AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Nor, apparently, a head!
Swallowdale Boat Accident
- Thread starter Croak
- Start date
Nor, apparently, a head!
Bru
Well-Known Member
Mine too!
In fact, it's largely due to WDMTGTS that we ended up with a sea going sailing boat and one based in the Thames Estuary at that. It only took about 40 years twixt reading it and finally realising the dream!*
John does equip himself with a safety line before going forward to reef the main though and it saves him from going overboard
* and you know something? Despite all the rules and regulations, the lifejackets, the jackstays, the VHF, GPS, AIS, paperwork, documentation ... marina developments, massive mooring fields, crowded anchorages and luxuries such as running water, even HOT running water on the current super-luxury vessel ..... the reality lives up to the dream rather well!
Croak
Well-Known Member
I believe That she meant something like that, Big uncomfortable and restricting. Which is why I used it as a reply to,
"If you wind the story forward 80 years and cast a jaundiced eye over it in the light of modern technology then no, you wouldn't approve given that we now have smart, lightweight functional buoyancy aids."
Bru
Well-Known Member
Mayhap Dad was trying to force the little darling into a cheap and nasty bouyancy aid
Seriously, are we really advocating a return to the past when people died for want of decent modern safety equipment?????
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
The Swallows and the Amazons and the Coots for that matter didn't die.
Bru
Well-Known Member
They never went to the toilet either
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Toilet arrangements are never mentioned in any of the books, and neither Goblin, nor Wild Cat, nor Sea Bear has any facilities shown in the plans.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
They must have been bears.......
Seajet
...
Same here, We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea is probably more responsible than anything else for my taking to sailing.
A few years ago at the International Festival Of The Sea ( Portsmouth ) I was lucky enough to go aboard the ' Nancy Blackett ' which Goblin is closely based on, a strange feeling after all these years and I must confess to a tear in my eye.
A few years ago at the International Festival Of The Sea ( Portsmouth ) I was lucky enough to go aboard the ' Nancy Blackett ' which Goblin is closely based on, a strange feeling after all these years and I must confess to a tear in my eye.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Bain't no coincidence that I have ended up with a 26' footer with red sails, although she does have a toilet and doesn't have a gaff.
It's a beautifully constructed story, because everything that the Walkers need to know to complete the trip successfully - how to reef, how to signal for a pilot, where the shoals are and so on - is covered naturally as part of the story before Jim goes missing.
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Clear lack of passage planning too.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
Is this to do with the toilet arrangements?
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Found myself re-reading Swallowdale this April, first time in 30 years, after finding my old copy at my dad's place. A great read - nice to see how the repair of the boat is covered.
I can't imagine how kids develop a happy view of life's high-points - UK summers, rural picnics and adventures with friends - if they weren't shown how to pitch tents and sail boats.
I can't imagine how kids develop a happy view of life's high-points - UK summers, rural picnics and adventures with friends - if they weren't shown how to pitch tents and sail boats.
Searush
Well-Known Member
It was a different era then, we played footy & cricket in the streets, only Doctors & Senior Police Officers had telephones, you travelled by bus train, bike or just walked.
There were kapok buoyancy aids, but they soaked up water quite quickly & lost their buoyancy in under an hour if the sealed plastic kapok pockets were pierced or burst - bearing in mind they also tended to be used as cushions they were not that effective.
There were kapok buoyancy aids, but they soaked up water quite quickly & lost their buoyancy in under an hour if the sealed plastic kapok pockets were pierced or burst - bearing in mind they also tended to be used as cushions they were not that effective.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
Well, I've met you, but you didn't seem to be that old!
Croak
Well-Known Member
Fuggy: stuffy, smoky, close, muggy, stale, fusty, unventilated, airless, suffocating, stifling, oppressive;
Not a bad description for a buoyancy aid.
And not a bad understanding of the English language for one so young.
Not a bad description for a buoyancy aid.
And not a bad understanding of the English language for one so young.
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Well, my Dad had a telephone - but he needed it for business, and we all knew how to take an order over the telephone! Using it for non-business things just didn't occur to us - none of our friends had a telephone! The first time I recall there being a phone in the house I lived in that was expected to be used for personal matters was when I moved to London in 1974! I also remember the kapok filled BoT lifejackets. They really were hot and sweaty things to wear on a summer's day! And extremely bulky.
We didn't play games in the street, but it was a fairly major through road, and certainly there were plenty of nearvy streets where it woudl have been perfectly safe, except that we lived at the top of a hill, so most of the local streets had a strong slope!
fisherman
Well-Known Member
When I was a kid I spent all my time trying to get on the sea and away from the land and everything on it. I could get hold of a boat, no trouble, but rowlocks were always locked away, they were the key to freedom....I have a bundle of them in the shed and if I pick them up they ring like bells, sends a shiver through me, I'm going to have them rung at my funeral. Had to drag a great heavy punt down the beach, but then came the moment when the water was under it and it floated free, me with it.
Reading Coot Club, I think it was, Tom the doctor's son and his boat at the end of the garden, just magic reading for a 7 or 8 year old.
We used to do visitor trips, 5 bob an hour, an old punt with an older pre war seagull, two ragged arrsed kids smoking rollies. Sometimes we went beach seining at night, adults would drive round, we two took the boat and net along, pitch dark, goodness how did we survive?
Reading Coot Club, I think it was, Tom the doctor's son and his boat at the end of the garden, just magic reading for a 7 or 8 year old.
We used to do visitor trips, 5 bob an hour, an old punt with an older pre war seagull, two ragged arrsed kids smoking rollies. Sometimes we went beach seining at night, adults would drive round, we two took the boat and net along, pitch dark, goodness how did we survive?
Searush
Well-Known Member
You must have lead a sheltered life, Phil, what I'm describing was true up until the mid 60's.
