Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
Traditional carvel plans and boatbuilding
Magnificent. Bloody marvellous. Splendid. Ordinary, mortal words seem inadequate to describe LT472, a 77ft smack built at Lowestoft in 1921 and named Excelsior.
She’s said to be only fully sea-going sailing vessel in the National Historic Ships Core Collection that is available for the general public to sail. Read all about her here: www.excelsiortrust.co.uk .
Derek ‘Spearo’ Ling has a fund of great stories from a life that has included working as mate and skipper on board sailing barges, and which has seen him progress from schoolboy to Freeman of the City of London and Freeman of the Waterways. He was born in 1927, and seems to have known some real characters.
This series of three YouTube clips were filmed by his son in law, Chris Rudland, who has made a beautiful job of both filming and editing three hours worth of material over different sessions.
Chris says: ‘Spearo describes the life, love, loss, experience and many humorous stories. He describes the war years, cargos, gifts and much more… I have so often listened to his stories over the years but thought now is the time to catch them on tape for prosperity so I had a go, knowing Spearo wouldn’t disappoint me.’
Spearo certainly doesn’t disappoint! See video 1, video 2 and video 3.
A music event has taken me off air for a few days, but here are some more of my brother Matthew Atkin’s photos from New Zealand. He doesn’t usually get around to telling me much about them, but I guess it’s pretty obvious that the above are Maori canoes. I gather the tall structures are stern-pieces.
As usual, click on the images for a much bigger view.
The city in the shots below appears to be Auckland – don’t miss the spectacular photo of the America’s Cup contender catamaran on a blowy day in Auckland Harbour. Thanks Matt!
