BLUEMOMENT

A wee snippet from the national press about an old yacht, not quite news from around the Scottish coast, but the Manx men are alright (-;

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-is ... n-31049837
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... years.html
http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2015/01/pegg ... -restored/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMCN8i1LFbQ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_of_Castletown

Interesting article about what is likely to be Britain's oldest yacht built in 1791 or thereabouts. The Daily Mail article is far better than the BBC. Apparently she lay in her boat house for 100 years and was discovered in the 1930s.

She is a really lovely looking yacht and I can imagine she would be a good boat to sail, if only because at the time she was built it was the pinnacle of sailing technology of that era.

The story should be renamed: Prototype Claymore Discovered

ye cheeky wee fekker!!
The history of the Peggy, as a dodger of the excise cutters, is a fascinating one as is the building in which she was hidden.

"English Passengers" by Matthew Kneale is a fine book about a Manx captain and crew who do a bit of smuggling and after some misadventures end up sailing to Tasmania for a clergyman searching for the Garden of Eden. In doing so they accidentally contribute to the awful effects of European settlers on the indigenous population. Very good novel.