Blogging by email

I have spent the day buying 175 litres of diesel and stacking up four Tescos trolly loads of food and water so feel I deserve a "gud" (as its pronounced up here) cup a tea.

It also seemed like a "gud" time to try the promised email to blog feature while waiting for my lemon lemon cake to arrive.

Tomorrow we set sail, though I'm hoping for an hour or two to see highlights of the Orkney, in particular the pre-historic monuments.

Sent from my iPad

Off sailing....

... will post again where and when its possible.

There's also a couple of posts scheduled during the week.

Top 100 Travel Blog

Yesterday's post might have seemed a bit off-topic.

What was the boating angle? you might have asked. There were no shots of spinnakers flying, kayak blades cutting the water or Laser sailors doing handstands.

However those Technorati blog watching servers would have approved.

I don't often check out what Technorati thinks of this blog so didn't expect to find it in the top 100 travel blogs - actually hovering just outside the top 50.

Which was surprising as in the last year or two travel opportunities have been limited. While previously I'd been to interesting places like Venezuela's Orinoco Delta and the remote monasteries of Georgia recent posts have usually been restricted to London.

But why look further? In a recent survey by TripAdvisor London was voted the number one tourist destination for 2012.

Quite right too: as Samuel Johnson once said "when a man is tired of blogging about London he is tired of blogging."

Or something like that.


Updated: now top 50 (just):

Blogging the Olympics - or not?

This summer is of course the Olympics and I have a couple of tickets to the sailing.

It will be great to see the world's best sailors compete together on home waters (and hopefully see blighty win a few more golds) and then blog about it afterwards - or so I thought.

Apparently the following warning is being printed on all Olympic tickets:

"Images, video and sound recordings of the Games taken by a Ticket Holder cannot be used for any purpose other than for private and domestic purposes and a Ticket Holder may not license, broadcast or publish video and/or sound recordings, including on social networking websites and the Internet more generally."

Wow - that's really restrictive and backwards looking.

London is a tech centre, home of start-ups & media friendly, and the mobile operators are already boasting how much 3G coverage the Olympic site will have (and reminding everyone that Beijing only had 2G) explicitly to support Facebook and blog updates.

There have already been signs of back pedalling with Olympic organisers admitting that:

"The internet has changed the world and we’re not going to be silly. But the reality is that we live in an Internet world where Facebook downloads and uploads are happening every day of the week and there’s not much we can do about it."

Anyhow I'm going to go ahead on the grounds that reading the restrictions with a fine tooth comb the issue is mostly with sound and video while for photography it simply mustn't be commercial.

As you might have noticed this blog is advert and hence revenue free so there'll be no commercial gain, but it does seem a bit ridiculous.

This is meant to be the big world-coming-together-unifying event but we're not meant to communicate about it.

That's just crazy.

I want to sail in Scottish waters

So if the Solent isn't top of my list of places I want to sail, where is?

Well if the title of this post didn't give the game away hopefully the flag in the photo above will. For some time now I've wanted to sail the waters around Scotland.

I've visited the Highlands and Islands quite a few times on family holidays and just loved it. Wild moors with nothing but herds of deer, idylic sandy beaches, crystal clean waters, impressive mountains rising out of the sea, Gaelic culture, stone age remains, friendly locals, good sea food and air as strong as an iron girder forged on the Clyde.

But I've never sailed those waters apart from a couple of afternoons in a dinghy and the inevitable CalMac ferry (above) and yet the area seems ideal for yachts.

There's been a big push to "Sail Scotland" and facilities have been expanded, and while we were on Islay we saw them building a big marina. But usually looking out to sea you'd be lucky to catch sight of a single yacht, which is strange given its under an hour's flight from London, with no passport required.

What about the weather? you're probably thinking.

Well ok it isn't exactly the Caribbean, but it is surprisingly temperate, given its the same latitude as Hudson Bay and Labrador in Canada, places where icebergs drift and polar bears go wandering.

But Scotland is warmed by the gulf stream and typically is only a few degrees cooler than the rest of Britain, though it might indeed be a good idea to stock up with Musto base and mid layers before heading up there.

And on its doorstep there are all sorts of really interesting places: sail for just a few days and you're in untouched wilderness.

One day, hopefully soon, I'll find out for myself.

Why the Solent isn't my top sailing destination

Oops, that might have come out wrong.

I do like the Solent, honestly. I've my favourites ports, like the Hamble, Lymington, Yarmouth and Cowes.

I've done my Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper (er, almost) there. I've moored at Cowes surrounded by legends during the 150th anniversary of the America's Cup, done a Round the Island, raced a Volvo 60 in Cowes week, sailed past the Needles at midnight, chute flying in the moonlight....

But I'm trying to answer Tillerman's blogging writing challenge - which is to say where do you want to sail most in the world.

