The Pennant SPRING 2003
Ray Ford on "Moonraker" (full story)
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The Pennant SPRING 2003 | |||||||||||||
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CLUB MATTERSThe mooring meeting The mooring meeting was held on the January 22nd and went off very smoothly as usual. The Commodore asked for volunteers to come forward to become event secretaries and take the responsibility for organising one event this season. A number of people have come forward but more are needed and will be appreciated.
The AGMThe AGM went of very well with 82 members in attendance and with the following new rules being enacted:
Bye Law 1.1a The General Committee recommends that the Annual Subscription be £125 plus the donation to the RNLI . Proposed by R. Lynbeck, seconded by J. Coventry. Carried unanimously.
6.4a There will be two official launch and recovery dates proposed by the committee. The charge for use of the clubs lifting equipment for yachts weighing up to 4 tonnes will be £30.00 for each launch or recovery. The charge for yachts over 4 tonnes will be seven pounds (£7.00) per tonne. Proposed by J Warrington: Seconded by G Cox. After Brief discussion and clarification the motion was carried.
6.4c The charge for use of the clubs lifting equipment outside of the official dates, other than in an emergency, will carry an additional penalty of £20.00, making a total of £50.00 for a non emergency recovery or launch. Proposed by J Warrington: Seconded by G Cox. After brief discussion the motion was carried.
6.14 That members with more than one Yacht on site be charged storage fees at the rate of fifteen pounds (£15.00) for the second craft per calendar month or part thereof, unless the vessel is for sale in which case the charge will be waived for the first 12 months. Proposed by J Warrington: Seconded by G Cox. After brief discussion and a small amendment the motion was carried.
Authorised operatorsMembers are reminded that only authorised drivers may operate the clubs equipment such as the winch, tractors or the wise lifter. This is a safety matter and should be taken on board by all members. You could be personally responsible for any loss, damage or injury if this rule is not adhered to. | |||||
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Club News
Jim Warrington was awarded the RYA community award after being nominated by the club, here is his story of the award night.
Last year I was surprised and honoured to have the NUSC put my name forward as a nomination for a RYA Community Award. I was even more delighted when I received a letter from the RYA accepting the club's nomination. Included was an invitation for Eirlys and myself to attend the RYA Community Awards ceremony. The RYA regards these awards as the MBE's of boating and they have three categories, services to training, services to racing and services to a club. I was pleased to see my name in the last category, my efforts in the others leaves me short of the mark. The invitation also informed us that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal would be attending the RYA AGM in her capacity as the RYA President. The AGM was arranged for later in the day and with the slim possibility of an introduction a haircut, pressed trousers and clean shirt were a must.
On the day we travelled to London. A brisk walk from the Kensington tube station bought us the Commonwealth Institute Conference Centre. After a warm welcome from Mr George Clark chairman of the Council we were ushered to our table for lunch. There were a dozen people on our table, and I would guess at around 15 tables. In fact over forty awards were presented for the various categories. Mr George Clark sat at our table and we quickly found common ground since he sails the Bristol Channel. I found the people fascinating in expressing their passion for the sport. During the meal I sat next to Pam Donald, a wonderful woman from the Seaview Sailing Club on the I.O.W. Now in her eighties she still showed great enthusiasm and involvement for her club. She was so busy with the war (ammunitions) and later teaching youngsters to dingy sail that marriage had to wait until she was fifty. At seventy she took up flying and obtained her license. She also told me that originally Seaview was two words, but changed to one when telegrams were charged on the number of words sent.
George Clark presented the awards. A certificate and a medallion marked the occasion. The ceremony lasted for over an hour and during that time I reflected back on my thirty years with the NUSC. During that time I have met and worked with some fantastic people. Obviously when you get such a pool of talent you get the odd batty one coming to the surface, but that's the NUSC.
