Grumpy skippers

I've finally got around to watching Three Men in Another Boat, starring Griff Rhys Jones, Dara O'Brian and Rory McGrath.

Its a great comedy-documentary about their adventure on Griff's classic yacht, Undina. as it sails from London to Cowes to join, Jospehine, Undina's sister ship.

As I watched Griff explaining nautical terms and sailing conventions to his inexperienced crew I saw many similarities in how I had been this summer with my 'new' crew.

'No, not like that', 'Yes I CAN see that big ship', 'Mind that BOUY!' and many other such essential Skipper shouting phrases that I realise Griff and I have in common.

Grumpy and stressed skippers aside, there was lots of lovely sailing sequences an amusing fly-by from the Dover Coastguard and a good look over what Griff's lovely yacht can do.

Undina is 'almost' lovely enough to turn my head from Shoestring, MW found it rather funny when Dara, comparing Undina to a newer Beneteau, said how cramped she was, if he'd only ever been on a wooden folkboat, Undia would have looked like a palace!

I have to agree with Griff's sentiment. 'Proper boats' are made from wood, the new ones with bathrooms, double cabins and kitchens are more like 'plastic shower cubicles with a pole attached'. -But still, all yachts are lovely!

You ca still catch Three Men in Another Boat on BBC iplayer for a few days.

Lack of news...

Mum in the forepeak, note the new Solva Pottery mugs. :0)

Since our last trip down to Shoestring, at the end of August, i've simply not had time to post any entries! Sorry!

We had a quick weekend away, with Mum and Shaun. Got in a good 1/2 day sail, and then explored more of Pembrokeshire. Shaun loved his surfing lesson with me on Broad Haven.

Still more leaks popping up in Shoestring's cabin roof... I may take drastic measures and epoxy everything!

Oddly, after our last post on feeling like 'Semi-Locals', and odder still since nearly a month has past from our last visit. Everything is going to change!

From the 1st October we're moving to Pembrokeshire! We're renting a wonderful converted barn in the Preseli mountains, only a half hour drive from Shoestring!

This also means that we'll be also living in London, as we both have work commitments, so our aim is to have a one week in London and one week in Pembrokeshire basis.

While in Wales, MW will be working on his handmade bicycle wheels -www.michael-ward.net and i'll be continuing to develop my design projects.

It also means we can fit more sailing in!

Historic logs

Thanks to Hannah Robinson and her mother Maggie for the kind extracts from the log-book of Mr H.J. Robinson -a former Shoestring co-owner with Dr Ellis.

Posted below are a couple of entries from the log-book, you may need to click on them to enlarge them to read.

May 15, 1983

The Rum situation

"Running out of Rum!"

Michael just commented on our rum supply status... This must mean its nearly time to go home... :0(

If you want to keep us here, please post bottles of Rum to:

Michael & Tony, Yacht Shoestring C/o Neyland Marina, Brunel Quay, Neyland, Pembrokeshire.

Well it's worth a try!

King and friends

As he seems to be the most popular crew member here's some shots of King's holiday with us in Pembrokeshire.

Broad Haven beach is still one his favorite places to look at things.

King's friend, Genie (Ju's dog) was slowly sinking into her bouyancy-aid to avoid helping with sailing.

King's favorite place while sailing in asleep on his bunk. -You may note he needs a whole bunk to himself! He does sometimes stick his head out of the companionway to check we're still there, or to complain when we change tack and heel over the other way.

The greatest ship on the sea.

Shoestring at Anchor outside Dunmore East harbour from Dominic

Since starting this site I've had some lovely emails from previous owners of Shoestring. Dominic whom I purchased her from sent me some photos and instructions on various aspects, and now reads this blog to check on her progress.

I've also had emails from Dr Ellis, who co-ownder her in 1980s with Dr Robinson, who's wife and daughter have been kind enough to send me some photocopies of her old ships logs.

Recently I've had Colin and Martin Hunt email in with stories of their exploits sailing on Shoestring and how much they admired her and are glad to see her still going.

Fortunately everyone approves of the new colour scheme and restoration work. -Note to all, still have the traditional Shoestring leaks in cabin roof! (Right above my bunk!)

