Early morning on the Hartlepool to Blyth leg – photo: Chris Horan
Mal Nicholson and the Spider T folks are marketing a DVD documenting the Humber sloop’s remarkable month-long round trip to Arbroath and back in 2011.
The aim of the trip was to attend Arbroath Sea Fest, which was organised to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the building of the wonderful Bell Rock Lighthouse by Robert Stevenson.
Priced at £10 and available from the Spider T website, the 35-minute DVD is made up of a sequence of Chris Horan’s excellent photographs, and is remarkably watchable.
Horan’s camera-work is beautifully composed, and his lens has a way of capturing a place’s atmosphere and the characters of his human subjects that eludes most of us. And, of course, it was clearly a great, unforgettable, trip.
The Spider T crew promote the charity the The Sailors Children’s Society.
Also, from crew member Dave Everatt comes this splendid article describing the Spider T’s 2012 trip to the Thames to take part in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant marking 60 years of Elizabeth II’s reign. Everatt is and Humber Keel and Sloop Presevation Society’s magazine Slabline.
I particularly like this extract:
‘At 14.35 hrs, twenty minutes later than expected, we were called to our mustering position ready to join the main event. Progress was rather start/stop in
the earlier stages but, once the pace settled, it went very smoothly.
‘The crowds of people on the riverbanks, bridges, moored vessels, balconies and in buildings all the way along the route made for an electric atmosphere, cheering loudly as vessels horns and whistles blew. A group of girls on an adjacent riverbank shouted “Spider, Spider, Spider … ” and danced a spidery dance as we came by, a magical moment.
‘As we headed past Westminster the rain began to fall getting faster by the minute until, by the time we had passed under Tower Bridge, Her Majesty the Queen waved and Prince Phillip doffed his hat, it was absolutely pouring down and we were soaked to the skin.’