Posted by andy clayton on January 24, 2009 at 15:07:08 user cousin_jack.
In Reply to: Re: SA and SW, experienced sailors? posted by Cwinifred on January 22, 2009 at 02:57:49:
Falmouth Harbour.
Like the swallows I was lucky enough to be able to learn to sail in this harbour. It is a fine sheltered harbour, ideal for learning to sail or just pottereing about, with plenty of creeks to explore or harbourside villages to visit. There are quite a lot of small craft around, especialy near the mooring areas, but the large ships coming and going from the docks, are only an intermitant hazard. There are plenty of quiet corners for sail training, I always assumed it was the Swallows youth and inexperiance that precluded them from going solo pre-S&A stories.
The BBC's recent transmission of Three men in a boat, showed some excellant shots of the place, for those of you who were lucky enough to view the programme. Otherwise, here is a link to a local web-cam which shows images.
http://www.falmouth.tv/
Nice photos of the Chinese pirates on the forum. I have always thought that AR captured the flavour of pre-revolutionary China quite well -though I have no personal experience of 1930's china to back up that supposition. I can remember when I was young, (in the 60's) seeing a replica of a Junk moored at Falmouth and wishing it could have been the one the S & A's sailed back from their adventure. Even at that young age I realised the thirty year interlude was a bit of a reality problem.