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
The 37ft LOA 1930 Berthon-built race winning gaff cutter Wanda is for sale. She’s rigged as a gaff cutter.
In her earlier life was a well known RORC racer, and won the Channel race in the late 1930s. More recently, in the centenary RORC Cowes to Dinard race she came 5th in her class, and in the 2008 Round The Island race she came 4th in the gaff rig class.
For more information, click here.
This 1930s footage of ice yachts sailing from British Pathé YouTube is wonderful.
PS – reader Adam Burr says we should look at these too. Thanks Adam!
Once again, National Historic Ships UK is running its annual photography competition for this year, and offering a range of equipment and cash prizes to be won.
There are categories for all ages, including one for young photographers under 18.
Entries must be in by the 31 August – the collection above represent some of the judges’ favourites submitted so far this month.
To enter in any of the competition categories, fill in an online entry form and upload your images to the National Historic Ships UK competition webpage at www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk.
There are rules and so on to check on the site also, as well as a handy web gizmo to enable photographers to identify historic ships that local to them and which might provide suitable subjects. (I think non-photographers will find that interesting too!)
Still more, the site has a set of tips for photographers working with marine topics – and one of them says that you deon’t have to have a special camera and that you’re more likely to have a small camera with you when the moment arises. So I guess my little Panasonic will do.
By the way, I’m not a judge but I’m going off the very processed multi-exposure shots we’ve seen so often in recent years, and – bravo! – I’m delighted to see that the judges’ favourites submitted so far during April don’t fall into that category.
PS – The Marsh Awards for volunteers – National Historic Ships is also calling for nominations of volunteers for the Marsh awards, which recognise those who have made a significant contribution to the conservation or operation of historic vessels in the UK.
There is an overall prize of £1,000 to be won for the Marsh Volunteer Award, and £500 for the young volunteer of the year, which is available to nominees aged 25 or under. Both prizes are donated by the Marsh Christian Trust.
Both awards will be presented at our National Historic Ships UK Awards Ceremony, being held in October on HQS Wellington.
Last year’s winners included James Dulson and George Collinson, who have volunteered for a number of years at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool, helping to conserve historic vessels including Edmund Gardner, and Isabelle Law who has volunteered as crew on the ferry Glenachulish for the past five years despite having only recently turned 16 years old.
The closing date for nomination is 31 August. Read what to do and about the Marsh awards here.