A successful Shamrock Day on Sunday had a combination of dry weather and an afternoon tide resulting in the star attraction being afloat, all the right ingredients for inviting visitors to explore her, discover her history and plans for the future. Due to squally winds, plans to set and strike Shamrocks sails had to be dropped. Other attractions included ‘Smite’, a skittle like game played on grass, a display of model boats by the City of Plymouth Model Boat Club, and information on the river Tamar from the West Country River Trust. There was also ‘Get Knotted’, a chance to learn and practice you knots, Treasure Map and lots more spread over the quay and boat shed. On the river the Cotehele Quay Gig Club was giving taster rowing sessions and there was even the sighting of an odd radio controlled model boat.
A rare quiet moment.
City of Plymouth Model Boat Club.
Torpedo boat spotted off Cotehele Quay!
Nancy Belle
Nancy Belle has had her seaworthiness inspection that turned out to be a bit more than expected. She was first checked structurally and mechanically on the slipway, then after being launched back into the river came the unexpected load and stability checks. Plastic dustbins full of water were used for most of the load with crew members making up the rest and also acting as a moving load to check her stability. The crew is happy to report that despite being sixty plus years old she passed all the checks with flying colours, well done Shaune.
Preparing for the load test.
Finally
A lot of visitors to the National Trusts Cotehele Quay only ever see Shamrock sat on the mud and here is the answer to one of the most common questions 'does she ever float'?
The opening up of Shamrock to visitors during the weekdays has proved very popular and has helped to increase her profile but has had the knock on effect of reducing the time available to maintain her during the current peak visitor period. Any jobs undertaken need to be completed before eleven o’clock as, after that, any time spent onboard is taken up answering visitors questions. This week has seen any spare time available being used to haul Nancy Belle out onto the boat shed slipway. This enabled the chance to give her a good scrub down, mainly to remove seagull droppings, but also check everything is in working order. Once she is back on her river mooring the crew plan to rig some flags to try and discourage the seagulls.
Shamrock from the boat shed window.
Nancy Belle after her wash and brush up.
Shamrock Day Sunday 9th
Plans for Sundays Shamrock Day (9th August) are starting to come together and it is even rumoured that, if the weather forecast of light winds is correct, there will be demonstrations of raising and lowering her sails using visitors (willing not pressed) as the manpower.
Shamrock had a successful weekend at the Plymouth Classic Boat Rally with a steady stream of visitors on the bright and sunny Saturday and a rush of visitors in the dry part of the afternoon on what was a mainly wet Sunday. Shaune was even spotted doing a couple of interviews!
Return Trip Delayed
Due to high winds Shamrock's return trip was delayed until the afternoon of Tuesday 28th. Even then unseasonably high winds made for a difficult trip with the ruder having to be held over to try and keep her traveling on a straight course. With Nancy Belle pushing and a north westerly wind all the way the trip back to Cotehele was completed in about three hours with the biggest problem being the boats moored in the river at Weir Quay. With some of the boats lying into the wind across the river and some with the tide Shamrock was required to complete a bit of a slalom course to pick her way through them. Shamrock's rudder is made of large oak sections pivoted at the forward end resulting in no balancing forces when turning making the helming of her hard work. Skipper Shaune was exhausted by the end of the trip. On arrival back at Cotehele Shamrock was secured alongside “Steps Quay” to await the full tide and from there was roped around into her usual berth. A task which attracted considerable interest from the visitors on the quayside at that time.
After a extremely wet four hour journey Shamrock is now safely berthed at Sutton Harbour and once dressed overall will be open for visitors during the weekends Plymouth Classic Boat Rally 2015.
Shamrock has had a temporary crew member when Henry a pupil from Callington Community Collage spent his work experience week working both on Shamrock and in the boat shed. Henry impressed the crew as he completed every job he was asked to do well and with enthusiasm. The jobs tackled ranged from reeving the mizzen throat halyard blocks, (interesting), to scraping the old bitumen paint from the edge of the combined covering board and waterway*, (not so interesting). He also had an unusual method of transport as one day he appeared on an off road unicycle and ended up doing the odd demonstration ride around the quay. The only job that he did not tackle was making the crews tea! (A very specialised job in the Boat shed)
* Combined covering and waterway is the outermost strake of shaped deck planks. Shamrock's are made from 2in (50mm) elm.
Henry.
His transport.
Shamrock news
With Shamrock back on her river mooring, in preparation this weekend’s trip to Plymouth, the river is starting to look a little crowded.
With some last minute painting and general preparations Shamrock is being prepared for her trip to Sutton Harbour Plymouth Classic Boat Rally 2015. As the tides will be dropping off Shamrock is due to be put on her river mooring about 10 am on Wednesday 22nd July and should depart for Plymouth approximately 10 am on Friday 24th and is due back at Cotehele on the afternoon tide on Monday 27th. She is scheduled to be open for visitors at Plymouth on the Saturday and Sunday. As normal with Shamrock trips bad weather can result in a last minute change of plans.
After a weekend of two halves, Saturday dry and sunny, Sunday a bit damp Shamrock has now returned to Cotehele Quay and is safely back in her dock. The weekend witnessed some different uses of Shamrock's deck, first the musical section of "Wreckers Border Morris" using her as a bandstand while the rest of the Morris danced on the pontoon. Next came “Western Approach” a close harmony group who used her as a stage for several of their renditions and finally she was used as a viewing platform for the start of the afternoons dingy race.
In keeping with the one wet and one dry theme the journey back to Cotehele was made in glorious sunshine as opposed to the wet trip to Saltash. The combination of Nancy Belle pushing, a good tail wind and going with the tide resulted in a record braking trip of one and a half hours meaning she arrived back earlier than expected and had to go alongside crane quay as there was insufficient water for her to go straight into the dock. The waiting did allow the crew time to grab a quick cup of tea before finally roping Shamrock back into her dock. One thing this trip has proved is that Nancy Belle, with her new engine and propeller, is quite capable of pushing Shamrock if the conditions are right.
