intheboatshed.net

Ben Crawshaw’s series of short videos recording his astonishing trip in Onawind Blue get better and better – if that’s possible.

The latest sees him rowing and sailing up the eastern Spanish coast from the Ebro Delta to Cap Salou in light winds – at times he’s nearly crushed by exhaustion yet at others he’s so jubilant he’s close to flying. Unmissable, moving stuff, I’d say, though encouraging someone else to do the same thing would be just about the last thing I’d do…

For more on Ben, Onawind Blue and trows light and otherwise, click here.

Cruising a small boat in the western Med is the name Ben Crawshaw has given to a series of YouTube videos he has put together about his expedition to Ibiza and Formontera from the Spanish mainland.

So far there are only two of the series to watch, but already it’s clear the adventure was a real roller-coaster ride. Part two finds him on an exhilarating run to Formontera to meet friends for a dinner date aboard a restored 1929 British lifeboat; however the contrast with his honest account of the fear he felt in part 1 when sailing overnight to Ibiza could not be more stark. It’s not for nothing that he’s called the first episode Fear is a giant octopus.

See the videos at his weblog The Invisible Workshop here and here. Ben Crawshaw fans – and there are many – will be pleased to know there will be more to come…

I thought of Ben’s first video last night as I dipped into my book collection during a bout of insomnia. The volume in question was Old Jack by W H G Kingston. It’s a romantic story of derring-do on the high seas, and I have to say after just two chapters the adventuring has already been immense and the body count is mounting.

I was particularly taken with the advice an experienced sailor gave the young protagonist when he said that he would never be frightened so long as he was with his companion and the ship’s captain:

‘Peter laughed. “We may be very well in our way,” said he; “but Jack my advice is Trust in God and hold on to the weather rigging.”‘

For more on Ben and his Light Trow named Onawind Blue, click here.

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Thames barges on the Blackwater – one of the first photos
to appear at intheboatshed.net

It feels a little funny when I think of it, but some time in the next two or three days in the boatshed.net will rack up its first half million hits.

Those with long memories will recall that this weblog began in a very small way at the end of 2006, and benefited early on from the support of various weblogs and online magazines, most notably Chuck Leinweber’s Duckworks Magazine and Tim Shaw’s Chineblog.

Ben Crawshaw’s wonderful The Invisible Workshop followed as did Chris Partridge’s Rowing for Pleasure, and so did a host more I won’t mention just now because if I do this post will become too huge for words.

We’re now all part of a community of interconnecting weblogs and online magazines, and I’m grateful to all of them both for their assistance in helping readers find their way here, and for the entertainment and interest they have given us in our household. If you come to this site and happen to land on this post, therefore, I’d like to suggest you take a little time to explore the sites and weblogs, as well as the rest of the intheboatshed.net blogroll.

But I have another request: please send me pictures and stories that you’d like to share! We’re particularly interested in old boats, traditionally built boats whether old or new, in boats that bear the influences of the past, in the history and culture of boating, in influential individuals and in alternative ways of enjoying boating rooted in the past. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a proud owner or not, or a boat builder or other boat related craftsman, or even if you simply have something interesting to sell. And the occasional story about a boat-related shed doesn’t go amiss either!

Finally, I’d like to pay tribute to my family and wife Julie, who has shown immense understanding and enthusiasm over a long period. I know that I’ve been very lucky to have their support and I hope they feel the result justifies the effort and time that goes into the inthboatshed.net project.

Reach me either at gmatkin@gmail.com or by using the intheboatshed.net contact page, which you can get to using the page tab above the title line.

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