Jubilee Flotilla

[merlin3688]

Not a single sail to be seen in the flotilla.
And why haven't the BBC got a camera east of Tower Bridge where all the interesting boats are?
Not a single shot of the Pioneer or other lovely wooden boats, we sat and watched all day but were disappointed with the coverage.

 

[Seajet]

I was also intrigued to hear at least twice that HMS Belfast displaces 92,000 tons !

Yes the sailing craft were completely ignored, a shame as there were some interesting boats & ships, I noticed one shot was obviously of the crows nest of the 'Mathew', I know she has been transatlantic etc but it still would have taken a major effort to get her to the Thames from Bristol, there was at least one large square rigger, etc...

 

[tillergirl]

Agree, although I only watched the highlights having been at GK No 3's birthday party. I was disappointed also that with the exception of the barge and galley, that nobody had done any real research and could talk about some of the interesting vessels in the flotilla.

 

[Pete54]

Seemed to be classic modern tv. No real attempt to cover all of it, loads of familiar faces - none of whom knew anything about the boats - the things which the event was based around.

Even the most basic cheat sheet would have made the presenters seem a bit less gormless - but that level of preparation seems to be alien to modern tv. Massive lost oppertunity to showcase Britians maritime heritage. Looks like we'll have to wait for the 'after market' dvds which surely someone is bound to put together?

 

[Litotes]

Not a single sail to be seen in the flotilla.
And why haven't the BBC got a camera east of Tower Bridge where all the interesting boats are?
Not a single shot of the Pioneer or other lovely wooden boats, we sat and watched all day but were disappointed with the coverage.

Or the Boadicea - quite probably the oldest working boat still sailing today. And there were several Thames barges there - the true workhorses of the east coast and an intrinsic part of the history of the Thames itself. And the French had sent the magnificent Belem. Not a word about her. Just endless repetitive drivel, with presenters struggling to find something to say and endlessly falling back on yet another shot of the Queen. It must have been very disappointing for the people who had worked so hard to get their lovely and fascinating sailing vessels there.

Lazy, shoddy coverage. They missed the point entirely. Appalling.

 

[Lakesailor]

Join in the rant in the Lounge where we got very upset as it was happening.

The Beeb made an awful mistake.

 

[dylanwinter]

not for you

I love the way my fellow sailors keep on expecting the BBC and other terrestrial main stream broadcasters to do a good job for them

we should count ourselves lucky that we had the Cunliffe series that took boats seriously -

if you want sailing coverage then it is to the web or dvds that we must turn

I watched the event on nTV with some landlubbers - old and young - and they thought it was great.

Dresses are of far more interest than vessels to most people

I thought the Queen looked a bit bored - although Philip, who was a keen sailor at one time, actually seemed interested.

I agree though, I have no idea what was going on at the back of the fleet

a zillion shots of sea scouts in small boats with outboards and big flags

and a lot of blokes rowing various boats

I really enjoyed the soggy choir towards the end

as a techy camera man I have to say that keeping the recording gear and broadcast links going under such circumstances was a bit of a triumph

I also loved the water colour painters - absolute hoot

all round a thoroughly British event

Imagine the posts on forums had they been invented when Howards Way was on telly. I was always dissapointed at how few shots of boats there were

but then as a keen horse enthusiat I was always disspaointed at how seldom Dobbin appeared in the Wooden Tops - too much spotty dog for my liking

Dylan

I was slightly dissapointed not to have been invited to join in with the slug as it is a revolutionary vessel of some repute

 

[maxi77]

Stephen Fry has apparently described the coverage as 'inane' and for once I agree with him. The poorest coverage a major state occasion that the Beeb has ever pproduced. Ignorant presenters awful direction, 4 hours of drivel, and 90% of the fleet ignored almost completely. Apparently Sky did better, wish I had known.

