Validus of Boston MA at Cove Haven Marina

Pretty vessel waiting for warmer weather. Yes that's a thin glaze of ice near the stern.

Winter photography

Sailing vessel Aurora of Riverside, RI on the hard at Cove Haven Marina, January 9, 2009

1885 British screw schooner Amazon at Bristol RI Columbus Day 2009

Higher resolution images are available here

The British screw schooner Amazon was built at Southampton in 1885 from designs by the renowned Dixon Kemp. Kemp intended her to be fast and a good seaboat.

Carvel planked in teak and pitch pine on oak frames, with alternate wrought iron strap floor reinforcement, bronze fastenings, lead keel and copper sheathing, Amazon's survival reflects the high quality insisted upon at build - her hull is still largely original.

Her builder and first owner, Tankerville Chamberlayne, Esq., personally supervised her construction by his own 'Arrow Yard' at Northam on the River Itchen. This small non-commercial facility was established by the Chamberlayne family for the maintenance of the famous cutter Arrow (1822), which was adapted continuously and thereby kept racing competitively into the 1890s. Amazon's engine and boiler were supplied by the adjacent works works of Day, Summers and Company.

Amazon was used for summer cruising, to attend sailing regattas along the south coast of England, and to visit France. She was sold shortly after Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Royal Fleet Review in 1897 to a prominent French yachtsman an was based at St. Malo as Armoricain until 1900, when she returned to British ownership.

A new owner took her to London and after 52 years, her original engine and boiler were removed on her conversion to diesel in 1937. she became a houseboat in a west London Yacht Basin.

Arthur Lowe (1915 — 1982) an English actor best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army bought "Amazon" as a houseboat in 1968, but realized her potential and took her back to sea in 1971. He used Amazon as a floating base while touring coastal theaters, accompanied by his wife Joan. Amazon pursued a successful charter business in the 1980s, before migrating to the north of Scotland in 1990.

This unique vessel is currently registered in Guernsey, a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. I photographed her on Columbus day 2009 on a mooring near the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, RI.

References:
http://www.worldshiptrust.org/links.html
http://bygonederbyshire.co.uk/articles/Lowe,_Arthur

Short Video from Tuesday night Racing June 30

Matt Asaro's Quest 33 Cepheus before the BYC Cox series race.

Kayaks on Barrington River

There was a large group of kayaks out paddling on the Barrington River tonight.

Rescue from capsized center console off Newport RI Fri June 19

The front page of the June 20 Providence Journal featured a rescue story of a capsized center console with 2 men aboard off Brenton Point Friday morning.



One of the boaters reached shore on his own, after their 19 foot Grady White center console capsized in rough surf off Brenton Point. Two brave Newport police officers, Scott Moody and Joseph Lavallee, judged that the man who was still in the water didn't have much time. Rather than waiting for rescue crews, who were donning wetsuits at the scene, they dropped their belts and bulletproof vests, walked over slippery rocks into the 60 degree surf and swam to assist the exhausted victim. They tried to help him walk when they got closer to shore, but he could barely stand after 35 to 40 minutes in the water. The victims were treated for hypothermia at Newport Hospital. Neither of the boaters was wearing a life jacket.

more details on the story are on the Projo news blog:


Hats off to officers Moody and Lavallee!

A couple of summers ago, I witnessed a similar incident when a center console with 2 fishermen aboard capsized in breaking surf at nearby Kettlebottom rock. Fortunately in that incident, the two fishermen were picked up unharmed by a nearby boat (after the current washed them clear of the surf zone.) Boaters and fishermen need to be extremely cautious in these waters. When large ocean swells roll into the shallows around these reefs, dangerous breaking waves appear suddenly.

BYC Cox Series Tuesday Night racing June 16

We took 2nd place and are third overall in the series so far.