Why did you get into boating?

[Saintly Fish]

18 minutes ago, JDP said:

Had three on the drive not so long ago, funny thing was that the smallest 3.85m boat was the most used and caught the most fish simply because it was so capable of inshore fishing.

The 5.4m boat I now have has a variable deadrise of 33'degrees, so slices rough water quite reasonably but also sits deep in the water for great stability at rest. The 150 litre fuel tank with the Suzuki 140 gives me 2km per litre, so a pretty decent offshore range. I find that once over 4200 rpm the fuel range per litre barely changes, yes it's burning more per hour at 5500rpm but km per litre remains much the same. Will post in the boat pics section.

Brill.. can’t wait 👍🏻

[suzook12]

I coulnt fit 3 in the drive.... So I hid them in a mates field when he wasn't looking!! 🤣

[JDP]

1 hour ago, suzook12 said:

I coulnt fit 3 in the drive.... So I hid them in a mates field when he wasn't looking!! 🤣

Now the kids are driving its 5 cars and a boat!!!

[Geoff]

Born and bred in the essex area (Rochford hospital, Shoeburyness, Southend, Leigh, Westcliffe and Rayleigh). Pier fishing was free so spent many hours on the pier, I never managed to catch anything, but still enjoyed it. I joined the Sea scouts at Leigh and the Sea cadets at Westcliffe. I always enjoyed the seaside and during the summer holidays had a job on one of the pleasure trip boats at Southend, great holiday job for a young lad. In the early sixties my parents bought a wooden speed boat with  a white 20 or 25hp Mercury and trailer. Their car was a two tone Vauxhall Cresta (cavern green over shark yellow), but had no towbar, so I removed the rear bumper and cut up an old bedframe for the angle iron (very twisty) drilled holes, fitted a tow ball and mounted the "towbar" directly onto the bumper brackets (home made number plate, but no lighting set) and we set off for Stone where they had a caravan (river Blackwater). Then came the embarrassing bit, but that's for another day. Anyway the following year they ordered a brand new Microplus at Earlscourt boat show, with a new mercury 35HP? outboard and trailer. I went with them to Mitchum? to collect the rig (a wheel came off the trailer in London - new trailer - wheel nuts just done by hand, but at slow speed in traffic, wheel nuts were found so no damage done). This boat was taken to Stone, water ski's and tow rope were bought and that is where I started to water ski. I married Joyce in 1965 and I managed to get a well paid job as a labour only sub contractor in Germany. Back to blighty and we visited the Earlscourt boat show in 1967 and bought a Loftus Bennet 19' hull and superstructure  for home completion with a Snipe trailer. Yes Neil - it did get finished - and we took that to Bavaria, Germany, using it as a caravan for eating and sleeping en route. That is how/why we got into boating. Geoff.☺️

[Saintly Fish]

19 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Yes Neil - it did get finished

🤣🤣

[JonC]

32 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Born and bred in the essex area (Rochford hospital, Shoeburyness, Southend, Leigh, Westcliffe and Rayleigh). Pier fishing was free so spent many hours on the pier, I never managed to catch anything, but still enjoyed it. I joined the Sea scouts at Leigh and the Sea cadets at Westcliffe. I always enjoyed the seaside and during the summer holidays had a job on one of the pleasure trip boats at Southend, great holiday job for a young lad. In the early sixties my parents bought a wooden speed boat with  a white 20 or 25hp Mercury and trailer. Their car was a two tone Vauxhall Cresta (cavern green over shark yellow), but had no towbar, so I removed the rear bumper and cut up an old bedframe for the angle iron (very twisty) drilled holes, fitted a tow ball and mounted the "towbar" directly onto the bumper brackets (home made number plate, but no lighting set) and we set off for Stone where they had a caravan (river Blackwater). Then came the embarrassing bit, but that's for another day. Anyway the following year they ordered a brand new Microplus at Earlscourt boat show, with a new mercury 35HP? outboard and trailer. I went with them to Mitchum? to collect the rig (a wheel came off the trailer in London - new trailer - wheel nuts just done by hand, but at slow speed in traffic, wheel nuts were found so no damage done). This boat was taken to Stone, water ski's and tow rope were bought and that is where I started to water ski. I married Joyce in 1965 and I managed to get a well paid job as a labour only sub contractor in Germany. Back to blighty and we visited the Earlscourt boat show in 1967 and bought a Loftus Bennet 19' hull and superstructure  for home completion with a Snipe trailer. Yes Neil - it did get finished - and we took that to Bavaria, Germany, using it as a caravan for eating and sleeping en route. That is how/why we got into boating. Geoff.☺️