 

[Lakesailor]

The whole point of the pageant was to celebrate the Queen and our maritime history.
The fact that the presenters knew less than sod-all about that which they were supposed to be telling us about and that the director avoided any images of boats other than in a background way shows that they totally missed the point of the day.
What the WI cake stand or babies or scotch eggs had to do with it I cannot imagine. The artists were second rate and John Sergeant turned up for his fee. Although he was the only person there who could wing it. As the preparation was so dire that was a skill in great demand.

Whilst the weather was poor the Beeb has managed many OBs over the years in worse weather.
The concept that there is a fund of knowledge and experience to deal with these events is a crock of ****. The new Tristrams at the Beeb and the new technologies mean that any old, cobwebby, retainer in the bowels of Broadcasting House has long since been sidelined.

This was the face of New Blood making it up as they went along.

 

[Searush]

I haven't yet watched it (it's recorded) but most of the procession was upstream under several low bridges so masts were not really practical, plus close quarters manouvering under sail (or motor with so much windage) might have been interesting. Nevertheless, with so much pointless coverage I saw in the run up, a run thro of the more interesting sailing craft would have been entertaining for even the dullest of landlubbers.

Great British maritime heritage, my arse as another Royle Family member may have said.

 

[Litotes]

I love the way my fellow sailors keep on expecting the BBC and other terrestrial main stream broadcasters to do a good job for them

I'm afraid I do rather expect the BBC to take a little trouble over the maritime aspects of a programme covering an event that is specifically intended to showcase and celebrate things maritime.

Comedies like the Griff R-J stuff - fair enough. But this? Sorry. I have to disagree with you.

 

[Elessar]

Seemed to be classic modern tv. No real attempt to cover all of it, loads of familiar faces - none of whom knew anything about the boats - the things which the event was based around.

Tom Cunliffe was one of the commentators. What does he know?

And I hadn't considered it before - he sounds a bit like John Peel.

 

[Richard Shead]

I was there and if I had a pound for every idiot that moaned that the tall ships were not sailing past ... (I was in Battersea)

 

[Seajet]

Tom Cunliffe tried to give some sensible commentary, such as how difficult it was to keep all the boats at the same speed, manouvering etc.

It's a pity his reply ' haven't a clue ! ' when asked about semaphore wasn't explained fully, ie mainly old RN, never really a sailing thing...

I reckon this was the worst coverage of any event I have ever seen and heard.

I was reminded though of the days when James Hunt and Murray Walker commentated on motor racing, Murray: " and here he comes, that's X in the ..." J H ; " Err, actually Murray ..." !

 

[oldgit]

A few pix
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318218

 

[BlueChip]

Time lapse video jubilee pageant

In the times digital edition this morning there is time lapse video of the whole event taken from a fixed viewpoint looking across the Millenium Bridge towards St Pauls, it's only 3 minutes long and set to music but it's superb and although I watched most of the event yesterday on tv this provides a far better view and impression of the whole event than tv ever did.
If you have got an iPad I think you can download one edition free as a sample otherwise look out for this video on the web somewhere

 

[prv]

Tom Cunliffe was one of the commentators. What does he know?

He wasn't really one of the main ones though. Nothing at all from him until about halfway through (did he arrive late?) and then only occasional comments in response to questions.

Pete

 

[maxi77]

Tom Cunliffe was one of the commentators. What does he know?

And I hadn't considered it before - he sounds a bit like John Peel.

30 seconds in 4 hours is not really using his talents to the full especially when compared to the rank ignorance of most of the others.

 

[philip_stevens]

Charlotte of Sky, didn't even know what a twin screw (of the last twin screw steam tug) was!

I could put a comment about that!!

At least I saw a few Cornish flags, though not able to see the Barnabus or the pilot gig properly.

And.....one of the "national flags" on the Queens barge! How's about that!

 

[Chris_Robb]

I was also intrigued to hear at least twice that HMS Belfast displaces 92,000 tons !

Yes the sailing craft were completely ignored, a shame as there were some interesting boats & ships, I noticed one shot was obviously of the crows nest of the 'Mathew', I know she has been transatlantic etc but it still would have taken a major effort to get her to the Thames from Bristol, there was at least one large square rigger, etc...

Decimal point in the wrong place - they described it as a huge ship!