For newcomers

At the bottom of each post there is the word "comments". If you click on it you will see comments made by followers, and if you follow the instructions you may also comment and I always welcome that. I have found many people overlook this part of the blog which is often more interesting than the original post!

My blog nick-name is SIR HUGH. I'm not from the aristocracy - my middle name is Hugh which relates to the list of 282 hills in Scotland compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. I climbed my last one (Sgurr Mor) on 28th June 2009

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Tuesday, 15 May 2018

Merlin Rocket - "Impala" (for Alan Rayner)

Alan Rayner -  http://alanrayneroutdoors.blogspot.co.uk posted recently about Hollingworth Lake. I replied saying I used to crew for my brother racing a Merlin Rocket at that venue back in the 60s. Alan requested a photo. I only have two and tried to put a link to Dropbox on my comment, but Dropbox, which I have used for years, was having tantrums, so here are the two photos for Alan.

This was taken at Hollingworth, my brother helming with a friend at the club - Ian Midgley, his family had the VW dealership in Keighley

This was on a holiday at Salcombe, brother helming with his wife Anne, both sadly no longer with us.

Ours was a beautiful wooden clinker built racing dinghy, Impala, but only a Mk6. Members at the club were racing Mk16s, and one was an ex-national champion. We were hopelessly uncompetitive, but we had a lot of fun.

4 comments:

  1. It is almost impossible to take a lousy photograph of any boat powered by sail as these photos seem to affirm. Whereas someone staggering along a country lane, borne down by a full rucksack, looks lugubrious at best, penitential at worst. My brief encounter with sailing in the Bay of Biscay and off the Brittany coast opened up a world that I'd bypassed through ignorance and that was now beyond reach. A tiny tragedy to go with the aesthetics of yachting. If I look back I remember two things: the shifting impermanence of the sea and the art-form of the winches. God-made (?) and man-made. There's a liveliness about these two pix which lifts my heart, something to counterbalance the remembrance of Nick at the end.

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  2. RR - I too had similar feelings expressed in your last sentence when I awoke these photos from hibernation.

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  3. Thanks for sharing your photos Conrad. There were a number of small vessels on the lake but I didn’t take photos of them. There were also quite a few paddle boarders which looked good fun. I’m glad that the pictures brought back good memories for you and R.
    Next time I go I will try and pick out the view.

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  4. AlanR - I am pretty sure the photo was taken from the premises of the sailing club, but not sure of the exact spot.

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