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 schooner Bluenose in flight…
A celebrated racer as well as working boat fishing the Grand Banks, she was launched at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on March 26, 1921 and sank close the Haiti in 1946. Read all about her here.
Readers on my side of the pond may be interested to know that a replica, the Bluenose II, was built in the early 1960s, and is still afloat, between refits.
A free berth for a youngster aged 15-25 years aboard the Victorian racing cutter Leila is up for grabs in this year’s Tall Ships Race, which takes place in the Baltic this summer.
The Leila Sailing Trust has been helped in getting Leila through her last stages of MCA coding by the National Lottery, which has provided nearly £15k in support.
Built in Greenwich in 1892, Leila is the fifth oldest yacht in the UK, and the last time she raced, she won the Round Britain in 1904.
The draw for a free berth on the July race from Denmark to Finland will close on May 1st.
The Suffolk-based trust is just completing a £176,000 five-year restoration. In March, Awards for All, part of the Big Lottery, granted almost £10k for the safety gear needed for her Category 2 MCA safety coding.
The Heritage Lottery fund who contributed nearly £50k four years ago, have also given another £5k to help with fit out and sails.
Leila will move from Southwold to Lowestoft after Easter, and will then get ready for her first weekend charter on May bank holiday. She plans to visit London, Ipswich and The Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classics before going to the Baltic for the Tall Ships in July.
Once again, my photographer brother Matthew Atkin has gone out with his Fuji camera and brought home an oustanding set of photos, this time from Mumbai, India – and once again he shows how timber built boats remain supreme in many parts of the world.
Thanks Matt – this collection is jaw-dropping! I guess I don’t really have to add that these beautifully balanced photos remain very much his copyright, but they are.
