Buoy Racers
Tuesday, 6th May 2008 by Alex Turnbull
Just off the coast of Portsmouth, England, we can a group of sailing vessels engaged in some competitive harbour or buoy racing.
The vessels just rounding the buoy as the image was captured were facing some stiff competition, but the leaders of the pack appear to be way out in front.
On the beach we can see the Seafarers Sailing Club, and according to Google Earth the image that captured the race was taken on April 21st 2007 - which would mean that we're seeing the 3rd race in the Seafarers Sailing Club Spring Series, which was won by sail number 1178 with K. Stares at the helm!
Given that Portsmouth has such a long naval history1 is hardly surprising that there's about a hundred zillion different kinds of boats to see in the area, so why not go for a virtual wander and see what interesting boats you can find?
See our previous post about Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower and some of the ships on display there, or brush up on this kind of Yacht racing and the Racing Rules of Sailing at Wikipedia.
Thanks to ZaberNS.
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Portsmouth has been a significant naval port for centuries - the Royal Navy's HMNB Portsmouth naval base is home to the world's oldest dry dock still in use, the Royal Naval Museum, the raised wreck of the Mary Rose, and is the base port for 66% of the Royal Navy's surface fleet. ↩︎
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
I just got the title! I mast read these things more carefully in the future.
Well done Rob, very clever, take a bow.
But if anyone else starts with the puns I’ll be having stern words.
Sailient point, julian.
Oh quit it, boat of you
I agree, Chet, its ferry bad form to be abusing the comment system like this.
It is a little known fact that the French Navy has for many years had a motto, the mere mention of which excites its hot-blooded members to combat and conquest.
In English it can be rendered “To the water; it is time”.
In the original French, however, it reads: “A l’eau; c’est l’heure”.
How do we know who is really in the lead??? It could be one off to the right with the second pack or if there are laps the leader could be in the midst of either pack lapping the others. View Placemark
This guy either has a hole in his boat and needs a pit stop, is drunk, or really needs to pee! View Placemark
Is this plane in flight? View Placemark
Pirates are attacking!! http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=50.780001~-1.155549&style=h&lvl=19&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=4338234&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
Beach Partay! View Placemark
Anyone know what this place is? View Placemark http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=sfvkk6gx7kg1&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=4339893&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
Check out this baby the HMS Victory, with just over 100 “guns” (cannons at sea) I’m sure this baby packed a punch! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victory http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=sg07spgx6smr&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=4336748&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 View Placemark
The is one of the coolest looking boats I’ve ever seen. I could picture this in a James Bond film. View Placemark http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=sghpr6gwj0pd&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=4321380&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
I have a sinking feeling that a post of mine has been marked as spam again. I wish yaw could fix the issue.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=sfvkk6gx7kg1&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=4339893&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
It’s an off shore fort… Napoleonic I think but don’t quote me on that. There is one that is actually open to visitors and has a restuarant or somesuch. It is called Spitbank. http://www.spitbankfort.co.uk/
Nova: Here’s the plane’s shaddow, I believe:
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=h&hl=en&ll=50.819761,-1.198009&z=19
@ Luke – Thanks! thats pretty awesome.
Here’s a wiki page about Spitbank for your reading pleasure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitbank_Fort
@ John – ooh you may be right, the other shadows in the area would indicate that the shadow would be to the northeast of the plane.
@ nova72: I believe the structure you pointed out is one of the Palmerston Sea Forts covered in this post: https://www.googlesightseeing.com/2007/01/11/palmerston-sea-forts/ still @ nova72: I wonder if your James Bond boat is the Earthrace: http://www.earthrace.net/ it certainly has a similar hull design
Disregard the bit about Earthrace, I just checked the LiveMap picture and it’s clearly not it … still a strikingly similar design.