In the wake of the Swallows and Amazons: Sailing down Coniston Water to Wild Cat Island
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ค. 2024
- Join me in full Swallows and Amazons mode for a breezy sail down Coniston Water in the Cornish Coble 'Sea Bear', a sightseeing tour and pilgrimage to the Arthur Ransome books which inspired me, and thousands of others, to learn to sail.
We start close to the jetties and boathouses below Bank Ground Farm, which became the model for Holly Howe, and sail down the lake to circumnavigate Peel Island. Can we call it Wild Cat Island?...
I've made this quite a long 'edit', so you can choose to come with me for a large chunk of the voyage, or use the chapter headings below to skip to 'Swallows and Amazons' moments, or 'Voyage notes' when I have something else to say about the sailing.
0:00 Intro
0:49 Swallows and Amazons: Lanehead and Bank Ground Farm, or Holly Howe
3:30 Voyage notes: Timings, and why didn't I reef straight away?!
7:15 Voyage notes: Sea Bear's speed
10:45 Swallows and Amazons: Gondola, or Captain Flint's houseboat
15:30 Voyage notes: Deciding to reef
19:20 Coming ashore to reef
23:22 Close encounter with the Coniston Launch
25:00 Voyage notes: Adjustments after reefing
26:18 Swallows and Amazons: Sea Bear's name, and The Heald
27:06 Just sailing!
41:37 Swallows and Amazons: Kanchenjunga and High Topps
42:17 Voyage notes: Shifting wind
46:58 Swallows and Amazons: Peel Island - is it Wild Cat Island?
50:11 Rounding Peel Island's southern point
50:42 Voyage notes: Concealed rocks
51:08 Promise to return
51:39 Farewell to the Sea Bear
For more info on Arthur Ransome, try these links as well as The Arthur Ransome Group on Facebook...
arthur-ransome-trust.org.uk/
arthur-ransome.org/
www.allthingsransome.net
nancyblackett.org
There are now several books about how Swallows and Amazons came to be written, and about explorations in search of the locations. I'm very glad my school library stocked this one for me to discover, aged 11. It is still the one I would recommend first.
christinahardyment.co.uk/book...
Music from Epidemic Sound www.epidemicsound.com/
Jon Bjork: Just Like Paradise
#dinghycruising #sailingadventures #sailing #swallowsandamazons #arthurransome #lakedistrict #stsbyoutube
Lovely looking boat, and plenty of flex in her mast 😮😁
It’s impossible to get much tension in the rig, so the leeward shroud will always be quite loose when sailing upwind in a breeze, if that’s what you spotted?! 🙂
Just been making my way through your previous videos and thoroughly enjoyed this one due to my love of the Arthur Ransome books.
I was actually going to comment on your Norfolo Broads video that Coot Club/Big Six might be potentially books (when your children are a bit older) that might spark an interest in sailing on the Broads.
Admitedly they are of a bygone time, but that was the case for me when I read them in the 80's 😊
Thanks Sean, glad you liked it. I am definitely hoping that the Arthur Ransome books will help with enthusiasm levels for sailing adventures in my family in the coming years! I think that although in some ways they are of their period, in most ways their appeal is timeless, and I have some friends whose kids are getting hooked on them right now. We will be getting started soon… 🤞
Cracking video J.! Sailing and history of a story we all enjoy ! Iain
Thanks Iain! Hopefully more Swallows and Amazons related videos after our Lakes trip next year 🤞🙂
Really enjoying this sail along the lake. Reading the books as a kid I imagined the lake to be more expansive. Thanks for taking us along. I noticed also that the standing lug main is backwinded by the full jib when conditions are such that the mainsheet is eased. This is something I have observed on my own boat. I think that furling the jib, even partly, while moving the centre of effort forward, may allow the main to work more efficiently. Something you may not have to worry about on Tarka.
I think the lake of the books, which is possibly best described as semi-fictional, probably is meant to be more expansive. Windermere is much bigger of course but still too long and thin. Good point re the jib - partially furling it was definitely not an option I had considered - I’d never seen it done. I think I will persevere with Tarka’s furler, so I will experiment with reefing it with the furler at some point. Sea Bear’s rig should theoretically be pretty inefficient in all sorts of ways - the main being loose-footed of course means that when you ease it for a gust, the foot gets more depth and so more power and more drag - not ideal. Despite all that, I’m always really impressed by how well she sails!
Thank you for this long video. It seems as if you were not realy alone on the water : a passenger boat (?), canoés, sailing boats from far.
A little detail : my small sail and oar boat is a Northumbrian Coble !🙂 (Selway Fischer 12.5).
Glad you liked it! Yes there were plenty of people out and about in boats, but a sailing boat was the best choice on that day I think! A Northumbrian Coble sounds more ‘proper’ than a Cornish Coble I think, as they orignated from NE England I believe? The Cornish Crabbers co. have done a great job with their Coble-based design though - I’ve been so impressed with Sea Bear. Just not so great for camping!
Have you tried staying onboard with a tent ? I have a mid '70s coble by Westerly boats before they became Cornish Crabbers . Hoping to try camping this summer on her. Great video !
Do you still have your Westray 16?
Yes I do, Tarka is still at the boatbuilders at the moment making sure she is in good shape for the new season. Hopefully she'll be back and on the water soon!
The reason I ask is that I am interested in the Westray. I have followed your posts since buying Tarka last year - I was also interested in her at the time - and wonder what sort of repairs or improvements you are having done? I have heard about problems with rot to the fore and side decks and also your problem with leaking buoyancy tanks. Any information that you can help with regarding points to look at when inspecting a Westray would be much appreciated. Many thanks.@@joelwalker81
Apologies - I didn’t spot this comment at the time you posted it. Hopefully recent videos have answered some of your questions! Interesting that you’d heard of rot to the decks being a problem. The boatbuilder said he thought she had been re-decked, but maybe the ply is original. Decision to be made over re-decking later this year. Maintenance aside, I love the boat, feels like she uses her interior space much more effectively than other similar size cruising dinghies, and performance seems quite good 🙂