COED Y MORWYR
The tree project initiated by Doug McCloud is coming along nicely with some of the faster growing varieties already about 5 ft tall. A few have been lost to rabbits and other natural accretion but the majority are doing well. Doug is hoping to contact the ordinance survey people and register the name of the copse as Coed y Morwyr or Mariners wood. When mature the trees will create a beautiful habitat, I hope that we will all still be here to enjoy them when they are. (With thanks to Ivor Preece for help with the Welsh spelling). | |||||
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RYA Training requirements
Regulations that come into force next year will require all RYA training establishments to be equiped with computers to enable instructors to carry out the new electronic navigation elements of the syllabus. The regulation will require all establishments to have at least one computer for every three trainees. To this end negotiations with a local computer company have been ongoing and a reasonable price agreed for the number of units we will require. The training officers are currently trying to ascertain an exact minimum hardware requirement for the units before we proceed. As the computers will not need sound cards, modems or printer outputs and nothing more advanced than basic windows 98 software the cost will be very low and hopefully the units will not be worth stealing as they will be all but useless for anything other than Navigation exercises. Mark Crew suggests that leaving them where all members could get at them and try their hand at the exercises may be worthwhile and at least ensure that they are well used.
The Pennant online
This issue of the Pennant should be available online in living colour on the club web page, we think we have cracked the technology so go to www.nusc.co.uk to find it. Those members who have given me their email addresses will get it through the mail. Please let us know if something goes wrong with your copy. Please remember that I can't do this alone and am going to need articles from you if the Pennant is to survive. Please let me have anything you think the other members may find interesting, informative or amusing. I can take items in most formats and on floppy, CD or via email to secretary@nusc.co.uk. If you send photographs please send only in jpeg format and try to ensure the whole email is less that 1mb. The club web page is excellent and the webmaster (Chris Harris) has done a grand job and deserves our congratulations, You can contact the webmaster on Remember it's your web page so support it. | ||||
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The original design perspective view of the hull shown above gives the impression of the underside of a dolphin with the keels like two pectoral fins and the smooth sweep to the tail like rudder. One of the best features is the trolley system that allows the outboard motor to be retracted into a securable locker, a slight deterrent to the light fingered community who might not be tempted to spend time forcing the cover when more obvious and easier targets are available.
Under most points of sail Moonraker handles well and will tack and gybe easily, even when moving fairly slowly, she also "heaves to" almost without effort as Ray demonstrated to me once. Under engine power the boat handles smoothly and carries way for a surprising distance when the power is removed.
Below decks the finish is a well balanced combination of mainly nice looking wood and the plastic there is doesn't spoil the effect, a basic galley with table, seating and two quarter berths in the main cabin and a small bed and toilet in the forward cabin. There is plenty of storage space for additional sails and equipment. All in all a nice little boat.
The other 25 in the club "Tigger" was refurbished very professionaly by Howard Bull before being sold to Steve Lane.
The boat proved quite a winner for the Westerly organisation who were based in Waterlooville in Hampshire and ran level with the huge success of the Centaur for a few years. Their later attempt with the Griffon was a bit of a disaster and was never accepted warmly by the boating community. In the early 90's Westerly attempted to revamp their slightly flagging fortunes with a new version of the 25 based more closely on the Centaur although experts said at the time that there was no comparison.
NOTE: If you have a good photo of your boat and a bit of history let me have it for a feature please. | |||||||
Some of the details in this article were plagiarised from various sources. For those who are into the internet there are Westerly owners web sites in the UK. U.S.A. Holland and many more as well as the official company site. | |||||||
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Nelson Loses battle of TrafalgerAnyone who thought that Nelson won the Battle of Trafalgar should read this contemporary French account published in the newspaper " Le Moniteur" at the time. NELSON KILLED IN DUEL WITH VILLENEUVE! ENGLISH FLEET DESTROYED AT TRAFALGAR.