It's great to get emails in from people whom sailed on her or owned her. Its something you don't get with a new yacht. There must be hundreds of little ships like Shoestring with their own histories and stories. Its probably my imagination but being a wooden yacht, and a Folkboat for that matter does lend itself to the belief that she's more unique than other boats.

Thank you to everyone that emailed in with your photos and stories. Please do keep in touch and please email more photographs if you have some. -I'll have to organise a 'get-together' cruise.

Best, Tony.

Last weekend

After too many work commitments got in the way we missed entering the Seafair! -I'll wait till the 2010 one now.

MW was working so I took the 'relief' crew. Amy and Nick. I also took King along as first dog. He loved the yacht, water, swans and generally anything that moved!



We arrived Friday evening to a warm-ish night, Amy and I made a point of finishing off a bottle of Sailor Jerry's that was in the cabinet. I also hooked up the battery chargers to the mains with our new cables.


Amy spoiling King.

Saturday morning we woke to rain and mist. We drove off to Dale for breakfast and then took King to his first time at the beach. He loved it! Trying to run and kick around, eventually pulling me into the sea with him.


Nick inspecting the ship

Nick arrived later on Saturday with his friend, we had dinner in Milford Haven then bed. Sunday, great weather; a quick look around the seafair, taking King to Broad Haven beach again, then the drive home.


King taking me for a paddle at Broad Haven beach.

A nice weekend really! -Still need to finish the painting and re-fitting but never mind there's always another weekend!

King joins the crew!

Meet King, the newest and friendliest member of Shoestring's crew!

King is a retired racing Greyhound from the Romford Trust for Retired Greyhounds, a division of the National Retired Greyhound Trust. He was well looked after and raced under the name of Bowmers King from 2001 until October 2007. He'll be visiting the yacht soon with his bed in tow to place between the cabin bunks on the floor, and during day time sailing he'll be keeping lookout in the cockpit. (Or sleeping on a bunk.)

The short video above is of a race at Walthamstow dog-track, King, (then Bowmers King) finished 4th in the race, and he is the one wearing a red coat with a number 1 on it. Despite coming fifth here, he won many races in first and second place in his long racing career. After spending more time racing than most other dogs this in no way affects his performance as a domestic pet, except he just wants to play and sleep all day! . Greyhounds make wonderful pets and apart from two to three long walks they mostly sleep all day.

If you are looking for a new dog at anytime, a greyhound may well be worth considering. There are many excellent books available together with a wealth of information on the internet.

Jester

Perhaps the most celebrated Folkboat so far, Jester, a folkboat heavily adapted by World War II hero Blondie Hasler. Jester had a carvel-planked Folkboat hull with an unusual deck arrangement with no cockpit or companionway and a single-masted junk rig.

Jester was the test-bed for many of Hasler's ideas such as the development of windvane self-steering gear. Jester could also be steered from below decks via a whipstaff. All sail handling could be performed from a central hatch without going on deck.



Blondie Hasler sailed Jester in the 1960 and 1964 single-handed transatlantic races and in every following single-handed transatlantic race with her second owner, Michael Richey.

During the 1988 race, Jester was abandoned at sea after damage during a storm. A duplicate of the original Jester was built with cold-molded construction to continue the tradition of her participation.

There is now also the Jester Challenge, a self-supported single handed race in yachts around Jester's size and displacement. Information on the 2008 Challenge can be found on their website.

Fun at low tide

A quick photo of Michael pushing the trolley up the pontoon ramp at Neyland on a low-tide. Inside it is not only our tender -a post about that soon, but paddles, clothes, food, water and the like. In my defense I was carrying the camera and the dry-bag... :0)

Home again

Just home from another weekend spent in Neyland. Very productive, and expect to see some photographs added later on.

We fixed on the newly re-painted dodgers, striped back some of the white paint to bare wood then vanished, then we re-painted her decks. (HUGE CHANGE!)

You'll see later on we've got a lot left to do, but a very productive weekend. We spent the whole car journey back to London (280 miles) discussing if we should move her closer to home. Except then we'll miss out on the lovely sailing area, the islands and trips to Scilly, Lundy, and North Cornwall that the Milford Haven offers.

More later.

Too much work so little free time

Bit quiet on here at the moment as we've all been busy with work, nevermind, give it a few weeks and i'll be vanishing off to Neyland for a weeks sailing and maintenance.

