It has been a glorious summer across a lot of the country but especially so in the eastern quarter covering the greater Thames estuary. Aboard the good ship Whimbrel, we’ve had a ball.
The weather proved all too good for a migration of rubber dinghies across the English Channel and a vociferous minority began an active campaign of ‘terror’ in Dover and surprisingly in Portsmouth. The latter was after a vessel from the RNLI (the British & Irish life saving institution) picked up a group some miles south of the Isle of Wight. RNLI staff were abused and attacked on line and eventually the life boat station was closed down.
The mindless morons who targeted the rescue service have no idea or don’t care about the way the system works. The RNLI is a rescue organisation peopled by volunteers who give their time (and lives) to help distressed seafarers. Note: they also operate with other services when inland areas suffer severe floods.
The latest was an attack on a migrant craft by a ‘warrior’ who has been on active anti migrant rallies. A group had been taken off by the RNLI and a French rescue operative was actually in the rubber boat to secure it for removal when this brave ‘warrior’ (allegedly) slashed the hull with a knife.
Now, as I said to a fellow facebook friend who posted about this, how would you feel if on the way ashore in your rubber boat and another boat’s crew punctured your craft… Nil response.
It is a very sad world we are living in currently.
The garden at home has been transformed into a dinghy parts maintenance workshop over the last couple of days: the weather has continued to be very fair.
Upon returning from a long midweek weekend pottering around the River Blackwater we turned Twitch over in its parking spot so that I could carry out a repair to the wood and metal runner I screwed to the keel underside years ago. It has paid me back many times taking the buffeting of concrete slips, however, a section has come adrift. A new bit of wood is ready to fit and the mate is fetching home some screws from Barry at the Dauntless Yard on way to a ‘coffee mate’ today…
So, oars, rudder, dagger board and board slot cover have all come home for a titivate. Yesterday I had the mate toiling alongside me sanding oars and such.
We have a new set of garden furniture…
What else: Oh yes, I hear that the Southampton Boat show is being shrunk for next time around in September 2027. The weaselly words say it is to concentrate on a weekend and the following Saturday when visitors are most likely to go. I had heard that numbers were down again.
The last time I went to a boat show I found the whole thing a load of tosh! It was probably twenty years ago…
Quite frankly: let’s do away with the whole thing…
It would be better surely for there to be a concerted effort on the part of marinas to get the boat owners propping up pontoons to actually get out and use their craft. Yes, I know that British boating organisation the RYA had a go with ‘Active Marinas’ some years ago which proved to be particularly ineffective by observation.
We certainly don’t need any more underused vessels: wherever I have visited this year spaces for mooring has been at a premium because, as one operator said, people are just not coming to their boats … chap added at the time that, it might be due to the heat. Hmmmm…. The only marina we found loads of spare berths was at Titchmarsh – I asked about this too and was told that most of their berths were actually taken … boats were still out on the hard standing!
I stand by my views!
During our summer cruising around aboard Whimbrel, we met three ‘old boys’ all in their early 90s still enjoying the siling life. One I chatted to was adamant that he thought that ‘we’ are likely to be the last generation of boat owners in the fashion of the period say 1930s to 2000. I have to say that I have held this view for many years – we are a diminishing breed.
Around the world now initiatives to reduce the numbers of abandoned craft clogging waterways has grown exponentially. Yards and marinas in this country are dismantling abandoned and booked in craft. A friend has told me that his little lay-up yard Underwoods of Brightlingsea has been breaking boats up and skipping them for landfill – I confirmed this with the yard operator in a telecon, he charges around £2000 – this would be for something around the size of a Westerly Centaur. I think at many places the cost is somewhat higher. I later.
It is sad to see boats go, but it is all part of a life cycle, the problem is that GRP is more difficult to get rid of. Old wooden boats were either burnt or left to rot in the saltings, at least providing a decaying habitat for a host of life. Even the great 20th century sailor Hilaire Belloc as I wrote about earlier this year had to abandon an old ship on a French harbour mud edge – she was largely dismantled by a local yard, he wrote.
Yes, apparently, the big boat industry are still selling to new owners they say. Sunseeker are rebranding, depending on yacht size, to follow the whims of prospective buyers… I understand that Oyster Yachts have established an owners ‘club’ too, like Swan Yachts, rallies are on the books. Yes, the big boat market appears to be alive, for now.
The mate got chatting to a lady up in Suffolk during the latter end of July and came back somewhat flabbergasted. She was told by the lady on a forty-foot GRP sailing cruiser that her husband retired early ‘to sail’ but she wished that she had had a dishwasher installed when they ordered the boat. So, they are selling and ordering another larger craft – we assume big enough for the dishwasher. Normal crew is the couple and a dog…
Hmmmmmmmm……………………..