Walton Backwaters Dinghy Cruise - very old video скачать в хорошем качестве

Walton Backwaters Dinghy Cruise - very old video

Some years ago - 2010, I think - I took my very old Heron sailing dinghy for an overnight camp in the Walton Backwaters - an area once made famous by Arthur Ransome's book "Secret Water" which I read multiple times as a child. This was a time when waterproof digital cameras were very expensive (until Aldi started selling one which was neither expensive nor good)! It struggled in bright sunlight, but actually worked quite well in dull weather and underwater as you can see in another video I produced around the same time:    • My old videos on another channel   It also ate batteries and my second set ran out on the second morning and I had no more spares. Unfortunately, therefore, this is a video of only half a trip. But it was a trip I enjoyed and I don't expect I will get the chance to do this again - so I have uploaded this video from the cobweb-infested depths of my old computer for me to enjoy; if people can refrain from being horrible about it in the comments then I will make it public - but nobody has to watch if they don't want to! The Heron dinghy is a Jack Holt design which is about the same (small) size and rig as a Mirror dinghy but has a more traditional shape with a pointed bow and heavy wooden internal framing. It is a real joy to sail - it is responsive and well behaved rather than fast and powerful, but if you do get it to plane in a strong breeze the noise and spray caused by its short stubby shape make it feel much more exciting than many much faster boats! I planed in a sudden rainy squall on this trip, but my hands were too occupied sailing to get the camera out as well. This particular dinghy is interesting. It is clearly a Heron class hull and rig (I have obtained the measurement plans to check), but it has an aft deck which most Herons don't and there is no heron-symbol on the sail. Heron-experts tell me it might have been built to the earlier plans when it was originally called the "Car Topper Dinghy" in the late1950s - people and cars must have been strong in those days cos it's no light-weight to put on a car! The sails (by Jeckells) are Dacron but are cut in narrow strips as used to be done with cotton (to even out the stretchiness due to material inconsistencies) so they must be of around that same period - when sailmakers were making the transition from cotton to synthetics. The branches sticking out of the water in one early scene on Horsey Mere are the "withies" which mark a causeway connecting the mainland to Horsey Island (which was where Swallows and Amazons camped in "Secret Water"). These Backwaters are a network of creeks - a lovely place to explore in a dinghy, but very tidal with shallows and also deep water. I am quite an experienced sailor so I was well prepared and equipped for this trip which included navigating out to sea between the Walton Backwaters and the Stour and sailing among other yachts and potentially ships too.Two things I would change for next time would be my sleeping arrangements (I was very uncomfortable), and my anchor (I would take a small Danforth or a plough type instead of a fisherman type and a grapnel type which are easy to stow but didn't grip, which is the whole point of an anchor). I would also avoid sailing a dinghy at night again (as, of course, would anyone who has read Swallows and Amazons)! I am not very good at making videos now and I was even worse then - especially filming with one hand while trying to sail a tiny boat in choppy water - which needs 3 hands anyway! So I know its a bad video! But I was there, I enjoyed it and I want to enjoy this bit of video too and I'm happy to share it with anyone who doesn't mind its deficiencies. I hope you enjoyed watching it, at least a little bit!