Head Quarters, Cadiz, Oct. 25 The operations of the Imperial Navy mirror in the Atlantic those of the grand Imperial Army in Germany. The English fleet is annihilated - Nelson is no more. Indignant at being inactive in Port, while our brave brothers in arms were gaining laurels in Germany, Admirals Villeneuve and Gravina resolved to put to sea and give the English a fight. They were superior in number, 45 to our 33, but what is that, to men determined to fight and win. Nelson did everything to avoid a battle, he attempted to enter the Mediterranean, but we chased him, and caught him off Trafalgar. The French and Spaniards vied with each other to get into action first. Admiral's Villeneuve and Gravina were both anxious to lay their ships alongside the Victory, the English Admiral's ship. Fortune, so constant always to the Emperor, did not favour either of them - the Santissima Trinidad was the fortunate ship. In vain did the English Admiral try to avoid action but the Spanish Admiral Oliva prevented his escape, and lashed his vessel to the English flagship. The English ship was one of 186 guns; the Santissima Trinidad was but a 74. Lord Nelson adopted a new system, afraid of meeting us in the old way, in which he knows we have superiority of skill, as we proved by our victory over Sir Robert Calder. He attempted a new mode of fighting. For a short time he confused us, but what can confuse his Imperial Majesty's navy for long? We fought yard-arm to yard-arm, gun to gun. Three hours did we fight in this manner, the English began to be dismayed: they found it impossible to resist us, but our brave sailors were tired of this slow means of gaining a victory and decided to board her, their cry was "al'abordage." Their courage was irresistible. | |||||||||
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Admiral Horatio Nelson, Killed in a duel by Villeneuve. | |||||||||
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At that moment two ships, one French and one Spanish, boarded the Temeraire. The English fell back in astonishment and fright. We rushed to the flag-staff and struck their colours. All were so anxious to be the bearers of the news to their own ship, that they jumped overboard and the English ship, by this unfortunate act by our brave sailors and their allies, was able, by the assistance of two more ships that came to her assistance, to make her escape only to sink later. Meanwhile Nelson still resisted. It was now a race to see who should first board and have the honour of taking him; French or Spanish. Two Admirals on each side disputed the honour and boarded his ship at the same moment. Villeneuve flew on to the quarter-deck and with the usual generosity of the French, he carried a brace of pistols in his hands. He knew the Admiral had lost his arm, and could not use his sword so he offered a pistol to Nelson, they fought, and at the second shot Nelson fell. He was immediately carried below. Oliva, Gravina, and Villeneuv attended him with the accustomed French humanity. Meanwhile 15 English ships of the line had struck, four more were obliged to follow their example and another blew up. - Our victory was now complete, and we prepared to take possession of our prizes, but the elements were by this time unfavourable to us and a dreadful storm came on. Gravina made his escape to his own ship at the beginning of it but the Commander in Chief, Villeneuve, and the Spanish Admiral, were unable to do this and remained on board the Victory. The storm was long and dreadful but our ships being so well manoeuvred, rode out the gale. The English, being so much more damaged, were driven ashore, and many of them were wrecked. At length when the gale ceased, 13 of the French & Spanish line returned safely to Cadiz; the other 20 have, no doubt, gone to some other ports and will soon be reported. We shall repair our damage as speedily as possible and then go again in pursuit of the enemy, and afford them more proof of our determination to wrest from them the Empire of the Seas, and to comply with his Imperial Majesty's demand of Ships, Colonies and Commerce. Our loss was trifling while that of the English was immense. We have, however, to lament the absence of Admiral Villeneuve, whose courage carried him beyond the strict bounds of prudence, and, by boarding the English Admiral's ship, prevented him from returning to his own. Having acquired so decisive a victory we wait with impatience the Emperor's order to sail to the enemies shore, destroy the rest of his navy, and thus complete the triumphant work we have so brilliantly begun. And you all thought you knew the story of Trafalgar. The British version of the battle, that took place on October 21 1805 states that Nelson (died) and Collingwood defeated the French and Spanish under Villeneuve, capturing over half of the enemy vessels for the loss of no British ships.
