Category: Racing rowing and paddling

Please fill out the Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association’s survey – it only takes a moment

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The WBTA has decided to find out about the kinds of people who buy and own traditional boats, where they  go and where they get their information – and it has engaged an independent market research firm to run a survey.

I was very pleased to be asked to put up this link to the short survey questionnaire, as it’s potentially an excellent step, and hopefully will elicit some really useful answers.

I’d be most grateful if as many of you as possible fill it in – it really won’t take long, you might win one of Kathy Mansfield’s very nice calendars, and you will be contributing to keeping wooden boatbuilders afloat business-wise during the hard times to come.

Yes – you heard right. There are PRIZES to be won!

It would be an added bonus if you could also please find somewhere to say that you came from intheboatshed.net – there’s at least one little window you can use to convey this essential piece of information, and I’m sure we’d all like to see the WBTA making more use of intheboatshed.net’s ability to communicate with the big wide world.

Finally please pass this on to your friends – all you have to do is to email them the link for this site (http://intheboatshed.net of course!), as I’ll leave this post at the top of the pile for a few days.

Don’t miss something good – subscribe to intheboatshed.net

Racing pilot gigs, a chapel and other nice things at the little fishing village of Cadgwith

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Pilot gigs at Cadgwith – as usual, click on the
thumbnails for much bigger photos

There’s something very sweetly charming about the tiny Cornish cove village of Cadgwith, and the Cadgwith Pilot Gig Club’s kind invitation to look at their boats is entirely in keeping with the pleasant tenor of the place.

They’re saving up to pay for a new gig, however, as their boats are apparently having trouble keeping up with the leaders in races! Please contribute, if you can. The photo below explains the problem:

Cadgwith Pilot Gig Club needs your dosh!

Cadgwith beach, fishermen’s chapel, and
an unexplained plaque

The beach and its fishing boats surrounded by granite buildings and jagged schist rocks are unforgettable, as is the romantic little fishermen’s chapel.

And what about that plaque? I don’t know who these people were but I notice that the club has a boat named after Buller.

No doubt that wall could tell some stories. Presumably no-one sings now, as people hardly sing in public anywhere now unless they’ve got a geetar and a public address system – but what kind of progress is that anyway? And have you noticed that whistling has died out? Can you remember hearing someone whistle in the acrobatic way the old boys used to do when we were all kids?

It must be time for some songs again soon…

If you’re going to Cornwall you may need this: The Rough Guide to Cornwall

Famous names at the 2008 Great River Race

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Kyle and friends pass by HMS Belfast in the Cutty Sark’s jolly boat –
as usual, click on the photo for a much larger image

The Victory’s cutter

Kyle Abingdon, who works on the Cutty Sark has sent me these photos with the following note. It’s great to see that while the old lady is undergoing some serious surgery, her jolly boat is still getting some use.

‘Hello there.

‘Great Site. I pass by a lot. Its right up on the top of my favorites list – I am always pleased to find lovely pictures and boats.

‘I thought you or somebody out there may like to see some half decent pictures of me and my team rowing in the Cutty Sark’s jolly boat, and also of the HMS Victory’s cutter during this years Great River Race just gone.

‘It was a great day out with lots of lovely mostly traditional boats.

‘All the best.

‘Kyle Abingdon’

Many, many thanks for your kind comments and for your pictures Kyle! It looks like a great day out.