the sinking of the Bismarck

There was an interesting article in The Times yesterday about the sinking of the Bismarck during WW2. I’ll try and summarize here the main gist of the article written by Simon de Bruxelles.

It would seem that the German’s biggest battleship did try to surrender before she was sunk seventy years ago. Well this is what a new account of the battle is suggesting.

We know that the ship sunk after a 2 hr shelling and that the 50,000 tonne ship sank in the Atlantic. The map below shows her last days. During the sustained shelling it was always reported that the Bismarck carried on battling to the end showing no signs of surrender. Her rudder was knocked out and most of her guns destroyed.

However, there is a new book which apparently suggests that at least three observers from HMS Rodney saw signals associated with surrender. The book has been published on the 70th anniversary of her sinking in 1941.

One testimony came from a gunnery observer called Tommy Byers onboard the Rodney. He died in 2004 but in an interview recorded with him before his death, he said he was watching the Bismarck through binoculars and saw a German sailor signalling the ship’s surrender in semaphore from the top of a gun turret. When Byers reported this to the gunnery officer he was told ‘I don’t want to know about any signal now’.

 The Bismarck then flew a black flag which is the internationally recognised signal for parley but again the gunnery signal officer wasn’t accepting it. Finally the Bismarck started using Morse lamps from her yard arm, four lamps at a time, and again the gunnery officer said ‘I don’t want to know. Don’t report anything like that.’

Tommy Byers was haunted for the rest of his life by the scenes and by the deaths of 1,995 of the Bismarck’s 2200 crew. He was most definite about what he saw throughout his whole life said his son. “He had the skill to read semaphore and therefore it fell upon him to do something about it. He felt guilty he didn’t do more at the time but he wasn’t of high enough rank to get his voice heard”.

HMS King George V

The sinking of the Bismarck is the stuff of legend. A week or so earlier she has sunk HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy with a huge loss of life. Only 3 out of 1400 crew survived. The loss led Churchill to give his famous order ‘sink the Bismarck’. The book raises the possibility that this was the reason why the Rodney refused to acknowledge the signals of surrender.

HMS Hood

The article does suggest that Tommy Byers account is collaborated by an unpublished account from Lieutenant Donald Campbell who was the air defence officer on the Rodney. There is an HMS Rodney archive and a statement from this has him describing the shells bursting against the Bismarck’s armour like ‘eggs on a wall’. He saw what he thought were a series of flashes in Morse code signalling surrender.

The Bismarck had been heavily damaged by her tangle with HMS Hood. She was attacked by 15 swordfish torpedo bombers and she tried to limp into the French port of St. Nazaire, but without sufficient rudder steerage, she was a sitting target and so the shells from HMS Rodney, HMS King George V, HMS Norfolk and HMS Dorsetshire found her easily. 300 out of 3000 shells hit her and she eventually keeled over sinking at 10.40 on 27th May 1941. Her wreck now lies in 5000 feet of water.

The Bismarck being shelled

The theory is that the captain of the Bismarck, a fanatical Nazi Captain Ernst Lindemann, had already been killed and so the crew unable to communicate with the heavily damaged bridge, probably tried to surrender.

On the other hand, it would have been hard to put ships alongside to take off all hands. HMS Dorsetshire picked up 200 survivors but with so many U boats in the area, the Royal Navy would have severely risked their own ships and personnel.

The book is called ‘killing the Bismarck’ written by Ian Ballantyne and it is to be published in July by Pen and Sword Books.

I found this website for those of you who would like to find out more about the Bismarck.

http://nineteenkeys.blogspot.com/2010/05/remembering-battleship-bismarck.html
You can find out more about Captain Ernst Lindemann at http://www.ask.com/wiki/Ernst_Lindemann

I will be sharing plans for sailing this week soon

Steve

HMS Rodney

and another addition to the worldwide family of navigators

A new navigator has been launched. Congratulations go to ‘Blindblake’ (sorry I don’t know your real name, forgive me). He has posted photographs in flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/38941023@N05/sets/72157618953099785/
It looks a fantastic boat with a neat paint scheme and some excellent craftsmanship. Blindblake reported on John Welford’s yahoo forum that things had gone well at the launch bar a small trickle of water at the centreboard pivot bolt. Yep I remember that trickle in Arwen.

