as there isn't really an equivalent long lens for the E-mount system, as used for these types of pictures:

But when that lens does come (E-mount not FE, please, as full frame is also too big for me) it's fair to say the Canon + kit + 70-300mm lens will be up on eBay - if only to pay for the new Sony lens!

I've been really impressed with the A6000. It is now nearly 2 years old so there are some good deals out there, in particular if the long rumoured replacement does finally get released in the spring. Focusing is quick and its got all the flexibility in setting ISO / aperture / exposure etc. of an SLR.

There are some really nice fast prime lenses available, such as the f1.8 35mm (50mm equivalent) where the camera plus lens together weighs just under 500g and which produce lovely sharp images like this one:

The 16mm lens is even lighter and when on the A6000 the combination is small enough to slip into a coat pocket to be taken (say) to Canterbury Cathedral on Christmas day:

You might recognise this photo of another "cathedral" taken with the same lens though using the older NEX-6 body:

With Nikon and Canon focusing on SLRs, the mirrorless market is up for grabs and the Sony's A7 range (in particular the A7RII) have shown that you don't need a mirror to have a world-beating camera for professionals.

So I feel pretty safe buying into their E-mount system and happy with the results:

Note of course that this is what works for me and each photographer has their own needs.

It would be good if O'Docker were still commenting - it would be great to hear what he thought of all this!

Book Review: Naturalists at Sea by Glyn Williams

It must have sounded like a golden opportunity, and it was for the lucky ones like Joseph Banks. Sailing around the world with Captain Cook, visiting unexplored countries, being the first to see new species, not in the watch system, having a cabin without the responsibilities of command, dalliances with Tahitian girls (in the name of Pacific ethnology, of course) and returning famous, position and wealth guaranteed.

But few other naturalist had such success. The German Georg Wilhelm Steller joined a Russian expedition which struggled for 10 years to get to Alaska but only gave him 10 hours of exploration at the end of it before returning, then being wrecked "on an unknown desert island without a ship or timber with which to build a new one, and at the same time with little or no provisions". He managed to escape the scurvy that killed so many and return safely home, only to die of a fever in Siberia a few years later.

That was to be more of the model for naturalists in years to come: endless struggles often leading to disaster. A later chapter in the book has the title "The Woes of Johann Reinhold Forster" which gives a flavour the more typical experiences. Yet the dream of repeating Banks endured, as did his position, and these pioneers would often be sending him collections of their discoveries.

It was only with Charles Darwin that a naturalist would again be able to claim their voyage was an unquestioned success. Another quasi-success was the much earlier pioneer William Dampier, though he was an accidental or self-trained naturalist, not one employed as such.

This well written and interesting book comes from author Glyn Williams, who also wrote Arctic Labyrinth which I also very much enjoyed.

Strongly recommended.

Book Review: The Lonely Sea and the Sky by Francis Chichester

I've read quite a bit about Robin Knox-Johnston but much less about his solo circumnavigating predecessor, Francis Chichester, so picked up this book hoping to learn more about his historic voyage on Gipsy Moth IV.

However it turned out this was the book of his life up to Gipsy Moth IV, so while there were several sailing adventures there wasn't the one I was hoping to learn about.

But it was still an interesting read. It starts with a description of a hard childhood and then an aimless youth in which he tried a wide range of careers from mining to farming. Finally it was as a property developer in New Zealand that he had the time and money for his real passions: flying and sailing.

He flew single handed from London to Sydney in 1929 - 30, across the Tasmin Sea in 1931 and then later that year from Australia up to Japan as he tried to complete his flight around the world. There were quite a few prangs, include one pretty nasty one, and an interesting take on celestial navigation from the air ("off-course navigation").

Then he got sick, seriously sick, with lung cancer.

One of the strong messages I got from this book was that life can begin again. For he successfully battled that illness and in his late fifties back in the UK took up long distance offshore sailing.

So it need not be too late and it is worth fighting on. As someone who's spent quite a bit of last year off sick that was a positive message.

An interesting read about a famous sailor, clearly a tough coot.