And that's not the Solent, for me. I'm booked to sail there twice more this summer, but it'll be the Solent "again" and in summer it gets really crowded (above).

I want to go somewhere different, to discover new waters to sail, to push outside that comfort zone.

So where do I most want to sail? Ah, that will have to wait until tomorrow.....

Pippa good; PIPA bad

Piracy doesn't justify SOPA

The acronym of the day is SOPA.

It's legislation being proposed in the US Congress to stop piracy, but while piracy - both real and online - is wrong the provisions in SOPA are unjustified, too broad and way too draconian.

It might come from the US but it could have a serious impact over here too - after all Blogger is owned by Google which is a US company.

More here on why its such a bad idea.

Buff Staysail boycotts Puma!

G'day all! Buff Staysail here! Buff by name and Buff by nature!

Of all the bleeding cheek! I mean, jeez, what does a blogger have to do to get ahead? There was I, feet up enjoying a nice cold one when I read over on Proper Course that Puma have paid for ten bloggers to be flown out to Abu Dhabi - and NOT included yours truly!!

Instead they've chosen a bunch of fashionistas that worry about things like looking cool - jeez, I'm lost for words.

I'm into fashion too - Buff is known for his style!! Didn't they see my America's Cup World Series TV show???? Didn't they know that I'm already a "Volvo Circumnavigator"????

I blame JP. If he hadn't gone around calling top-notch TV shows like Three men do X as a "yawn-fest" or saying the DTLs in the most recent Volvo leg as "meaningless" this would never have happened.

I wouldn't put it past him (or O'Docker) to have mentioned that phone hacking incident.

Jeez, to think I could be now modelling swimming shorts!! Or mixing it with Hepburn!!!

That's it, I've had enough. I'm not going to buy Puma gear let alone go to the gym three times a week. A man has his respect you know.

This is Buff Staysail - over AND out!!

Buff's review of 2011

G'day all! Buff Staysail here! Buff by name and Buff by nature!

Well that was a cracker of year for ol' Buff. Forget about JP's 2011 and have a listen to this!

Buff's tactical head has been shining for real with biz ideas a plenty. In just one year I came up with an America's Cup syndicate, property speculation, 3 tier competition services and Buff's Brilliant Buoys (TM)!!!

What's more I've seen the way the world works, no ninny me, and how wheeling dealer types must engage with those politicos, like. Remember the Mandatory Laser Bill? Well that gave me the biggestish idea ever - Buff for President!!!

Well alas that didn't pan out, but then Buff the Man has grown this year, you know, like spiritually. My quest for enlightenment brought not just the horoscopes for 2011 but also shown the need for a Taru of my own (still searching if there are any lovely ladies out there).

Of course Buff the sailing expert was in great demand. I gave my top tips on navigation and discovered I'd already done a "Volvo circumnavigation" of Australia (beaut). Maybe because of that I presented the world famous and totally epic Buff Staysail America's Cup World Series TV Show!!!!

Don't think there's any need to go on about the boat show incident, the Syrian lesbian allegation or the phone hacking scandal.

What can 2012 bring? I think its going to be XXXX Gold mate!!

Geddit!! Olympic year and all that. Oh, and any major news corporation looking for a legendary sporting journo to cover the games, just email JP. He'll know which bar I can be found in.

This if Buff Staysail, ready and waiting!!!

Blog review of 2011

It wasn't an easy year, what with a death in the family and the riots in London. There was also not just one but two periods where work loads were excessive for weeks and weeks in a row.

But there were good moments too. Despite the riots London proved it was great with a wide range of culture from Gauguin to the Book of the Dead to Steve Reich's Drumming to Miro to theremin SF to Iain M. Banks to string quartet plus didgeridoo to Barber's Knoxville to the Proms to John Martin's Apocalypse (and sewage system) to Film to Wild Beasts to Swallows and Amazons.

Just check out what was packed into one day off in London.

There was of course one rather well publicised wedding.

Hmmm...... looks like there was more culture than boating. But I did get paddling on the river, go ice skating and race in the Fowey Classics (allegedly). We were "not bad" three times in a row - yeh!

This year is already promising much, with both the London 2012 Olympics and the Queens Diamond Jubilee, and I've been plotting options for sailing routes and destinations.

Above is the classic yacht Mikado which we beat at the Fowey Classics - one definitely good memory to take from last year.

Of course Buff's year was even better.......

It was a dark and stormy night

It was a dark and stormy night and Captain JP said to the mate "Tell us a story mate", and this is the story told:

It was a dark and stormy night and Captain JP said to the mate, "Tell us a story mate", and this is the story told:


It was a dark and stormy night and Captain JP said to the mate, "Tell us a story mate", and this is the story told:


It was a dark and stormy night and Captain JP said to the mate, "Tell us a story mate", and this is the story told:


...............................


