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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Ripple on the Swale – click for computer wallpaper
Tonight, I’ve decided to share some relaxing views of the Swale – I spent today gardening and wishing I could have gone sailing. The first ‘Ripple of the Swale’ I offer as a computer screen wallpaper or background. The others are simply because they depict a favourite place…
Entrance to Oare Creek
Sunset over the Isle of Harty
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Sky reflected on seawater photographed by Gavin Atkin
Sailing out of Oare Creek into the Swale yesterday my pal Jim and I had some splendid sailing during the morning, and then a glassy calm in the afternoon brought some striking light – so I pulled out my digital camera and took a few shots.
I hope these may appeal to some of you as potential wallpapers for your computers. If you’re a PC user, I think it should be possible to open the big image by clicking on the small photo, and then to set it as your desktop by pressing the right-hand mouse button, and then setting the picture to either centre, or to stretch. Good luck.
Buoys in the Swale, photographed by Gavin Atkin
I was lucky enough to have a boating father, and I learned early to love rowing on the Thames, picnicing under weeping willows and watching the world go by, as my dad did all the rowing work while the rest of the family lay around the boat watching the water ripple around our fingers. Great days, and beautiful, elegant boats. Those family outings were forty-odd years ago and many of the skiffs have now been replaced by plastic boats. However, there are still skiffs on the Thames, many are treasured by doting owners, and a few can even be hired (see below).
So as we face up to winter arriving here in the UK, I’d very much like to take this opportunity to take www.intheboatshed.net readers back to the river for a few minutes to the often sunny world of rowing skiffs.
Clubs devoted to racing skiffs:
http://www.theskiffclub.org.uk/
http://www.dittons.org.uk/
http://www.tvsc.co.uk/
Hire a skiff:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/skiffhire/boats.html
The traditional Swan Upping event, during which skiffs and other boats are used to mark swans to show who owns them:
http://www.thamesweb.co.uk/swans/upping_photos2000.html
Traditional boat rallies on the Thames:
http://www.tradboatrally.com/