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
Traditions and culture relevant to the world of real boating and sailors
Chapter IV: ‘We will now consider the best means of getting our craft under way under various conditions’
Chapter V: ‘The skill of a helmsman is judged by his ability to get a boat to windward’[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”] Continue reading “Getting under way, and Seamanship under way”
Writing shortly after the Great War, F B Cooke has every bit of the bluff, blokey do-exactly-as-I-say-and-everything-will-be-all-right style that was popular in his era, but today seems bossy and a little odd.
For Cooke the popular yachting harbours may have been full of good chaps but they were also home to waterside loafers and land sharks who would find a dozen ways to rob the poor innocent yachtsman. Rather like a sheriff in a Wild-West movie, Cooke could distinguish between them in a moment, knew exactly how to handle both types and briskly tells us how to [ad name=”intheboatshed-post”] Continue reading “Speaking of waterside loafers, land sharks and small cruising yachts”
Boeier at the Oostende voor Anker festival; photos by Wim Netens
Wim Netens kindly got in touch this morning to alert me to the Oostende voor Anker festival of sail held at the Belgian port of Ostend recently, and to let me have a link to his splendid photogallery of the event. I picked out the ornate old boeier above as one of the most striking boats I could see, although I guess it’s decorations and distinctive shape will only seem remarkable to those of us who don’t live in Belgium or The Netherlands.
This link takes you to Wim’s photogallery Continue reading “A feast of photos from the Oostende voor Anker festival of sail”