A Visit to Cornwall

[AndyG]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

I did Striding Edge with a heavy rucksack on in 1990 or thereabouts. Loads of wind, very slippy...too much footfall, I think.

Want a sail on Windermere, late summer?

Andy

[John Meachen]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Wanderer. Frank Dye's Wayfarer Mark 1.

Awesome flipping boat and owner.

Norway, Iceland, in that.



Andy

It was built about 16 miles from where I'm sitting.The local connections are a bit stronger as Margaret Dye was an instructor on the first sailing course I attended and her sister was a teacher at my school.It was far from uncommon to see a Wayfarer sailing on days that were snowy or foggy and then spot number 48 on the sail.I still find it a bit sad that the NMM dispersed their collection in a way that placed so many interesting boats so far away from much of the population.To use an American analogy,it would be similar to the small boats from Mystic being displayed half way down the Baja peninsula.


I don't know if Tom spotted an of the Uffa Fox 14's or Rodney Pattison's FD under the same roof.

[Figment]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

:clicks like and subscribe:

[john welsford]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

The European school year has a shorter summer break than the U.S. (6 weeks instead of 10), but a good number of shorter breaks spread out through the year that the U.S. doesn't typically include. On the latest of these, a one-week break in May, I got the chance to return to the UK (without the hassle of the pesky multi-hour jetlag-ridden trans-Atlantic flight).

I've been to the UK twice before (London in 2012, and backpacking in the Lake District in 2014), but this was my first chance to see what Cornwall was all about. Turns out that it's about the same latitude as Wrocłąw (50-ish N):

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Despite its northerly location relative to North America (if Falmouth were moved to North America, it would be on the southern shores of Hudson Bay), the warm Gulf Stream actually creates an almost sub-tropical microclimate zone. Palm trees are pretty common, and some of the gardens host tropical plants that would never grow in the wild elsewhere in England.

A couple of short flights got us to London, where we hopped a train to Paddington Station. Then a groovy sleeper compartment on the 7-hour overnight train ride to Falmouth:

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I can't say enough about how cool traveling in a sleeper compartment is. Comfy. Long enough bunks even for me--must have been 6' 6" at least. Breakfast in the dining car. And you begin your first day on arrival well rested and ready to do stuff. Trains are cool. One of the things Europe does far smarter than the U.S.

Tick, for sure.

John Welsford

[Peerie Maa]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Yep. I didnt know it was in the museum until I saw it there. But there it is.

I can't imagine...

Tom

She used to be in Greenwich, until all the small craft were packed off to Falmouth.

[Peerie Maa]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

It was built about 16 miles from where I'm sitting.The local connections are a bit stronger as Margaret Dye was an instructor on the first sailing course I attended and her sister was a teacher at my school.It was far from uncommon to see a Wayfarer sailing on days that were snowy or foggy and then spot number 48 on the sail.I still find it a bit sad that the NMM dispersed their collection in a way that placed so many interesting boats so far away from much of the population.To use an American analogy,it would be similar to the small boats from Mystic being displayed half way down the Baja peninsula.


I don't know if Tom spotted an of the Uffa Fox 14's or Rodney Pattison's FD under the same roof.

I believe that may have happened when the Curator retired or left or whatever, and was replaced by someone from an art gallery.

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

I still find it a bit sad that the NMM dispersed their collection in a way that placed so many interesting boats so far away from much of the population.To use an American analogy,it would be similar to the small boats from Mystic being displayed half way down the Baja peninsula.

On the other hand, it makes it easier for folks in Baja to see them... Or, maybe space issues requiring dispersal? Not my circus, so I have no opinions about the policy--but I did enjoy running into Frank and Margaret Dye's boat at Falmouth.

I don't know if Tom spotted an of the Uffa Fox 14's or Rodney Pattison's FD under the same roof.

Nope. I only saw one large hall with small boats displayed--a couple on the floor, and maybe 8 or so hanging in the air. Nothing by Uffa Fox that I saw. There was this Water Wag--billed as the world's first one-design:

Water Wag.jpg

And Fricka, a William Fife racing design. Also an multihull canoe (Pacific origin, I think), a couple other small boats but none I recognized.

Tom

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

She used to be in Greenwich, until all the small craft were packed off to Falmouth.

Do they rotate boats? I was at Greenwich in 2012 and didn't see the Dye Wayfarer then. I did, however, see the actual 1 oz. musket ball that William Bligh used to weigh each crew member's bread allowance during his epic post-mutiny small boat voyage. THAT was cool.

Tom

[lupussonic]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Any North coast action?

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[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

After an afternoon at the Maritime Museum, my wife had to work. I went back to eat a quick supper, then walked back downtown to a local art cinema to catch a Danish film, set in Iceland, about a young priest sent to build a new church and be the parish priest in a remote village.

