Above&BelowH2O

Last year, Cancer Research UK teamed up with Channel 4’s 4Talent, with funding from the Department of Health, to run an innovative filmmaking competition called Breathe.

The competition, for 13-18 year olds, resulted in the production of three short viral films which are now available to view online.

The films were produced to encourage young smokers to quit and deter others from starting. Two thirds of smokers start smoking before they turn 18 so it is vital that this number is reduced.

Do you know someone who would benefit from seeing these films?

Cancer Research UK are keen for the films to be seen by as many people as possible, so I am sharing them with you please forward these links on to anyone who you think could benefit from seeing them or who could help us spread the message amongst young smokers.

Short films

Young girl coughing up a lung after a night of partying
Girl who turns into a wrinkled, unattractive old woman during a party
Someone who pays to die in a slaughter house

http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/B/breathe/

I got invited to attend ladies day at Henley this year by some wonderful friends from the sailing club and what an amazing day. Started off early at Graham and Sheena’s house for champagne whilst we gathered the troops together. The cab driver that dropped me off informed me that Henley is one of the major events of the Season together with Ascot and Glyndebourne, so I am in good company for a girly from Sutton! We’d hired a bus to take us up to Henley. Once we arrived the girls and boys went their separate ways; the ladies into the Leander Club and the boys up to the Pub. Everyone had made a real effort; lovely summer dresses that all had to be below the knee (which did require me to make a net extension to my dress on Wednesday night) and they were checking as we arrived too!

Started with Pimms whilst and I got to know those ladies in my group who I’d not met before. We then headed to the Stewards Enclosure for lunch in the Seafood bar; Susie and I had a HUGE fish platter which was just divine; few more glasses of vino al fresco made the whole environment just spectacular. After lunch we wandered further up river; checked out some of the shops and managed to get all the way to the start; where we needed to rest for a few more Pimms; we did manage to collect some of the rebel boys party that had left the others in need of food - not wanting to partake in the “Liquid Lunch”. Finally finishing off the day back in Leander where we met the rest of the Gents and waited for our Bus home.

Wonderful day, great food, perfect weather and best friends.

Back to my second favourite A Rater Scamp for one of the main regatta’s in the Thames Sailing Club Calender: The China Bowl. Not named because it’s made of china, more due to the delicate chinese patterns on the outside. This trophy has been awarded since 1889; so there is a long history behind it. 6 back to back races over two days.

Jonathan did us proud with 3 of the “best starts of his life” (his words not mine), which meant we managed to get three firsts on day one. Evenings entertainment was the infamous Dunn Cocktail party; this year Justin had included the Dark and Stormy to the list which transported me back to the two wonderful weeks in the BVI earlier in the year.

Sunday morning, woke up, expecting a hangover and thankfully I had paced myself and got a relatively early night for TSC standards only for it to be “Blowing Old Boots”, probably 15-17 and gusting to 25 knots; seen as we have a self imposed limit of 25 knots for the Raters the Race Officer decided after much deliberation to abandon the racing for the day. So we actually won on the Saturday. It was all a bit of let down if I am honest with you; I would have much rather gone out and won it fair and square on the Sunday. But - Glorious British Summer Time - wins out for this year.

It’s actually a few weeks since I did this particular race; I just haven’t had the time to sit down and tell the world about it, not that I actually think that many people are listening! Each year for the past 6/7 years a collection of A Raters have been pulled across and around the M25, upon the M11 and far beyond their natural habitat to the wonderfully wild and remote Norfolk Broads to compete in the annual Three Rivers Race that starts from Horning Sailing Club. It’s a 56 mile race along the Ant, Thurne and Bure rivers, 125 boats started this year so you can imagine how congested it can get! This is the first year I have competed and early in the year I was enthusiastically looking forward to joining Kevin and Nick on the boat; but as the day drew closer the nerves increased exponentially and I was seriously thinking what on earth have I let myself in for; raising and lowering a 44ft mast 4 times, having no “facilities” for the entire race, can I really hold a jib sheet for 12 hours solidly. I’ve been frantically working on my upper body in the gym purely in anticipation of this and Bourne End Week - hoping that all the hard work and the fact that I increasingly resemble an Eastern European shot putter was going to make a difference.

