Sunday 19th April, 2009
Wassup ? - as they don't say when you reach my age. Well there are the talks - Boating Capers and Just a Sharp Scratch which are going down well. I was concerned to make sure that Sharp Scratch was not a gloomy affair and now it is just one gag after the next. There is the writing of articles for Sailing Today. June issue will have Pile Mooring and July will have Sailing onto a Mooring. I am working on Sail Trim for August, 'How to get the best speed out of your Sails.' I used to work on the fairly sound principle, well fairly sound for me, that every tweak of the sails in an attempt to increase speed would result in a loss of half a knot on the log (nautical for speedo). Guaranteed. Now, it either doesn't make a difference or indeed we do go a bit quicker.
Saturday saw me in Littlehampton just because that is where the tide was taking me. I met an aunt and uncle and was entertained most wonderfully. It was to see them that I went as far East as Littlehampton. As for a place to overnight, with the wind from the North there was a great deal of lapping water about my stern which was very noisy indeed. I decamped from my customary aft cabin to the forecabin. Rafted up as number 3 and charged £20 for the privelege - I suppose electricity was available, although slinging the cable 50 feet to the shore would have been a faff - it did seem to be pricey. And none too welcoming either.
Now a word about daughter No 2, the eleven year old Ellie. She has always had a habit of writing English essays that are so off the wall as to make Lewis Carroll seem quite normal. I have told her that to keep the reader with her she does have to give them the odd snippet to which they can relate. Her imagination is nothing if not exotic. Bizarre some might say. I think she is trying the patience of her English teacher as I noticed a certain testiness in her end of term report. Then I heard this story which says it all really. The English master had set the class the task of an essay. “What I did in the holidays.” Fairly straight forward one would imagine. After a moment Ellie put her hand up.
“Yes, Ellie ?”
“Sir, how do you spell Nazi ?”
“Oh for goodness sake Ellie, couldn't you just write something normal ?”
Duncan
Sunday 5th April, 2009 -1800
Three years to the minute since the accident. And we have come a long way. So thank you to everyone of our friends and family who gave such tremendous support, both to me and to Sally and the girls.
Duncan
Saturday 4th April, 2009
I thought you might be interested to know that I am now writing the Seamanship Articles for Sailing Today. We start this month (May issue) with Springing On. The philosophy behind the articles is 'Plain Sailing' - taking the drama out of the crisis with a few handy hints. We are working on the assumption that the confident boater is a happy boater. Someone has already written to the editor saying how much they enjoyed the article and how useful it was, which is extremely handy for me. The reader writes;
"For me casting off and re-berthing tend to consist of an embarrassing display of arms, legs, ropes, boat-hooks, shouting ad general chaos. And yesterday I had to put my boat back into the water without assistance from the crew. A daunting prospect which accounted for the increase in alcohol consumption over the past few weeks. What a coincidence and good fortune when on the night before the impending doom, the May edition of Sailing Today dropped through my letterbox.
Read Duncan's article, read it again, made up the recommended mooring loop and went straight into it yesterday for real with no chance of rehearsal.
Perfect !... No problem with either casting off astern or re-berthing solo. Such a relief and what a confidence booster.
The article explained how to do it very simply and very clearly and it works.
Thank you...."
The magazine also has a second hand review on the Hallberg Rassy 352 and features my treasured Dorothy Lee. Talking about boats, I would very much like to write some of these articles featuring different types of boat and so if you have a boat that you would like to have featured - no financial reward I am afraid but you will get some nice professional photo's taken on board and from a RIB which will look lovely - then please let me know. One of the articles will be called "Going Backwards" and we will be looking at how different keel shapes and prop drives behave when going astern. I will be having some really ace boat drivers help me and so it could be a tremendous lesson for anyone with a boat that is a bit wayward - we like to call it 'mis-understood' - after all no boat is wayward, they all do the same thing for the same conditions every time, it's just not always what we may want them to do. It will certainly be a great experience for me as I discover how to work with Dorothy Lee in the astern area ! We are looking for long keelers, medium fin and skeg, short fin and spade and bilge keelers, shaft drive and sail drive - all with or without bow thrusters. Next month's Seamanship article will be on Pile Mooring, then Sailing onto a Mooring, Sail Trim, Rigs, Anchoring With Confidence etc.
Sorry it is all a bit 'boatey.'
Duncan
Tuesday 24th February, 2009
David's funeral will be on Wednesday 4th March at the Chilterns Crematorium, Whielden Lane, Amersham, Bucks.
HP7 0ND at 3.15pm.
Duncan
Thursday 19th February, 2009
David Speed died of a Coronary Artery Thrombosis due to Arthurosclerosis. Lifestyle, according to the pathologist. His arteries were 90% furred up and he had already had a heart attack some time recently which he probably wouldn't have actually noticed. I am told that furred up arteries have to do with smoking and cholesterol. So we all know what we need to do if we are to try and eke out a few extra months. On the other hand do we want to eke out any more time. We know this life is no rehearsal so perhaps we should just get on and enjoy it.
I shall post details of the funeral on this site once I have them.
