Sailing, earlier today

I love this photo for a number of reasons.

In the boat in front of us is my wife and my eldest son. Nikki doesn't sail, not in anything that has the slightest chance of tipping her in, anyway.

Today she and a friend did a sponsored capsize to raise money for some dogs the Rescue is working with.

All very noble.

But the thing I love in this picture, taken from my boat shortly after the capsize as we were reaching back and forth to let the auto bailers work their magic...

The smile on her face.

I think today she conquered a fear and caught a taste of why I'm so in love with the water and wind.

And she trusted our eldest boy, whom I in good part taught to sail, to look after her.

Very proud of him.

Tonight's venue

The Dolphin. Arrived to find the place looking shut. It wasn't, just the power out on the whole street. Came back on air ten minutes later.

Been off again since. Apparently was of earlier in the day as well.

"Don't worry" says Dave the Landlord, "Got a genny out back."

I'm not worried, we've got two acoustic guitars with us and the drums don't need power.

As long as he can keep the beer going, we can entertain his crowd.

A change being as good as a rest

My wife brought me this guitar for my birthday, many years ago. Being an acoustic soul at heart, I've always been too afraid to use it live.

Tonight I played through the entire second set with it. Pleasantly surprised at how well it worked out.

However, I think that makes tonight the first night in over athird least a thousand gigs and twenty years plus of performing live that I've performed with an electric guitar.

And we're done!

Time to pack up and go home. Couple of beers, a bit of food then bed. Busy day ahead tomorrow.

Was a grand night tonight, though.

Jim (keys) & Bean (drums) waiting in the wings

The Lion

Soundcheck done, on in 20 minutes.

Sing a song of ......

Sixpence is back outside my window, serenading me again. Actually, I suspect he's more interested in singing to the ladies, but whatever. He's in fine voice.

Busy weekend coming up.

Ben (boy_v1) is home from Uni for his Easter break tonight. His Granddad has volunteered to pick him up as I've got a gig straight after work.

Four new songs to put into the set tonight. About three more introductions to the repertoire than I'd normally allow at any one time, so we'll have to see how that goes. It's a friendly, regular venue though, so the audience should be forgiving.

Tomorrow I'm going to have my first capsize of the year. Intentionally. A friend and colleague we work with in the dog rescue is raising funds for some Romainian puppies she's trying to save, so is doing a month of sponsored dares. She's never been sailing before, let alone capsized, so that's been picked for one of them.

As it happens, there's a beginner's sailing course running at the Club as well at the moment (Adult RYA Level 2) , this will be their second day. So I've arranged to borrow one of their training boats and give
them a capsize and recovery demonstration. All works out rather well. Though it's inescapable that I'm going to get cold and wet.

Then another gig tomorrow night, another friendly, regular venue, so quite looking forward to it. Actually, I look foward to all my gigs regardless. Nice to have two in a weekend though.

Then, of course, we're sailing on Sunday. Heavy rain, a stiff F4 south-westerly. Should be fantastic fun! And very likely, given how out of practice I've undoubtedly become, we'll be capsizing some more.

Naturally, I can't wait.

Meet my new friend, Sixpence

I love the Internet. Bereft of inspiration but beginning to feel a
little rude in only referring to my friend as "Blackbird" this far into
our new aquaintance, I started poking around in Google. So I've
christened him Sixpence, after the song of the same name and in memory
of his four and twenty less fortunate brothers that didn't escape the
attentions of the baker; albeit I understand they came through their
ordeal none the worse for the experience in the end.

In hunting for inspiration for a name, I came across a poem by a poet
I've not read before. It's very evocative of where I live, here in the
West Country of the UK.

Adelstrop

Yes, I remember Adlestrop --
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop -- only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

Edward Thomas, 1917

Blackbird hunting

Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footsteps.

I finally remembered my camera today, just in case my new friend shows up again. Used to take this thing almost everywhere with me, but the resolution in camera phones these days are such that I almost never bother anymore, even if the lens and software of my mobile will never match a DSLR.

Plus mobiles are instant. Take a snap, maybe tweak the levels or crop or straighten immediately after, then post to here and/or Facebook and it's done.

There is an honesty in an image like that which is almost poetry in itself, in my opinion.

But the real trump card for my mobile is that it's waterproof and always with me. The Pentax isn't.

Snooze mode

For some reason, my daughter says that Boo reminds her of a dragon when he's sleeping ....

Was beginning to worry about him

But my mate the blackbird is back, on top of the hawthorn again, singing
his little heart out. Hadn't seen or heard from him all week, so was
beginning to wonder what had become of him.

I've discovered our friend is a "he". "She" blackbirds aren't actually
black, who would've known?

Apparently, the males establish their breeding territory during their
first year, and hold it throughout their lives, defending it each year
from spring through till around July. My friend is probably over a
couple of years old, as his wings are jet black; apparently in their
first year, they still retain the juvenile dull brown colour.

So that means the little fellow isn't new to the hawthorn, only that
I've just noticed him this year.

The oldest known backbird recorded was, I read, 21 years and 1 month,
but the average lifespan is closer to 3 to 4 years, with this time of
year being the most vulnerable for him. The RSPB site tells me that over
half of blackbird deaths occur between March and June.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the little guy.

The mark rounding from hell: last Sunday

The photo was taken from the shore by my friend and fellow Frampton club
member, Ken Elsey, and blatantly stolen by me without his permission,
though I'm sure he won't mind. It was from the third race last Sunday,
and was taken at the leeward mark rounding.

I love the photo because it so neatly captures one of the more
entertaining moments of Sunday's racing.

This particular course, and this specific rounding, was the horrific
invention of a clearly twisted mind. The early laps (and, it being only
a half hour race, all the laps were early laps!) saw the entire fleet
have to take it to starboard, for the leaders only to then find
themselves then facing into the bank and blocked by the far pontoon,
with no choice but to tack away and find themselves on a port tack
trying to cross the rest of the fleet that were still on starboard and
charging downwind towards the mark.

It made for some interesting moments. Probably best described as
pandemonium.

This particular race is the one where we'd been ambushed at the start by
that Laser, so were quite far back in the pack - we're the second set of
blue sails, middle of the picture somewhat hidden behind the big Rooster
rig of the Laser in front of us.

[note the artistic licence in the writing: the Officer of the Day that
set this particular course isn't really horrific and twisted in his mind
or otherwise. In fact, he's one of the more decent and upstanding
citizens it's my pleasure to know]