It’s a bit of a windy one this evening!

Despite the fact that Kudu is in the lee of a 40ft container, under a shed, and on the ground, we’re getting buffeted about by the gusts. Still, my makeshift shed proved itself during some hefty gales in the Autumn, so I’m not too worried about tonight.

I do wish I was on the water though. I miss the lapping and the rolling, and the looming sense of something exciting about to happen as you check the warps and stow anything that will blow away. It’s not pleasant and it tends to get annoying after a while, but I do miss it. Oh, to be on a pontoon.

Yikes! The wind is getting quite bad. I’m off to put extra nails in things.

It seems this year is set to be a rather busy one for the coastline of Great Britain, with a growing list of would be circumnavigators making plans and preparing boats for an unforgettable couple of months at sea. I’ve already mentioned Oliver Rofix’s planned departure on the 2nd May, and then there’s Adrian Scott, who is planning to sail around the British Isles & Ireland to fulfil his fathers dream by proxy, but now there’s a third to add to the list; Paul Hardaker.

Paul is raising money for the Chrohn’s and Coltis Charity, and will be doing the voyage in Zuma, his Jeanneau Fantasia 27. He is, I think, going to be filming it for youtube, and is also keeping a blog – zuma-paul.blogspot.com.

Judging by the accent on the videos he’s posted, I’m guessing he’s of Scouse stock, so I should think his will be one of the more entertaining ventures this season!

As for me and Kudu? Who knows,  but not making any plans means all options (including the really big ones) are open. It all depends on where the wind takes me, so watch this space.

It has been a long time coming, but Dylan Winter has finally made his excellent Keep Turning Left series available on DVD.

Not just one DVD, but a set of four covering 36 episodes in full DVD quality. If you are unfamiliar with the ‘KTL’ series, I heartily suggest you take a look at the clips on Youtube, here and here.

Dylan is a true sailor, and applies his professional talent of video production to an excellent series of films exploring every nook and cranny around the coast of Britain. He hasn’t made it all the way around yet, but he’s certainly covered a substantial part of the South and East coast of England.

If you’re new to sailing, or even just curious about it, then this will certainly whet your appetite. Now it’s available on DVD it is, without doubt, the most inspiring bit of sailing film you’ll ever pop in to your DVD player.

The DVD set is “hand crafted” (i.e. the discs are duplicated by hand) but are available on an order now, pay later basis; if they don’t play, you don’t pay.

I’ve been enjoying these videos since he first started them, and I guarantee you’ll enjoy them too. Forget the polished rubbish that’s out there, this is a real sailor, on a real budget, really enjoying what the British coastline has to offer, and it just goes to show that you don’t need a fortune to take part in your own adventures.

Buying the DVD set will also support him, and help him continue to make these films. In these days of mass sponsorship, where content is simply a vehicle to support advertising, this sort of cottage industry documentary has got to be worth keeping alive. There’s no Land Rover adverts, no £50,000 yachts, and no plugging of ‘essential’ training courses, it’s just good old fashioned sailing by a bloke who is a joy to listen to.

www.keepturningleft.co.uk

In case you haven’t been following, the self steering wind vane manufacturers Mr Vee, decided to run a competition during January. The task was to produce a video to promote their new carbon fibre wind vane, and it would be open to voting from the 25th January to the 30th.

Despite getting off to a good lead thanks to all the votes from readers of this blog and the very great people on the YBW forums, one of the other competitors quickly regained the gap and finally overtook me on Sunday evening. The race began proper, and without me prompting anything at all, a few people took it upon themselves to really get behind the effort and did all they could to encourage others to vote. As a result, it was cat and mouse all the way to the finish.

In the end, the other chap managed to close with a 13 vote lead, but it was apparent that their were duplicate votes on both sides, so the winner came down to a judges decision based on which video would best help promote the product.

Late Monday afternoon, the winner was announced, and to my great surprise it was me! I cannot really describe how utterly over the moon I am about winning. Having some reliable self steering on the boat is going to really change what Kudu is capable of, and I cannot wait to try it.

Of course, I owe this fortune to mrvane.com, everybody who voted, and especially to those who went to the extra effort of rallying the troops for a final push. I certainly didn’t expect to have that much support and I was truly humbled by it.

Thank you all

This website has many more readers during the week (sorry employers), and it’s nearly the weekend and time is running out.

I’ve entered a competition to win a self steering wind vane, which if I’m to do what I intend to with the boat, I really need. The voting is open to the public, and it closes on Sunday. Despite a comfortable start to the voting, it’s now getting very close, so I really need your help.

A massive thank you to everybody that has voted already, but please consider spreading the word a bit if you can. If you haven’t voted, I’d be so very honoured if you could spare five minutes to support the adventures of Kudu.

You need to register with MrVane.com (don’t worry, they will not spam you. The people behind it are real sailors too).

****How to vote****

1. Visit http://www.mrvane.com/?q=user/register and fill in your details. If you don’t have a boat, but are interested in sailing, then just mention that.
2. You will get an email with your new password in it.
3. Log in to the site with the username/password in the email. You can use the link on the email, of click here
4. Go to the voting page (here), and if you think my vid is the best, vote for it at the bottom.

Everybody who votes goes in to a draw to win some nifty LED lighting too.

Voting finishes on Sunday, and I really need your help with this. I can’t do it on my own no matter how much effort I put in, so if you’ve enjoyed my videos or the posts on this site, please help me continue to make even more adventurous films and blog content.

Back to getting covered in sawdust for me then! Have a good weekend, and thank you sincerely for any votes.

Nathan