pks1702

It was very satisfying Simon and based on last year the sealant really is the key to making the finish last. After I had finished David approached Kiki with a hose only as part of the QA testing procedure you understand The water just ran straight off repelled instantly without a drop left - I have a stealth boat at present

Kiki & Kingfisher were lifted out ready for a weekend of work followed by some anti fouling this week (having been given time to dry) and dropped back in before this weekend. This meant everything being completed in a weekend - boy my arms ache from restoring, waxing, Polishing and sealing it was an early until late weekend but we did manage a Social event Saturday evening with SPYC and a pass out on Sunday PM for an hour to attend a BBQ on the banks of the Orwell & the marina. In prime position Anodes worked then! Where has it gone I woke up looked out and......... Very organised While we were relaxing there was a shout, and boy do the RNLI not mess about. Yotties scattered on all sides, believe me the wash was something else Sorry only had a p&s with me and this was around half a mile away. After all the hard work..... Kingfisher Kiki Prop Anode to go on Anti fouling in the next 48 hours and back in ready for action. Finally someone checking over my ship! Edit for typo

Young Nathan hits our 'manor' and seems to like our marina His last comment brought a smile and will please all AA's

Here you go Simon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aveling_and_Porter http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Aveling_and_Porter

Mine is a virtual carbon copy of Mark's except I have been uploading my exported JPEGs for the web to an online host . This was done ad hoc and was quite time consuming but I found a Jeffery Friedel Lightroom plug in as outlined in Simon's Strumpshaw post which will allows direct export to your online host account there is one for Smugmug and Flickr could be others. As I was not aware how to link your online image to this site I had been reimporting the JPEG resizing and posting thanks to Simon's tip this process is redundant and won't have done anything for posted image quality. I back up my RAW files to an optical disk.

I have updated the thumbnails to larger images on Page 16 to make them easily viewable. David always has a project on... before we left on Monday I am sure he was contemplating an outside lavvy on Kingfisher

Simon got me thinking how I could make the process of uploading to an outside host easier. Having talked to a friend he reminded me of our investigations into Smugmug a couple of years ago which I had forgotton about. The beauty of Lightroom is that via a Jeffery Friedal (small donation plug in) you can export direct to Smugmug which I liked given the flexibilty and customisation, so have gone this route. http://www.smugmug.com/ There is a Friedel plug in for Flickr http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/flickr#101 or Picasa http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/picasaweb#79

Truth is I am happy taking the snaps as I can do that. Making the other bits work........ very much David's specialist area

Very nice Simon, some very nice images. I can see I need Flickr as an outside host for posting photos here.

As ever P&S advisory on the photos! updated so images are easier to veiw Have linked to an outside host to save bandwidth Or Slideshow here: http://perrysaunders.smugmug.com/photos ... mKey=VbHBx The weekend forecasts looked OK although a F3-4 NE or East later on Saturday might prove lively over the Deben Bar on the ebb but fortunately the tide gods were with us Kingfisher and Kiki set off at 8.00am for Woodbridge which would see us at the Deben entrance around 9.00am on the flood half tide. As outlined else where there is little water over the bar at lower states of the tide so a rising tide is essential to be safe. We had consulted the chartlet which was very good in giving a track of 335 degrees from West Knoll to Mid Knoll then it is a case of keeping hard over port (a little disconcerting given the rocks) and then once past the bar back over to starboard. http://www.eastcoastrivers.com/pdfs/Deben-April-09.pdf The wind was very light so conditions good but as entered the Deben. It was a flood spring tide, Kiki on tick over which normally would do around 4 knots was making nearly 9 SOG! A good trip up to Woodbridge with an entertaining interlude from a naturist yottie (I don't think it was Jenny ) and a youngster in a bosuns chair while underway The Deben almost totally dries from Waldfingfield down to Woodbridge and timing your entrance is necessary to get over the Sill at Tide Mill Yacht Harbour. There are some waiting buoys outside but it is not the place to be on an ebbing tide. Tide Mill YH has an eclectic mix of boats of all sizes, shapes, persuasions and ages which kind of goes with the Huckleberry Finn type feel of the place. It was very busy being a Bank Holiday so Kingfisher & Kiki ended up mooring rafted to a 1939 Scottish Built Classic Motor Yacht. It was a labour of live for its owner, the Brass Fittings which were gleaming must have taken an age to keep polished. Fortunately neither of our ships mooring meant the owner having any additional work to do A very enjoyable day including a wander around Woodbridge in some very good weather. Ian (Senator) if you do get to Woodbridge I would speak to the HM and ask for a berth on the inside of the horse shoe as with Heather's mobility issues it is a long walk if you are on the outside. Facilities are very good with excellent showers, BBQ & Picnic area and 5-10 minutes to get into town. Sunday Morning saw us waiting for enough water over the Sill (a metre) to head off to get some fishing in around at Wrabness. To show how it looks around high tide.... We timed our exit to be around an hour before HW the tide was steaming in the bar was creating a virtual washing machine in the entrance with boats coming in and going out over the bar it was very busy in a very narrow area and then there was the yottie who decided it would be great fun to sail in but had not thought that in a 5-6 knot incoming stream he might not be able to control his vessel while this was happening and trying to keep off the putty my helm started to become less responsive and a pool of hydraulic fluid started leaking what a time for it to happen! (Diagnosis on the helm is that the pump has probably gone). An exit was made and an uneventful trip round to Wrabness except the wind had freshened to Easterly. We intended an overnight stay at Wrabness but early evening decided to head back to Shotley rather than being bounced around on a buoy in the freshened wind which was blowing down the river Stour. Back tucked up in the marina meant we could get a decent nights kip. On Monday we cleared the ships ready for them to be lifted Tuesday for a week for some 'slap & polish'