The article above is courtesy of the Historical Maritime Society (HMS) who's web page is a fabulous mine of information for anyone interested in the history of seafaring, it can be located through the UK Sailing index web page, historical studies. I will serialise the articles on there in each new edition of the pennant. I can't wait to get to the one entitled "What women did on board".
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"Playtime" in Ireland, 2002
By Hugh Amos
Did having a different and somewhat bigger boat mean that this year we should try to go further? We had kept our previous boat for a month last year in Neyland and had enjoyed exploring the Haven very much. Was Ireland (despite its Euros) now calling? We knew that the club cruise was going to west Wales, and by chance this year we were free at roughly the same time. So we thought we might go west with the NUSC cruisers and decide in Milford where to go next.
But we had to leave a day after them and, although we heard of them "going to Ilfracombe" (seemed unlikely) and "anchoring off Caldey" (probably correct), we didn't see them until we were all in Milford marina. The weather was fine, and the forecast promising. So, although Solva sounded attractive, we decided to go and see if we could find any leprechauns.
So, down to Dale for the night, and then off at 0530 with no wind but a calm sea and bright sun. We tried to sail in mid-morning when there seemed a touch more wind. But there was no strength in it, it was NW anyway, and we did not want to arrive late on a falling tide at St Patrick's Bridge. So we motored on. . .
There were fog patches off and on during the day, but it was not until we got within about ten miles of Carnsore Point that it got really thick. When the GPS told us we had reached Black Rock buoy, visibility was down to 100 metres or so, and we could see no buoy anywhere. At this point my doubts about the value of radar to us amateur sailors were totally overcome - the buoy showed up bright and clear on the screen, half a mile to the north. We found it easily (and much more quickly than by the otherwise necessary quartering) - and coming towards it from the east was another Fulmar (from Porthmadog, as we later discovered). . .We slowly felt our way through the fog to St Patrick's Bridge, and when we radioed the Kilmore Quay harbourmaster to say we could find only a starboard-hand buoy, he cheerily replied, "Oh, sure, don't worry, we've got the red one here"! But he did come out of the harbour to show us in, since we could see nothing of the breakwater until we were 100 metres from it, and we wanted to avoid hitting any of the Lings. | |||||||
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We were rafted 5 out for the first night (how misleading is the photo in the Irish Sailing Directions!), but shared Glenfiddich with the other Fulmar crew, ate in a noisy, full and cheerful pub - and were rather pleased to be in Ireland. After a day of late rising and wandering in the sun, we went on the next day (when the fog had lifted) to Dunmore East. A distinct lack of welcome in the harbour, as well as the presence of lots of fishing boats, persuaded us to go out and pick up a mooring in the bay. It was alive with Optimists, Topazes and Lasers - all, it seemed, being sailed by children under 10, who were being looked after (very professionally) by 17-year olds in RIBs! Ashore, WHSC were very helpful (and do excellent toasted sandwiches) and were happy for us to stay on the mooring.
The next day in a brisk NW4/5 we went a few miles up the harbour, had some good sailing off Creadon Head, hove-to for lunch, and got back in time for supper and Irish music in one of the pubs. We had wondered about trying to reach Crosshaven but decided that we might run out of time. So up to Waterford it was - but it rained incessantly on the way (only 2 out of 5 of us on deck, and the discovery that Admiralty charts don't much like getting very wet), and we were glad to tie up on the (new) Harbour Commissioner's pontoon west of, and cheaper than, the (Corporation) marina a little downstream.
