Work and Sloth

Work and sloth are a time-consuming combination. And the windy weather has not helped. But last Sunday I managed to get out sailing with the Dinghy Cruising Association and John Hall came along too.

For the first time in weeks everyone was complaining about the lack of wind.

Here we are ghosting into the mouth of the mill stream at Langstone to meet the guys. A lovely day on the water.

Alan Moulton took the picture.

This must be a pig to steer...

The Stampfli 24. More here.

Syrian Story

It looks depressingly as though our glorious leader is about to make Britain an even more urgent target for terrorists with his insane plan to bomb Syria. If you are thinking of doing your Christmas shopping in London, wear a flak jacket is my advice.

The really distressing thing is the impact the bombs have on ordinary Syrians. A while back I blogged about Colin and Julie Angus and their amazing row from Scotland (Angus's ancestral land) to Syria (Julie's). Julie's family underwent the sort of suffering nobody should in today's world, and the bureaucracy and cost Julie was put to before they could reach safety in Canada was amazing. You can read their tale at her blog here.

The Admiralty Silver Oar

Watched a fascinating programme on pirates last night. Dr Sam Willis, an excellent historian but a not-so-good folk singer, gave a potted history of the sea wolves with lots of gory detail especially concerning their execution.
Pirates would be tried by the Court of Admiralty, set up by Edward III with jurisdiction over ships, the sea and rivers below the bridges. The court's symbol of authority was a mace in the form of an oar carried by a marshal, as depicted in this tomb of a Tudor Judge of Admiralty.
The execution of pirates was a great display. They would be paraded from prison to Execution Dock, led by the marshal bearing the silver oar.
The oar has been much repaired over the centuries but substantial parts of the Admiralty Court's oar may go right back to Edward III's time.
In the late 17th century, the classic age of the pirates, all had to be sent to London for trial, Captain Kidd for example. This was clearly inefficient and soon subsidiary courts were established in the American colonies, and several of them still have their silver oars. Eventually, Admiralty Courts were established round the empire, each with an oar. And soon the councils of ports such as Southampton and Harwich equipped their mayors with maces in the form of oars.
There is a history of this interesting oddity here.

A tub from Down Under

By 'tub' I don't mean this...

...but a training boat, not a fine or best boat. John Welsford, the Kiwi designer who knows a lot about fixed seat rowing, has designed a sliding seat double scull for Lake Rotorua so they can go out in sea states that would prevent rowing in fine boats. It may technically be a tub but it looks smart and elegant.
The idea is to provide a kit so clubs and individuals can build them themselves at low cost - all the details are on John's excellent blog here.
The chap who commissioned the design, Alistair Riddle, says the next prototype will have a fast derigging system to make the boat a bit lighter for loading onto the roof rack on the car. John says he knows of a way of doing it that 'won't bust peoples boilers', but I would say that removing the riggers before loading onto a car is very desirable as it avoids many horrible scratches in the paintwork caused by the gates gouging the metal. Don't ask how I know this.

Strike a Light

The onset of Winter last Sunday means wind and rain today so no rowing. Instead I spent an enjoyable time researching the Bryant and May factory in East London for another blog I write, Ornamental Passions.
In the course of research (isn't Google fantastic for people who want to look intelligent but can't be arsed with libraries?) I came across these early 20th century matchboxes.

The Swedish matches above are clearly destined for the British market, showing a naval cutter rowed by sturdy tars and flying the Union Jack (although a real naval cutter would presumably fly the White Ensign at the stern).
The Japanese match industry clearly wanted to get in on the act, but their cutter is in the Imperial Japanese Navy and flies the Flag of the Rising Sun.
The designer of the earlier one (above) has added a bowman, but the bloke who drew the later design has cut the crew from six to four and removed the facial hair from the seamen. The coxswain seems to have been promoted as well - with all that gold lace he must be an admiral at least.
Also, my standing search on eBay came up with a very jolly seaside postcard from America illustrating that you should beware of wishing for things in case they come true.

Why I skived off work today (again)

Because it was like this:

There were a surprising number of boats on the water, given it was a Monday. Several yachts were clearly out on the basis that another opportunity will almost certainly not present itself to them until well into next year. The trainers of Releasing Potential were out training in the St Ayles skiffs, so they can teach young n'ere-do-wells how to row.
Shortly after this picture was taken, the fog rolled in and gloom descended.