Category: Sailing cruisers

Sailing yachts used for cruising, or as cruiser-racers.

What they were reading on Christmas day 1936

Yachting World 1936

 

Yachting World 1936 2 Yachting World 1936 3 Yachting World 1936 4

Yachting World 1936 5 Yachting World 1936 6

Fowey traditional boat builder Marcus Lewis sent over these scans from the 1936 Christmas Day edition of Yachting World and Motorboating Journal.

Thanks Marcus! The pages are a great period document, as all issues of the popular sailing magazines always are.

I notice that the ‘new Hillyard‘ looks very familiar – is it the original of the double-ended boat that Hillyards went on making for many years? There’s also a characteristically tetchy but useful article about rowing tenders by Conor O’Brien. I’m not sure I’ll remember his helpful advice when I need it when I next alight in a tiny boat, but I did like the cartoons

I notice too that there are a couple of very familiar names in these pages, including Shackleton’s skipper, brilliant navigator and highly decorated war hero Commander Frank ‘Wuzzles’ Worsley and prolific sailor, racing skipper, author and editor Commander John Irving RN.

My parents’ photos of the Norfolk Broads in 1956

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 The Broads in 1956 38 

  The Broads in 1956 7

  

These old Ilford transparencies found in a box belonging to my father Brian Atkin show the Norfolk Broads in 1956.

It was a time when my parents were young, both sailing cruisers and motor cruisers were made from timber, the boat hire companies had quaint old sheds, everywhere – including Wroxham Bridge – was much more peaceful, and I was a little boy still in his cot.

I haven’t included it in this post because of its quality, but one of the shots shows a sprit-rigged Thames barge on the Broads. Nowadays, that sounds pretty unusual, but I’m prepared to bet it was a frequent occurrence years ago.

Classic Yacht TV – short videos about sailing classic yachts and working craft

Classic Yacht TV has been set up to offer short documentaries from the classic yachting and work boat scene on a monthly basis.

The folks behind it are London-based photographer and multimedia artist Emily Harris, who grew up sailing and sculling on the East Coast of England in smacks, yachts and dinghies, and photography and film production expert Robin Weaser.

They say they’re looking for advertising and I wish them better luck in that direction than Intheboatshed has experienced – despite notching up more than 18,000 uniques a month…