Interesting and unusual boaty type things.

[hatler]

Exciting newish acquisition for the hatler household.

[Panoramix]

Exciting newish acquisition for the hatler household.

Cool, is it a merlin rocket?

[hatler]

Yup. Good spot. Fourteen feet of unalloyed tinkering pleasure and excitement.

[Panoramix]

Yup. Good spot. Fourteen feet of unalloyed tinkering pleasure and excitement.

A few of them got here in North Brittany.

I envy you, the dinghy scene here is nowhere near as dynamic as in the UK. The only one design or rule box series that have a bit of traction are Optimist, Laser, Caravelle, HC16, Dart 18 and Formula 18. It's a shame, there are hundreds of Vaurien, 420, 470, Moth Europe, rotting in barns but people are not interested. I sail a laser because that's the most dynamic singlehanded serie and we tend to be about 10-15 boats attending local races, mostly youngsters say 80% aged less than 25.

[Oscar's dad]

Yup. Good spot. Fourteen feet of unalloyed tinkering pleasure and excitement.

Lovely!  Nice looking sails from what I can see (I used to be a sailmaker a long time ago).

[hatler]

Yup. Good spot. Fourteen feet of unalloyed tinkering pleasure and excitement.

Lovely!  Nice looking sails from what I can see (I used to be a sailmaker a long time ago).

Thank you. And they're the second best suit for club racing. Once I get the hang of sailing these things again I'll break out the good suit.

I considered heading into the boat industry years ago and had a long chat with an Essex based sailmaker about the trade. For a variety of reasons I ended up heading elsewhere though I'd always imagined that there must be a great deal of satisfaction (if not desperately remunerative) in making sails. Why did you move out of sailmaking (if that's not too personal a question) ?

[hatler]

Yup. Good spot. Fourteen feet of unalloyed tinkering pleasure and excitement.

A few of them got here in North Brittany.

I envy you, the dinghy scene here is nowhere near as dynamic as in the UK. The only one design or rule box series that have a bit of traction are Optimist, Laser, Caravelle, HC16, Dart 18 and Formula 18. It's a shame, there are hundreds of Vaurien, 420, 470, Moth Europe, rotting in barns but people are not interested. I sail a laser because that's the most dynamic singlehanded serie and we tend to be about 10-15 boats attending local races, mostly youngsters say 80% aged less than 25.

Do you mean that there are some there on a permanent basis ?  Very cool if so.

I'm fresh back into the dinghy scene here (after a 15 year absence) and as far as I can tell the problems evident back then are broadly the same as now. Too many clubs chasing a reducing number of ageing sailors who want to sail too broad a diversity of dinghy classes. (And that is a very broad generalisation.)

Luckily I've stumbled on a club that has, without formalising what can and can't be sailed, effectively become a two-type club, Merlins and Lasers (at least in the Wintertime - I haven't seen what happens in the Summer yet). On Sunday there were nine Merlins and six Lasers out, and two of the regular Merlin sailors were on duty in the rescue boat.

[Oscar's dad]

Yup. Good spot. Fourteen feet of unalloyed tinkering pleasure and excitement.

Lovely!  Nice looking sails from what I can see (I used to be a sailmaker a long time ago).

Thank you. And they're the second best suit for club racing. Once I get the hang of sailing these things again I'll break out the good suit.

I considered heading into the boat industry years ago and had a long chat with an Essex based sailmaker about the trade. For a variety of reasons I ended up heading elsewhere though I'd always imagined that there must be a great deal of satisfaction (if not desperately remunerative) in making sails. Why did you move out of sailmaking (if that's not too personal a question) ?

We're talking mid to late 80s. I made sails for about 3 or 4 years, had a hoot but earned a pittance. Then rode my bike round Europe for a couple of months, came back and went from sails to sales to earn enough money to get a mortgage.  I've been in sales ever since.  For a few years I sold sailcloth which was the best of both worlds.

