Another post update from Howard Rice

at http://below40south.com/howard-rice/

another blog update from Southern Cross

Howard is making good progress. Follow his extraordinary journey at  http://below40south.com/blog/

A dilemma

retirement is on the horizon, somewhere, a distant glimmer. And with it comes the hopes and aspirations of lots of travelling with 'her indoors' .
We intent crossing continents, reaching far flung destinations, going off grid and and off track. It is our kinda thing.
Then there is 'Stacey' our vintage motovespa. A few long trips are planned for her across the U.K. And how could I forget 'Arwen' my beloved boat, built by my own hands and many people I love....all her voyages to come as we camp cruise our way across southern England and tour other U.K. Coastlines and lakes.

Which raises a dilemma. I think I need to change my blog format to something more versatile. Something with headings and different page sections so that subscribers can link into the pages that suit them rather than suffer topics of no interest to them at all.

So do I change blog platforms? Do I stay with blogger but change to a more dynamic template? Do I download a new free blogger template? Will it risk losing all the current blog content? Do I stay with what I like, trust and know and just let readers decide whether to read it or not? Will my current subscribers get fed up of non sailing content?

It has never been about blog numbers....those who join me and Arwen on our voyages are most welcome and distance internet friendships and aquaitences have ensued which I deeply value. A sort of Internet family........

So the dilemma........any blog subscribers who have a view, do please comment. What you like, dislike about current blog format (rather than content for the moment), whether you can put up with more varied content in the future or would prefer it to be just about Arwen and our voyages; whether you would prefer a different format with headings to gain easier access to differing blog content.

As always,  constructive comment is greatly welcomed

Steve 

I've posted it before.....

...but I post it again. As John Welsford says on Facebook "a little taster" for all those in the northern hemisphere.........

https://vimeo.com/135569604/description

Enjoy and may the spring be upon us all soon

Steve 

Howard Rice and Southern Cross update

if you are a regular reader you will know I am following the updates on this small boat expedition with great interest. Howard is sailing a Welsford Scamp around the southern horn.......adventure indeed. An update can be found at
http://smallcraftadvisor.com/our-blog/?p=4813

Steve 

Howard Rice and Southern Cross

has posted an update. An almost tragedy has been turned into a feat of seamanship. Read more at
http://smallcraftadvisor.com/our-blog/?p=4804

Steve 

It was going so well

Rarely use ebay so I have been very careful when selling 'Stacey' our MotoVespa to make sure the listing is as honest as possible, detailing what we have done to restore her and what her blemishes are. We included photos of damage, two video clips of her running. We tried to be as detailed as possible.

We had over 1000 page views and 40 people putting her on their 'watch list'. We felt we were asking a fair price but had also said we were open to reasonable offers.

So this morning, I took her for one last very short ride around the village to check all was still running smoothly......and her throttle on the handlebar broke! It turned right over itself so I couldn't shut throttle off. Came as hell of a shock! At a road junction too.

Cut long story short, the little lug inside the headlight casing is aluminium and part of the casting on an old scooter. This had suddenly fractured through old age allowing throttle handle to rotate over itself and so stretch the throttle cables. A real pain and very dangerous.

So I have ended the ebay listing. I am sure I will take flack on this one but it strikes me it was the right thing to do. I could have continued and reduced the price but then someone might have continued to drive her and then caused or had an accident. Although it would have been their choice to do so, I would have felt responsible. I have a friend who can weld a new piece in somehow, he thinks, even though it is aluminium.....he has an idea apparently......but that is a few weeks away as he is snowed under with other work.

We can wait. We can trailer 'stacey' up to hi in a month or so and she can get fixed and then we can start again. She has never broken once since we restored her a few years ago..........and now she does just as we try to sell her.

I wonder if she is trying to tell us something?

A farewell to 'Stacey'

My son has decided to sell 'Stacey' our much loved 1969 motovespa 125 super. She doesn't get out much, I don't have the time. He is away at university and so never uses her and he wants money for a car.......so it is time to hand her on to someone who will get as much fun from her as we have had. She isn't a proper restoration. The toolbox is the wrong one for a start but we were naive restorers. The main thing is it was a good father son project with lots of memories.

