Hayling Island Sailing Club

Training with the Invitational Squad at Hayling Island. This is considered to he the home of 29er sailing, and it's undoubtedly a beautiful location and club, but it doesn't compare with the Solent in my view! The tide rips through, and it's perilously shallow at low tides. We had the perfect whammy of a North Easterly at 30 knots driving boats onto the shore, shallow water and terrific tides prohibiting a trip out to the bay.

Kimmeridge

Sailing had been cancelled due to excessive wind, so it was with trepidation that I suggested a trip to the beach. The storm clouds and then thick sea mist as we approached Kimmeridge were slightly disconcerting, but we need not have worried as the sun came out intermittently  and we had a great afternoon on the limestone pavement.

Late afternoon closed in a bit so we thought we'd head for Wareham to take a tour of the Saxon remains. We walked the walls and the rivers Piddle and Frome, then had supper in the Purbeck Pizzeria.

Looking for the positives

Posting this for Popsie who likes all manner of unusual creatures. This story in the paper about rats who have been taught to sniff out buried landmines, being rewarded with a banana for successfully identifying the vermin weapons.

Art Gallery

 An afternoon fooling around in the wonderfully creative space in the centre of Southampton. The gallery has had some incredibly generous benefactors over the years, and we have a superb collection of modern art to enjoy.

Half Term Madness

Just another slice of action around the house, as I find Greg and Miranda playing in the garden.

On the Facetime to Gran and Grandan whilst I was in London visting Joanna, Miles, Juliet, Elsabeth and Christabel.

It was funny as I could hear their voices before I realised what was going on. It was unusual enough having five clan members in the room, but it all got crazier as we went along.

Great vibe,  and the only downside was the train line closure due to essential maintenance which meant I got home a bit late.

Juliet on the spoons

Had a nice evening with Juliet and Joanna at her London pied a terre. Toots being the most mature of us all naturally took charge and made sure we were fed, and wore our hats and coats home. "Are you taking the mickey out of me again?"

Also there was Christabel, Elsbeth and Miles. Top evening, although nothing would persuade me to want to live in the shitty of London.

Chef du Jour

Lewis studying the Breadmaker recipe Book for hints on how to make Brioche Buns to go with his homemade Veggie Burgers.

Half a day later he's still not quite ready to serve up but learned a few lessons on how much work goes into food prep!

And exceedingly nice it was too Tiger.

Half Term Happiness

Lewi doing some domestic favours around the house.

Should I have another piece of cake whilst he obliges...?

Miranda at her desk

She sits at her desk talking on the LEGOphone to an imaginary business contact, reading her Horse and Hound, making notes on important tasks to undertake.

Boat Prep

Getting ready for another intensive weekend training at Lymington with Simon Rogers and Ben Batten doing the coaching. Several useful sessions, and the boys looking very smart in their sponsor jackets from Oracle Interiors.

Brownie doing some Street Photo

Lewi taking photos in Richmond on Thames recently. He's been doing lots for his Graphics course

Same but different

From the front this time, shot pver my shoulder so they were unaware I was evesdropping!

Forest Walkies

I don't know why but I have always like photographing the back of people, but the kids especially so when it captures the mundane 'being there' of life. This was walking from Shatterford towards Matley Wood, and then back via Denny Wood.

We stopped and played on the Dragon who's nose is now flat on the floor - a sad sight indeed.

It wasn't very long ago this coat looked quite big on Gregory, it'll soon fit Popsie I think. Greg had his new sailing sponsors jacket arrive yesterday, so he had to wear it to school. A team photo will no doubt be made shortly.

Peter Powell

There was a time, quite a long time ago, when we used to fly kites every weekend. We formed a kite club and made some good mates... Reading this obituary in the Telegraph brought back the memories.

"Peter Powell, who has died aged 83, developed the first two-line steerable kite, selling millions worldwide and sparking a stunt-kite flying craze.

His interest began in the 1960s when he was trying to help a young cousin fly his new kite – a traditional diamond-shaped kite with a string tail. “The wind was wrong either too low or too high and he was so disappointed,” Powell recalled. “From that moment forward I became obsessed with creating a kite that would fly in any wind”.

Two years after he began experimenting with different designs he patented his first kite – a six-footer – with which he went for a world record of highest-flying kite: “The lines snapped and I lost the kites.”

After that he decided to go bigger and made 30ft kites and sat a 70-year old woman on a swing seat suspended from seven of the kites as they rose from the ground. The stunt was filmed by the BBC and his doughty guinea pig earned a Charlie Chester award for providing public amusement.

One day Powell was flying one of his 6ft kites and noticed a list to one side which he tried to correct by attaching a separate line to the other side. It caused the kite to loop, so for fun he attached a third line and found he could loop the kite to right or left. Then, one night, he thought about removing the centre line and just tethering the kite with two lines on either side: “To my greatest relief the kite controls behaved intuitively... The lines did not lock together and the kite [carved] arcs in the sky.”

After two more years of hard work, in 1972 he launched the 4ft steerable stunt kite on to the market. The kites came with a long, hollow polyethylene tail that was inflated by the wind, making them stable and adding to the visual effect as they performed stunts."

read more here

SMJC

Great gig at the Southampton Modern Jazz Club last night with Ted Carrasco and his band raising the roof at the Shooting Star. Leo Appleyard on guitar, with Simon Allen, Paul Burnett, Piers Green and Paul Jordanous brass section. Good to see Robert Carter turn up for a beer, and I really should have got a photograph of Caroline tapping her feet!

Next time maybe...

Can you feel the force?

If there's a few things that Miranda loves to do it's run and sing; and she's competitive when she sets her mind to it. Personally I think she likes to win, and doesn't want to come second, but she's getting better at accepting it can be just as much fun to participate as to win.

Great action photo by Vic Belson

Cross Country

Miranda represented her school in the Cross Country against other Hampshire Schools last week at Gang Warily. She's got the blue stripe towards the centre of the pack above, and she put on a great performance finishing 13th out of 120 runners, who were all her age roughly.

Top running Popsie!

IOW

I received this photo "in the post" this week from Alan Bowman, one of my photo chums. It's from our Christmas trip over to Isle of Wight and this is Freshwater at the start of our day. We've photographed from the dawn light, and this was just before we called it time to breakfast at Dimbola Lodge and see some photos by Julia Margaret Cameron.

As you can see I only have a little one...!

Line up

29er Winter Championships Team Pic!

The boys just before they went on the water for two days of racing with their chariot...

Thought for the Day

The best place to start looking for a life full of adventure, and living a life full of doing not having, is on your own door step.

Adventure is out there