Forgive me, for I have sinned – I have quietly been enjoying Dylan Winter’s video series Keep Turning Leftand have failed to mention it for far too long.
If you haven’t seen his Youtube videos about slowly sailing around our coast in an anti-clockwise direction, you should – and soon.
He’s up to over 40 episodes now and they look and sound great, I have to say. Dylan makes excellent use of a camera, and he’s an entertaining and informative commentator with whom I find I usually agree. He’s interested in sailing, landscapes, history, the way we use our planet and in almost any kind of boat that doesn’t have a large engine and doesn’t have to move a huge amount of water to get somewhere, and films and talks about all of them.
Ah, sailing slowly around the country. I suppose I should mention that I’m prejudiced in all this. The whole idea makes me envious to the point of losing my marbles!
Watch this beautiful Phil Bolger-designed Spartina with its convenient balanced boomed foresail sailing on an East coast river, captured here by the excellent Dylan Winter.
His collection of YouTube videos as he sails anti-clockwise around the UK is well worth watching for the boats, for the sailing and for his entertaining and trenchant commentary, with which I largely agree – although you may not. Take a look and see what you think!
The Spartina is a powerful example of the range of Bolger’s work. It’s a serious mistake to think that he only drew utilitarian sailing and motoring boxes: the man had a real designer’s eye, and used it in drawing up many of his output of many hundreds of designs. I’ve been collecting his books for years, but his published material is available to all in the UK via the national library system in the UK. It’s interesting, illuminating stuff that more people should know about.
There are very few Bolger boats in British waters, which makes this Spartina a particularly striking find.
Dylan was very taken with this boat, and its foresail in particular.
There’s a lot to be said for a foresail like this on a small boat where there’s not much danger of anyone being hurt by the boom. On a boat with a real foredeck on which someone might have to stand, however, it could be a different story.
Of course, I’m not remotely influenced by the massive compliment in the information that goes with this video!
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The poulpe colossal – don’t try catching this one!
I’ve been very entertained this week by this illustration from a book called Strange Sea Mysteries, published in 1926 and written by a chap called Elliott O’Donnell.
The preface is good too, and just the thing to read to children on a dark winter night:
‘In compiling this volume of unpleasant happenings connected with the sea great care has been taken to select those only that are authentic.’ July 1, 1926
The chapters include ‘The massacre on board the E A Johnson‘, ‘The Ship of Strange Smells’, ‘The Ramsgate Mystery’ and ‘The Great’The Corpse Box of Hell Gate’. Oooo-errr! I can’t find any copies at ABE Books but I’d guess that one is likely to turn up some day – and if you do it might make a good book to read out loud when afloat late one night…
These tales may be entertaining at this distance in time, but I wonder how many of these stories were real tragedies in someone’s life? Does anyone know?
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