Blue stones up the Bristol channel to stone henge!

[tonybarebones]

Dear All.
My Name is Ian Thomas I’m an ex watch Officer at Swansea Coastguard Operations Room, I have just taken on a position as 1st Officer Navigation and Communications with the merchant navy search and rescue team.
On the 19th Aug 2012 we are being taken on as support vessel to a group of archaeologists who has made a replica of a wreck they have found off dover, apparently this boat was one of the boats that brought the blue stones up the Bristol channel to stone henge. The vessel is 35 to 40 ft. long it is a woven basket type boat flat bottomed no keel it will have 12 rowers which will be rowing in the standing position, and to cap it all it will be carrying a 3 ton blue stone.
The rowing team are coming in from the USA, they are the American Dragon boat champions (but they haven’t met the Bristol channel yet ), the team can only row for 4 hours a day so I’ve had to think very carefully on the passage.
This trip is drawing very big interest as we will be carrying a full production team with us, the vessel itself will be carrying a camera crew and our 6mtr rib (safety boat) will be carrying a camera on board, there will be also body cams fitted to certain people, it is going to be a 4 to 5 part documentary on the discovery channel which is also taking in the Bristol channel coastline.
What I am looking for is to ask all coastguard teams to fly the flag and respond down when the vessel is being rowed in to their particular patch.
And all Lifeboats if possible come out and escort the vessel in and make sure they have safe passage into the overnight stops, this is what the cameras are going to like, please can all Station Officers from the teams and all the launching authorities of Lifeboats please contact myself to let me know if they will be responding as I have to liaise with the production team give them a schedule to have camera crews standing by and not just body cams on.
Please contact me on e-mail ianthomas26@aol.com
Or if you need any more information please do not hesitate to call me on the following numbers tel 01554 755496 mob 07816 790925


Passage Plan follows on the next page:





PASSAGE PLAN
DAY ONE: Sunday 19th Aug 2012
LEG ONE Launching vessel at laugharne foreshore to Worms Head.
DEPARTURE TIME: 08.01 BST
DISTANCE; 14NM
HW 08.01bst
STAY AT WORMS HEAD FOR THE NIGHT, VESSEL WILL BE BEACHED, SUPPORT VESSEL WILL ANCHOR.

DAY TWO; Monday 20th Aug
LEG TWO; Worms Head to Oxwich Bay
DEPARTURE TIME; 07.39bst
DISTANCE; 12NM
HW 08.39BST
STAY AT OXWICH BAY FOR NIGHT, VESSEL TO BEACH SUPPORT VESSEL TO ANCHOR.

DAT THREE; Tuesday 21st Aug 2012.
LEG THREE; Oxwich Bay to Swansea Marina
DEPARTURE TIME; 08.17bst
DISTANCE; 16NM
HW 09.17bst
STAY AT SWANSEA MARINA 3 VESSELS WILL BEARTH IN THE MARINA.

DAY FOUR; Wednesday 22nd Aug 2012.
LEG FOUR; Swansea Marina to Sandy Bay (porthcawl)
DEPARTURE TIME; 08.57bst
DISTANCE; 15NM
HW 09.57
STAY AT SANDY BAY VESSEL TO BEACH SUPPORT VESSEL WILL ANCHOR.

DAY FIVE; Thursday 23rd Aug 2012.
LEG FIVE; Sandy Bay to Barry Dock.
DEPARTURE TIME; 09.10bst
DISTANCE; 20NM
HW 10.40bst
STAY AT BARRY DOCK 3 VESSEL TO ENTER OUTER DOCK.

DAY SIX Friday 24th Aug 2012
LEG SIX; CREW WILL BE TAKING A DAY OF REST.

DAY SEVERN; Saturday 25th Aug 2012
LEG SEVEN; Barry Dock to Weston Super Mare.
DEPARTURE TIME; 11.00bst
DISTANCE; 10.01NM.
HW 12.33bst
THE THREE VESSELS WILL HOPFULLY RAFT UP IN WESTON HARBOUR.

DAY EIGHT; Sunday 26th Aug 2012
LEG EIGHT; Weston to Portishead
DEPARTURE TIME; 12.55bst.
HW 13.55bst
ALL THREE VESSELS WILL ENTER PORTISHEAD MARINA.


DAY NINE.
LAST DAY VESSEL WILL LEAVE PORTISHEAD AND ROW UP THE RIVER AVON TO SEA MILLS.
END OF PASSAGE. Though it should be interesting as the crew has to unload the stone and roll it to the nearest solid structure.

Hope to meet you all on the passage.

Yours Faithfully


Ian Thomas
2nd officer Navigator/Communications
Marine Search and Rescue
Merchant Navy .

 

[trapezeartist]

Sounds interesting! I'll have a word with the Portishead SO on Tuesday. And the Portishead lifeboat LA on Wednesday.

 

[Alcyone]

Is this anything to do with the people that tried this in Pembrokeshire some years back? They dragged it from Preseli into the Haven IIRC?

Is it the same stone?

 

[lezzer-g]

Is this still going ahead? wouldn't mind popping out to see it pass from Barry to Weston
'

 

[rafiki_]

Any pictures?

 

[trapezeartist]

The boat and the stone are in Portishead tonight (26 Aug) so they seem to be achieving their schedule. I saw it coming up the channel in easy smooth conditions and it was making slow but steady progress.

Having looked at the boat in Portishead marina, I was less impressed. It doesn't strike me as a replica that could really aspire to being authentic. The top sides are held together with rope and wooden pegs and a couple of the securing loops are willow or hazel twigs, but the bottom is all screwed together in a modern fashion. The wood is all machine sawn. The stone is also disappointing as it is much much smaller than a Stonehenge stone.

 

[Coaster]

The idea of prehistoric people moving very large stones from Pembrokeshire to Wiltshire is both attractive and romantic. For many years I simply assumed that the concept was somehow feasible, even if we didn't know exactly how it was done.

It now seems much more likely that the bluestones were moved most of the way by glacial action. This BBC article gives basic details.

A few years ago I bought Brian John's book, The Bluestone Enigma. It seems to be a convincing argument for movement by glacial action.

Frankly the thought of massive stones, weighing up to 50 tons, being successfully moved up the Bristol Channel by prehistoric boats is extremely unlikely.

 

[Sulis]

Portishead

In Portishead

http://www.ybw.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=20304&stc=1&d=1346073764

 

[RobF]

Above photo has my boat just out of shot. I almost got myself a cameo role as they came in - the first attempt at lassoing the cleat failed and I went to do the honourable thing of taking lines, only to be frantically beckoned out the way by the producer.

Would concur with Coaster that moving a rock 20 times the size of this one in a prehistoric boat would be pretty unlikely. Still, it's an interesting exercise in its own right.

 

[Alcyone]

Above photo has my boat just out of shot. I almost got myself a cameo role as they came in - the first attempt at lassoing the cleat failed and I went to do the honourable thing of taking lines, only to be frantically beckoned out the way by the producer.

I can understand that. You would not have been born in 3000 BC when the real stone arrived at the pontoon in Portishead marina, so it would not have been authentic.