Happy Hogmanay from Port-Na-Storm

And so dear friends

 as 2010 get its hat and coat and heads for the door marked Exit,

lets not sing of Auld Lang Syne,

lets not dwell, with tears rolling into our empty glass

 on some romanticised notion of the Good old Days. 

Open your front door and welcome in 2011.

The days are getting longer,

soon it will be warm enough for epoxy to set.

make plans, look forward,

get building, there's a new sailing season on its way.

Unless of course you live in the Antipodes in which case Winter Draws on.  

In any case to all you folk out there round the world wherever you are 

Have a happy Hogmanay.  

And because I'm Scottish and a sucker for a sentimental song,


 here are the Alexander Brothers with the absolute worst in Scottish Sentimentality.

Och am nearly Greetin' already!   

     

Merry Christmas.

 This is St John's Church just round the corner from where I live taken a couple of weeks ago.

 Wherever you are, and whatever your religion or beliefs, 

remember, 

Peace on earth and goodwill to all men. 

Merry Christmas.

Coot Covered in Water Craft

A couple of months ago I had a cover made for Coot by the very nice people at Trident, 

http://www.tridentuk.com/  

They do a made to measure service which I think is very reasonably priced, and I was really pleased with the result.

Then, being a real cheapskate,  I wrote a review of the product and sent it in to Water Craft Magazine which you can read in the latest edition.

Available from only the finest newsagents.  Its probably best to get a subscription.

http://watercraft-magazine.com/

Canoe to Mandalay

I was browsing in my favourite charity bookshops the other day when I came across this intriguing title. I usually look for anything with a nautical feel to it and  "Canoe to Mandalay" seemed to have a whiff of adventure and romance about it.  I read the first sentence of the Preface, 


" In many parts of the world harmless lunatics are treated with special consideration. I have at moments an uneasy wonder whether that is why everyone is so kind to canoers." 


Throwing caution to the wind I parted with my £4.


Mandalay is one of those place-names like Timbuktu, The Orinoco, even Tobermory, which has a ring of far- flung-ness about it. You can smell the spices in the air and hear the sound of prayer bells. To tell you the truth I wasn't really sure where Mandalay actually was until I started reading. 

I'd never heard of the author Major R Raven-Hart before, which probably shows my ignorance as he seems to have been a bit of an adventurer in his faithful folding kayak " Canoe Errant" and has written a number of books about his travels down the Mississippi and the Nile amongst other places. This is his tale of canoeing down the Irrawaddi River in Burma.

Having served in the First World War Raven-Hart probably knew war was looming in Europe but may not have been aware of the impact it would have on the far east and Burma once Japan entered the war. 

Raven-Hart was a keen historian which is reflected in his in-depth knowledge of the customs and culture of the country he was travelling in, he has a healthy disdain for the British Colonialists, a fairly low opinion of the Indian Middle-Class but he shows a real understanding and affection towards the local people. 


Burma is currently under the control of a Military Junta, and seems along way off from a free democratic society. The recent release from house arrest of the pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi after the elections is seen as fairly cynical. 


What the book also shows, and what I found really amusing was the way it reflects how much western culture has changed since it was written.

The good Major liked to have company on his travels, no doubt it helped to have someone along who could interpret, and act as a kind of local guide. And if the travelling companion happened to be a good looking young man so much the better.


Each to his own, but imagine a complete stranger turning up at the local American Baptist Mission School, accompanied by the District Commissioner's wife, asking for a boy to accompany him on a canoeing camping trip of several weeks, and being given the choice of half the school!  I don't think it would happen today...............................


That's The Major and Ma Tu above.

Cheaper Boating

An ordinary bloke with an ordinary job buys an ordinary boat, its the same age as he is, a little over forty and a bit under fifty. He doesn't have much cash this ordinary bloke because he has an ordinary job and an ordinary wage which goes to support his ordinary family.


The boat is getting a bit tired and needs some jobs doing to it but as he doesn't have much cash the bloke has to do all of them himself.

He can't afford a haul-out and scrub off at an expensive yard so he takes it to the beach at high water and lets nature do the rest. He's got some paint left over from the garage and some red lead which was "surplus" from work. He gets his shirt off and gets on with it.


Not quite a bygone era but as more yards close and more marinas open, doing it yourself is getting less common and sailing beyond the purse of the ordinary bloke. 


We have an Oxfam second-hand book shop near us and being near the Solent quite a few old sailing books come up. I've got quite a collection. Yesterday I picked up this little gem, originally published in 1977 its just old enough to contain some superb money saving tips. 


I love any book which suggests that galvanised fence wire and ratchet tensioners as used by farmers make suitable rigging, it also suggests that the GPO might be a good source of bottle screws from old telegraph poles.   It even has a section on how to make your own oil skins.


 If you ever see a copy grab it, my copy cost £2.99, it will probably save you 100 times that, but its worth it just for the nostalgia trip.

   

Oh Rowan Tree.

There's an old tale that says if there are lots of berries on the Rowan tree it'll be a severe winter.

Well here are this year's berries, and the snow which arrived yesterday. 

And here at Culture Corner, a poem ;

The Rowan Tree

Oh! Rowan Tree Oh! Rowan Tree!

Thou'lt aye be dear to me,

Entwined thou art wi mony ties,

O' hame and infancy.

Thy leaves were aye the first o' spring,

Thy flow'rs the simmer's pride;

There was nae sic a bonny tree

In a' the countrieside

Oh! Rowan tree!

How fair wert thou in simmer time,

Wi' a' thy clusters white

How rich and gay thy autumn dress,

Wi' berries red and bright.

On thy fair stem were many names,

Which now nae mair I see,

But they're engraven on my heart.

Forgot they ne'er can be!

Oh! Rowan tree!

We sat aneath thy spreading shade,

The bairnies round thee ran,

They pu'd thy bonny berries red,

And necklaces they strang.

My Mother! Oh, I see her still,

She smil'd oor sports to see,

Wi' little Jeanie on her lap,

And Jamie at her knee!

Oh! Rowan tree!

Oh! there arose my Father's pray'r,

In holy evening's calm,

How sweet was then my Mither's voice,

In the Martyr's psalm;

Now a' are gane! we meet nae mair

Aneath the Rowan Tree;

But hallowed thoughts around thee twine

O' hame and infancy.

Oh! Rowan tree!

Carolina Oliphant Lady Nairne ( 1766-1845)