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
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While we’re still scraping bottoms and slapping on the antifouling, down on the coast of Spain our friend Ben Crawshaw is already enjoying some fine sailing conditions in his Light Trow, Onawind Blue. It’s enough to make a chap sigh… in fact, words fail me. Roll on the English summer!
To see his video, click here.
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Light Trow Onawind Blue tied up somewhere on the Spanish coast
Ben Crawshaw of The Invisible Workshop is back from a 300 kilometre trip in his boat Onawind Blue and, not surprisingly, seems to be simultaneously shattered and happy. Why not leave a comment of congratulations on his weblog?
Here’s a quotation:
‘You can’t travel 300 kilometres over the sea in a little boat without a lot happening. We had our share of calms and light headwinds, we had long sessions of gut busting rowing under a blazing sun, we had contrary currents and large rolling swells; conditions so frustrating and tiring that I was ready to let mermaids lure me overboard into the cool waters. We had a rat stowaway in the forward locker for 24 hours and we ran aground off a small rocky island. We saw the Tramontana wind and helped heave a 30-foot sailing boat off rocks after it’s anchor dragged in the cove where we sheltered from the fierce blow. We had some fantastic sailing with following winds, at one point so strong that I could only continue sailing by rigging the double-reefed mizzen sail on the main mast and then, with only 1.2 metres of sail cloth, we still sailed at 6 knots. I discovered the most idyllic coves, met fantastic, welcoming people, got drunk, ate some great food and let the sea in through every pore in my body so that now, on land at last, life seems impossibly dry.’
Ben has a great story to tell over the next few weeks, and I’m looking forward to it!
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Light Trow Onawind Blue armed to the teeth for a substantial open
boat cruise along the Spanish East Coast. Photo by Ben Crawshaw
From The Invisible Workshop:
Tuesday, 24 June 2008; Onawind Blue’s birthday
‘A fitting day to leave but despite my best intentions I didn’t get going until 11am, the family waving from the beach as OB, under full sail, bore off south southwest beneath grey skies in a light, easterly breeze.
‘Blessed with a favourable wind we ran quickly down to Tarragona and then, as the wind increased—almost certainly due to the un-forecast deep, dark clouds grumbling on the western horizon, even more quickly.
‘To windward the gunmetal waters were flecked with white… ‘
Read the rest of the series here.
For more intheboatshed.net posts about the Light Trow, click here.
Onawind Blue moored – photo by Ben Crawshaw
from his second report