Well to be honest with you all those things I was worried about came and went without any problem, as is normal in life, the things that you never even expected to happen caused all the problems and we just just got through all the horrible equipment failures - which meant we had to careen the boat 4 times during the race to lower and raise the main sail. Everything that could have gone wrong did; the tiller totally broke off the from rudder and some frantic re-attachment with the stern painter and plenty of tape, the main halyard got caught in the schreve at the top of the mast (hence the multiple careens). I did not need the loo for the whole race; that’s a whole 10 hours ladies - I don’t think I have ever gone that long without a pee!! But we did it in 10 hours, came in 5 out of 6 raters. I know the boys were disappointed not to match their first boat to finish from last year, I am just glad that I finished the race. Felt so amazing to have completed it and only the fourth women to ever have done it in a Rater. I think they’ll let me in next year!

OK, now for some shameless self gratification. I just had my first
sailing article published on the Yachts and Yachting website and
fingers crossed it might even make it into the paper version too. How
very exciting

Those who know me; know I LOVE my music and have a rather eclectic taste ranging from Beethoven, to Bhangra to the Beatles. For the past month I picked up listening to a Californian Public Radio station I first found in 1999 called KCRW of Santa Monica College and the musical director is a chap called Nic Harcourt; Nic also presents what has to be the best radio show I have ever listened to; Morning Becomes Eclectic. KCRW is the place I first ever heard Jeff Buckley and since I have been hooked. Why am I mentioning this now - well only because we have been listening to pre-release plays of the new Coldplay Album - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. I have to tell you that the first song I heard from this album was the melancholic Yes! which and I’ll be honest with you completely haunted me with the just wonderful flat bass line (which is a particular favourite of mine - especially if you analysed the 5* ratings of my iPod) AND, AND I didn’t even realise it was Coldplay. So before the day was out I had checked out all the other songs on iTunes and had bought my own version the day it was released - bloody amazing boys. I am so impressed. Pity there are no tickets left for the O2 in December!!! Don’t care - you’re just great.

So I will confess that I had been looking forward with great delight to BEW this year, with a clear thought in my mind that the weather couldn’t be as dreadful as 2007. Oh how wrong could I have been. From day one it appeared that the rain filled clouds were to be consistent visitor throughout the week; but first we were treated to a rather blustery grey sky and being that this was the first day of BEW all the helms and crews were eager to make the first start line. This where is really went wrong from the start; I think I remember at least two Raters capsizing prior to the start but I was concentrating on managing the jib at the front of Jonathan Smith’s Scamp; which was to be my home for the next four days. I have to tell you I have never seen a Rater capsize before and boy was I going to get my own personal fill of this event in addition to witnessing what I think was the entire fleet getting their feet wet at some point on Saturday. I felt for the rescue boats; they didn’t know which way to turn first.

The most memorable collective capsize event was in the afternoon of Saturday whereby we had managed to start very successfully and heading towards the downstream mark when a whole series of Raters capsized before rounding the mark; the mast of one, which we never really did figure out which, came very close to decapitating Jonathan Smith before landing on the stern deck of Scamp. As we rounded the mark and started our leg back to the club house we also capsized again; thankfully this time we managed to bring her back up without sinking and having to retire as had been the case in the morning. By this point I think that Osprey, Atlantis, Ulva , Lady Jane had already toppled over and we decided to moor up to make repairs and pump out Scamp; and sit out the worst of the weather. Gradually various boats retired and were towed home; but the best of that had to be Atlantis who definitely got their tax payers worth from the Environment Agency who arrived just in time to tow her home and provide Ted Cocker and Jono Warren with special blue “Environment Agency” sweatshirts and the blue flashing light to signify their presence; but the most memorable scene was that of Julian Smith stood on the stern of Atlantis with her decks just below the water line a la Captain Jack Sparrow steering his boat home to port just as she sinks below the blue Caribbean seas/grey murky waters of the River Thames. Jonathan Smith did kindly offer his brother some of his well loved air bags from Scamp “just in case”. Boys I want those shirts; we’re going to get “Rescued by the Environment Agency: BEW 2008″ printed on the back! All humour aside; with only minor equipment failures everyone made it home safe and sound; and there was mass recanting of stories in the bar that night.

