Pogo2 mini Transat boat!

Two very interested punters?? On the dock thinking MINI?..Guess who??..at
the Southampton Boat show which was quite good, the food and trafic quite
bad as usual but a great day out. Hard to keep up with all the new
technology though!..Impressed with the latest "SPOT" safety and tracking
beacon.

Jessica's next Adventure!!

The Boat show was really cool!

James Caird at the Henman Steam Rally...biggest in the world@

Saturday. Well I really get off on anyone who has passion and today was an
over load of spine tingling experiences. I had to work on the James Caird
and it had been moved. All I was told was that it was going to be at a
country steam rally, but I could still do all the planning and thinking
while it was there, so I said fine.

In the car driving there, I hear on the radio that they are expecting 20,000
people at the "little" rally in one day!! And sure enough it was BIG!!
Amazing radio controlled air craft, every conceivable type and size of steam
device you could imagine, all driven, made, restored and stoked by some real
characters. The sounds and smells of the coal fires, steam, whistles were a
kids dream. There were vintage Bikes, normal petrol engines, vintage cars,
fire engines, tractors, steam driven herdy gurdy's..just truly amazing. I
was VERY Excited and was there by myself, so just had to bottle a bit of the
energy I was generating...turns out it is the biggest steam rally in the
world!

In the corner was the Boat and even with the distractions I was able to
spend 5 hours onboard making some very important decisions. Just one was the
realization that even though Shackleton had 6 onboard. we will be pushed to
get just five. Tomorrow it is the boat show with Jess!

25 steam tractors in the main arena!

I think this is a scale model!

Every piece hand made..unbelievable working scale copy of the real thing.

Still under warrantee!

Some were pristine but had a hard working history then refurbished over ten
years.

Living , breathing monster machine!

You had to be there to hear and smell these beasts..truley amazing

MINI Tripple expansion steam engine! every piece hand made!

For over a year in 1979 I lived on the last comercially opperating steam tug
in Australia YELTA as ship keeper, It had this exact engine which were also
fitted in Navy ships during world war two, except they were full size!
Amazing! This fully working engine was exactly as I remember it.

Party Time!

Back in the UK now staying with Mike Perham and Jessica has just turned up after her USA book tour, so a bit crazy here right now!

 

I am working on the James Caird today and then tomorrow,Sunday, Jess and I will head down to the Southampton Boat show. Incredible to think just one year ago I was in the car towing Talisker Bounty Boat down to the Southampton show after our press launch in London and the phone rang to tell me Jess had just lost the mast after hitting a little ship..we laughed about that last night???…so much has happened in the last 12 months it seems like it must have been two years ago. Will put Pic’s up here of the James Caird and the boat show on Monday!

 

The three guys on the Jet ski’s had to be rescued unfortunately. They hooked up with some bad weather which basically flooded the hull compartments and started shutting down their engines. They set off their Epirbs and were picked up by helicopter a few hours later…all this the day AFTER they cancelled their expedition, as they were too far behind their schedule and they were trying to beat some bad weather to get back to the mainland from an island offshore in the Mediterranean. All rather unfortunate, but they are all safe.

 

Mike is starting a new three year film making course at University here next week and still learning to fly planes for another adventure, Jessica is off to France this coming week to consider some sailing options, Dave Pryce had is cabin nearly snowed in last week and kept the home fire burning, Dave Wilco is apparently scheming some new adventures?…we tried to catch up sort of in Hong Kong, but never quite made it and I should be staying at Chris Wilde’s place on Monday night if all goes well..so can report on his latest soon.

 

We have made a plan to have Talisker Bounty Boat on display at the Tasmanian Wooden Boat festival in mid February 2011. I will still be on the ORION with Margie returning from Antarctica, so will not be there, but this is the first time the boat has been on display since the expedition was finished. Dave Pryce may be there to chat if he is not in Antarctic so if you would like to check it out, that is the time..it is a great event held every two years. The Boat was on display there two year ago and attracted a lot of interest. I promised then that if we survived the voyage, we would have it there again and it is thanks to the generous support of the organisers that we can do this, even though I will not be there, so thanks to them!!

 

 

 

 

 

      

They were the days!!even with stones?

Well I am on my way to the UK again for some Antarctic Tourism meetings (I
am expedition leader on www.orionexpeditions.com.au) and while there, will
catch up with camera man Stu to talk about the Doco..he is currently filming
three guys who are "attempting" to ride three JET SKIS from London to
Sydney..can you believe that!! I will also visit the James Caird with Tim to
plan the final fitout of the boat in preperation for sea trials later next
year.Importantly I will also be talking with all my Sheffield Institue
Foundation friends about more fundraising and linking up with the Shackleton
James Caird trip.

Dave Wilco is promising a blog soon. He is very busy with work and family,
but his passion now is acting in a play which sounds amazing. Will let him
tell you about that later. I will catch up with Chris in the Uk soon and
demand a blog. He is looking for work still and enjoying home cooking. He
has gained a stone in weight..me..well this is the last time I will mention
it till next year...I am just holding at 90kg...so 10 kg on in three months
is it? Dave P. is out house hunting at the moment , still looking at little
boats and enjoying life in Tassie.

The big surprise for me was another kidney stone that just sort of popped
out recently..for the rest of my life Stones will always take me back to
Talisker Bounty Boat...for those who know the dramas of the voyage, this one
was a breeze..a little back pain , took a flowmax and in the morning
bingo..a 3mm stone??..getting good at it now and certainly drinking lots of
water. I am hoping that must be the last of the crop I was growing on the
superb Bounty Diet...set for medicle tests end of Sept. Have some BIG
adventure plans for 2014, but Margie is saying..what about the stones? I
just recon no one is perfect and life goes on hey!!

If you have been following this from Hong Kong,looks like we are planning a
TBB talk at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht club sometime in November so watch
this space!Still trying to get the McINTYRE ADVENTURE web site organised to
pull together the last 30 years of adventures under the one roof! Now that
will be interesting.I will let you know when we turn that on.

On a completely different track, if you ever wanted to sail around the world
late next year through the Southern Ocean, via Cape Horn, on a six month
voyage that will include a visit to South Georgia, Kergulen Islands, Cape
Town etc. in a specially built Southern Ocean boat and you have about
$50,000 I may be able to solve you problem! But it will be wet, cold
,miserable and Oh so exciting.....

Life is fun hey!