View from the Itchen

It has been a wonderful week from a weather point of view: sunny, almost cloudless skies.  The barometer has been way up.  I have been busy with appointments ashore in Southampton, so no sailing was possible, but I have been working on Toucando's plumbing systems to make sure they do what they are supposed to.

On Friday I took the Red Jet over to Cowes for the Committee meeting of the Solent Gaffers.  There was a lot of talk about how terrible the summer had been.  Numerous events had been cancelled or curtailed as a result of high winds, not to mention people's cruising plans.  I guess we have to try to make best use of the autumn weekends.  Mike and Dan Shaw (respectively the national and local presidents of the Old Gaffers) remembered when they saw Toucando being built.  They were circumnavigating Great Britain on Susan J, their 28' Falmouth Working Boat and had called in at Howth.  David and Barry invited them up the hill to see Toucando taking shape.  They had enjoyed they stop in Howth. I am continually meeting people who had known Toucando in her former life, and all have fond memories.

I have added some pictures  to the earlier blog entry: http://toucando.blogspot.com/2011/09/windy-weekend.html ... thanks to Michele for providing them.

And as an extra treat here is a link to a Youtube clip of Falmouth Working Boats racing during Falmouth Week 2010.  Local bylaws require that oyster dredging in the Fal estuary is done under sail, hence the continuing demand for working boats.  Many of those in the clip are wooden, but they are also made with GRP hulls.  Toucando is a larger version of the working boat, and the similarity in hull shape and sail plan is clear.  Now, wouldn't it be great to get some footage of Toucando sailing like that?  All we need is someone with a video camera and a rib... and a decent summer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA3f5RGuVf8&feature=related