He apparently kept forgetting he had a mizzen sail (huh - that will soon pass believe me - need eyes in the back of your head for that one) and that the boat positively skipped along. The sails set very well with no creases (lucky man – remember all the problems I had trying to remove sail creases until John and the forum came to my rescue?)

Blindblake suggests he will move some of the rigging around and he wants to put in pockets for keys VHF etc. I have loads of double pockets (Canvas type) all around Arwen’s coaming and they are fantastically useful for storing spare rope, sail ties, drinks, suncream, a spare emergency fuel bottle and lord knows what else – they make the interior far tidier.

It is really good to see another navigator join the growing worldwide family of navigator boats. Enjoy your sailing Blindblake and congratulations – a job done really well – a lovely boat.

Steve

So where does this leave me in terms of viewpoint?

Yesterday I reported what the newspapers had to say on the coastguard re-organisation proposals. Today, I give my viewpoint.
I did want to try and find arguments for and against the proposal to give some form of balanced viewpoint, because, despite what some commentators have said about me, I am actually very fair and open minded and always want to see an issue from the two opposing points of view. However, despite 40 minutes of trawling the internet it became clear that there is very little good reported about the MCA proposals. In fact I couldn’t find much at all, other than the senior leadership of MCA supporting the viewpoint. However, the coastguards I did speak to locally were pretty clear that despite the 1990’s reorganisation and appraisal of the MCA, the service still needs more modernisation and investment and this comes at a cost at a time of economic recession. Linking coastguard stations together with a better infrastructure seemed to be often quoted. Fair point! I think it is a really critical issue for many coastguards. Some I spoke to argued in favour of reducing the number of centres as well and seemed to accept the inevitable conclusion that reducing centres would lead to reduced staffing.

Well despite that, locally and nationally there has been a huge outcry and actually I do agree with many of the arguments put forward. What I will say before sharing some of my concerns, is that the onus is on us, the dissenters to come up with alternative proposals that meet senior MCA, government, local coastguard and the maritime community needs. Standing up and protesting is easy. Standing up and coming up with a win-win situation for all is a mite harder but necessary!

So here are my concerns with the proposals as they are at present, bearing in mind the point I’ve just made. I will at some stage try to think about possible other solutions or proposals. They won’t meet everyone’s needs but with fairness to the MCA and government, at least I will have tried. I certainly will be attending local meetings where taking a proactive approach to finding a workable solution is encouraged.
Firstly, this link to Hansard gives an interesting perspective about some of the inaccuracies in the original proposals put out by senior coastguards. I cannot comment on whether they are all true but it was MP’s standing up in this debate and I suspect many were very well briefed!

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110324/halltext/110324h0001.htm
Next, the huge public outcry has come from a huge variety of groups and people from all walks of life – no pressure groups, no organised approaches – a totally diverse cross section of our society and I think that is interesting in itself. The meetings I went to or friends went to fell into one camp – out rightly hostile to the proposals and that is an honest, fair summary! I read somewhere on a forum that important bodies such as the British Canoe Union and many youth adventure organisations had been left off the official consultation list – ridiculous frankly! We have countless water sports centres in this region all with a vested interest in what happens. And wow, are there canoeists or are their canoeists out on the Sound most weekends and its lovely to see them all too! They surely must have a viewpoint.

The importance of and potential loss of local knowledge seems to be a major concern for all those against these proposals and as far as I can gather, protesters feel there doesn’t seem to be much to allay their suspicions that a central command approach will actually lead to as good a service as exists now. I’ve heard and read countless times the point about how often at inshore incidents the majority of people/boats in trouble give their positions in terms of bearing and distance from well known landmarks. Someone said well over 90% of incidents give position in this way. That seems to be a strong reason for local knowledge! The argument that local knowledge comes through a good database and specialist advisers in the two national centres is nonsense frankly. We’ve had a few cases in the south west where emergency 999 callers have not been located by such databases despite giving detailed descriptions of where they are. Local knowledge counts.