Normal service will resume tomorrow.

A frightful anniversary

Today I share something with Alex and Taru.

No, I do not have a glamorous life sailing around the world, enjoying stunningly beautiful blue water, but like them today is an anniversary.

For me it is blogging, for 6 years ago today the first post went live. If I were 6 now I would be out there banging on doors demanding free chocolate, for today is Halloween!!

Being a little bit older I'll be connecting some appropriately spooky dots, and going back to the painter John Martin. As well as a career in art and a side line in designing London's sewage system he had time to raise not just 6 of his own children but also take under his wing a young woman called Jane Webb.

Jane Webb went on to write The Mummy (above) and the ever connected John Martin could also claim to know William Goldwin whose daughter wrote Frankenstein. It might not have been a coincidence then that one of Martin's own daughters married an Egyptologist.

Indeed there sometimes seems no limit to the connections John Martin made. He shared lodgings with the future King of Belgium (who became godfather to one of Martin's children) and at his dinner parties you could meet Dickens, Michael Faraday, Turner and John Tenniel, the illustrator of Lewis Carroll's books.

One amazing story has him on the footplate of a steam train with none other than Isambard Kingdom Brunel thundering along at 90 mph as they proved conclusively that a train could go faster than a horse.

What a great life!

Flemish Coil Google Piracy Shock!

Aha me-hearties, 'tis talk like a pirate day, so it be.

'pon my eyes, what dastardly deed to I see upon yon Google? Aye, 'tis the terror of the seas, Tillerman of the brig Laser, who has captured O'Docker's pride and joy.

What it be, you ask? Ah-ha heave-to and not be putting on t'gallants when there's a gale blowing.

Cast your spyglass on yonder Google images search for flemish coils. Ah, me hearties, we don't do them on a pirate ship, but I digress. 'tis the 2nd highest flemish coil of all and it be O'Docker's picture, aye, that it be. But it be a link to Captain Tillerman's web page!!

'tis piracy! Tillerman has high-jacked O'Docker's picture for his own blog!!

Ah-ha, 'tis enough of yon talk of blogs and Google. Where be the wenches and the grog? Me knows not but must go now or will be forced to walk the plank!

Beware the blogger pirates!!

Oh do keep up

I'm being squeezed time-wise at the moment between work, family chores and the second re-write of that novel so struggling a bit on the blogging front.

However I liked Tillerman's idea to post the best of September and coming up this month we have the Thames Festival then the Great River Race on the 17th,  Talk Like a Pirate Day on the 19th followed on the 25th by World Rivers Day.

That's saying nothing about a writing challenge or a directing challenge which will probably drop off the to do list (sorry).

But not tonight.... its been a very wet and blustery day and the nights are getting noticeably longer.

This blog is destroying civilisation!

Today this blog welcomes (if that is the right word) the return of the columnist Glenn Beard, the man unafraid to speak his mind.

Friends, I am here because I am mad!!

I have just analysed the visitor logs for this blog and I discovered a disturbing statistic - the readers overwhelming come from freedom-fries loving countries!!

So what, I hear your lame-stream media liberal appeasers ask? Well, let me tell you another fact that will blow your mind. This blog was founded in November 2005 in the UK and then in just a few months afterwards, in fact in 2006, the UK's GDP fell below that of China!!

Co-incidence, I think not!!

This blog has no real information content and rarely involves any actual sailing or kayaking. What it does do is give a few seconds or even minutes of distraction, which leads me to the final conclusive statistic - many readers access this blog during work hours.

So you begin to see through the schemer's veil. Those commie bastards, aiming to undermine civilisation as we know it, have created a blog with no real content, but which reduces western productivity to a fatal degree.

You don't believe me? Well I had my doubts until I found this confession earlier this year: this blog is written by a Syrian lesbian!!! Ok, officially it is a denial, but we all know what that means. The fools even labelled that post as fiction!!!

(beginning to cry)

So people, I love my country, and I beg of you, if you love yours too, stop reading this right now!

Stocking the America's Cup

This blog recently led the interweb into the brave new world of stocking. For those of you in need of a "previously on... " recap, stocking is the recreation of the world of the stock photo which is apparently the next planking (oh come on, you must of heard of planking).

Keen to continue this cutting edge trend-setting status after a bit of staging I put together the above and I'm sure you'll spot the uncanny likeness to this America's Cup photo:

Wow, you're probably thinking. How did you manage that JP? Where did you get that AC45? How could you re-create the natural amphitheatre of the San Francisco Bay?

The keen eyed will of course spot that the hull colour is wrong - darn, there is only so much attention to detail this blogger can manage.

But think of it as a challenge - or an opportunity. You too could become in-time with-it happening interwebbers - you too could enter the world of stocking.