[hatler]

The sailmaker I chatted to had worked his nuts off for years to build a decentish business. As sales grew they wanted to branch out into bigger sails, but needed a suitable sail loft. Local council were selling off a school in small lots, and one of the lots was the gym with a couple of ancillary buildings. Bids were by sealed lot. The sailmaker was successful (huzzah !) but only needed the gym, so they sold off the other two buildings. These buildings sold for more than he had paid for the entire lot. In fact, the profit on that one deal was the equivalent of two or three year's profit from the sailmaking business. It was that fact which determined my future didn't lie in the boat industry. (So I can well believe that you earned a pittance.)

[Oscar's dad]

The sailmaker I chatted to had worked his nuts off for years to build a decentish business. As sales grew they wanted to branch out into bigger sails, but needed a suitable sail loft. Local council were selling off a school in small lots, and one of the lots was the gym with a couple of ancillary buildings. Bids were by sealed lot. The sailmaker was successful (huzzah !) but only needed the gym, so they sold off the other two buildings. These buildings sold for more than he had paid for the entire lot. In fact, the profit on that one deal was the equivalent of two or three year's profit from the sailmaking business. It was that fact which determined my future didn't lie in the boat industry. (So I can well believe that you earned a pittance.)

Sounds like a great deal!

[hatler]

Yup. Good spot. Fourteen feet of unalloyed tinkering pleasure and excitement.

A few of them got here in North Brittany.

I envy you, the dinghy scene here is nowhere near as dynamic as in the UK. The only one design or rule box series that have a bit of traction are Optimist, Laser, Caravelle, HC16, Dart 18 and Formula 18. It's a shame, there are hundreds of Vaurien, 420, 470, Moth Europe, rotting in barns but people are not interested. I sail a laser because that's the most dynamic singlehanded serie and we tend to be about 10-15 boats attending local races, mostly youngsters say 80% aged less than 25.

Are you anywhere near Carnac ?

A bunch of Merlins are apparently heading for the Carnac open dinghy meeting at the end of May.

[Panoramix]

Yup. Good spot. Fourteen feet of unalloyed tinkering pleasure and excitement.

A few of them got here in North Brittany.

I envy you, the dinghy scene here is nowhere near as dynamic as in the UK. The only one design or rule box series that have a bit of traction are Optimist, Laser, Caravelle, HC16, Dart 18 and Formula 18. It's a shame, there are hundreds of Vaurien, 420, 470, Moth Europe, rotting in barns but people are not interested. I sail a laser because that's the most dynamic singlehanded serie and we tend to be about 10-15 boats attending local races, mostly youngsters say 80% aged less than 25.

Are you anywhere near Carnac ?

A bunch of Merlins are apparently heading for the Carnac open dinghy meeting at the end of May.

I sail in North Brittany (close to St Malo) but I live in Rennes which is not too far away from Carnac. The "Baie de Quiberon" is a really nice place to race. I wasn't aware of this race.

[Palinurus]

Commuted along the canal in the fog this morning- very nice

But what's this?

[Andrij]

Common as muck.

Oil platform 'life boats', IIRC.

[Palinurus]

Common as muck.

Oil platform 'life boats', IIRC.

 

[David Martin]

Anyone able to collect, I have an 11ft sailing dinghy in need of restoration to a good home. Wensum.

[Jurek]

For those interested in such things, the Greenwich Tall Ships Regatta takes place over the Easter weekend.
http://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/tallships
Much square footage of sail.

[Jurek]

The first of the tall ships have started to arrive.

[Blodwyn Pig]

[TheLurker]

Carrick Roads today.  Ernst Stavro Blofeld on his hols.



If the scale isn't obvious that's getting on for half the length of one of the RN's new(ish) Type 45s

[David Martin]

Currently pretending to not be a boat.

DSC_0760 by David Martin, on Flickr

[Pingu]

This is in the harbour just now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_ship_Alliance_(A5345)


Edit: changed link to make it work

[The French Tandem]

This is in the harbour just now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_ship_Alliance_(A5345)

That's a rather strange name for an Italian ship. I would rather have christened her Alleanza.

[Pingu]

Bathio - Belgian DIY ferry (video):


diy_ferry_fun by The Pingus, on Flickr

[Cudzoziemiec]

Leviathan.