One person on a really good small boat forum made a point that the official consultation document highlighted the need for maximum flexibility to respond to emergencies and the value of a huge range of networks in which this should be done. Apparently MCA drew attention to the fact that coastguard stations are currently only linked in pairs and this is why it needs modernising. I think is wrong but I would need to confirm this later. I’m pretty sure Brixham is linked with several others as is Falmouth. The gentleman, who seemed very well informed, went on to say that the proposal isn’t a network of coastguard stations as MCA would suggest but it is a system by which an individual station has a link to its command centre but that it is and a command centre has a link to all outlying stations. Outlying stations wouldn’t necessarily link to each other ....so where is this networking talked of in the proposal?

There have been countless points made about the confusion over local place names with several examples being given i.e. the risk of a national centre deploying assets to the ‘wrong’ place as a result. The issue of local dialects has also been raised as an issue for communication. I’m from North Wales so I understand that argument immediately – no one understands us! I read somewhere that at a Holyhead meeting, the first question was asked in welsh and the panel had to send for an interpreter – priceless!

Many concerns were expressed over the idea of closing sub centres at night! I think I’m right that several of our most serious incidents in the south west in recent times have been at night!

Finally, I have read in various places that the savings the coastguard are talking of making are not quite as big as one might at first think. I can’t find where I read this, so this must be taken with a pinch of salt because I may have the figures wrong. As I recall somewhere it said that the savings made would be in the region of £130 million spread across 25 years so about £5 million per year? I’m all for that if the system that is put in place genuinely works. However, my faith in the current proposals is deeply shaken due to everything I have read. Consequently I can’t see how a £5 million saving per year is at this moment giving better value for money to what we have now. Oh and one more thing. The government had argued that the current coastguard set-up dates back 40 years and needed to be revamped to meet 21st century challenges. That is nonsense. They had a complete review and adjustment in the 1990’s – read the Hansard entries. This is a blatant piece of government misrepresentation I think!

Locally, I know the fight to save the Brixham station has seen more than 10,000 signatures handed to Shipping Minister Mike Penning as part of the Save Our Station campaign spearheaded by the Herald Express, a local newspaper.

And that’s it

I welcome the extension of consultation. I’d welcome proposals which are not full of inaccuracies or misinformation. I think the onus is on us who have raised our opposition to the proposals to help the MCA and government come up with ones which are workable for all. Protesting is easy. It’s morally wrong if you then don’t try to work constructively with everyone to try and fix the issue for the benefit of all involved. Meanwhile, I would like to know what the positives are of the current proposals and would wlecome any sensible commenst outlining them. I want a balanced consideration of this issue and I want to understand the senior MCA viewpoint.

Steve

here I go again....when will I learn.....!

There has been plenty recently in our national newspapers about the coastguard re-organisation that I commented on some months ago and which drew some interesting comments from people who read what I said. Well, here is an update. Firstly, I try to summarize accurately what the various newspapers have reported in the last week and then I’m going to give my view! But that will be tomorrow night!


The BBC reported under the headline ‘UK coastguard station closure plans 'scaled back' that the government is to drop some of its planned closures around the UK. It’s not known yet which stations will be reprieved and which will close. In addition the consultation period seems to have been extended to allow the House of Commons Transport Committee to complete further assessment of the proposed plans.

If I remember correctly, the original plans were to arrive at just two large national coastguard centres operating at Aberdeen and the Portsmouth-Southampton area; close many but keep a few sub centres operational for just daylight hours only, which I think were Falmouth, Swansea, Liverpool and Stornoway (although it could be Belfast or Shetlands...I’ll do some further research later and confirm which).

The BBC report that the government have denied it is a U turn claiming they

‘are looking again at the best configuration that will allow us to deliver those technological improvements, those working-practice improvements, and we will announce our conclusions to Parliament before the summer recess,"

Phil Hammond Transport Secretary

The BBc also reported that the Public and Commercial Services union commented that the

‘climb-down’ was evidence of what could be achieved by community campaigning'.

Mark Serwotka said to the Beeb

"This is a body blow for the government, which is reeling from the force of public outrage at ill-thought-out plans to slash the life-saving support that coastguards provide.

