Nancy Blackett: A Nautical Treasure

Nancy Blackett is featured in the Times as part of its coverage of this weekend's Thames Festival:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article6829461.ece

Nancy reached St Katherine's Dock, London, at 5PM today and should be open to visitors during most of the weekend.

Nancy Blackett One of the Top 10 Classics!

Nancy Blackett was listed in a selection of 10 'important boats' representing Britain's seafaring heritage featured in a recent issue of Country Life.

The selection, made by Dan Houston, editor of Classic Boat magazine, represents "an eclectic look at a handful of boats, all of which are sailing today: "Each vessel… has contributed to our continued reliance on and eternal enjoyment of the sea."

Of Nancy, the article says: "Inspiring people to sail was Arthur Ransome's legacy. Nancy Blackett, named after the pirate heroine of his books was his favourite boat. People remember him typing stories in her cabin, and she's famous as the Goblin in "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea "(1937).

Nancy Blackett is typical of a number of small cruisers built in the 1920s and 1930s, creating a flotilla sailed by (mostly) men who learned boathandling and navigation for recreation. It was a new trend and proved a valuable resource to the Royal Navy when war broke out in 1939."

And Nancy is in distinguished company: also in the Top Ten are the J-Class Endeavour, the 200-year-old smack Boadicea, the pilot cutter Jolie Brise, Shackleton's James Caird, Robin Knox-Johnston's world-girdling Suhaili, a Thames barge (Mirosa), a Dunkirk Little Ship (Naid Errant), a high-speed rescue launch (HSL102) and an International 14 dinghy from the National Maritime Museum Cornwall.

The article appeared in the August 5th issue of Country Life.

Woodbridge: a Great Weekend

The Nancy Blackett has just attended the second Woodbridge Maritime Festival. Already a modern tradition on the annual circuit, she received a good number of visitors, who were offered additional entertainment from Sabina Wallace-King on violin and Gabriel Woolf's readings.

Nancy was accompanied by Peter Duck and Ragged Robin, and was awarded the Trimley Maid Trophy by the Hillyard Owners' Association.

See also:
Martime Woodbride photos (TARS Eastern Region)
Maritime Woodbridge on crest of a wave (East Anglian Daily Times)

Lucky 13: Ellen Completes Asian Record Circuit

Earlier this morning Dame Ellen MacArthur, Patron of the Nancy Blackett Trust, crossed the finish line near Singapore at the end of the eleventh and final leg of the inaugural Asian Record Circuit, having established thirteen records between various ports in south-east Asia.

With an international crew onboard the trimaran B&Q, including sailors from France, Singapore and China, the Asian Record Circuit commenced on March 25th, with the eleven individual legs completed in a total time of 24 days, 40 minutes and 15 seconds, over a period of eight weeks, having visited Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

In an e-mail sent on their way into Singapore after finishing, Ellen said: "There is a strange atmosphere here onboard, one that is hard to describe... I am not sure if it's relief or sadness or possibly both really. This tour has been about the sailing challenges for sure - but also about the people...

"We have met extraordinary people, from the kids we went sailing with in Qingdao, to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. From the old man who swept the streets in Dalian who asked for an autograph, to the oldest non-stop round the world sailor in Japan. Everything is a blur of culture, people, contrasts, beauty, poverty, luxury and the ocean - the forever-changing ocean…"

On the achievements of the past eight weeks, she added: "It's almost unbelievable, and I feel that I have not taken so much of it in, even now as we are heading into the safety of the dock in Singapore. It will only be in time, when we are able to reflect on what we have achieved, that we shall comprehend what we have managed to achieve out here."

The records set were:
1. Yokohama, Japan - Cheju Island,South Korea (5 days, 11 hours, 10 minutes, 51 seconds)
2. Cheju Island - Dalian, China (1 day, 15 hours, 57 minutes, 28 seconds)
3. Yokohama - Dalian (7 days, 3 hours, 8 minutes, 19 seconds)
4. Dalian - Qingdao, China (1 day, 2 minutes, 53 seconds)
5. Qingdao - Shanghai, China (1 day, 5 hours, 25 minutes, 33 seconds)
6. Shanghai - Taipei, Taiwan (3 days, 1 minute, 55 seconds)
7. Taipei - Hong Kong (2 days, 16 hours, 46 minutes, 37 seconds)
8. Hong Kong - Sanya, Hainan Island (1 day, 22 hours, 53 minutes, 25 seconds)
9. Sanya - Nha Trang, Vietnam (2 days, 1 hour, 37 minutes, 45 seconds)
10. Nha Trang - Tumpai, Thailand (2 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes, 14 seconds)
11. Tumpai - Terengganu, Malaysia (5 hours, 39 minutes, 26 seconds)
12. Hong Kong - Terengganu (7 days, 5 minutes, 50 seconds)
13. Terengganu - Singapore (1 day, 23 hours, 9 minutes, 8 seconds)

For further details of the records set, and more of the e-mail from Ellen, please see the story from Team Ellen. The Asian Record Circuit website also has the records and an interactive map.

