Swopping beers in mid atlantic

Left click the picture to view full screen size,the Camera was a Canon FT with a 50mm 1.4 lens,picture by Roy McBride.
The Barens Seatrader 39s,built in Durban and fitted out by Dick Schipper,the family of four became the boats name 4 Schippers.Meeting mid ocean is not as easy as you may think,Dick had radar,we both has Sat Nav,after the VHF radio contact was made we found each other about mid way between Ascencion Island and Salvador,Bahia,Brasil.

This was a later crossing,the event was to swop a six pack of cold Castle beers from our boat Ocean Cloud,whos fridge and deep freeze worked,to 4 Schippers whose fridge did not work.Simone on board our boat took a 6mm line we had an made a Turks Head knot in one end,we threw that line across and they are tying it to a B Canvas water bucket we sent over too,the exchange beers were Lions,not produced anymore? I still have that same heaving line,the bucket too!
Roy

Sailing the South Atlantic Ocean in 1977

Dennis,with at very large tuna we bought when in St Helena Isle.

Roy,32 years ago!

Becalmed,we never had those clouds in the distance reach us.


Claire


Arrival in Salvador early morning.

This must be the boats owner and skipper,Dennis,as I was holding the camera!

Trixi and Dennis


Dennis O,Brien our skipper,he had done a transatlantic on Brer Terrapin from Rio de Janerio to Cape Town a year before,he had to learn celestial navigation (no sat nav or gps back then) and it was up to Dennis to get us across the ocean safely,he did a splendid job of navigation,we arrived spot on and in the right place each time!

The voyage of Brer Terrapin to St Helena Isle in 1977

Left click any picture to view full screen size,the camera was a Canon FT with a 50mm x 1.4 lens and 35mm film, using Kodaks Proffesional Ektachrome slide film.
The trip took 13 1/2 days from Cape Town.

Commercial Lumber cc,34 Glynn Street,Cape Town

With a move to Glynn Street,we found ourselves in a very good position for retail timber sales,the only timber specialist in the city propper,we soon expanded from stocking only teak to around fifteen species,we supplied city council and the parliament builings,which are just down the road.While we have closed Commercial Lumber cc as a trading name,we continue to stock specialist timbers,such as Teak, Poplar,Oak,Beech,White Ash,Meranti,Oregon Pine.

Posniaks on McKenzie Street,Cape Town

The original Brimble and Briggs name plat was nailed to each fitting and window they made using tiny very sharp copper nails.

We fitted out two Tosca 36 hull and decks,this is boat one,it was followed by another,then a Fortuna 37 after which the building was sold and we moved to premises around the corner in Glynn Street,by then Commercial Lumber cc was quite well established.

We invested in a container of plantation teak,this was the start of Commercial Lumber,a successfull venture untill the exchange rates changed for the worst.

I recently added a blog on Brimble and Briggs my old Wetton employers,they used to own a building in McKenzie and Wesley Streets,these pictures are taken inside the office complex that we turned into our workshops,Bertie Posniak owned the building back then.

Markfield Town,Leicestershire,England

This was taken two days back by my good friend Notty,he tells me that he used his Canon Camera on the following settings.

The little church is St. Michael and All Angels' Church.
The green is Church Drive, Markfield, Leicestershire. Taken on a Canon EOS 450-D with an EF-S 18-55-mm Zoom lens on 20/12/2009. The settings were 1/200th. Sec. at F11& 100-4009 whatever that last number means?

Your Christmas Card

Happy Christmas every one!

This is a chistmas card to everyone who views our blog and I hope you all stay out of harms way like the bird on top of the tree has managed to do!

Roy

River Tyne Shipping

Another picture frozen in time,the tug will have been an important addition to the days when sailing ships had no engines,as a paddle wheeler and with a steam engine,this tug the Stag,would have done a much better job than a party of men in the ships long boats rowing their ship out.
Thanks to Norman Dunn for permission to use his photo.

And now a new boat

The purpose of the boat is pleasure,its got a lot of wasted space on its ends,as if they want to reduce pitching but as its used in the mediterainian sea,I am not sure why,just a design feature,let me know when you want your kit.Roy


I have already been advised that we could make this as a kit,what say you?

The River Tyne,Pelaw Main in the 1900s

An early picture of shipping on the River Tyne,I think they will be loading coal,this picture and many others are to be found on Norman Dunns web pages linked to the Hebburn on Tyne web site at www.hebburn.org,have a look at the message board and post a message! Roy

Some history on Pelaw Mains past:

Pelaw is a district that forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead,
Pelaw came into being due to the huge Victorian factory complexes of the CWS or Co-Operative Wholesale SocietyCo-operative wholesale societyA Co-operative Wholesale Society, or CWS, is a form of Co-operative Federation , in this case, the members are usually Consumers' Co-operatives...
which was the manufacturing division of the then burgeoning Co-Op company, which grew up along the length of the Shields Road.
This mile long stretch of red-brick industry was home to factories making clothing and textiles, furniture, pharmaceuticals, household cleaning products, quilts, books and magazines and the world-famous "Pelaw" shoe polish.
These factories created Pelaw and were practically its sole employer during most of the twentieth century but due to inevitable foreign competition, the prevailing economic climate and government policies of the times, the majority of the factories were closed and demolished between the mid 70s and early 90s to be replaced in recent years by modern housing estates.

