Category: Events

Events such as historical events, races, exhibitions, processions, regattas and so on.

‘O hear us when we cry to thee, For those in peril on the sea’

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The Storm by William Miller

The Storm engraving by William Miller after Van de Velde, published in 1858.
From the Wikimedia

We’re in the midst of yet another storm here in the UK. I might have enjoyed them as a child, but now they set my mind racing, first to worrying about safety on the roads and to property such as houses and boats, and then I start thinking of those at sea, and finally the lifeboat crews who have to go to sea in a storm that’s already raging when they leave the land. It’s enough to stop me sleeping, but in the scheme of things that’s a minor irritation.

Last night I found myself thinking about grandeur and truth of the hymn For Those in Peril on the Sea.

Here are the lyrics complete with written-out music.

Here they are again with a playable midi sample.

Here The Daily Telegraph newspaper tells the hymn’s story.

For a little history, read a historical discussion of how Scottish fishermen coped with storms before the days of weather forecasts and also about how storms affected the fishing community at Polperro, Cornwall.

Again, here’s a 19th century story of heroism in the North-East of England.

I’ve also been thinking about the terror of going out onto a big sea in a small open without the benefit of a weather forecast. No doubt that spawned a host of superstitions and the slightly neurotic activity described in the song The Candlelight Fisherman. There’s a joke that some allegedly lazy fishermen wouldn’t go if the flame didn’t blow out, on the grounds that there would be no wind to carry them home, and like most jokes I’m sure it had some grain of truth.

Also, see Out on a Shout, the RNLI’s rescue activities as they happen. In case you’re wondering, there have been a lot of launches in the bad weather of this winter.

I started off by saying that we’re thinking about storms here in the UK, but I’d argue the weather is making many of us think of more than just the weather. Stay safe and stay alive, everyone.

PS – If you get a moment, print out the Miller engravings – on some nice paper, they could be just what you need to hang on your wall!

The Shipwreck, engraving by William Miller after J M W Turner

The Shipwreck engraving by William Miller after JMW Turner, published
as part of a series of 120engravings from Turner’s paintings.
From the Wikimedia

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Watertribe Everglades Challenge 2008

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Everglades Challenge start

Link to a video clip of the start of the EC 2008 race shot by Root

It’s that time of year again – the time when each year I stare at the pages of the Watertribe website, trying vainly to work out the meaning of the results from the Everglades Challenge, and to try to identify the entrants’ boats.

My family really has no idea why I do this, but I can explain it – it’s simply that a 300-mile race involving an assortment of kayaks and small sailing boats along the Florida coast seems to me to be a hugely challenging event. The fact that most of the entrants seem to be in middle age or beyond only adds to my admiration. These are people like me! And the winners arrive at the finish in just a few days or fewer – this year, the winners were sailing a Tornado catamaran (corrected thanks to Jamie’s comment below) and completed their run in less than two days.

Generally, I get the impression that the whole thing has become more professionalised, with lots of moulded plastic expedition boats, and so is less quaint than it has been in years gone by. Still, the lads who came second were sailing a plywood vee-bottomed sharpie-derived ketch that most home builders would have not trouble constructing for themselves, and the fourth home was the always astonishing Matt Layden in his self-designed and self-built 8ft pram dinghy with a lid, Sand Flea.

The positive side of the growing professionalism, I suspect, is that the entrants are taking greater care over their safety each year, which must be a good thing with so many small, vulnerable boats strung out along the Florida coastline.

But the rabbit punch is that some of these people will be going on to attempt the Ultimate Florida Challenge, a circumnavigation of Florida involving a portage across the northern part of the state.

So here are the relevant web links:

The Watertribe website.

Videos of the event hosted at YouTube.

A picture gallery by someone called JC.

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The Nexus Marine Black Skimmer is completed, and launched

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Black Skimmer built by Nexus Marine Black Skimmer built by Nexus Marine

Black Skimmer built by Nexus Marine

Fans of US naval architect Phil Bolger have been following the progress of this very nice example of the great man’s Black Skimmer built by Nexus Marine for some time. Long-term intheboatshed.net readers will know that I’m a fan of this particular design and may remember earlier posts about the project – I even have a set of drawings waiting to be built from some day.

I must say, I’m pleased Nexus has put up some photos of the completed boat on its trailer and in the water, as there are not too many photos of this distinctive design to be found around the Web.

Those with observant eyes will notice that it’s a flat-bottomed boat with the characteristic strong rocker and bows just out of the water that Bolger developed over years of experience designing and sailing the sharpie type. It owes something to Commodore Munroe’s sharpie designs such as the Egret, but has a transom and a wider bottom or added form stability and greater speed. It’s also fitted with an unusual Solent lug rig for easy reefing.

There are two particularly telling sentences on Nexus’ pages devoted to the Black Skimmer: ‘If we were only interested in sailing fast and not in fair sailboat racing, there would be a lot more boats like this one,’ and ‘It’s a deceptively fast boat. Because it’s so light, it doesn’t make much of a midships trough or pull up a quarter wave behind it. One just suddenly realizes that one has covered a lot of water.’

Of course, all of this will seem very strange to many British boating enthusiasts, whom are largely brought up to believe flat-bottomed boats can’t work, and that a boat’s sharp bows have to be in the water at all times – however, I think a boat like this would be great for the creeks and shallow muddy waters of the Thames Estuary. The Black Skimmer could be a barge yacht for our time, I say.

Some Black Skimmer links

Plans from Bolger’s associate Harold Payson cost just $40.

Here’s an Answers about link that tells something of the sharpie story.

The Wikipedia on sharpies.

Woodenboat magazine senior editor Mike O’Brien commissioned the Black Skimmer design.

The original Egret as redrawn by Reuel Parker is the design from which Bolger is believed to have developed the Black Skimmer.

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