Larger image

The effect on water is similar to Polarising sunglasses - reduces the glare. This info might explain the technicalities:

As the question had been asked I tried a couple of shots to try to give some idea of what a polariser can do. Old lens (which fitted 77mm) with a basic Hoya 77mm Circular Polariser which I did not adjust properly as just for test shots. Given better lens, adjustment and set up results would be better but these were very much quick add hoc shots. Note much less glare on the water and more intense Green's & Blue with Polariser.

Horses for courses Simon, taking some general shots I find it useful, if on a specific mission where I will need the additional quality and faster speed lens I would use another.

A very well thought through post Simon Here is a link if you are buying new that may save some trawling various retailer sites. http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/ I do have a Sigma 18-200mm as Simon indicated this was bought as a 'general purpose' walk round lens and it does what is says on the tin and produces acceptable results. If I need the quality I do have a Canon 17-40L and a 70-200L F2.8 but the 2.8 is a mighty beast to wander round with for general work.

Full update of the trip up to Woodbridge once I have sorted my p&s photo's But this quick update should be entitled 'Making an ar*e of yourself!' Coming by The Rocks on The Deben we commented that this brave Frenchman obviously did not mind the cool Easterly breeze early in the morning. Ass we went by he stood up... Reminded me of Ray Stevens 'The Streak'... "I said don't look Ethel" Apologies in advance for some of the picture quality seriously I have a P&S to hand when boating as helming a bouncing boat with a p&s is bad enough with an SLR - no chance Cheeky!

The Pro is the one I have I think Jill I will check don't order yet!!! I would give the Warm one a miss it seems a bit of a misnomer unless you were purely looking to reduce glare. Well that is what I always wanted mine to do......

Jill, The one I used on my 'Fishing SLR' was not a Lee but a Hoya which served its purpose well although not in the Lee class. For cutting glare and enriching colours it worked perfectly well. If I were taking much in the way of Landscapes I would now purchase a Lee as the Hoya would not fit now anyway; I'm sure the Hoya may serve your purpose. You can pick them up relatively competitively e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hoya-58mm-Circu ... C23K60MM7B If I still have it you are welcome to it if it is a 58mm - I will check (give me a reminder if I have not PM'd you by after the bank holiday) Since purchasing our boat pursuing monsters has long since been left behind

I certainly was not advocating spending more money on Sony kit, merely asking do you need to at present? If you feel your current camera is limiting you then time for a move. You seem to have made your mind up and given that you have clearly researched this area, and the cash is not an issue - go for it. You are only here once

Super image Bruce and a perfect example of what a polarising filter can do

My initial question would be Simon "do you need to make any change right now"? I hear all you are saying about dissatisfaction with Sony but your images look good and what cost to change? I had a brief foray with Nikon back in the film days but found Canon products to more intuitive (to me). I do hear the blown highlights criticism although have no personal experience but as an old photographer I knew used to say 'you can do something about exposure if you have some detail but you can't do anything about no detail' . I can't help more than that Bruce as an ex Nikon user may be able to give you a better view. Personally I'd sit on my hands for a bit

Better than I can explain it http://www.philmalpas.com/pages/artfilters3.asp I would say you are going to the perfect sort of place to use one Mark; no worries about enough light, Blue Skys. Mine was uses extensively when fishing for cutting glare and adding richness to colours

I will read digest and come back

Difficult one Brian but I agree I think Yellow Pages days are numbered. I think tradesfolk are looking for more for their £ from advertising. An advert in the Yellow Pages does not link to a web site or show customers recommendations and previous work etc. I would be more inclined to contact a business that had these rather than a non interactive advert. You can do this yourself using Google etc you might be able to get the site tecchies to assist you or you could look at linking into one of the new generations of websites such as http://www.trustatrader.com/join.asp