I've found some great articles on Folkboats out there on the electro-web so i'll send some links to these here soon.

Updates

MW though the companionway (where its warm)

We've just updated some of the other pages on this site, notably the "about Shoestring" pages
with a bit more information and some technical details about the Folkboat design. You can read this page by clicking "about Shoestring" from the menu on the right.

Actually sailing ?

I'm getting restless. Its nearly the end of March and the weather is still yet to become "properly spring". We're taking my Mum and 5 year old brother, Shaun, with us to Neyland tomorrow, we'll hoping that Sunday the weather will be there to take Shoestring out for a sail... yes really with sails up and everything!

We will be back on Monday/Tuesday next week so i'll make sure that photos go up this time, no doubt with a few more stories of our adventures.

You may also notice i've added a few more links in the side bar to other sailor's websites and blogs, naturally with a Folkboat slant, but ones I think are entertaining and interesting to read. If you have time please do check them out.

A few site updates

We've just tweaked the site a little, hopefully improving the layout and making it easier for you to find your way around and read all about our adventures and reviews. Just added a new image for you, not sure if I've posted this one before, it's Milford-Haven Lock again, from the 'first adventure'.

Please do email or comment with any problems or comments on the new layout.

A spare day in Pembrokeshire

Saturday:
Saturday morning we slept in, MW got the Taylors paraffin cooker going to make tea, while we had cereal.

We used the showers and decided what to do for the day. We ended up deciding to retrieve the car from Milford Haven, and also get a coffee from the chandlery at Neyland. -We also stopped off to say hello to Mrs Haynes at the chandlers, who was very pleased to hear we had arrived to Neyland successfully.

We got advice from the café regarding busses to Milford Haven and set off into the town. Although there are no cash-points in Neyland you can get cash-back from the Co-Operative mini-market.

The bus to Milford Haven runs hourly, and was very reasonable at £1.50 per person. We arrived after a senic and enjoyable bus ride to collect the car.

We spent the rest of the day exploring nearby Pembroke Dock. -A town on the opposite side of the Cleddau to Neyland, but as large as Milford Haven. We prefer it as it has many more useful shops.

I spent the remainder of the day testing and adjusting the lazy jacks on the mainsail, and fixing a broken halyard.

In the evening MW made homemade beef burgers with vegetables with Welsh cakes for desert.

With still no sign of the wind or rain we had a slow evening spent onboard reading and listening to the radio.

Just got back

We had a great weekend!   - Shoestring's now birthed at Neyland Marina!

Sadly we had to sleep in the car last night though because of The STORMS oh well.  I'll blog a proper summary later.

Off again tonight

We're off to Pembrokeshire tonight to stay on-board and hopefully move her to Neyland Marina tomorrow morning (6am high-tide!)

So while were away here's some photos of our lovely folkboat for you to look at.

It doesn't come out too well, but the clock is engraved with 'Shoestring'


MW asks for more tea.


The (nearly finished) refit on the navigation area. -New chartplotter installed, I've retained the older Apello GPS as a back-up. We're going to put a folding chart-table in over and under this soon.
We also had a couple of visitors stop by in the Marina to say hello.
And this was while stuck in the lock for 6 hours before the now famous pirouette.

I'm taking the camera again this weekend so i'll make sure we photograph and further adventures. (and give a report of the journey from Milford Haven to Neyland.

Stuff onboard

Im going to use the cooker and toilet lots this weekend and write here exactly how they both work as we didnt find anything that really helped online to tell us how they worked.

The cooker is a Taylors 029 and the toilet is a Lavac, I dont know the model.

Monday!

The other half and I are going to down to see her in Milford Dock Marina for a quick check over and finish the handover paperwork. We've been wandering around shops looking (and dreaming) of all the clothing, equipment, ropes, compasses and additions we can throw at her, remembering we can't afford it all yet!

While looking around for research we found some great articles on Folkboats such as This one, on folkboat atlantic.

The Log...

Hello.

I'm just setting this site up at the moment, but soon we'll be posting extracts from the log book from our new (old) Yacht, Shoestring.

We're not ambitious or even overly experienced sailors, but we aim to simply have some fun sailing our 26ft (8 meter) Wooden Folkboat. Our home port for the moment is Milford Haven Marina on the Pembrokeshire coast, Wales.