A couple of pleasant days in a sunny Waterford included a visit to the Waterford Glass factory (excellent tour and good food), an evening of Irish music and dancing, friends to tea on the boat, and Guinnesses for some of us. On our way back to Dunmore East we passed "The World", moored near the mouth of the river Barrow (and wondered why people pay millions for a floating "apartment" to see a pleasant but not very striking green corner of Ireland). Back in the pub in Dunmore East in the afternoon, we watched Waterford play in the (terrifying) All-Ireland Hurling Championships semi-final - and get beaten (to great local despair!) | |||||||
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The next day, after a disturbed and windy night (the wind veered NW and came whistling through a gap in the surrounding hills, and so we got up and put an extra rope on the mooring), we went back to Kilmore Quay - sailing for the whole of 25 minutes. . .
We had hoped to go back across to Milford Haven the following day (August 13th), but winds that sounded a bit fierce for us (SW 5-7) kept us in Kilmore Quay for two more days. Our caution (cowardice?!) was perhaps justified by an RNLI launch on the first day, maroons, running figures, trailer launch, the lot. There seemed trouble with a fishing boat (MOB?) a couple of miles off shore, but we did not discover any more. We explored Wexford on a rather damp and grey day (by bus and on foot), went to the Irish St Fagan's (by taxi), and came back to spend a happy hour holding a large charter yacht that had just arrived from Milford Haven off our stern, throwing fenders across the harbour to haul his bow into the strong wind, and generally feeling glad we hadn't crossed ourselves. He sent a bottle of wine across in thanks for our efforts!
The strongish winds persisted the next day, but on the 15th we woke to a WSW4, fine weather, sun, blue sky. So off we went, despite a W-running tide for the first two hours, and discovered that rollers persist after the wind that caused them has dropped. This didn't worry the porpoises who kept us company, but most of us felt queasy. . .Still, we managed to sail for four hours or so before the breeze began to drop, and then we realised that at 4 knots we would not get to Milford Haven in time. So we motor-sailed the rest of the way, the only tricky time being between Skomer and Skokholm, where the overfalls did not seem to be where the chart showed them. We had a somewhat scary half hour (even putting in washboards), but then a gentle evening run into the Haven and into the marina in the dark.
So ended our first trip to Ireland. And, despite now knowing that (a) Irish facilities are not yet as good as we have on this side of St George's Channel and (b) Irish fishing boats are much more in evidence (and bigger?) than those in South Wales, we'd like to go again -on to Cork (or even further!).
Anyone prepared to give me more articles like this? They will be appreciated.and A few more one liners worth remembering.
Why do psychics have to ask your name? I couldn't fix your brakes, so I made your horn louder. The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach. What happens if you get scared half to death twice? 42.7% of statistics are made up on the spot. 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name. If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. Borrow money from pessimists, they don't expect it back. A fool and his money are soon partying. | ||||
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Obviously blonde.Two blondes were walking down the street and one of them see's a powder compact on the floor. She picks it up and opens it, looking in the mirror she says to her friend "I know this woman" Her friend takes the compact looks in the mirror and says "of course you do, it's me".
Shakespeare walks into a pub, the barman says "Oi! You, get out, yer barred".
A man enters a barber shop for a shave. While the barber is foaming him up, he mentions the problems he has had getting a close shave around the cheeks. "I have just the thing," says the barber taking a small wooden ball from a nearby drawer. "Just place this between your cheek and gum." The client placed the ball in his mouth, and the barber proceeded with the closest shave the man had ever experienced. After a few strokes, the client asked in garbled speech. "And what if I swallow it?" "No problem," said the barber. "Just bring it back tomorrow like everyone else does!