"It is not yet clear what any new proposals will include and there are still battles to be won to maintain vital local services that our members provide 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We would expect new plans to be subject to proper consultation and negotiation."

Commons Leader Sir George Young told MPs the government was "having another look" at the proposals and would respond before the Commons rose in July.

The Independent had a similar report on Thursday but also drew attention to how the proposals had ‘sparked anger in coastal communities and opposition among some Conservative MPs’.

It also said that the paper understood that Transport Secretary Philip Hammond will now reprieve some of the threatened stations and ‘the Maritime and Coastguard Agency will get one high-tech new national centre to replace the abandoned stations, rather than the two which had been planned’. The paper noted that

‘A Whitehall source said that the Transport Secretary was responding to arguments he has heard during an ongoing consultation process, including warnings that the skills of experienced coastguards would be lost if local centre’s were closed’.

"I can't speculate on the numbers of stations which will be in the final proposals,"

said the source.

"There will be a reduction, but it won't be as large as originally envisaged."

Following reports of Mr. Hammond's change of heart in recent press, a Department for Transport spokesman said:

"We will not comment on speculation about the outcome of our consultation.

"Our proposals are in response to a long-overdue need to bring the way Coastguard rescues are co-ordinated into the 21st century, making this vital rescue service stronger, more resilient and improving its services at the front line.

"This need will not simply go away, but this is a genuine consultation exercise and the Government is committed to taking all points of view into account before deciding how best to proceed."

Apparently Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle called on Mr. Hammond to

"clear up the uncertainty"

facing UK coastguard station saying that

"Britain's coastguards deserve better than this further uncertainty. Instead of putting on hold their reckless plans to axe local coastguard stations, the Tory-led Government should abandon their plans. To close more than half of the UK's coastguard stations in one go, leaving just three offering 24-hour cover, will leave our coastline a more dangerous place."

An interesting piece appeared in the Guardian raising the question of why there hadn’t been so much public outcry about the proposed changes to the MCA as there was over the proposed sell off of our national forests which did elicit a complete government U turn and climb down. I may have misread the Guardian article but I have no idea where they’ve been because it’s been pretty vocal on the MCA cuts around my patch in the SW!



And that basically is what some papers have been reporting in the last few days. Sometime this week I will give my viewpoint on the issue. In the meantime, I welcome the extension to the consultation deadline. I think there has been a huge public outcry and rightly so. However, I am left with the feeling that whilst it is easy to raise a voice in dissent, it is harder to come up with a practical solution that allows all parties in the debate to have a ‘win-win situation.

And yet.......surely if we dissent, isn’t the onus on us to also come up with practical alternative proposals that are credible and allow the government and MCA to meet their needs without compromising ours? I know that there are many individuals who feel like this and are doing their bit and I congratulate them and wish them luck. Despite my reservations about the proposal which I will share sometime this week, I am very conscious that I should at least make some effort to try and think of alternatives or at the very least since I have little specialist knowledge, support those who are trying.

Steve

I'm in trouble!

My no. 1 daughter (I have only one daughter, but hey she's my no.1 girl) has ticked me off for not updating the blog recently. I did try to defend myself....too much work; it's coursework marking time;  I'm running loads of revision classes before school, in lunch hours and after school; I've fallen behind with my marking  etc etc etc.

None of it washed one iota! She's away at University and is forgetting what Arwen looks like! So here, for my no. 1 girl, and that matter for my no. 1 niece who keeps saying she wants to come sailing with her uncle, but whose mother never gets her to me so we can do it, are some photos of Arwen.

In case people think 'Gosh he's got rather ample all of a sudden'

....in my defence....I am wearing a Buoyancy aid UNDER the jacket!

It has been frustrating though and I am desperate to get out with Arwen but weather and work have conspired against us somewhat in the last month or so.......but hey great news - the week after next is half term week and I am going to try and sneak up the river Tamar for two days and see if I can over night at Calstock. If I can do it, then I'll do it again with Dad in the summer.

this is my 'Rat's did I just leave the car keys in the car or

have I dropped them overboard?' look!