Duncan
Wassup ? - as they don't say when you reach my age. Well there are the talks - Boating Capers and Just a Sharp Scratch which are going down well. I was concerned to make sure that Sharp Scratch was not a gloomy affair and now it is just one gag after the next. There is the writing of articles for Sailing Today. June issue will have Pile Mooring and July will have Sailing onto a Mooring. I am working on Sail Trim for August, 'How to get the best speed out of your Sails.' I used to work on the fairly sound principle, well fairly sound for me, that every tweak of the sails in an attempt to increase speed would result in a loss of half a knot on the log (nautical for speedo). Guaranteed. Now, it either doesn't make a difference or indeed we do go a bit quicker.
Saturday saw me in Littlehampton just because that is where the tide was taking me. I met an aunt and uncle and was entertained most wonderfully. It was to see them that I went as far East as Littlehampton. As for a place to overnight, with the wind from the North there was a great deal of lapping water about my stern which was very noisy indeed. I decamped from my customary aft cabin to the forecabin. Rafted up as number 3 and charged £20 for the privelege - I suppose electricity was available, although slinging the cable 50 feet to the shore would have been a faff - it did seem to be pricey. And none too welcoming either.
Now a word about daughter No 2, the eleven year old Ellie. She has always had a habit of writing English essays that are so off the wall as to make Lewis Carroll seem quite normal. I have told her that to keep the reader with her she does have to give them the odd snippet to which they can relate. Her imagination is nothing if not exotic. Bizarre some might say. I think she is trying the patience of her English teacher as I noticed a certain testiness in her end of term report. Then I heard this story which says it all really. The English master had set the class the task of an essay. “What I did in the holidays.” Fairly straight forward one would imagine. After a moment Ellie put her hand up.
“Yes, Ellie ?”
“Sir, how do you spell Nazi ?”
“Oh for goodness sake Ellie, couldn't you just write something normal ?”
Duncan
Sunday 5th April, 2009 -1800
Three years to the minute since the accident. And we have come a long way. So thank you to everyone of our friends and family who gave such tremendous support, both to me and to Sally and the girls.
Duncan
Saturday 4th April, 2009
I thought you might be interested to know that I am now writing the Seamanship Articles for Sailing Today. We start this month (May issue) with Springing On. The philosophy behind the articles is 'Plain Sailing' - taking the drama out of the crisis with a few handy hints. We are working on the assumption that the confident boater is a happy boater. Someone has already written to the editor saying how much they enjoyed the article and how useful it was, which is extremely handy for me. The reader writes;
"For me casting off and re-berthing tend to consist of an embarrassing display of arms, legs, ropes, boat-hooks, shouting ad general chaos. And yesterday I had to put my boat back into the water without assistance from the crew. A daunting prospect which accounted for the increase in alcohol consumption over the past few weeks. What a coincidence and good fortune when on the night before the impending doom, the May edition of Sailing Today dropped through my letterbox.
Read Duncan's article, read it again, made up the recommended mooring loop and went straight into it yesterday for real with no chance of rehearsal.
Perfect !... No problem with either casting off astern or re-berthing solo. Such a relief and what a confidence booster.
The article explained how to do it very simply and very clearly and it works.
Thank you...."
The magazine also has a second hand review on the Hallberg Rassy 352 and features my treasured Dorothy Lee. Talking about boats, I would very much like to write some of these articles featuring different types of boat and so if you have a boat that you would like to have featured - no financial reward I am afraid but you will get some nice professional photo's taken on board and from a RIB which will look lovely - then please let me know. One of the articles will be called "Going Backwards" and we will be looking at how different keel shapes and prop drives behave when going astern. I will be having some really ace boat drivers help me and so it could be a tremendous lesson for anyone with a boat that is a bit wayward - we like to call it 'mis-understood' - after all no boat is wayward, they all do the same thing for the same conditions every time, it's just not always what we may want them to do. It will certainly be a great experience for me as I discover how to work with Dorothy Lee in the astern area ! We are looking for long keelers, medium fin and skeg, short fin and spade and bilge keelers, shaft drive and sail drive - all with or without bow thrusters. Next month's Seamanship article will be on Pile Mooring, then Sailing onto a Mooring, Sail Trim, Rigs, Anchoring With Confidence etc.
Sorry it is all a bit 'boatey.'
Duncan
Tuesday 24th February, 2009
David's funeral will be on Wednesday 4th March at the Chilterns Crematorium, Whielden Lane, Amersham, Bucks.
HP7 0ND at 3.15pm.
Duncan
Thursday 19th February, 2009
David Speed died of a Coronary Artery Thrombosis due to Arthurosclerosis. Lifestyle, according to the pathologist. His arteries were 90% furred up and he had already had a heart attack some time recently which he probably wouldn't have actually noticed. I am told that furred up arteries have to do with smoking and cholesterol. So we all know what we need to do if we are to try and eke out a few extra months. On the other hand do we want to eke out any more time. We know this life is no rehearsal so perhaps we should just get on and enjoy it.
I shall post details of the funeral on this site once I have them.
Duncan
posted by Duncan Wells at
12:40
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