Her is a clip of me visiting Tavistock a couple of years ago.
https://youtu.be/NNe9Ys0KwjI

I guess it is time to post her on eBay and other suitable sites and we will try local scooter Facebook pages as well. It is hard but we all move on. God knows what I will be like if I ever had to sell Arwen! 

just occasionally I get lucky

It doesn't happen very often. Only twice to be fair. Once, a long time ago,  I walked into a MUSTO shop and they had a rack of sallopettes priced at 80% lower than what they should have been. An absolute bargain, seriously rock bottom mis-priced and I bought one pair there and then. The store manager put up all sorts of objections but in the end had to sell me them for that price because legally that was the price on the ticket, even if it were a mistake! I did feel guilty for several days afterwards but with time the guilt has faded. MUSTO have done well out of me over the years! And to be fair - I could have bought all eight pairs mis-priced and resold them on ebay...but I didn't because I felt some ethics were needed somewhere. Two other people behind me got a bargain as well before the correct prices were put on remaining items. I suppose I could have bought the lot, sold them on ebay and donated profits to charity but at the time I didn't think of that.....wish I had.

Anyway, for only the second time, another piece of luck.
 I was very pleasantly surprised to discover a DB action camera 1080HD reduced from around £70 down to £15 on a well known website! I did do a double take several times but I took a punt and it arrived today. And very nice it is too - it isn't a GoPro quality but it will do for what I want. It came with a good array of accessories and the film quality is pretty decent, certainly up there with my SJCam 4000.

So now I have three action cameras and that means I start doing a bit more creative videoing. Very thoughtful Christmas pressies from my parents - gopro clamps and tripods will also help enormously.

 I like videoing. It is my visual diary of the trips I do. I can analyse them for mistakes, of which there are plenty. Good people like Joel and JW occasionally feedback on them with really helpful tips on what is wrong and what I could do to correct things. Some people just criticize them openly without offering any constructive help and hey that is fine too. I still learn.

I intend this year to try and make my videos more professional and thoughtful. I don't have much sailing knowledge to be fair and limited experience in terms of sailing so perhaps I don't have anything useful to say or show. On the other hand, when I started out knowing nothing and basically almost self teaching myself, any video clips from anyone were really useful, inspiring and thought provoking, showing as much what to do as what not to do, if that makes sense.  Some gave me great insights in to areas that I could sail in as I built up my skills, a sort of passage planning tool and insight to go alongside google earth, google maps, charts etc.

I am limited by the software I use - mainly microsoft moviemaker - but it does the job. Occasionally I use GoPro Studio or one or two bits like Imovie on my ipad....but moviemaker is intuitive and I use it a lot as a teacher, so I stick with what I know for now. Eventually when I retire, then I will have more time to play about with something more versatile and complex.

This year I will just focus on trying to get ' a story' for each video clip; perhaps a more defined focus and purpose for a trip. Maybe the sharing of a trip's experiences and what I learned or failed to learn and should have.

The videos on my YouTube channel have always primarily been for me, a visual record of our voyages together, Arwen and me; a place to store them and access them easily from any device. Some people like them, some don't. That's fine.
However, if you like them or think they have any use at all; if you think they can be improved or have any suggestions for video content, remembering my limited sailing knowledge and skill level, then drop me a comment. As always, constructive advice and thoughts are always most welcome and I will try and act upon them.

In the meantime, I will while away a few 'snatched' hours thinking of different camera angles and positions and possible storyboards for this year's sailing trips and videos now made possible by three cameras and some thoughtful Christmas present clamps. 

So here I am.....

Sitting at home under the duvet with a severe head cold. Blocked nose which streams, weeping eyes, mother of all headaches and chest infection. It is exhausting being ill! A good start to 2017. So New year resolution one......take multivitamins each day, eat more fruit, eat less rubbish and move more!

NYR 2: remember to tie on the main halyard further forward because that makes the yard aft heavy and removes the diagonal crease in Arwen's mainsail, which has been a consistent feature for several years.

NYR 3:  ....and these are in no particular order by the way..........start work at 6.30am. Finish at 5.40pm. Work through break and lunch and if it can't be done during a full working day, then don't do it......because idiots are asking you to do the impossible.

NYR 4: stop working five hours every Sunday.

NYR 5: spend the weekend doing exciting things. Plan it a week in advance and spoil her indoors more......she deserves it.......take her out mid week after work (do people actually do that kind of thing? I've seen it done on the continent......but here in the UK? Wow!)

NYR 6: try to attend one dinghy cruising association rally this year.

NYR 7: do five 'Friday night launches' and camp on boards......returning Saturday afternoon so that you can then work five hours the next day because you know you are a teacher and NYR 4 is pie in the sky, wishful thinking! As is NYR 3. But Friday night camps.......well that is possible!

So in summary, eat less, move more, take the missus out frequently, sail often, do good things for others every day and stop being a boring workaholic fart! Now how hard can this be?

Happy New Year everyone. May you achieve all your resolutions and I hope 2017 brings you happiness, prosperity and fulfilment.

Steve