Arwen drawn up at East Portlemouth Beach

Taken on an old mobile phone

(HWMBO has allowed me to buy a new touch screen one - I'm slowly catching up with the 21st century - whoopee!)

In the meantime, I leave you with a couple of shots of my all time favourite animals (Alpacas) at this weekends Devon County Show (which this year, as always, was a fantastic event for the farming community of Devon and beyond).............. and of course some shots of Arwern which I don't think I've used yet on the blog.

'OH I say girls, I think our Matilda has just one first prize over that gaudy llama from Cornwall'

'Psst darlings, I think our moment to escape has come....no one is looking at us....!'

'I'm sure it said 'conditioner' on the bottle!'

Riding at anchor off Cellars Beach in the mouth of the River Yealm

Mooring 79 and and overnight camp at Salcombe in the Kingsbridge estuary

Oh those horrible first days with sail creases and sagging jibs

all gone now thank heavens!

Keep checking in this week, I will be posting plans of my forthcoming half term sailing ideas.

Steve

occasionally we go off boat topic

....and talk about our other love (other than Arwen) ..........'Stacey'!

lets face it - this is a cute scooter

rough around the edges and in need of a little TLC

Now 'Stacey' is our father/son (and Grandad) restoration motovespa 125 super circa 1970. We bought her off Ebay....in a moment of weakness when the father sucumbed to some very clever and subtle manipulation by his 15 yr old son without realising it!

Anyway, 'Stacey' has been stripped down, her inner bits being stored in boxes. Her main frame has been off to the sand blasters (thanks Lee) and a very clever man called Ian has helped weld her undersides back to new, installing a new floor, repairing some gungho repairs done by a previous owner and generally tidying her up. (I'm a perfectionist but I can take lessons from Ian! Wow!)

all that currrently remains of 'Stacey' in our garage

the damp patch.....I tipped the engine on one side and discovered where the oil drain is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's now just gone to the paint sprayers Chris and Ryan. The colour chosen is a metallic candy apple red with white rubber trims. Not my choice of colour....but hey it's not my scooter and so I take a back seat on this one!!!!!  Chris and Ryan are another set of perfectionists who have just set up a part time spraying business and they are good - really talented. and they are restoring cars - a 1970 VW campervan and a Chevy from the 1950's........so cool!

Whilst trying to sort out what we need to replace and where to go to get it (what a nightmare if you are new to something and have no idea where to begin or what you are looking at.......bit like starting to build a boat for the very first time - dur - remember than feeling folks?)....we discovered that the wiring didn't match up to the old log books we found. Huh!

the outer flywheel which covers the stator plate...I never knew I could get this technical!

Anyway, two vespa forums came to our rescue - the equivalent of John's yahoo forum. Boy have these guys saved our necks. we can now confirm that the scoot has been converted from a 6v system to a 12v system with electric ignition......only a previous owner left all the horn, bulbs, switches etc at 6v ......which is why nothing works!

there are some real powerful magnets somewhere in here

It's taken us a month to work all this out!
Huh!

We'll be assembling 'Stacey' minus engine in a few weeks time. If you'd like us to do another post on her here then let us know. This blog is about Arwen....but occasionally Angharad the canoe and 'Stacey' the vespa may well sneak in!

Steve

I almost went sailing at the weekend...

........but was rather glad I didn't. A stroll around Plymouth Hoe foreshore showed me the angriest looking Plymouth Sound I can remember in a long time.

a wild white horses seascape

Sunday, we had some belting winds! 35 kts gusting at times to 40 kts and yet bizarrely sunshine and really warm temperature. We found a sheltered spot at the Hoe Cafe and it was really warm and pleasant out of the wind!

which got gradually worse

I'm pretty sure that Arwen would have survived the onslaught but I would have been incapable of keeping her upright! Jib and mizzen would have been too much sail I suspect! Sometimes its best just to chill out, find a good spot and enjoy a good book, latte and sunshine!

even the barge was having trouble

we sought sheltered walks and discovered this hidden gem - a walk around west hoe which had models made out of metal of all the Devonport based naval ships - part of the south west coastal path

lovely clinker dinghy

the seagulls were having a difficult time flying into the headwind

this wise bird decided to shelter behind some stone steps in the Barbican!