Starkly beautiful scenery (rural/wilderness Iceland, including a long trek on horseback through the mountains), loooong stretches of silence. A film that leaves watchers to puzzle out the motivations, thoughts, and feelings of the characters just by watching them. Slow-moving and powerful, a good antidote to typical Hollywood fare. Well worth a viewing on a big screen if you get the chance and aren't scared away by subtitles.

There's a lovely sequence on the boat journey (mini-spoiler alert) in which the new priest is practicing pronouncing Icelandic words with his friend/guide. Word after word. It goes on for minutes with no explanation.

SPOILER COMING!

And then the priest, finally, after pronouncing word after word after word, turns to his tutor and says, "And these all mean 'rain'?"

Hilarious. (The rest of the film is quite bleak and dark).

Tom

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Any North coast action?

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Looking at those photos, I wish there had been!

We did make a brief visit to St. Ives, but that was a rainy/blustery day and we didn't get outside along the coast much. The bus stopped at Lands End and we didn't even bother to disembark at that point.

Tom

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

The next day was rainy--a cold all-day rain--so we opted to ride a bus around in a big loop, spending most of the day protected from the wet weather. Stopped in St. Ives, saw some shops and the Tate Modern gallery there.

The roads are very different from the U.S., where we chop down any tree or bush that approaches a bare kill zone along the ditches, with wide shoulders to facilitate high-speed car travel. Cornwall's roads, on the other hand, seem to have been built by people who believe that hedges and trees and the critters that travel past and live in those hedges have a right to exist. Riding a double-decker bus in the front seat, you get a VERY close-up view of those hedges--close enough that from time to time you get a loud smack as a branch hits the windshield.

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The roads were narrow enough that:

1. Trees often overlapped above the bus--very cool. These kinds of roads have virtually disappeared from much of the U.S.
2. Cars had to back up to a narrow spot to let the bus pass.

St. Ives was cool, although--sadly--we did not run into the traditional 1 man, 7 wives, 49 sacks, 343 cats, and 2,401 kits.

St. Ives.jpg

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

On that rainy day, the Minack Theater was the highlight--what a crazy cool place! Apparently the lifelong obsession of the landowner, Rowena Cade, who carried sand and poured concrete until well into her 80s. I would love to see a show here--but the dramatic setting might pose interesting challenges for the actors, I suppose.

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700+ seats, concrete and turf (they install new turf every year, which itself must be a pretty big job).

The black section on the floor (hexagonal patches in front of the stage) represents lava--the show that night (they change shows each week) was a new play about a volcanic eruption and subsequent evacuation of Tristan de Cunha.

Tom

[artif]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Re The Minack, I was lucky enough to see Macbeth played there when I was a kid on a school outing. Being a kid I was not really in to Shakespeare or seeing plays, but it left a lifelong impression on me.

North Cornwall, the sun does pop out occasionally
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[lupussonic]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

I was a member of the St Ives dinghy club, around 20 boats up to 16 foot. Incredible place to sail, as when you go out of the bay you are in conditions that are the same 400 miles out into the N. Atlantic, all while under the eyes of the Coastwatch service who have a lookout atop The Island. The rollers can be 35 foot out there, but you still have to get your boat upright and sail away. I sailed year round, often 2-3 times a week, weather pending, for 7 years. Usually to Zennor or Porthreath and back, but even staying in Hayle Bay having some mackerel would do.

I rebuilt a Mirror Marauder that had a pressed steel centreboard and weighed a ton due that and to the oak framing, it got the blood going if you had to haul it across the 200' harbour sand to the water and back if the tide was out, but a warm up at either end of the sail was welcome.

Absolutely hands down the best sailing I ever had. In terms of learning, boat control, safety at sea, hard work, fun and the sheer beauty of the place, I doubt I will ever surpass it.

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St Ives itself is a ghastly town full of rich freaks desperate for their Riviera fantasies to come true, who have also pushed out a lot of Cornish from their old fishing homes Downalong; they all live up on the council estates at the top of town, locally known as 'the reservation'. It started 150 years ago when Londoners discovered it and offered impoverished fishermen a bag of gold shekkels for their hovel. Who can blame them? You are far more likely to meet someone from Birmingham than Cornwall in the 'old town'. People are asking 50k for a parking space there now.

It has a greatly overstated self importance in the history of art, but has to capitalise on it, as in a climate of desperation (Cornwalls GDP is below Portugals), tourism is about all it has. By national or international standards it just isn't important, except for maybe 2 artists, Bryan Wynter (1915 - 1975), and Borlase Smart (1881- 1947) who both in my view trod their own paths and contributed significantly to the creative act.

Byan Wynter.

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