Category: Rowing boat

National Historic Ships annual photographic competition 2014

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.

 

Sailing and rowing the North West Passage in an open boat

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I’m dumbstruck. Richard Wynne of Lodestar Books got in touch this morning to tell me about his latest offering, Blokes Up North – a book by two Royal Marines who sailed and rowed a Norseboat through the North West Passage. See a sample at the Lodestar website.

That’s the same elusive North West Passage between the empty wastes of the North American continent and the North Pole that claimed so many explorer’s lives and ships in the 18th and 19th centuries. Global warming has made it much more passable now, and modern navigation technology has made it infinitely easier to find… But sailing and rowing the North West Passage in an open boat still seems like madness, even if it is of a special kind.

Here’s what Richard has to say about it:

Blokes Up North

Through the Heart of the Northwest Passage by Sail and Oar
Kev Oliver and Tony Lancashire

In a post-exploration world, two relatively ordinary blokes, serving Royal Marines, decided they wanted an extraordinary 21st century adventure. In this refreshingly honest account they re-live the highs and lows of sailing and rowing a tiny open boat, completely unsupported, through one of the most iconic wilderness waterways on the planet—the Northwest Passage across the top of Canada.

They describe battling with an Arctic storm miles from land and being caught in the worst sea ice for more than a decade. At one point they are forced to drag Arctic Mariner, their seventeen-foot boat, across ten miles of broken pack ice to reach open water.

Their story is enriched by the Inuit people and the incredible wildlife they met along the way, including all-too-close encounters with both grizzly and polar bears. And they relate with honesty how the isolation and stresses of the high Arctic shaped the bond between their two very different personalities.

This is neither an exposé of global warming, nor a detailed study of Inuit culture. It is not particularly long on the historical quest for the Northwest Passage. It is quite simply the tale of two blokes, up north.

And here’s what Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has to say:

… this expedition was to try something extremely difficult, perhaps not possible, but if we always flinched from attempting the difficult things in life then humans would never have progressed … we are living in an increasingly risk-averse society, but risk is what makes the adrenalin flow, brings spice into our lives and shows others that risks are part of living. Far from being discouraged it should be supported.

Rescue Wooden Boats folks continue boat restoration, organise fishing family meet and build their archives

1940 RNLI lifeboat Lucy Lavers

The folks at Norfolk’s Rescue Wooden Boats are doing wonderful work for their area – and there’s no doubt that that there should be organisations like this right round our coast.

Ther’s a real vision here. Can we have a similar organisation for North Kent please?

From Rescue Wooden Boats’ newsletter and website I learn:

  • that they’re making grand progress on restoring the RNLI lifeboat boat Lucy Lavers (see the photo above) – she was built just in time to take part in the Operation Dynamo evacuation of Dunkirk, and is now receiving tender loving care with the aid of a Lottery grant
  • they’ve invited fishing families from along the coast from Kings Lynn to Yarmouth to an open day at the Rescue Wooden Boats Visitor Centre to meet old friends, and see the centre’s work including the boatbuilding and restoration work going on in the boatyard. That must have been a great day
  • and they’re continuing to add to Rescue Wooden Boats’ collection of photos and films. These are real gems – I’ve posted about the films before, but the photos are also well worth the time it takes to click through to see them