In the meantime, with a little indirect prompting from a discussion on John's Yahoo forum, I have one alteration to make to Arwen's rig. The parrel beads I use to secure lower tack of sail to the mast - I tie on each time. I'm going to convert it to a toggle in a rope loop which also passes through the tack hole and then the toggle fits through a loop in the other rope end. much quicker and more sensible.

Steve

I wish I was a better photographer!

I’ve been thinking recently about the camera shots I take from the boat when out sailing. I don’t have a brilliant camera for the job and so that is one issue but only a poor workman blames his tools! I’m also such a ‘point and shoot’ merchant! It’s positively embarrassing and I must do something about it. I’d like to get much better shots of Arwen.


So......here is some advice to myself! Let’s hope I learn from it!

Firstly, if I want decent shots of Arwen – I need to get someone else to come out in another boat! Perhaps even someone who knows a thing or two about photograph although that defeats one of the objects straight away – i.e. making me a better photographer! Anyway if the photographer was on a boat which sort of stayed still and I sailed Arwen around in circles close to and further away from the static boat – that might help!

the classic from behind the leeward corner shot

copyright: forargyll.com

Secondly I need to get out very early morning when the light is at its best and into a quiet stretch of water. This would give me stability, clarity and thinking time.

Thirdly, many of my images come back blurred because of camera shake. So how might I eliminate or reduce this?

• Tuck my elbows in and not hold the camera at arm’s length!


• Squeeze the shutter trigger gently and not stab at it as I hand onto mainsheet and tiller with the other hand


• Reset the shutter speed manually on the camera to a faster speed before I start off on a trip


• Lean against something to increase stability – the mizzen mast; the coaming etc


• Use the gorilla tripod more frequently than I do and set it up in a designated place on the coaming before I depart the dockside. In this way I can ensure it is stable and pointing forward so that it catches part of the bow as well as the scene to one side of it. Then I can turn the boat to position it to get the view I want before I press the shutter


• Perhaps use the polarising function that I have on my camera – that might not reduce blur but it would sharpen up colour tone! I think polarising can cut out unwanted reflection off water.

a nice sense of movement, power and uncluttered background detail

copyright: heron charters.com

I don’t give sufficient thought and attention to structure and composition within the lens viewfinder! Perhaps I could:

• Use the grid button to put a grid into the viewfinder and then use this to help position central images etc or help me compose the share of background, mid and foreground within a shot


• Eliminate noise from my shots i.e. make sure that there is nothing distracting in backgrounds that will detract from the main image


• Be original and try to find some unusual viewpoints rather than the normal just hang over the side. My best photo of Arwen to date came from me jumping over the side and taking a photograph of her looking up from the water line. It’s the photo at the top of this blog. So I need to get moving about the boat and try and combine interior detail with a sense of her movement underway!


• Zoom out a little more than I think to get a sense of space around the images which I can crop later in a an editing programme


• Think and predict forward when I decide to photograph something....where will it be in a few minutes; how do I need to position myself or Arwen relative to the subject to get the best angle of approach/view? Could I get ahead and shot an oncoming boat from bows on before niftily getting out of the way? The best shot of another boat is often from the rear leeward corner so that you can see occupants, get all the sails and rigging in and get a good leaning into the wind action shot.


• Level up the horizon in the viewfinder before I take an image – that would help straight away. So many of my photos come back at horrible angles! Ugh!


• Understand better the art of perspective. An art colleague in school did try to teach me the rudiments over coffee but I’m thick and sadly she was on a losing wicket straight away. Anyway, I think she was saying that


o Shooting straight on results in no perspective, merely a two dimensional shape


o Shooting at an angle to the subject helps set up lines within the photograph that converge in the distance at a single vanishing point and this is good!


o Getting closer to one object in the viewfinder makes other objects in the distance seem further away and this is good


o I should try overlapping forms apparently – where distant objects are partially obscured by nearer ones – um!


o Height is a good thing – try taking a photograph from standing on the deck (perhaps best not done whilst sailing!!) or as Kevin Brennan has done with a video camera – securing it to the upper yard and hoisting away (making sure that I’ve set the timer delay button for 15 seconds or so – a hit and miss approach but very definitely worth a try.

using my gorilla pod and timer delay to get the unusual perspective shot?

copyright: bluegreen boats

Ho hum! I would like to get some better shots of Arwen whilst sailing and I do look enviously at Steve Earley’s creative images over at ‘Log of Spartina’. I know he is a photographer by profession I think, but it would be nice just occasionally to get one or two well composed, creative and imaginative images from a day’s sailing!