Patron Dame Ellen is Favourite European Personality

The Nancy Blackett Trust's Patron Dame Ellen MacArthur has been voted France's favourite European Personality, ahead of people like Luciano Pavarotti, Michael Schumacher, The Pope and HM Queen Elizabeth II.

The survey was conducted by IFOP, which interviewed 1,005 people on April 27th and 28th.

Ellen also was voted the favourite personality by French men, and second favourite behind Luciano Pavorotti by the women.

Ellen MacArthur Wins on Top Gear

The fastest sailor around the world is now the fastest Star in a Reasonably Priced Car. Ellen MacArtur, Patron of the Nancy Blackett Trust, saw off fifty-nine other celebrities on the BBC's Top Gear show yesterday when she posted the fastest lap time of them all.

Ellen was invited to take the challenge in a Suzuki Liana around Top Gear's airfield circuit, as part of the programme's regular guest feature. She managed a time of 1:46.7, relegating the previous leader comedian Jimmy Carr into second place (with a time of 1:46.9) and music mogul Simon Cowell into third (with a time of 1:47.0), and well as earning generous compliments from presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

For those of you who missed it, the programme is repeated tomorrow (Tuesday 6th December) at 7.00pm on BBC2.

More information:

• The Top Gear Star in a Reasonably Priced Car leaderboard
• Programme preview and pictures at Team Ellen
  

Nancy Blackett on Television

Nancy Blackett features in this evening's episode of Meridian TV’s ‘River Walks’, hosted by Charlie Dimmock. Tonight’s programme focuses on the River Arun, and includes a section on Hillyards, the Littlehampton boatbuilder where Nancy Blackett was built. Nancy happened to be there herself when the programme was being filmed – revisiting her birthplace for the first time in 74 years – so a look around her, and interview with skipper Bryan Bonser, feature in the half-hour programme.

Schedule: Thursday 17 November, 7.30pm, ITV (Meridian region only).

More information:

• Hillyards: the builders of Nancy Blackett
  
• Meridian TV: 'River Walks' programme page
• Littlehampton Today: 'Charlie's Arun's Darlin for the Day'
• Littlehampton Today: 'Nancy's Amazon Journey'
  
• Practical Boatowner: 'Nancy Blackett comes home'
  

The Secret Life of Arthur Ransome

Following the release in March by the National Records Office of two reconstituted government files concerning Arthur Ransome's years in Russia, the BBC commissioned a documentary film which Griff Rhys Jones investigated whether Ransome was a British spy or a Bolshevik sympathiser during the Russian Revolution in 1917.

Griff Rhys Jones also tracked down the last surviving relative of Ransome's second wife, Evgenia, in St Petersburg, and spent a day sailing one of Ransome's boats, Coch-y-Bonddhu, on Windermere.

More Information:

• Secrets: The National Archives press release, and the actual documents
• Enigma: 'Still an Enigma, Our Petrograd Correspondent' - The Guardian's David Pallister remains confused
  
• Examination: 'Whose Side Was He On?' asks Roland Chambers in the Guardian
• Fears: 'MI5 Feared Ransome Was a Double Agent' in the Daily Telegraph
  
• Interview: 'Swallows, Amazons, Spies and Bolsheviks' in the Yorkshire Post
• Preview: 'Secretive Water' in Yachting Monthly and a mention the Windermere Steamboats Museum's newsletter
• Review: Arthur Ransome skeptic Sam Wollaston becomes an admirer, in the Guardian
• Comments: Discussion thread on TARBoard

Nancy's Historic Hillyard Visit: Press Coverage (part 2)

Nancy Blackett's historic visit to Hillyard's boatyard in Littlehampton was later covered by 'Practical Boatowner'.

The article is entitled "Nancy Comes Home" and may be read here.

Nancy's Historic Hillyard Visit: Press Coverage (part 1)

Nancy Blackett's historic visit to Hillyard's boatyard in Littlehampton was covered in the local press.

'Littlehampton Today' published an article entitled "Nancy's Amazon journey", which may be read here.

Nancy Blackett in Top 200 Boats

Nancy Blackett has gained a place in 'Classic Boat' magazine's listing of the top 200 classic boats. The list was compiled, with votes from readers, to mark the magazine's 200th issue, cover-dated February 2005, and on sale from mid-January.

Nancy Blackett is in the top half of the table, which is particularly gratifying as she did not make it into previous top 100 and 150 lists in the 100th and 150th issues. Two other Arthur Ransome boats, Selina King and Peter Duck, have also made it into the Top 200.

Ellen MacArthur Interviewed in 'E-Motion'

The Nancy Blackett Trust’s Patron Ellen MacArthur is interviewed in the July/August 2004 edition of 'E-Motion', South West Trains’ passenger magazine.

You can read the article here, or obtain the paper edition of the magazine free-of-charge from South West Trains.