Tag: racing

The Boat Building Academy builds a gig for the new Lyme Regis Gig Club

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Photos of the new pilot gig Rebel, built at the Boat Building Academy –
in the first Gail McGarva sits under the boat she project-managed.
As usual, click on the thumbnails for much larger photos

Lyme Regis’s well known Boat Building Academy agreed to build a pilot gig for the newly formed Lyme Regis Gig Club just over a year ago. It doesn’t normally undertake commercial work but this was a commission the Academy couldn’t refuse, according to principal Yvonne Green.

Former student and British Marine Federation Trainee of the Year 2005 turned instructor Gail McGarva project-managed the build and involved as many students and members of the local community as possible, including evening classes for members of the gig club to make their own oars – all of the school contributed even down to knocking in a rivet.

The students were not involved on a day to day basis as they were busy with their own boats but because the gig was in the main workshops it seems to have made a useful teaching aid, and Yvonne reports that the gig was launched on the 29th June with due ceremony. The mayor, the vicar, the town crier, students and the town all came, blessings were read, salt was strewn and the gig was rowed successfully across Lyme Regis’s sizeable bay.

‘The pilot gig measurers said it was one of the best gigs they had seen,’ she adds with pride.

Lyme Regis Gig Club named the new boat Rebel after the Duke of Monmouth, who started his 17th-century rebellion against the Crown on Monmouth beach, where the Boat Building Academy now stands.

Follow the link for more on the Boat Building Academy.

The Telegraph newspaper recently published a long feature on the Academy. I’m envious by the way – I wish people would commission me to write pieces like that!

For more intheboatshed.net posts including material about pilot gigs, click here.

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Tall ships exhibition at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

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Tall ships exhibition at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

Tall ships exhibition at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

Tall ships exhibition at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

Outstanding photographs by MAX on show at the
National Maritime Museum Cornwall exhibition.
Click on each one for a much larger image – you won’t
regret it!

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall is putting on an outstanding tall ships exhibition starting on the 1st July.

Part of the celebration surrounding the Funchal 500 Tall Ships regatta arrival in Falmouth in September, the Tall Ships photographic exhibition features images of the vessels, and will include the work of the renowned tall ship photographer, MAX.

The following notes come from the NMMC’s release:

‘The exhibition also explores the background of The Tall Ships’ Races and their role in fostering greater understanding between young people from all over the world. The first ever Tall Ships’ Race took place in 1956 with just 20 ships while now the event often boasts over 100, with thousands of crew members from as many as 50 different countries.

‘Sail Training International, organisers of The Tall Ships’ Races, were even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for their activities promoting international friendship and understanding through sail training for young people.

‘Milly Newman, Exhibitions Development Assistant says: “Everyone at the Maritime Museum is incredibly excited about the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta. For those that were here for the hugely successful ’98 Tall Ships event these breathtaking prints will serve as a reminder of the incredibly powerful scene these ships paint when under sail together. For those that missed one of Cornwall’s major highlights of the last 10 years this anniversary exhibition will whet their appetites for a truly spectacular experience yet to come.”

‘The Tall Ships photographic exhibition opens on 1 July and runs until 26 September.”

Uffa Fox’s airborne lifeboat at the Museum of the Broads

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Uffa Fox\'s airborne lifeboat at the Museum of the Broads

Airborne lifeboat at the Museum of the Broads. Notice
the unusual Saildrive engine it used on a stand in front,
and also the Norfolk punt on display beneath. Click on
the photo for a larger image

This airborne lifeboat is one of the Museum of the Broads’ great treasures.  Note the Saildrive engine on a stand just in front of the boat – I gather many of these were volunteered by yachtsmen for use in the the airborne lifeboats, which couldn’t use anything else.

These boats were designed to save the lives of bomber aircraft crew – if a crew ditched in the sea and could be found, a bomber aircraft would drop one of these in the hope that the men below would be able to climb into the boat and sail or motor it home. In practice they saved many lives and made something of a hero out of the the inventor.

After the war, along with many other bits of war surplus equipment they were often bought for small sums and and converted into something more conventional – in this case they often became fully rigged sailing boats, and were frequently used for racing. You can’t keep a good Uffa Fox hull down, can you?

For more posts on topics relating to Uffa Fox, click here.

Uffa Fox airborne lifeboat poster at the Museum of the Broads

Poster showing lifeboat equipment. Click on the photo
for a larger image