Sunday proved to be much quieter than Saturday; which enabled the fleet to take the racing much more seriously. However Monday arrived with the full force of a true and proper Spring Bank Holiday; Wind, Gusts and Rain, Rain, Rain! The first race was cancelled; so competitors either elected to mill around the clubhouse, go back to bed for a few hours of well earned kip (my personal favourite) or venture further afield. As the approach to the second race came quickly upon us and the weather not looking like it was going to improve the Race Officer decided to postpone the Cobew2mmodores Cup until Tuesday; as you can probably imagine at this point the queue at the bar increased and we all settled in for an afternoon of being dry and warm. A collection of few hardy sailors including Kevin Pearson, Ted Cocker and Nick Fribbens organised the team racing in the Laser Pico’s that Adrian Hart had arranged for Junior Bourne End week. The Rater fleet was represented in excellent form by Chris Martin and Martin Hunter; with Martin as he realised that the fleet wouldn’t be wining the team racing this year lit up a cigarette in what can only be described as true “Hamlet” style as he relaxed on the back on the Pico!

As the morning of the Queens Cup, the most prestigious race in the Rater calendar, arrived the weather could not have been any different; after four days of rain the river was running a quite a pace and there was NO wind, can I say that again; NO wind at all. So here the rumours started flying; “they’re going to cancel”, “it’s going to be run tomorrow instead”, “did they really change the rules, so that the four hour limit doesn’t apply?”. Thankfully as 12:30 came closer the wind began to pick up; but an incident with a Merlin trying to cross the rail line as the train was approaching cabew1used a whole heap of mess; as many of the competitors were left on the Sin City side of the line; whilst the ever efficient train driver had to stop and fill in copious amounts of paperwork for the Elf and Safe Tea Brigade. Which did leave some of us rushing to make the downstream start; of the 9 mile race. Jonathan Smith and Scamp got a perfect start, with Martin Hunter in Spindrift not far behind. Scamp gradually lost out to Spindrift which left the Smith brothers to fight it out in 2nd and 3rd positions; on the next leg it all changed again as Lady Jane and Osprey came hurtling back upstream. Scamp got herself together to pass Lady Jane and Osprey and make significant roads into Spindrift’s lead; but not enough as Martin Hunter won the Queen’s Cup for the 9th time and the Thames Championships for incredibly the 10th time.

Got another go helming Lady Jane last night. At the end of our race Kevin says “do I want a go”; and in true Dibly style I replied “no, no, no, no ….. YES”. Unfortunately Kevin and Nick had to endure a torrent of me verbalising my thoughts (which I rarely do) - which seemed to be of the more colourful language type. It was brilliant though and at the end even though I was glad to hand the stick back to Kevin I want to drive her again…. SOON

Was a bad mistake that my head feels this morning; I blame Gurney personally. At about 2am (I can’t really remember what time it was) we decided that bedtime would be when the bottle was finished. This morning I realise this was not such a good idea. However it did manage to kick start my wind down from work, which was much needed.

We were supposed to be sailing this morning but our helm is still in bed and I don’t think we’ll be moving much before lunch time; which is fine as I truly and honestly think I am still drunk!

Right folks, if you know me you would not have escaped the knowledge that I am had an impending trip to the British Virgin Islands and more specifically the Island of Tortola. Well you no longer have to suffer my continual excitement and enthusiasm of the trip as we have arrived.

What can I say it’s just stunning an WARM, can I say that again; it’s WARM, warmer than the 8C cold, wet and miserable London that we left behind. Keep you eye on the site for updates as to our day to day shenanigans!