I’ll stick some pictures up of the current ski club set up later. 
unfortunately the public slip which was for residents was abused this year which ended up with the parish council put a big block of concrete in the way. This was because people were coming from all over with jet skis and leaving their trucks and trailers everywhere. Always the way, a few fuck it up for everyone 

[Saintly Fish]

33 minutes ago, JonC said:

I’ll stick some pictures up of the current ski club set up later. 
unfortunately the public slip which was for residents was abused this year which ended up with the parish council put a big block of concrete in the way. This was because people were coming from all over with jet skis and leaving their trucks and trailers everywhere. Always the way, a few fuck it up for everyone 

Get down there with your truck at night and tow it away Jon.

[JonC]

3 hours ago, Saintly Fish said:

Get down there with your truck at night and tow it away Jon.

It doesn’t really bother me much other than the principal of it, up until this summer if you lived in the village you were entitled to a key, but unfortunately over the course of 20 or so years so many copies were in circulation that people were coming from all over for the use of the only free slip on the river. 

[Saintly Fish]

25 minutes ago, JonC said:

It doesn’t really bother me much other than the principal of it, up until this summer if you lived in the village you were entitled to a key, but unfortunately over the course of 20 or so years so many copies were in circulation that people were coming from all over for the use of the only free slip on the river. 

You’d be doing your bit for the local community. Could even earn you the mayors position. 

[JonC]

12 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

You’d be doing your bit for the local community. Could even earn you the mayors position. 

I’m already somewhat of a local hero, everybody loves me. 

[Andy135]

On 10/24/2020 at 7:40 PM, JonC said:

I’m already somewhat of a local hero, everybody loves me. 

I admire the looseness of your grip on reality there Jon 👍

[Saintly Fish]

12 minutes ago, Andy135 said:

I admire the looseness of your grip on reality there Jon 👍

Bloody hell, 4 and a half months and that’s all you could come up with!! 

[Andy135]

2 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

Bloody hell, 4 and a half months and that’s all you could come up with!! 

And that's all YOU could come up with?? 😉

[Saintly Fish]

9 minutes ago, Andy135 said:

And that's all YOU could come up with?? 😉

Took a mere 5 secs not a long fumbling run up like yours 🙄

[mike farrants]

since this has been resurrected i'll give my story

born and bred on the IOW, no dad to take me fishing, but granny and grandad lived at a marina (island harbour now) and grandad was an ex racing yachtsman - flying fifteens, and so I was presented with a mirror dinghy at an early age and sent off to sea scouts - i grew up sailing and rowing on the river medina with my family - upgraded to a topper, and did a school trip with the ocean youth club from Cowes to weymouth and back (funny how i've ended up in Weymouth now!)

got into fishing in my early teens as my mum sent me off with a family friend - river fishing for bass and flounder, and he had a little cuddy boat too, I got into the IOW angling club and competed quite well- fishing the piers, beaches and rivers. 

soon got into my late teens and found surfing was better respected by the girls in school than fishing and swapped rods for surfboards. 

Mum re-married a Sailor - ex merchant seamen and then Sargent on the marine police launch Ashburton - patrolling the solent - he later became Harbour master at newtown creek and Commodore of the Cowes Corinthian yacht club - many trips aboard his 28ft yacht "Lonestar" - but not much fishing - except for him spearing mullet in the marina, and netting prawns Where ever he anchored up

Sadly he passed away from Cancer 10yrs ago and that's where the boating ended (for a while)

I had moved inland for a career and occasionally went on charter trips out of Mudeford or lymington never fishing the IOW despite visiting family many times - still surfing though. 