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon." In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating that if GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics: 1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day. 2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car. 3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this. 4. Occasionally, executing a manoeuvre such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine. 5. Only one person at a time could use the car unless you bought "CarNT", but then you would have to buy more seats. 6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would only run on five percent of the roads. 7. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "General Protection Fault" warning light. 8. New seats would force everyone to have the same sized butt. 9. The airbag system would ask "are you sure?" Before deploying. 10. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna. 11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (Now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the cars performance to diminish by 50% or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Dept. 12. Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car. 13. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn off the engine. | |||||
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The anker yanker | |||||||||
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Whilst watching an Australian fishing program on television early in the new year I was impressed with a device they showed that I have never seen before called the anchor yanker. The device was simple enough, a buoy large enough to lift the anchor to the surface mounted to a large metal loop about four inches diameter. The metal loop could be opened and closed with a simple shackle type link as illustrated in (1). I understand these have been used by the fishing fraternity for some time. The idea of this device was that when you are ready to lift your anchor you place the loop over the anchor rope and drop the buoy into the water. You then motor forward around the anchor (not over it), this creates a loop in the rope as shown in (2) so dropping the buoy to it's apex. As you pass the anchor the buoy is dragged under, pulling the anchor free and the boats motion pulls the line and short length of chain through the buoys loop lifting the anchor until it is hanging just under the buoy. In the demonstration the device worked perfectly although I felt that it might not work so well if a lot of chain were attached to the anchor or if the boats speed were insufficient. | |||||||||
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This set me thinking, I remembered a good pal, now sadly gone, who was so terrified of anchoring after one very bad experience that he would go to any lengths to avoid doing so, while sailing with him around the western isles he constantly refused to drop anchor, even in the fine weather we were having. All passage planning was done with the aim of getting to either a friendly port or marina by days end. I often felt he missed a lot because of his fear, I certainly missed out on the chance of catching my supper.
I first started sailing in the Medway and Thames estuaries and up as far as the Blackwater, There seemed to be a lot of foul ground in these areas and after losing my first anchor while out sailing with my brother we would always set a tripping line and never had a problem after. As I, and a few other members, are getting older, and particularly with the problem I have with my hands I feel a little concerned at the thought of a fouled anchor and even the thought of having to raise one under good conditions I now find a bit daunting. Even those lucky souls that have anchor winches could find themselves let down, especially by the electrical variety. The tripping line method I used to use was the simplest known, a 8 mm line attached to the fluke end of the anchor Item (A in picture 3) and fixed to the head end with a piece of | |||||||||
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elastic, if the anchor fouled one good hard tug on the cord would break the elastic and pulling on the light cord would pull the fluke free of whatever it had fouled, generally you had to motor forward over the anchor for it to work best. With my more recent problems I had been thinking of doing something similar to the anchor yanker and attaching a pulley to the fluke end of the anchor and doubling the line back to the boat as shown at 4. This will allow you to fit an anchor buoy or to fit a bigger buoy to float the anchor free if you wish. I haven't the means to test this at the moment but suspect it would work OK. A lot of the suggested methods for freeing a fouled anchor are fine but rely on someone on board having the strength to pull the bugger free, for example. A short length of chain around the line and dropped to the bottom on a rope will allow you to pull the anchor away from whatever it has fouled (B in picture 3) but the suggestion is that you might have to do this from a dinghy. | |||||||||
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Do you believe that even a fit man could pull an anchor weighing perhaps 20 kilo's while rowing a dinghy using this method? I think not. You would have to use the boats engine to do it and this in itself could cause problems. I then moved on to wonder about the problems of storing a buoy large enough to pull this stunt on board and how much space you may need, so I did the sums (wrongly the first time). I was pleasantly surprised, a 60 lb (about 27 kg) anchor would become buoyant with a 15 inch diameter buoy attached. If you used an 18 inch diameter buoy you could lift a total weight of up to 109 lb (about 49 kg), that's a fair sized anchor and chain. Here's a rough chart