Happy New Year!

To borrow an idea that the Bursledon Blogger borrowed from Carol Ann Duffy:

What do you want to do with the gift of 2016?

Book Review: One Wild Song by Paul Heiney

The 7th of May 2015 was a busy day.

Not only was there a general election but also another excellent talk at London's premier ships chandler, Arthur Beale where attendees voted for who'd they most like to skipper their boat (see below for result).

The talk was by Paul Heiney describing the voyage which was the subject of his book "One wild song". Paul and his wife Libby Purves are keen sailors but this book is not about their voyages together as much as the aftermath of a tragedy in their life, the suicide of their son Nicholas at the age of 23.

The voyage from the UK to Cape Horn and back was a tribute and a way of remembering their son. Most of the voyage Paul took single handed, though for critical parts such as the rounding of the Horn there were crew.

More than just another story of sailing to high latitudes this book tells of emotional loss and recovery. It also works as it shows the difficulties and worries of the skipper on the long voyage.

Down to Cascais (and a £2k marina bill), further to Morocco, Cape Verde islands, across to Brazil where he and his crew got mugged, Uruguay and then on into the deep south.

Here he would explore the beautiful Beagle Channel and make his rounding of Cape Horn, to discover, as his son had written, "The silence at the song's end".

A moving story, well told.




Election result: Ellen MacArthur of course

Book Review: This Cold Heaven by Gretel Ehrlich

You'd have thought that a book with sub-title "Seven Seasons in Greenland" would be right up my street.

However I got as far as this description of ice that "has melted and looks floury, like an unnecessary word that adds confusion to insight" and decided this book wasn't for me.

Others were also concerned about the language, such as this review commenting about the author: "she is also described as a poet and her book is, to my taste, fatally congested with 'poetic' language. Metaphors abound, several to a sentence, until it becomes quite difficult to discern any sense at all".

In this book it is the writing that is floury not the ice so I got no further than page 4.

Book Review: Captain Margaret by John Masefield

Its the time of year to curl with a book and so here's the first of a couple of reviews from 2015's reading, starting with John Masefield's Captain Margaret.

Now John Masefield is the author of the poems Sea Fever and Cargos and children's book's A Box of Delight and Jim Davis, so this should have been a cracking read, but, well, lets try a multiple choice quiz.

You're in command of tall ship, off to the Spanish main, commission as a privateer, hull full of stores and arms, to cause confusion to the Dons and glory to blighty. Do you go to sea with:
a) Jolly tars
b) A one legged cook and bunch of ruffians
c) Your sweetheart and her swine of a husband on the run from debtors?

Your captain's name is:
a) Hornblower
b) Flint
c) Margaret?

Maybe if you remember the defeat of the flying pickets on the northern fields you might have picked c) but this Margaret's name was Charles and he did indeed take his sweetheart Olivia and swine of a husband Stukeley with him.

The story does include battle scene, the storming of a town under sultry Caribbean skies, waters pure blue and macaws echoing in the wild forests, but that's only about 5% of the text, most of which relates to the emotional strains on-board and the mischief the swine Stukeley gets up to (assault, forgery, theft, attempted mutiny, betrayal, drinking, wenching etc. etc.).

The ship's master Cammock was an ex-pirate who's spent some time timbering along the Campeachy coast of Mexico, and reminded me strongly of my alleged ancestor William Dampier.

So a puzzle which could be counted a learning experience for Masefield as it was one of his earliest works. A curiosity but alas not the greatest of reads.




ps. The photo above is from my archives taken at the end of the ARC at St. Lucia and was one of the boats seen in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Happy Christmas!

Unseasonably warm here in London so no sign of snow but this was last month just outside Geneva where it really was properly deep and crisp.

The PLA's Thames Vision

Today the PLA opened a consultation on its Thames Vision, looking at how the river will be used over the next 20 years.

As you might expect there are goals (6) and action items (24) but I checked and there is no mention of consultant speak like "forward looking" or "strategic objectives".