Come back soon as we develop this more.

Shoestring: a traditional wooden Folkboat

Shoestring a classic wooden Folkboat. This page is a brief overview of her technical and design abilities.

As side from her current adventures and some of those with her previous owner, Dom, not much is known to us about Shoestring's history, being an "old gal" her origins, how she come from the yard in East Germany in the 70s over to the UK is unknown.

After a bit of research we know a little more, for instance on the Irish Sea Folkboat association's website, (see links section), we know that in 1987 she won the Manx Millennium Trophy for best cruising Folkboat, skippered by H. J. Robinson & R. N. W. Ellis. Other than that her full history is only known to her.

We're told her name comes from the origional owners, two irish brothers who were cobblers, hence the name Shoestring. And was originally moored at Dunmore East harbour.

The Daughter of Mr Robinson, has been in touch, and is hopefully going to try and pass on some more details about her from those days.

Built/Launched: 1969 (estimated)
Designed: 1942
Designer: Tord Sunden, Sweden
Builders: Elkboon, East Germany
Length overall: 7.6m (26'1")
Length at Waterline: 6.0m (19'8")
Beam: 2.2m (7'3")
Draft Min: 1.0m (3'3")
Draft Max: 1.2m (3'11")
Displacement: 2,150kg (4,740.8lbs)
Sail area: 214sq ft
Rig: Bermudan
Auxilary: Beta Marine inboard diesel

Equipment:
Compass
Speed, Log
Echo sounder
DSC VHF
Apello GPS (Back up)
Standard Horizon GPS Chartplotter (Cmap Max Superwide atlantic charts)
T2000 Autopilot
Clock
Barometer
Navigation, running & anchor lights
Auto and manual bilge pumps
Cone and Ball
Drinks cabinet!

Sails:
Mainsail
Storm job
Working Jib 1 (green bag)
Working Jib 2 (red bag)
Genoa
Spinnaker (with aluminum pole)

About us: The yacht Shoestring

Shoestring is a small wooden Folkboat based on the South Wales Coast. We sail around the Milford Haven, River Cleddau, Pembrokshire islands and coast, and sometimes as far as Lundy, Cornwall and Ireland.

This site is the story of her adventures, it is part log-book, part diary and part magazine. Together with our diary pages we'll also being throwing in reviews and information on everything that is involved in keeping our little wooden yacht afloat.

Your crew are:

TM, the Skipper.
Tony is a designer and artist. Together with running Shoestring is a designer, consultant and artist. As an expert in inclusive design he often lectures in universities and colleges around the world on the social and political implications of communication design. You can see more about his work at: www.tony-malone.com

MW, First Mate.
Michael makes sure that together with sailing well, Shoestring also looks great. Often found fiddling with ship-board projects or sampling the drinks cabinet, often at the same time. He is also a freelance Stage Manager, working at both RADA and the Royal Opera House, and when he has more free time he can be found working Witcomb Cycles hand-crafting bicycles.

Jayne, Head of Galley and the Drinks Cabinet
The mother of half the crew, Jayne makes sure that together with wearing warm coats and keeping safe, that we are also well fed and stocked with tea. -Proving that MW lights the paraffin cooker. Jayne is also the Marketing Manager for a watersports and leisure company.

Shaun, Look Out
The youngest crew member, at 5 years old, Shaun attends Gorden School in Medway and is also very keen on Rugby, Cycling, Football and Swimming. He's very happy onboard, providing he can sit on deck.

Terry, Crew and acting 1st Mate when needed.
As a professional carpenter Terry's skills often get called upon with a wooden boat, however Terry is also a keen canoeist and cyclist.

Dr Ju and Julie, Crew and Acting Skipper when needed.
Ju is probably the most experienced sailor aboard, having a lot of sailing experience with various charities such as the Tideway Centre in London. Ju joins the crew occasionally as crew or as Skipper.

Contact us

If you would like to get in contact with us, please email us at crew@yachtshoestring.co.uk


Advertising
We do allow advertising on this site, as all proceeds go towards maintaining Shoestring and keeping her afloat. Please email us for details.


Media and press information
For all press related information, please use the email address above with 'press' in the subject line.

The Adventures of Shoestring is a privately run publication and all copyrights are held by the authors / publishers. Content of all external links is the responsibility of the relevant site owners.