seaboater

This sort of behaviour is pretty common in parts of the Solent and particularly prevalent in confined waters such as Poole Harbour where the Sunseeker crowd reign, and have no consideration whatsoever for smaller boats. The only way to minimise the wayward roll is to steer into it at 90 degrees, but this is often impossible in crowded waters....or even if possible, makes for a long journey as you spend a significant time steering in the wrong direction! Once you've got over the first part of the wash, you then need to steer back so that you remain in the centre of the two parting waves rather than hitting the one from the other side. To avoid giving other people this bad experience though requires you to slow right down to displacement speed. The wash from a planing hull is actually at its absolute worst, just before it gets on to the plane, at which point it's putting up great big solid waves with a trough behind them.

April 9th or 10th are both OK for me.

Barry, Depending on the specific date, I would be very interested. I very much enjoyed what I think was the last photo walk, which seems like aeons ago now....actually 27th September 2009. Regards, Pat

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Can someone clarify for me why Elements and Light Room are for different purposes and what those are? Also, is Elements a cut down version of Photoshop ie. elements of photoshop, or is it something different again? Pat

Hi Fellow Shooters, I'm currently using Windows Photo Gallery for storage and minimal manipulation. I find it pretty good for categorising, sorting etc. but not very good for displaying - it won't use the full screen for example. I got Corel Paintshop Pro Photo XI (cheap) with the PC originally but find it virtually unusable. The sort of tweaks I want to do are the usual exposure, sharpening, noise removal, straightening up type adjustments. Ideally also ability to remove the odd object which isn't wanted (ie. due to my lousy photography). I know PhotoShop does all this but I don't want to fork out that much, and there seem to be various lesser packages such as Light Room, Elements etc. I find the descriptions of functions opaque, so I thought I'd ask the forum experts. All views gratefully received. Pat

Brian, a larger sensor than a compact will benefit you, but it doesn't follow that the larger the sensor, the better for low light.......law of diminishing returns says you need a largER sensor and a micro four thirds sensor is plenty big enough. What you do need though to go with that sensor, is large aperture lenses. Kit zooms are usually f3.5 - f5.6, not very good for low light work. If you go with MFT, the most often recommended lens for the sort of thing you're wanting to do is the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 (35mm equivalent is 40mm) which is autofocus, but you have to zoom with your feet. If you buy an adapter, you can also use old but good SLR lenses such as Hexanon, Canon FD which are quite cheap, even Leica if you feel it's worth the expenditure.........probably not! Many of these lenses will be in the f1.4 to f1.8 range but manual focus. Depends how much you want to faff about, for me that's part of the pleasure, but it's not to everyone's taste.

Hi Brian, I had the same issue and eventually chose the PEN E-P2. It's a lovely bit of kit and I mainly use it with legacy lenses and an adapter. Call me old fashioned, but I like the feel of manual focus and quality built lenses. I've got the kit zoom with AF, which is a good lens, but not as sharp as some of the old classics which can be picked up pretty cheaply second hand. I previously had the Canon G9 (subsequently superceded by G10, 11 & 12, but essentially the same). It's a very good camera, and I still use it as my "compact". Taking the PEN and a few lenses out is a lot less onerous than the average DSLR kit, although I still tend to take it more on intended photography days, and use the Canon more for "snapshot" days. The Micro Four Thirds bandwagon seems to be rolling pretty fast, although challenged now by the Sony NEX series, and rumours of others jumping in with mirrorless cameras eg. Nikon. Good luck with your decision, let us know how it goes. Pat

I'm mystified as none of these boats have the proper blue hull!

It's just come to my notice that an old family friend's father ran the Dog for many years from around 1938 into the sixties. His son (name of Wicks) has many memories of the pub and the area, and if research is still going on, he may well be willing to discuss his memories and perhaps could shed further light on the research. Please let me know if there's any interest.

One from left field, good for still and video and using other manufacturers lenses via adapters is micro four thirds. There are models by Olympus and Panasonic, and they're now coming down in price. I've recently bought an Olympus Pen E-P2 and I'm very pleased with it. It's compact yet comprehensive in its facilities, both automatic and manual. There are cheaper models of the same thing offering the same image quality eg. Olympus E-P1, or E-PL1 and Panasonic GF1. Worth checking out.

Hi All, Thought I'd give you my experience. I've had two vinyl canopies in the past and have just had a another one made by Horning Marine Covers. The two, which did eventually expire, lasted 9 years and 10 years respectively. They were both used in a variety of locations around the coast of the UK without any apparent ill effects, although never used directly under a flight path. I'm quite pleased with the new cover from HMC, just a couple of niggles which I'm sure Adrian will sort out when I get round to letting him know.

