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#seasthefuture Scotlands International Marine conference

Hi folks I feel honoured to have attended Scotlands very first marine international conference. Since my little adventure , i have gained much more confidence . But still, attending a conference full of passionate dedicated highly qualified scientists , terrified me. As the event progressed , i realy appreciated having my wonderful daughter to lead me by the hand , help me formulate my questions and with some people , stop me losing my temper. Bethany is doing a phd in evolution involving genes . There is much more involved but climate change was relevant for her so she attended too Our fantastic host for this event was Collin Moffat, Scottish government minister for marine. #seasthefuture . He was very amusing and kept our attention with wit and treating us like a group of friends. People from all over the world were in attendence . Organisations from all aspects of marine study were available to answer questions . PhD students presented information on their studies , which w
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DID SHE SINK

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NO SHE DIDN'T Doesn't she look absolutely wonderful. Well done everybody . You should be so proud, you have achieved so much. Cant wait to get behind the oars. Training starts soon and keep a lookout for her as we will be joining some regattas. Lady bay is a great name for her. I wish her happy sailing and that she always comes home. They will be stating on the next skiff in october and i will be keeping you up to date on Lady bays progress and that of her un named sister as she is built. Chuffed to bits.
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Showing the lady off

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 Hi again. This is the lovely skiff getting presented to Stranraer. Stranraer as you can see in the pictures has a wonderful mix of archetecture. From the 1600,s fortified town house of the Adairs to the probably now referred to retro 1970s enlightened planning of Stranraer council. Well doesn't she look good . It's abit early , so not many people about. Which was good for me so i could take photos. Next blog the naming and the launch . WILL SHE FLOAT ha ha you will have to look and see. Oh and by the way , i have signed up to row in the championships. Oh my god what have i done. Must have been abit of pride by proxy.
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skiff turning , Phew

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  Hi everybody . Hope you are  all well. As usual , this blog in combinatiomn with this damn computer are in a conspiracy to disrupt my sanity. You would think that having the writing going down one side of the page would be easy . But no and this is the way it goes , Why can't technology for once be on my side . So i have deemed it necessary to try and out wit the lap top. It wont matter any way because even if i do get what i want as ssoon as it goes to blog, it's all higgletepiggity and looks amess. Well you will have seen these skiffs before and haven't they done well. Who would have thought that marine ply and glue could look so stylish and sleek. This a crucial part , The turning . Many hands make light work. It has taken me some time to get the blogs together which i shall explain in a blog but i want these lads and lassies to get the credit they are due . So the next blog is some more piccys further on in the process.
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plastic , more plastic and even more plastic

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 Beach clean at Portlogan beach South rhinns. well on the 18th we got together to clean plastic of another of our local beaches. We started with a safety briefing , grabbed hoops and bags and set of. These are the micro plastics you will have heard of.  Bits of fishing nets , cottonbud straws , tooth brushes etc but mostly small pieces of unidentifiable plastic. Picked up by the handful from under rocks. We all made a determined effort and got a huge amount of and at least till the tide came back in , made a visible difference. Cool licks and Hot drinks warmed us up with a free hot drink in the pouring rain. It gave us the strength to carry on. it was a great show today as about 26 people turned up with most staying for a couple of hours even in the rain. A huge fishing net was lifted from the beach to stop it washing back in and entraping sea life/. It really is nice being with like minded people , who just have had enough and are going to do something about it.
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Skiffs and skill

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    SHIPS ARE THE NEAREST THINGS TO DREAMS THAT HANDS EVER MADE. This is the quote that is on the notice board of the skiff shed., and how true it is. Stranraer has the honour and was chosen over Largs to host the 2019 World skiff championships. HOW COOL IS THAT! Stranraer is a lovely place , but has as many placestaken iys fair share of knocks recently. Stena moved and Seacat left and many factories and businesses have left. Well a group of people have decided to do something positive and inspiring. They got organised and thanks to Stranraer watersports agency. The loyyery , Rottery international , SSE , The holywoood trust , Coastal communities fund and the council , got funding. Afantastic shed has been built with a dedicated group of volunteers beavering away inside to produce skiffs. What is a skiff , i hear you ask . Well its a large rowing boat with a rudder powered by eleven people and their oars.  Not a single nut bolt or screw holds these skiffs to geth
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Doing our bit and having fun on the beach.

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 HI Hope everyone is well and doing ok. Finally January has ended, that's us two thirds through winter, Yea. Yesterday we decided to get of our arse and do something useful. We being me , my daughter Bethany and her long term partner Tristan. Thanks to a friend on facebook i was notified of a beach clean in our community. It was at a beach i used to go to when i was a kid Kilintrigan and Knock bay Portpatrick. Now it had been a while and i was slightly unsure exactly where the turn of was.  I gave myself plenty of time , which ment i got there an hour early, typical. It was good though as i had completely forgotton just how beautiful the bay was . It was windy abit but glorious sunshine bathed the whole place in winter sun. People turned up and i recognised a few.It was organised but not military style . We all waited a while till people gathered and because of the tide being in drove of to a different access. Portpatrick not being my immediate local area ment i got to
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