Punting

Punting is a great way of navigating a relatively shallow, slow-moving stream such as the Thames. The Victorian artist George Dunlop Leslie, a member of the St John's Wood Clique, was an avid punter and described the joys and vicissitudes of punting in his book Our River, published in 1881.
The book is again available by the miracle of modern technology, both as a free download and as a print-on-demand volume from the British Library. I came across this lovely book by chance - I was researching Leslie as a previous owner of my grandfather's house, Riverside in Wallingford.
The picture shows G.D. Leslie in his own punt, built in Maidenhead where, Leslie claimed, the best punts came from. The book is a treasure-trove of punting technique, river lore, boating advice and rants on the steamboat menace. More over the next few days.

Gig Rowing on the Telly

Caroline Quentin, who used to be quite funny, has been reduced to making tourist videos for Cornwall, where she claims to have family roots. Most of her programme Caroline Quentin in Cornwall was a canter through the usual vineyards, tea rooms and so on, but one section made it worth recording and skimming through to get it without all the fluff. It followed Devoran Gig Club as they prepare for a race in drag with worryingly professional-looking makeup. They were clearly there for the beer, a very laudable attitude I say.

Boat Construction Starts

Construction of my new Bee started on Sunday. I epoxied the bottom planks together.
Today I examined the joints to find that the epoxy had set perfectly. But the planks were the wrong way round.
I sawed them apart.
Construction restarts when I calm down a bit.

London Museum Docklands

Thinking about State Barges recalled my visit to the Museum of London Docklands last year. The museum has several models and pictures of the barges of the Guilds or Livery Companies, and the shallops operated by the rich and powerful.

Picture quality is fairly rubbish, I'm afraid, due to everything being behind glass. If you want to see better, go and see them! Now!
The model to the right is the barge of the Company of Fishmongers, built in 1773. It was 75m long and had gilded figures of St Peter and various mercreatures including mermaids, mermen, boys riding on dolphins, and merhorses or hippocampi.
Shallops were smaller and plainer, operated by the livery companies to attend their ceremonial barges on big occasions such as the Lord Mayor's Show, and by aristocrats as water carriages.
Watermen were dressed in the uniform that is still familiar from the Doggett's Coat and Badge prize. The scarlet cap, tunic and knee breeches must have made a splendid sight. I think the outfit ought to be compulsory for all oarsmen at the Olympics this year.

Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant

I'm so exited - Langstone Cutters has been invited to send two boats, the Solent galley Bembridge and Clayton skiff Mabel, to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant, a flotilla of a thousand boats going down the Thames from  Richmond to Tower Bridge on June 3.
Time to break out the bunting that was last used to dress my grandparents' launch to celebrate the Coronation.
It looks set to be a great occasion, bringing rowers together from all over the country including Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club who will be bringing their St Ayles Skiff Ulla from the north of Scotland. It will be great to meet up with them.
The Queen will be riding in style in a Royal Barge converted from a pleasure boat, the Spirit of Chartwell, decorated to a design by film and TV designer Joseph Bennett. This caused raised eyebrows in the stuffier papers, but there is a precedent - the most lavish and impressive Royal Barge in history was designed by William Kent, not a boatbuilder but a sign painter before turning to furniture design and architecture.
His State Barge is preserved in the National Maritime Museum.
The ideal Royal Barge for the Diamond Jubilee would be a new rowing boat, designed by Lord Linley with Iain Oughtred, and crewed by the Royal Watermen and Doggett's Coat and Badge winners in their regalia, but there would be tedious security objections. The Spirit of Chartwell will have to do.

Evening Row

Well, we did get out rowing briefly last night. Many frustrated rowers went out for a lunchtime bike ride, and the wind declined during the day. There was just enough time between the arrival of water at the Langstone Mill slipway and sundown to get out for a quick bash round the harbour.
As we returned, a shadowy presence of a single rower in a Teifi skiff was seen under a rather dramatic sunset.
In the pub later, we got to discussing what the two stars we could see actually might be, and one of our number flashed his iPhone and demonstrated a star chart application that showed them to be Jupiter and Venus. It really is a wonderful app, all you do is point the phone at the part of the sky you are interested in and it tells you exactly what you are looking at. So I have downloaded Google Star Maps for my Android phone, and now I am an instant expert.

Winter Rowing

What with the tides and the weather, rowing is very hit and miss at the moment. High tides right now are before dawn and after dark, and a line of fronts rolling in from the Atlantic has brought rain seemingly on most of the times when the tide was in and the light on simultaneously.
On the last day of the year, there was a window of opportunity at the end of the day so I went out in Kittiwake to Marker Point, a sticky-out bit of Thorney Island. You can tell it is Marker Point because opposite is this great big post, which has 'Marker' on it in big letters.

As I rounded the post I heard a distant voice. Someone on shore was hailing, but I couldn't see who it was or hear properly. I think it was Steve - if it was you, why weren't you out rowing in your Alden, eh?
Today, the plan was to row to the Isle of Wight from Lee-on-the-Solent and meet Henley Whalers for lunch. Unfortunately, the low tide means we are restricted to the slipways that go all the way, and all of them are blocked by banks of shingle. And the wind is predicted to be an easterly F4/5 right onto the slipways, which will mean launching will be wild and wet. So it is all off. Today I will go and photograph all the mass dials in Sussex.