Category: Steam power

Coniston Regatta 2013, 30th May to the 1st June

swallow 4

 

swallow 9 [1024x768] redwing 249, tideway and aurora 2 [1024x768] good wood 3 [1024x768]

The fourth Coniston Regatta 2013 runs from Thursday 30th May to the Saturday the 1st June, and everyone is invited – including traditional boat owners and their boats.

Organiser Greg Simpson has been in touch to say that among the boats booked in so far include a 1930s Peterborough canoe, a 1910s Thames sailing skiff, and numerous steam launches and model boats.

The events are based at the English Lake District home of Swallows & Amazons, Bank Ground Farm – which in the book is called Holly Howe and is the holiday home where the Swallows stayed each summer.

Attractions for boating enthusiasts and kids include exhibition stands presented by Windermere Steamboat Museum, Good Wood Boatbuilders, Patterson Boatworks and various other local craftsmen, and steam engines.

SY Gondola and Coniston Launch will be available for trips, there will be boats for hire and some boat owners attending the regatta will be offering sailing trips.

Children will enjoy a kids’ fishing competition and a miniature railway. The tea rooms open from 11am each day.

There are also a range of evening entertainments, including an outdoor screening of a film version of Swallows and Amazons.

Kingswear Castle leaves the Medway for the Dart

Kingswear Castle leaves the Medway under tow

The Kingswear Castle – the last remaining coal-fired paddle steamer in operation in the UK – is to return to her original home on the River Dart after an absence of 47 years.

The move follows a 15-year agreement between the owners, the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society and the Dartmouth Steam Railway and Riverboat Company. The deal was announced at the PSPS annual meeting in Bath by DSRRC general manager Andrew Pooley.

For the last 27 years the paddle steamer has been a popular feature on the River Medway, on which she has been running regular river trips.

However, following a periodic winter refit the Kingswear Castle is expected to begin operating pleasure trips to Paignton, Kingswear and Totnes.

She left Chatham under tow by a tug last week, and will be very much missed in the area – but the Medway’s loss will be the Dart’s gain.

The Kingswear Castle was built in 1924 by Philip & Son of Dartmouth, and in her heyday carried up to just short of 500 passengers between Totnes and Dartmouth until 1965, when she was purchased by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society, and left the Dart.

For more information is available here.

The photos below by Richard de Jong (and his copyright) show the Kingswear Castle operating on the Medway this year. As usual, click on the images to see a larger photo.

K'wear Castle 30.07.11 photo by Richard de Jong  K'wear Castle 30.07.11 (21) photo by Richard de Jong

K'wear Castle 30.07.11 (45) photo by Richard de Jong Kingswear Castle 02.07.11 (39) photo by Richard de Jong

The steam launch Halcyon

Will Stirling of boat builders Stirling & Son of Tavistock sent over these photos of a steam launch named Halcyon, which the company repaired recently.

‘The owner tells me that she was built on the River Thames before the Second World War,’ wrote Will. ‘She is built of mahogany on oak and is in very good condition.’

For a bit of video of Halcyon steaming on the Tamar, click here.

By coincidence, Stirling and Son currently has another boat called Halcyon in the shed – though this one is a straight stemmed-cutter with a counter stern built in the late 19th century.

‘Work seems to come in flurries,’ says Will. ‘This has been an autumn of spars with a large new boom for a pilot cutter, a new mast for an Admiralty pinnace and the refurbishment of all of the spars for a 32ft gaff cutter.

‘I’ve also attached a photo of 12ft rowing dinghy number 22, which is now ready to be fitted out.’ See the shot below. Number 22! Stirlings have made a lot of dinghies to their beautiful design.

Stirling and Son traditional yacht building and wooden boat repair can be reached by phone at 01822 614259. The company’s website is at www.stirlingandson.co.uk.