Glad to hear it all went so well Mark. As others have said, the more you do it, the more you get used to it and the seas don't seem so big after all. Mind you, just when you get confident, you'll find yourself out in rapidly changed weather and run home with your brown trousers on! It happens to everybody sooner or later and can be useful experience, after which you can reflect that the weak link is the people not the boat.....it'll take a lot more than you can! Conversely, it's all worth it when you get out to sea on a bright sparkly day; there are few better feelings.

Ah, I pointed out the Strowager/Strowger issue some time ago.........and was firmly given a history proving I was wrong! As an ex Head of Networks, I thought I knew better, but Strowager's obviously had his head in the frames.

Hi Mark, Hopefully this will explain a bit more. http://www.dpreview.com/previews/olympusepl1/

Hi Simon, Yes, the favouritism seems to be going to the Panasonic GF1, but I think from extensive research on the web that it's being compared to the Olympus Pen EP1 rather than EP2. It seems to be, which one feels best to you, and for me that's the Olympus. I understand what you're saying about dSLRs at similar prices, but as you may remember, I've got a bit of a fetish about small size and weight.........hence the G9. It all looks attractive, particularly as you can use rangefinder lenses such as Voigtlander, Zeiss and Leica, and having used Zeiss on Contax bodies for many years in the past, the ability to do this on a modern camera is tempting. Of course, if I could afford it I'd buy a Leica, but they're such silly prices that I can't even contemplate it. I now bitterly regret selling my Zeiss lenses, which I'd thought would get no more use with the demise of Contax fit. I guess from the lack of responses apart from yours, that no-one on the NBN has taken the plunge, so I may well be the first. , Pat

Hi All, Anyone taken the plunge into MFT cameras and lenses yet? It appeals to me due to small size, low weight and ability to use M mount lenses from the likes of Voigtlander, Zeiss and (no I can't afford them) Leica! My Canon G9 is good, but I'm feeling the limitations a bit, both in terms of sensor size and not being able to use interchangeable lenses. I currently covet an Olympus Pen EP2 with a Panasonic 20mm f1.7 but could easily be swayed to the Panasonic GF1 as well. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's taken the plunge.......and of course, all those who'd like to give an opinion anyway. , Pat

Senator wrote : seaboater. Sorry can't quote as posting from phone but sea fog is not always avoidable and can exist even on the nicest of days. If you have run from lowestoft to Harwich you are not going to turn round and go back when you run into a fog bank for the last half a mile. Agreed, but the tenor of my post was meant to be more about caution, rather than specifically turning back or not. If you're going to do journeys such as the one you're talking about, radar (and knowing properly how to use it!) is an essential.

Even if a radar reflector worked (and many tests have shown that they are of doubtful value), there's no guarantee that any ship would actually notice you. The key is always to ensure you are not in their way, and not to go out there if there's any risk of fog. Having said that, I've been caught out in suddenly descending fog once or twice and it's not nice. I have radar and can head inshore to get out of the way of most bigger boats, nevertheless it's a highly disorientating and unpleasant sensation and one to be avoided. If in doubt, turn back has to be the maxim.

Hi Mark, I've had boats with outboards and for the last ten years twin inboards driving shafts. Sometimes I perform brilliant manoeuvres.....and sometimes rubbish, even after all these years. I always perform better with an audience I've noticed as it puts me on my mettle, so have to conclude that it makes me concentrate just that little bit extra so as not to make a complete pratt of myself in front of others! A lot of heads pop up on huge GPs when you're buzzing around a south coast marina in a relatively small and scruffy boat!!! I read a book many years ago which I think was called "boat handling under power", from which I took any useful lessons, but the most fundamental for me was working out your own boat's pivot point in both forward and reverse. Good luck, you'll soon have it licked........most of the time.

Yes, it's no good, I'm going to have to get a proper camera so I can attach all these sort of bits.

Fantastic pictures guys, I'm envious. Attaching my best go in that area, although may be more towards Bacton. What constantly plagues me is how to set up the camera to get better detail in the foreground whilst not burning out the background.........aaaaaaaaargh! And a highlands one for Bruce :

In my experience, if it's already been started within the previous couple of hours, it should only need 10 - 15 seconds ticking over after restart before it's ready to go.

Certainly something ending in "ing" Mark. Has anyone else noticed the sailor's insatiable need to coil ropes and attend to things on the cockpit floor, rather than looking where they're going? I exaggerate of course, but..........

I always run on two whilst manoeuvring, and then cut down to one as soon as possible. On two, only just in gear I'm doing 5 knots so one is much healthier for the engines as I can get the revs up a bit...although still not much. The second engine gets started when mooring, leaving a mooring or when I see potential trouble ahead........yes, those rag and stick merchants fannying about all over the place.

And what with my small boat as well...........I never recognised the advantage before!