intheboatshed.net

Dylan Winter on gaffers and smacks

The gifted Dylan Winter has excelled himself this time with his latest short YouTube video series Keep Turning Left. In this one he drools over a series of gaff-rigged yachts and smacks, and praises the English for their amazing reasonableness.

Hopefully someone, somewhere will one day have the vision to commission him to do a series of properly budgeted videos - if nothing else this hugely enjoyable series must be a great advert for his skills and screen persona. Maybe the lucky man will even be offered the rich prize of a book contract!

It seems churlish to say it but one thing I slightly regret is that chooses a lot of Irish music for these videos. Maybe he knows and has rejected the wealth of great English traditional music that might seem a more approriate accompaniment to videos that are at least for the moment centred on the English coast, but my feeling is that the Scots, Irish and Welsh will no doubt get their turns later…

PS - I was delighted to find this exchange in the comments to this video on YouTube:

‘What are you watching,’ my wife asked. ‘You’ve got that look on your face.’

‘What look?’ I replied.

‘That look that says I want to be doing what they are doing - you’re not watching porn on that thing are you?’

The first of the two Blue Moons built by Cem Gur and colleagues in Turkey is launched. This one  is going to an owner in Greece.

Designed by Thomas Gillmer, the Blue Moon is such an attractive boat that even my kids are oohing and aahing over the pictures!

For more Blue Moon posts at intheboatshed.net, follow this link.

Outstanding photographs by MAX on show at the
National Maritime Museum Cornwall exhibition.
Click on each one for a much larger image - you won’t
regret it!

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall is putting on an outstanding tall ships exhibition starting on the 1st July.

Part of the celebration surrounding the Funchal 500 Tall Ships regatta arrival in Falmouth in September, the Tall Ships photographic exhibition features images of the vessels, and will include the work of the renowned tall ship photographer, MAX.

The following notes come from the NMMC’s release:

‘The exhibition also explores the background of The Tall Ships’ Races and their role in fostering greater understanding between young people from all over the world. The first ever Tall Ships’ Race took place in 1956 with just 20 ships while now the event often boasts over 100, with thousands of crew members from as many as 50 different countries.

‘Sail Training International, organisers of The Tall Ships’ Races, were even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for their activities promoting international friendship and understanding through sail training for young people.

‘Milly Newman, Exhibitions Development Assistant says: “Everyone at the Maritime Museum is incredibly excited about the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta. For those that were here for the hugely successful ’98 Tall Ships event these breathtaking prints will serve as a reminder of the incredibly powerful scene these ships paint when under sail together. For those that missed one of Cornwall’s major highlights of the last 10 years this anniversary exhibition will whet their appetites for a truly spectacular experience yet to come.”

‘The Tall Ships photographic exhibition opens on 1 July and runs until 26 September.”