A De Ja Vue experiance at Wetton Park,Wetton,Cape Town

I found this original Brimble and Briggs metal badge on a shopfitting we were removing from a job we were on,of course when we dumped the unit I kept the badge!
Roy


Wetton Park,Wetton,Cape Town

Left click either picture to view full size.

Yesterday I had occasion to visit Ian at a local company named 'Holdfast'
www.holdfast.co.za they manufacture a large range of strapping and roof racks.I was on the HBYC marinas business,we require special webbing to hold the marina floats in place.

When Ian asked if I knew where Wetton Park was? my reply was an easy yes,as I had started my first job in South Africa in the same premises some 41 years earlier,that was back in october 1968.Then it was the premises of Brimble & Briggs,a large company of shop fitters in Cape Town.It was here I met Paul and Alan Gardener,who now trade in Natal Street,Paarden Eilnad, as the 'Gardener Bros',doing high class kitchens and cupboards.To the left of where I am standing was the covered area where I parked my Mk1 Balmoral Grey Hillman Imp.

I was to return to work in the same buildings later in life,this was after my return to SA after a job in the Sudan,around 28 years back,by now Brimble and Briggs had been taken over by the PG Group and Frederick Sage Shopfitters had moved in,so had Shelvit pty,the company I was to work for,the only time I ever went to work in a suit and tie,plus have a company car,it did not last long,they had so little share of the market,I resigned.Frederick Sage did a great deal of the new Sun City Hotel in this building.

I may as well write some history on Brimble and Briggs,they were a very well known company it seems and at one time traded from a large building in McKenzie street,off Roeland street in Cape Town itself,for some strange coincidence I was later to rent half of the ground floor of this building and run my own shopfitting company from what had been Brimble and Briggs ground floor offices!The machine shop was around the corner in the same building,which being made completely from concrete made the place sound proof,back then the building was known as Posinaks,its now SA Maps.

another finding on Brimble and Briggs.

You will often find old shop fronts and shop fittings with a small metal strip nailed to the inside of the glass,its silver letters on a black background says simply Brimble and Briggs.

Brimble & Briggs bldg (later Posniaks )
Corner of Wesley street and McKenzie street
Cape Town, Western Cape
Designed by
ROBERTS & SMALL
1937

A famous painter who started work at Brimble and Briggs.

Frank Sydney Spears
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Frank Sydney Spears (1906 – 1991) was a South African artist. He was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, England.

He arrived in South Africa as a designer for Brimble and Briggs Ltd. in 1928. He established a high profile as an artist, broadcaster and actor, also known for his success in business activities and as a designer of boats.

General Botha Navy connections with Brimble and Briggs.

www.generalbotha.co.za/OBA05.2008.pdf

PW Immelman 1949/50.
Ater the Royal Navy turned him down for medical reasons, joined Brimble and Briggs as a shopfitter for 13 years.

The Bounty on the River Tyne

The replica of the Bounty will sail on for many more years but that ship yard behind it,I think its Swan Hunters has now gone,its cranes sold to India,a waste of British skills and equipment.

For more info on the River Tyne and Hebburn in particular check into www.hebburn.org

Hout Bay Harbour

Left click the picture to fill your screen and see the detail.
Taken from the car park on Chapmans Peak,Hout Bays harbour lay out and entry is easy to see in this picture.Canon G11 and an exposure of f/4.5

The HBYC marina

Having just attended a marina committee meeting on site due to storm damage,I am reminded what a great bunch of members we have in the Hout Bay Yacht Club!
Roy



Walk-on moorings include 220v shore power, good clean fresh water and refuse removal. Security is generally very good, and the marina is always a happy place!
Since the recent extension of the Northern Mole, harbour conditions are again very favourable in all weather conditions, at all mooring locations.
The Marina Manager is Peter Godley. Peter keeps a listening watch on VHF CH-71 during office hours which are every day from 9 am to 1 pm except Wednesdays and Sundays. The Marina office phone number is 021 790 7095 and Peter’s cell number is 082 446 9424.

Building the Guillimot Canoe

Henry kindly provided me with a large selection of his canoe build,he finished the boat some months back,so is now enjoying the fruits of his labours.I think its true to say that this kind of construction is therapeutic ,both the building and the use of the boat when its built.