Percy W Blandford MBE

[tilpah]

I just checked out books available on amazon by my boyhood hero; PW Blandford, and I was astounded how many books he actually wrote, must be a hundred, mainly on boating.

Suggestion, the man brought boatbuilding to the common man, he designed, so many small boats, many still in use today, Lysander, Hornblower, Tarpon, Goblin, Gremlin, Cherub, + canoes, catamarans, etc. He wrote about associated hobbies; woodworking, scouting, camping, knots, navigation, sailing, canoeing. His articles in Lightcraft, Smallboat and PBO were inspirational

I know he must be pretty old by now, he was in his prime in the 60s and 70s, but he has done such a good service to us Sailers and our sport that I think he should recieve an award. Contact your MP on www.faxyourmp.com lets see Percy recieve the commmendation he deserves. Is Percy still in the land of the living, does he have a fan club? Discuss!

 

[dickh]

One of my first forays into boating & boat building was building a PBK 22 canoe at school in my early teens, and then canoeing down the River Wye, must have been about 14. In fact I still had the frame but gave it to my brother who said he would renovate it - not sure wether he did though.

dickh
I'd rather be sailing... /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[graham]

The boat I remember with the warmest feelings is a 17ft Lysander I built from scratch.Much to my delight after several owners it has turned up recently still in good order on a mooring near mine.

The Lysander association was very active and still in existence I believe.They would be the ones to push for Percies gong.Not sure if he is still with us though.

 

[claymore]

The PBK - thats a blast from the past - then I moved onto a kw (7?) then a gaybo olymp if memory serves me correctly.
At least - its all part of the reason why my back hurts

regards
Claymore
/forums/images/icons/smile.gif
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by claymore on 07/02/2003 11:42 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[castaway]

My 1st boat was a Gremlin dinghy by Mr Blandford.

I got it at tha age of 7. One day on the way down to Devon for our summer hols it departed the roof of the families Sunbeam Rapier, norrowly missed the Ford Zodiac behind and touched down on the opposite side of the road. Amazingly enough the driver behind instead of threatening my dad with retribution, stopped and helped us pick up the bits. Really spoilt my holiday that!!

We left the bits at a farm and collected them 2 weeks later on the way home and rebuilt it!

Lesson learnt were
a) never put things on the roof of a car
b) if you have too, then make sure the rack is well secured to the car!!
c) Keep the speed below 70mph.

Regds Nick

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather>http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather</A>

 

[tilpah]

Treasured memories indeed. I too have owned both a Gremlin and a Lysander. Does anyone know if the king of 'Hard Chine' still lives? Barry Bucknall and Jack Holt had their Mirror, but one still sees many of PWB's designs in every port. Singlehandedly he boosted the sales of marine ply through the 70s. Ever been tempted to screw a jam jar lid to the underside of your dinghy thwart so you keep a few spare shear pins for your seagull in the jar? Thank PWB for that little gem!
Percy we salute you!