Steve

I didn't go sailing......

last Friday! I decided to stay in and watch the Royal wedding from 8.00am.

Some may describe me as sad. Personally, I'm really glad I did. It was a fantastic day. The Prince and Princess were charming. warm natured, good humoured, dignified and a credit to our country and Commonwealth.

Over 1 million people lined the mall and the area outside the Palace. They had queued the night before and behaved with humour, enthusiasm and an outstanding sense of community spirit.

Their reward was a day of what we in Britain do best, pomp, ceremony, celebration and pageantry. Friday showed us as a nation at our very best - good humoured, full of fun, loyal to our Monarchy, appreciative of our rich and diverse history and of our outstanding armed services, valuing our religious beliefs and despite our high divorce rate, showing that we still understand the value and sanctity of marriage.

I've never thought of myself as a 'romantic' softee but I would be less than honest if I didn't say that Friday bought the odd tear to my eye and lump to my throat. I'm British Welsh and on Friday I was extremely proud of my islands nation! I hope we did our Commonwealth friends proud too.

I believe that our new Prince and Princess herald a new direction for our wonderful monarchy and I wish them every success and happiness in their new lives together.

Our new 'Duke and Duchess of Cambridge'

Steve

a nice adventure to Cawsand and back

Had a special sail today because Mum and Dad joined me for a fast sail across to Cawsand on the western side of Plymouth Sound. The wind was breezy and Arwen kept an average of 4.8 knots all the way across. The wind was coming from the north-west so it was a good close haul at times. It came gusting over the Mt. Edgecumbe headland. The sea went from glassy like to severely rippled in seconds! We departed QAB at 9.55am and were on the beach at Cawsand at 10.30 – 35 minutes to do 3 nautical miles or so. That’s pretty good going. There was weather helm and I was able to use it to help me work out when to loosen the mizzen slightly. At one point we furled the jib as we were over canvassed.

We stopped off on the shingle beach at Cawsand. Here it was sheltered from the northerly gusts and there were just very gentle tiny waves lapping on the shore. Mum and Dad were dispatched to get coffees but somehow arrived back with ice creams.....a sure sign of senility setting in! The Cawsand Ferry arrived to disgorge its contents onto the beach.

After ice creams, it was back on board. Now pushing Arwen off the beach, turning her bow back out to sea and jumping on board whilst starting the outboard, lowering the rudder and getting her underway in an appropriate direction is always tricky but somehow we managed it without embarrassing ourselves in front of all the beach masses.

Going back was slower, much slower. The wind had dropped and we floated about off fort Picklecombe listlessly for 20 minutes or so before the wind suddenly veered around to blow from the immediate south. This put us on an excellent beam reach down the outside of the breakwater and we picked up some speed. We covered the length of the breakwater inside of 25 minutes averaging 3.5 kts.

There were some nice older boats out with us – I have no idea what they were – but they were wood, old with big tan sails and very elegant! As we turned to head north we were buzzed by returning dive ribs going back into fort Bovisand dive centre.

almost 11 nautical miles - a nice day's sailing

We did a dead run down the eastern side of Plymouth sound, doing the odd gybe as I tried to do for speed not angle. All the time we kept a look out for the return of the porpoise but it was not to be. They’d clearly moved on. At south mallard buoy we gybed to starboard and set off on a beam reach along the river plym through the Cattedown. Just off yacht haven marina we turned head to wind and dropped all sails, motoring back onto the pontoon at QAB for 3pm. Five hours and a grand day out. No porpoise but plenty of gannets in Cawsand Bay, another very rare sight.

Coffees and a quick clear up and home in time for tea. A cracking day out.

Steve