http://www.followtheboat.com Tales (not just) from the high seas Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:30:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.followtheboat.com/2012/01/10/freeing-up-our-pacific-plus-wind-pilot-self-steering/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2012/01/10/freeing-up-our-pacific-plus-wind-pilot-self-steering/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:15:31 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=25603 One of the problems with not winterising your self-steering gear properly is that 18 months down the line you pay for it. When we started recommissioning Esper at the beginning of the year we were horrified to discover that our Pacific Plus self-steering gear would not budge. Worse still, I had turned the auxiliary rudder round so that it was pointing inwards and therefore made the brass gears inaccessible. Here is a video to the solution. ]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2012/01/10/freeing-up-our-pacific-plus-wind-pilot-self-steering/feed/ 8 http://www.followtheboat.com/2012/01/09/liz-strips/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2012/01/09/liz-strips/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:54:01 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=25593 Judging by the positive response from the last video clip we thought we'd post up another one for your titillation. It seems you lot like instant gratification so for those of you who can't be bothered to read our more exciting written and photographic blog entries, here's another clip for you to download and savour. It's a clip of the Lovely Liz stripping! Better watch it quick before she finds out...]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2012/01/09/liz-strips/feed/ 13 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/07/28/class-fives-letters-part-two/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/07/28/class-fives-letters-part-two/#comments Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:00:21 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=23659 The second part of our Newport Primary School feature, where we answer the questions put to us by Mrs Savill's class. Also in this post is the video clip we showed the children of Newport Primary, to help give them an idea of life in the Himalayan foothills.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/07/28/class-fives-letters-part-two/feed/ 1 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/01/26/the-backwaters-of-alleppey-in-kerala/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/01/26/the-backwaters-of-alleppey-in-kerala/#comments Wed, 26 Jan 2011 11:50:37 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=20966 Apparently, according to some 'Bucket Lists', the backwaters of Kerala are a must-see before dying. Indeed, the National Geographic Traveller places the backwaters in the 'top 50 destinations of a lifetime'. Having now ticked this off my own bucket list I can honestly say I agree with the sentiment. This log entry counts as a proper log entry, what with it being a two-day trip on a boat, so in old school style I've put together a words-and-pictures account of this most incredible place, which includes video clips and a link to Google Earth so you can put it all in perspective.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/01/26/the-backwaters-of-alleppey-in-kerala/feed/ 6 http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/01/06/portabote/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/01/06/portabote/#comments Thu, 06 Jan 2011 04:19:30 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=20895 Boating is about pleasure but if there is one thing that gets me down it's having to repair yet another puncture in my dinghy. The coral beaches of Eritrea gave our Tinker a real thrashing and quite frankly I got fed up with lugging this huge weight on and off Esper every time we wanted to go ashore. Liz and I decided, therefore, to treat ourselves to an unsinkable, indestructible, lightweight, folding Portabote. It stows like a surfboard, commissions in minutes and is fast! Check out the first of two reviews of this boat, including a video clip of the assembly. Worth every penny? Quite possibly. Strangest looking thing on our boat? Very definitely...]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/01/06/portabote/feed/ 18 http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/09/21/turkey-to-india-a-sailing-geography-lesson/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/09/21/turkey-to-india-a-sailing-geography-lesson/#comments Tue, 21 Sep 2010 08:30:52 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=20644 We have put together this educational video for children aged between 5-10 but at 50 Liz was just as entertained, so we hope everyone gets something out of it. Using Google Earth we have animated the course that we took on the rally from Turkey to India. It starts off with a few clips of the rally boats to give children an idea of what a boat looks like when it is sailing but the main part of this clip is an explanation of each country visited and where they are in relation to the UK. We put this together to accompany the podcast we'll be publishing in October for Nancy Lake's class at Wybunbury Delves Primary School. Nancy's class, who have asked us a whole range of questions about what it's like to live on a boat, is aged between 10-11 but the commentary on this video clip is more suited to 4-7 year olds. We hope you enjoy it. It was great fun to put together and we look forward to reading your comments.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/09/21/turkey-to-india-a-sailing-geography-lesson/feed/ 14 http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/09/14/what-do-7-metre-waves-look-like/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/09/14/what-do-7-metre-waves-look-like/#comments Tue, 14 Sep 2010 06:30:53 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=20606 So what do 7m waves look like from the inside of a cruise ship? I've put together three video clips in this post. In the first we see the effect of a storm on a cruise ship's passengers, crew and gear. This CCTV clip was taken from a cruise ship that hit 50 knots winds off New Zealand and makes for scary viewing! The second clip gives you a bird's eye view of a rolling cruise ship, and the third is a small clip taken from the bridge of a commercial vessel enduring some sci-fi looking waves. Anyone booked their cruise this year?]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/09/14/what-do-7-metre-waves-look-like/feed/ 17 http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/06/20/mumbai-mumbai-the-official-ftb-song/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/06/20/mumbai-mumbai-the-official-ftb-song/#comments Sun, 20 Jun 2010 11:51:16 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=20118 Followtheboat has an anthem! You may have heard the official World Cup song by Shakira but we've gone one step further by signing up the even more beautiful female vocalist, Annie May, to write and sing FTB's 2010 Indian Anthem. This is a must-see exclusive, just for our friends...]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/06/20/mumbai-mumbai-the-official-ftb-song/feed/ 9 http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/06/06/the-dharavi-slums-of-mumbai-in-photographs/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/06/06/the-dharavi-slums-of-mumbai-in-photographs/#comments Sun, 06 Jun 2010 08:25:16 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=20071 To me photography is often about engaging with people. Despite being told to do so by our taxi driver I point-blank refused to stick my camera out the window of the car as we drove down one really poor street. Yet on my second visit, this time walking down the same street, we bothered to talk to the people I was snapping and everyone we met appeared so happy. Except one family. You'll notice in amongst all the photographs of smiling faces are two brothers who look very sad. Why were they like this? It doesn't bear thinking about but their eyes tell a different story and their portraits stick out like sore thumbs. It's a stark reminder that behind all the laughter life is still damn bloody tough.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/06/06/the-dharavi-slums-of-mumbai-in-photographs/feed/ 10 http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/03/07/dancing-with-yemeni-fishermen/ http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/03/07/dancing-with-yemeni-fishermen/#comments Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:00:52 +0000 Jamie http://www.followtheboat.com/?p=19712 I am the first Englishman to dance with Yemeni fishermen. Actually I think the accolade I was awarded by the coastguard who gave me this video clip was that I was the first foreigner to lead a troupe of Yemeni fishermen in dance. Ever. Don't worry I'm not being serious, even though the coast guard was. I was quite touched that one of the coastguard-policemen came looking for me to lead me up to Colonel Mohamed's office to watch this clip. All ten policemen were huddled round a TV with a camera plugged in to it, watching this clip! The actual event was a leaving ceremony put on by Colonel Mohamed of Aden for the Vasco Da Gama rally and the fishermen were breaking out some traditional dance routines to a live band. I have to say they were excellent and the music was pretty cool too. Check out the video clip.]]> http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/03/07/dancing-with-yemeni-fishermen/feed/ 13