So how about it ? Any interest in a new group exercise, the Boating Blogger's Stocking Challenge?

The uber-cool could even try stocking the O'Docker planking  - but easy tiger! Experts only for that assignment!

JP leads interweb in post planking trending stocking

A few months ago I noticed that this blog's visitor stats were racing ahead, maybe a third higher than normal. What was it? I wondered. Was it Buff Staysail? Top Yacht? Descriptions of travel from back in 2009?

Nope, it was a post titled "Writing like" about a site that claimed it could detect writing styles. To accompany the text I added a picture taken from the web found after a quick Google, the one on the left above. And now Google images servers, deep in the heart of Mountain View, had decided that my picture was just great and had promoted it to a top placing.

Hmmm... thought I, how weird. Then for some strange reason it annoyed me: these hits weren't really my hits at all, they were for someone else's picture. So enough is enough, I think, its time to replace that stock photo with one of my own creation, the one on the right above.

And it did the trick. Google's algorithms had a collective seizure as they discovered their cached record was out of date and consequently dropped that web page down the rankings into oblivion, taking my site's traffic with it. Hurray!

So the matter rested until today when I read this story on Gizmodo, about something called "stocking" which is apparently the new "planking". I'm sure that you with-it in-time trending people all know about planking - after all it has its own Wikipedia entry.

However stocking was a new one to me. Apparently it involves "re-creating the world of the stock photo" and has its own web site here. It is so cutting edge that if you Google images "stocking" you don't find a single real "stocking" image!

But hang on: isn't that what I just did - several months ago? Maybe this blog is part of the post-planking trending interweb - nay, leading the pack, setting the pro-stocking agenda!!

I think I might go and lie down now - but not in planking way of course. This would be soooooo last month.

London is great

A good antidote to the week's events was to look back at some of my previous posts about life in London.

There was of course the Ultimate Walk by the Thames, with 50 things to see and do between Westminster and Tower Bridge. Yup, all those sights are still there.

In contrast there were the ways to escape London in London - such as a bike ride from Putney to Kingston and back. And not just by bike: you can kayak (on the Thames or the Wandle) or even sail, stopping over at one of the hundreds, no, thousands of pubs. You can join thousands others rowing up or down the Thames, such as for the Great River Race. In winter you can ice skate at many wonderful open air rinks, including the glorious Somerset House.

And London's been doing this not just for years, decades or even hundreds of years, but thousands of years. Julius Caesar himself forded the river Thames, back in 55 BC. And the river has seen so much history, from the days of the Golden Hinde to the docks to the lightermen. Every corner of London has its historic gems, like Trinity Buoy Wharf in docklands.

London's central place is reinforced by its geocoordinates, home to Greenwich, the zero line of longitude, where the last tea clipper, the wonderful Cutty Sark is being restored.

London was also the home of the great bard, Shakespeare, whose plays were first performed by the banks of the Thames. He was by no means the first or last, with hundreds if not thousands of writers, artists and thinkers who have lived for a time in London, from Monet and Wandsworth to the recently departed Tony Judt.

And what museums and exhibitions there are! From Henry Moores or Gauguin at the Tate to Turner and the Masters and from Anish Kapoor's sky mirrors to Jean Nouvel's Pavilion at the Serpentine, in the heart of London, in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and all the other of London's great parks.

And outdoor sculpture, like more Henry Moores, this time at the stunning Kew Gardens or the Putney Sculpture trail in summer or winter.

But don't forget the music, whatever your taste you will find it in London. Whether Steve Reich's Drumming on the South Bank, Theremin and Global Communication at the British Library, Editors at the Brixton Academy, Didgeridoo with string quartet, poor Amy Winehouse.... the list is endless.

It is the city where you can find Nelson's ship in a giant glass bottle high in Trafalgar Square, have all the fun of a country fair, where through the sky flies Harry Potter, Antony Gormley statues can stand on countless buildings and as a backdrop for those Spooks.

Whether in fog or snow London is a beautiful city, home to wildlife from foxes to eels, and within a year the 2012 Olympics.

London truly is great, and I am proud to call it my home.

Buff Staysail - the truth

Today this blog is forced to run an important official announcement on behalf of Buff Staysail:

G'day all! Buff Staysail here - Buff by name and Buff by nature!

There's been all sorts of gossip going around recently that I just had to come out and clear things up. All this talk about me really being a Syrian lesbian is complete and utter B- ..... er, I mean, complete rubbish.

This is Buff Staysail you are talking about! I am a well known and respected sailing journo and also CEO, Chairman and founder of that ground breaking and potential Tech Crunch winning company, Buff Enterprises!!

Lets keep the gap between fact and fiction clear, ok?

This is Buff Staysail, for real, over and out!