Photos from the Beale Park Boat Show 2011

Pierette at the Beale Park Boat Show 2011

1894 Desvignes-built steam launch Pierette, photographed by Pete Williamson

Cordless Challenge entrant Beale Park Boat Show 2011 Water Craft amateur boatbuilding competition Beale Park 2011

Unknown dinghy


Reader Pete Williamson has sent in some snaps of this year’s Beale Park Boat Show, including this shot of the wonderful steam launch Pierrette, and some entries for the kit section of the Water Craft amateur boatbuilding competition (Pete’s boat is the dark blue Selway-Fisher coble made from an Alec Jordan kit).

Also there’s something very unusual here: an entrant for the cordless challenge, in which entrants were asked to race each other around a course on the water using motor power derived from by battery driven cordless power tools. There are a couple of jolly pieces of video showing some of the entrants craft’ at Graham Neil’s weblog and at the Water Craft website. It makes you think, doesn’t it? At least some folks found a use for some old tools…

Finally, I’m not quite sure what the boat in this collection may be or who made it, but I remember being told that it contains a lot of old timber from somewhere, and thinking that the builder had done a nice job when I dropped in at the Barton Home Built Boat Rally meet at Barton Turf at Whitsun. I’ve posted some of my own photos of this craft taken at Barton below.

Thanks Pete!

Youjay dinghy at Barton Youjay dinghy at Barton Youjay dinghy at Barton

Boat Building Academy students’ launch day summer 2011




Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy boat launch 2011

Reader Fraser McGruer sent us this link to his video of the Boat Building Academy students’ launch day summer 2011, which took place a couple of weeks ago.

I don’t often like the music people use as background to their videos, but I very much enjoyed this one, and I hope you do too.

Impressions of the Norfolk Broads, summer 2011, part II: Horsey Mere and the sea


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Tonight we have a few more photos from our trip to the Norfolk Broads just over a week ago (see the previous instalment here). I’m still smiling…

Most of the photos in this post were taken on an unforgettable balmy summer evening at Horsey Mere, which is looked after and managed by the National Trust – and an excellent job they make of it. Apart from the windmill and a little cafe, there are even some wonderfully welcome showers for visiting boat users. It’s a real example of what could be done elsewhere.

I should add that there is also the splendid Nelson’s Head pub just a pleasant stroll away…

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And finally – a walk to the beach just a mile from the Mere. It seems so strange to sail on inland lakes and yet be so close to the sea.

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