Diameter of buoy (inches) Approx buoyancy in pounds (Kilo's)
12 31.5 14 18 109.7 49.7 24 260.1 117.9
So with your doubled line to a simple pulley at the anchor fluke you attach a buoy or fender to one end of the line and use a deck winch to wind the line enough to float the anchor all you have to do is pull the chain inboard and lift the anchor and buoy off the surface and into the boat. Those of you who keep a small electric air pump on board for dinghy inflation can store the buoy deflated against it's need in an emergency. Come the summer does anyone feel like helping me with a small experiment? | |||||||||
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Dolphin slaughter in UK watersWildlife experts in the UK, including the RSPCA and the Whale and Dolphin conservation society are calling on the EC to take action to prevent the ongoing slaughter of dolphins and porpoises in UK waters. Since the beginning of January this year 187 dead dolphins have been washed ashore on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall - an average of three per day, When I first picked this issue up from a text item in February the figure was 123. Experts consider that this could be as low as 5% of the total death toll, and that the other 95% of bodies are being washed out to deeper waters or eaten by predators. An RSPCA spokesman described what we are seeing as "the tip of the iceberg". Records show that about 700 dolphins were washed up on UK coasts last year - 180 in Cornwall alone, and the death toll is rising. Dolphins are well known for being friendly to man (and women) and will make friends with almost anyone as the picture below testifies. | |||||||||
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A typical friendly dolphin (on the right) at one of the many places where people can swim freely with them. | |||||||||
| The blame for the slaughter is being placed firmly on pair trawling, carried out mainly by foreign boats, where two large trawlers tow a huge net between them, scooping up everything in their path. Dolphins and porpoises following the fish shoals get caught in the nets and being unable to get to the surface to breathe, drown. These incidents, known as "bycatch" are treated indifferently by foreign trawler fleets who are often using illegal nets. International recommendations are that nets should have escape holes before the sock end to allow larger fish to escape and continue the breeding cycle. Very often these trawlers, sometimes French but especially those from non EC countries flout these laws. | |||||||||
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The problem is far worse in the Pacific, where Japanese, Korean and Philippino vessels fish in fleets and lay huge nets that enclose hundreds of square miles of ocean. These people will actively kill dolphins that are caught in the nets with guns because they see them as competition for the fish.
The problem around the UK waters is growing, the RSPCA says at the rate of 10% per year. They want the EC to to make a legal stipulation that independant observers be placed on all vessels pair trawling to see that dolphins or porpoises caught in nets are given the chance to escape.
These incidents are now so common that the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth has been forced to commission the design of a dolhin carrier come body bag just to handle the number of cases that they are being called out to.
The decline in the shark population around UK waters is being well documented, including the horrific facts that the sharks when caught have their dorsal fins cut off (for sharks fin soup) and then the mutilated shark is thrown still alive back into the water to suffer a slow and meaningless death. All these facts are appearing in the popular press but the dolphin problem appears to be being largely ignored.
Not a lot of people know that.
In the days of George Washington, before photography, when a newspaper wanted a picture of a famous person they would have to commission an artist to sketch him (her) before having it converted to a negative etching that could be used for the printing process (called "Intaglio") then in use. Artists would charge by how much of the person was seen, hence people were often sketched sitting at a desk and angled away so only part of one arm could be seen as limbs were charged as extra's. If a full body picture was required it was very expensive and the saying "it will cost you an arm and a leg" was coined.
And just one more.
A pretty and innocent looking young woman, a high school English supply teacher, was bought in as an emergency replacement to help a class with their last days of revision reminds her class of tomorrow's final exam. "Now class, I won't tolerate any excuses for your not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury or illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever!" A smart ass guy at the back of the room raises his hand and asks, "What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?" The entire class does its best to stifle their laughter and snickering. It took 15 minutes for the class to come to order | |||||
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Gunner Joe
'What say we attack 'em?' says Nelson, Says Joe 'Nay, lad, not to-day,'
When penny came down 'ead side uppards, They was in for a do it were
plain, They got the guns ready for action, And that gave 'em trouble enough,
Joe, selecting two of the largest, Was going to load double for luck,
At that moment up came the 'Boat-swine', He says 'where's Joe?'Gunner
replied And all this time Joe, treading water, Was trying 'is 'ardest to float,
At last 'e could stand it no longer, And next time 'e came to the top,
And after the battle was over, And vessel was safely in dock,
By Marriot Edgar (1933) | |||||
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"Moonraker" Looking pretty under sail