Bringing in the Boat

To mark the start of the rowing season, Langstone Cutters holds a little service to Bless the Boats. The vicar of Havant comes round, we sing the world's dirgiest hymn (For Those In Peril), he sprinkles holy water over the boats and we force him to go out rowing in one.

For that purpose, the Mighty Claydon skiff Gladys had to be brought in from her mooring. Usually this is done by two rowers and a cox in one of the Teifis but the weather was lovely and everyone seemed to be busy with stuff so I went out to do it on my own.

Here I am tying the painter onto the thwart and releasing the mooring buoy:

Towing her back was an odd sensation. When coming forward, Lotty slows down but heavy old Gladys comes right on, so half of the next stroke is taken up getting the tow rope tight again - then jerking Gladys forwards.

When I got her safely in I found they were all taking photos to record the disaster they were confidently expecting. Ha!

(Tnanks to Ron Williams for the pics).

Time for a new camera

My super-cool Lumia phone is so silkily styled it keeps slipping out of my hands onto the floor - it has a less than cool line of dings round the metal edge already. So I changed to an older, cheaper, smaller Nokia with a plastic back that is less likely to end up in the drink.

Unfortunately, the camera is crap. I really like the idea of one of these:

 

but I haven't managed to psyche myself up to paying 150 smackers. Yet.

The picture, should you not be able to make it out through the gloom, is of Bembridge forging along in Langstone Harbour yesterday. A monster tide of 5.2m was predicted but as it turned out a brick north-easterly wind and high atmospheric pressure kept it down and the boat park was not flooded.