I recently moved to Weymouth for a job and got back into fishing in the last 2 years, and now have a boat too (Colvic 20) - mostly for the fishing - but also to explore the local coastline of Weymouth. 

I think my step dad would have been mightily proud of my achievements, pleased with Pugwash (despite it not having sails) and would have loved to come and show me his old anchorages round the Dorset coast! Its poignant as tomorrow actually marks 10yrs of his passing. RIP John Banks

 

[JonC]

I couldn’t read that much, any pictures? 😀

[Saintly Fish]

19 minutes ago, mike farrants said:

since this has been resurrected i'll give my story

born and bred on the IOW, no dad to take me fishing, but granny and grandad lived at a marina (island harbour now) and grandad was an ex racing yachtsman - flying fifteens, and so I was presented with a mirror dinghy at an early age and sent off to sea scouts - i grew up sailing and rowing on the river medina with my family - upgraded to a topper, and did a school trip with the ocean youth club from Cowes to weymouth and back (funny how i've ended up in Weymouth now!)

got into fishing in my early teens as my mum sent me off with a family friend - river fishing for bass and flounder, and he had a little cuddy boat too, I got into the IOW angling club and competed quite well- fishing the piers, beaches and rivers. 

soon got into my late teens and found surfing was better respected by the girls in school than fishing and swapped rods for surfboards. 

Mum re-married a Sailor - ex merchant seamen and then Sargent on the marine police launch Ashburton - patrolling the solent - he later became Harbour master at newtown creek and Commodore of the Cowes Corinthian yacht club - many trips aboard his 28ft yacht "Lonestar" - but not much fishing - except for him spearing mullet in the marina, and netting prawns Where ever he anchored up

Sadly he passed away from Cancer 10yrs ago and that's where the boating ended (for a while)

I had moved inland for a career and occasionally went on charter trips out of Mudeford or lymington never fishing the IOW despite visiting family many times - still surfing though. 

I recently moved to Weymouth for a job and got back into fishing in the last 2 years, and now have a boat too (Colvic 20) - mostly for the fishing - but also to explore the local coastline of Weymouth. 

I think my step dad would have been mightily proud of my achievements, pleased with Pugwash (despite it not having sails) and would have loved to come and show me his old anchorages round the Dorset coast! Its poignant as tomorrow actually marks 10yrs of his passing. RIP John Banks

 

Thanks for sharing Mike. It seems we all have fond memories from childhood journeys afloat. 

[Odyssey]

I did the same with surfing 🤣🤣🤣 

Got boat, still surf but now got a girl who loves boat 🙂 so all good. 
 

 

[JDP]

My parents bought one was I was 3 and moved to the IOW. I then bought my own one when I was almost 12 from the sale of rabbits and shore caught bass. Like cars, I never seem to keep a boat very long and constantly keep changing them. Most boats are poorly setup from manufacture, so a few tweaks such as more suitable props, engine height or trim tabs can transform some boats meaning I get better prices when I sell them than when I buy them.  Another area that lets an outfit down can often be a poorly setup trailer, so modifying these so they are easy to drive on and off of certainly helps increase value.

 

[Jed Stone]

I too got into fishing early, used to go to Mevagissey every year in the 70's and go out with the Legend that was Bernard Hunkin, oh the days of 25lb pollack and coalies on the early red Gills (made in Mevagissey) loved plain Black. joined the RN and fished (drunk and sha**ed the world) caught Dorado in the persian gulf along with sharks, used to go on deck at first light to pick up flying fish for bait. caught a 35lb baracuda in mombassa harbour (which i traded for carvings).

left the mob and lost my way a bit !! first boat was a Mayland 15Ft with a 30hp mariner on the back used to fish the solent and pompey. latest is Maria berthed in Scarborough , she is a 28ft Colvic Northerner.

i love my fishing and its great to go where i want and when just great to be out on the sea.

Tight Lines 

Jed