Category: Events

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

A successful first adventure for the paddling and sailing expedition boat Expedition Mouse

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A successful first adventure for the paddling and sailing expedition boat Expedition Mouse

http://intheboatshed.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/dsc_0060-1024.jpg http://intheboatshed.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/dsc_0060-1024.jpg A successful first adventure for the paddling and sailing expedition boat Expedition Mouse

The maiden outing for Dan Noble’s Expedition Mouse seems to have been a little more exciting than anyone intended, but even with two grown men aboard she seems to have coped pretty well. Sailing nearby the Statue of Liberty seems rather exotic from my perspective in Kent, England

I’ve said it before, but boat designers love a builder who follows the plans, builds the boat well and makes good use of it. But even those of us who are lucky in our builders have at least a little nervousness before a launch, for there’s always the danger that something about the boat might not work quite as expected.

Well, Dan Noble’s done a nice job of building the Expedition Mouse, and I seem to have got away with it – as once again one of my little boats has proved to work the way it should. Thanks Dan!

The Expedition Mouse is a stretched 14ft variant of my Mouseboat series of easy and cheap to build designs, but instead of being intended for the pond or river at the end of the road, this one is intended for real trips, perhaps involving camping. Many people would say that she’s an unusual looking craft with a surprisingly large sail are, but there is method in my madness. Her scow shape and hard chine makes her stable enough to stand up to quite a lot of sail, but her entry and exit are sufficiently easy that she’s easy to paddle much like a conventional cruising kayak. Her builder has reported that she while she sails well, she paddles ‘like a dream’.

The plans for the Expedition Mouse are available for free and can be downloaded at the Yahoogroup Mouseboats.

60 years of Falmouth sail training photos on show at the NMM Cornwall

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50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

Above – a collage of images from the exhibition; below individual shots. I particularly like the one of the boy swinging under the bowsprit without a care in the world. Good for him! And good for him too, no doubt

50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall 50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall 50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall 50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall 50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall 50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall 50 years of Falmouth sail training to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

A 60-year photographic record of sail training from Falmouth is to go on show at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall during October 2007.

By the way, I’ve asked Museum staff about the issue, and I gather that these days the youngsters aren’t allowed to do many of the things shown in these photos without safety harnesses.

This is the NMM’s press release about the exhibition:

60 years of photographic diaries go on display at Maritime Museum

Next month the National Maritime Museum Cornwall will be opening a new photographic exhibition, offering a charming glimpse of voyages aboard the Falmouth Sail Training Ships.

Opening on Wednesday 3 October, the new exhibition will be on show on the Temporary Exhibitions Balcony in the Museum’s Cornwall Galleries. Using 60 years of photographic diaries, it beautifully documents Falmouth Sail Training Ships’ journey from its inception in 1946 to the present day.

Falmouth Sail Training Ships has served our community for over 60 years and continues to give both boys and, more recently, girls the rare opportunity to crew at sea, using the training ship Hardiesse. Its aim is to promote sailing for young people and, through hands-on experience of sailing, to encourage the development of knowledge, teamwork and leadership.

The organisation was originally set up by local banker and ex-naval Lieutenant, Joe Feather in 1946. He bought a Bristol Pilot Cutter, Christabel, and trained local children to crew – eventually the Sail Training Association was formed and has since gone from strength to strength.

Unfortunately, the original ship, Christabel, became too expensive to maintain and so a charitable trust was set up to raise funds for the purchase of Shearwater in 1956. Then, in 1971, Joe commissioned Percy Dalton to design a purpose-built sail training vessel, the Hardiesse. This ship has continued Joe’s legacy, even after his death in 1988.

Carolyn Wilkins, one of the Falmouth Sail Training Ship’s directors, says: “As in the words of Sir Francis Drake: ‘I will have the gentlemen to haul and to draw with the mariners, and the mariners with the gentlemen, let us show ourselves one company’. Falmouth Sail Training Ship has always been ‘One Company’ and we are determined to keep this tradition alive for the future young people of Falmouth. We’re delighted to have this opportunity to celebrate and promote what we do at the Maritime Museum.”

The exhibition showcases over 400 original images and gives a tantalising insight into the fun and challenges for the youngsters aboard ship. It will be on show at the Maritime Museum until January 7 next year.

Do yer diabolical dastardly dooty on International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Yarr!

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Here’s your excuse to make kids laugh, irritate colleagues and worry your family. Tork like a piratey pirate all the livelong day long! Shiver me dastardly timbers. Arrr!