Southampton Boat Show footnote

The Southampton Boat Show coops most of the nice boats up in a fenced-off ghetto accessed only over a bridge, to isolate them from the Sunseekers. 

This year, Stirling & Son showed their lovely and glowing traditionally-built, real wood rowing boat (above). You can see why Princess wouldn't want it next to their stand, it would show their plastic monsters up rotten.

Ian Thomson of Nestaway Boats was showing his new Trio 16, a big boat that splits into three to fit in the back of a Focus estate. His new outriggers were fitted, a robust design that bolts onto the gunwale rather neatly (right).

Craftsman Craft had on display a 16ft 'yachtsman's launch', which I was a little tempted by - just the thing for pottering about the Solent. 

I particularly liked the plaque below the gunwale, placed there solely to get round the provisions of the Recreational Craft Directive. I wish other Euro-nonsenses were as easy to circumvent.

Rowing up the Tamar in Edwardian times

I'm really enjoying Edwardian Farm on the BBC, and not just because I have this thing for redhead and historian of scrubbing Ruth Goodman. This week the blokes, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn, took a load of cider apples from their 'farm' at Morwellham Quay on the Tamar to the National Trust's property at Cotehele to be pressed.

They sailed down in Joshua Preston's beautiful Beer lugger Idler. She is made of elm on oak frames with mahogany trim, and was recently restored by Stirling and Son in Tavistock. Well, I say they sailed, but the on the film it looks jolly like they had the Lister diesel running. 

To get back upstream they rowed, at least when the camera was running. Joshua explained that boatmen of the pre-WWI era would have had to row if the wind was against them but only if they had the tide. If both wind and tide were adverse, they stayed put.

To row, the sailors stood facing forward and pushed, feathering on the recovery. It looks like hard work, especially with that bow sticking about a mile in the air.