It sounds pretty good - the goals include: the busiest ever Port of London; 20 million passenger trips a year; more goods moved by river; the cleanest river since the Industrial Revolution; and more people than ever enjoying sport and recreation.

The approach to sports and recreation is to focus activity on selected "sport opportunity zones", in particular: from Kew Bridge to Richmond, Putney Bridge to Chelsea, and east of Greenwich.

Hmmm.... what about between Putney and Mortlake? I understand that's a patch rowers are pretty keen on.

Lots of different types mucking about are covered, with:

more rowing, kayaking, canoeing and stand up paddle boarding at Kew – Teddington; more kayaking at Putney – Chelsea; and more kayaking as well as sailing at Greenwich – Crossness, particularly in Gallions and Barking reaches. Further east, there are opportunities for more yacht clubs serving  sailing and motor boating as well as kayaking, and for rowing and paddle boarding in Benfleet Creek.

Interestingly no mention of more sailing around Putney, you know, this sort of thing:

Which brings me on to water quality - and more good news here too. To be precise the action item is: Water quality improves to ‘good’

So not very good or excellent, and the key action is the infamous Thames Tideway Tunnel, a super-sewer to be dug below the Thames itself. This has follow on consequences, such as the development of new wharfs at Hurlingham (for the waste from that tunnel) and others such as in Battersea for soil removed by the Northern Line extension.

A lot to digest but it does sounds pretty positive, the Thames at a heart of the growing London, connecting east and west, old and new, business and leisure.

For anyone with something to add, the consultation is open until 15th February 2016 and available here.

Jimmy Cornell at the Cruising Association

Jimmy Cornell has had the impact on world cruising for which words like "legend" start being used. His World Cruising Routes is said to have sold 200,000 copies and is on Brian of Delos's Required Reading List.

He set up the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers which I did many years ago (totally fab) and a week ago gave a talk in the Cruising Association about his successful transit of the North-West passage.

However initial impressions were not of a hardened sea salt but a fussy man, complaining that the meal was being served before the talk not, as is usually the case, in the interval. "Its not right" he muttered, as knives and forks clattered on plates. Plus the lights were all wrong as was the microphone. He decided to wait until people had finished eating then began anyhow.

He started by describing his trip to Antarctica and Cape Horn plus his totally dream-worthy Exploration 45 foot aluminium yacht Aventura IV (above, which I so want).

Then it was off from London, heading out under the Tower Bridge which lifted in salute on the 31st of May 2014 for his first attempt at the NW passage. They sailed up to Orkney and headed west, as the southern tip of Greenland has almost the same latitude. Up the west coast then across to Baffin Island, polar bears and the first serious ice.

It turned out to be more than just serious, as 2014 turned out to be a bad year for ice and they had to turn back. Even so they almost got iced in, with Cornell's granddaughter, one of the crew, fearing they'd be stuck there for 10 months.

This year he tried again from west to east, which has the advantage that the ice tends to clear in that order and to cut a long story short was successful, sailing through to the Atlantic and then down to London, to head under Tower Bridge on the 18th of September.

There were some more interesting moments, such as how he admitted he did the cooking as he is fussy (his word this time) about the mess that others cause. He also admitted he'd become a sterner skipper. "Can't afford to be nice all the time" he said, not with ice around.

In the Q&A session one question was particularly interesting: what were his over-wintering plans?

Didn't have any, he said, which puzzled me. If I were heading into the NW passage where ice is unpredictable and risks of wintering, while low, are definitely not zero, I'd have a plan.

But it was a key to his character, namely his confidence in himself and his determination. He'd find something, he was sure: he was prepared to make mistakes but stubborn so able to find a solution. That, coupled with a Romanian fatalism "if its going to happen, it's going to happen".

"Don't always think of consequences, otherwise you'd do nothing" he said.

For a potter round the Solent, maybe, but a trip into the NW passage with your granddaughter?

Maybe the "hmm.." I'm mentally thinking now is why I've never sailed around the world once let alone three times, nor set up several hugely successful yachting rallies, let alone completed a NW passage.