Radio Stoke

.....so last week a reporter from Radio Stoke (Emma) called round at my house to inteview me. The radio station had also arranged that the Blue Star project was part of the quiz ('What's the answer?' or should that be 'Watt's the answer?') on James Watt's programme later in the day. So far so good. The problem was that Emma was unable to get her radio to work properly and so my interview never went out live as intended. Unfortunately the Blue Star project still featured in James's quiz later in the day, but with the interview not having been broadcast first, anyone wanting to answer the question would have had to do some serious research themselves first! But someone did! Well done that man! Anyway, here is the quiz on James's show, which was broadcast first....

Quiz

and here is the interview with me, which was broadcast later!

Mike's interview with Emma

A visit to the lakes and lochs

Diane and I recently visited the boat in Greenock - I needed to take a number of things (clothes, quilts, pillows, curatins, foodstuff etc.) off the boat before the winter, as I hadn't been able to carry them all home when I had left the boat some weeks ago. A visit by car was needed. We stopped in the Lake District en route and also during our return to make a mini holiday of the visit, and we also spent a day circumnavigating Loch Lomond by car. The secenery was very beautiful, as expected!

Lady of the Lake on Ullswater

Diane on the foredeck of Maid of the Loch, on Loch Lomond

Joke:
What is the difference between the arabs living in Dubai and those in Abu Dhabi?
Answer:
The ones in Dubai don't like the Flintstones, but those in Abu Dhabi do!

Drum

When we stopped at Greenock marina my attention was immediately drawn to another yacht, Drum, berthed on the other side of the marina. I recalled the drama of an incident that she was involved in years ago.

Drum was originally built for Simon Le Bon, the lead singer with the pop group Duran Duran. Le Bon wanted to use the yacht to enter the Whitbread Round The World yacht race in 1985/86. As part of preparations for the race, Le Bon and crew took part in the 1985 Fastnet race – a 600 mile race from Cowes to the Fastnet rock off the southern tip of Ireland and back to the finish line at Plymouth. Unfortunately due to a design fault the keel fell of the yacht during the Fastnet race and the yacht promptly inverted, trapping Le Bon and the rest of the crew inside. By good fortune the crew of another boat, Carat, noticed the drama and raised the alarm, and the crew were saved by the RNLI and the help of a helicopter crew. The yacht was repaired within a month and was ready for the start of the Whitbread. Public interest in Britain was all the more because of the media reports concerning the Fastnet race incident, and because Drum was the only British maxi entered, and 10,000 spectator boats welcomed her return on the final leg in the Whitbread as she finished third overall!

Le Bon later sold Drum to Sir Arnold Clarke, owner of the automobile group. Clarke later loaned the boat back to Le Bon and his crew to enable them to compete in the 2005 Fastnet Race and complete ‘unfinished business’ whilst raising funds for the RNLI. Today Drum is based in Scottish waters and is also available for corporate charter.

Drum in Greenock marina

Drum's stern

Baldrick's Cunning Plan

When we stopped in Port Bannatyne a few weeks back Roger spotted a yacht being stored on the hard – Baldrick’s Cunning Plan. We all started laughing hysterically as we recalled episodes of Blackadder! I could not help but wonder whether the idea of buying a yacht to sail around Britain falls into the same class of plans?

‘As cunning as a fox what used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford University but has moved on and is now working for the UN at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning’

Joke

Baldrick and Blackadder discussing how the war began:

Private Baldrick:’ I heard it started when some fella called Archie Duke shot an ostrich ‘cos he was hungry’.

Captain Blackadder: ‘I think you mean it started when the Arch Duke of Austro-Hungary got shot’.

Private Baldrick: ‘No, there was definitely an ostrich involved’.

Baldick's Cunning Plan, as seen in Port Bannatyne