Chine bLog » 7. Destinations & Voyages

Sad loss: RIP Mau Piailug

Tim Shaw — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:54:38 +0000

I don’t generally go to the Washington Post’s obituaries section to find blog post ideas, but lo and behold I was struck the other day to read about the life of Mau Piailug of Satawal in Micronesia. Mr. Piailug was one of the last master navigators of the Pacific, knowledgeable of the art of wayfaring [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Fantastic read: Tim Severin’s “The Brendan Voyage”

Tim Shaw — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:18:08 +0000

Last Winter we finally read one of Tim Severin’s books, The China Voyage: Across The Pacific By Bamboo Raft and posted some reactions, all positive. One of our friends said, at the time, that if we liked that book, Severin’s The Brendan Voyage: Across the Atlantic in a Leather Boat was better still. [...] Related posts:

Catching up with the traditional boat blogosphere – recent stuff from some peers I have so engaged in designing and building that I...

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A good sea story: the voyage of SIPRIZ

Tim Shaw — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:09:41 +0000

The latest issue of Outside Magazine includes a great article titled “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” about a six-person crew’s voyage in a hand-made, 21′, open sloop from the southern coast of Haiti to Florida. The goal was to trace the route of refugees in a native craft. This is [...] Related posts:

Catching up with the traditional boat blogosphere – recent stuff from some peers I have so engaged in designing and building that I...

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New paddling discovery – Mattaponi Creek, MD

Tim Shaw — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:42:02 +0000

I got out in the kayak last weekend for the first time in a few weeks and followed in my paddle strokes from our first and only outing in PEACE OF THE PUZZLE a couple weeks before that. The spot? Mattaponi Creek, off the Patuxent River in Maryland. The canoe trip served [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Wonderful detail on the viking longship Havhingsten fra Glendalough

Tim Shaw — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:28:23 +0000

OK – here’s the deal: We have had some stuff going on, we haven’t been able to post in a bit, and we’ve built up a nice backlog on posts. And it JUST SO HAPPENS that two of them tonight involve the writing of Tom Jackson of WoodenBoat. Pure coincidence, folks. [...] Related posts:

Fantastic read: Tim Severin’s “The Brendan Voyage” Last Winter we finally read one of Tim Severin’s...

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Thinking about a ocean voyage on a bamboo raft? Read “The China Voyage”

Tim Shaw — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:32:58 +0000

I actually had the crazed idea to read a book recently. Doesn't happen much - I am lucky if I can clear my magazine rack in a given month. Long on my to do list, though, had been reading some of Tim Severin's works. Severin is an Irishman (at least he lives there) with an fascinating joint interest in history, archeology, and epic voyages, mostly maritime ones. Sound intriguing? It gets better. Severin's shtick has been to identify an unproven or poorly understood historical journey, build a traditional boat, if a maritime one, that represents the type of that era, and then recreate the journey to see if it could have happened as theorized. Oh yeah, I am IN! I have known about him for a while and only just got around to checking him out. I began with The China Voyage: Across The Pacific By Bamboo Raft. Apparently there are a group of archeologists who believe (or believed, as of the early 1990s) that there was contact between East Asian cultures and Central American cultures within the last couple [...] Related posts:

Fantastic read: Tim Severin’s “The Brendan Voyage” Last Winter we finally read one of Tim Severin’s...
A good sea story: the voyage of SIPRIZ The latest issue of Outside Magazine includes a great...

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Holiday treat: my grandparents’ honeymoon log book

Tim Shaw — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:41:32 +0000

A few days before Christmas I got a package from an uncle with whom I have long since ceased exchanged gifts. It was a medium thickness, letter-sized envelope and left me quite curious. Upon opening it on Christmas morn’ I discovered a very pleasant surprise: it was a copy of the log [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Traditional boats of Spain and great adventures: The Invisible Workshop

Tim Shaw — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:44:42 +0000

Gavin over at intheboatshed pointed us to The Invisible Workshop, a nice blog run by a Brit living in Catalonia, Spain. The author, Ben, built a boat, ONAWIND BLUE, to Gavin’s Light Trow design. Ben seems to camp-cruise the boat around the Western Mediterranean. We are eager to understand how he has [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Great traditional rowing boat video on the Fogo Island Punt Race

Tim Shaw — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 01:36:25 +0000

Many thanks to Chris Partridge over at Rowing for Pleasure for highlighting the Fogo Island Punt Race, a 20-mile open-ocean race in traditional wooden rowing boats. Wow. I love the seriously traditional specs for race boats. For those not up on Canadian Maritime geography, Fogo Island is off the Northern side of [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A great morning of paddling at Piscataway Creek, MD

Tim Shaw — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:45:34 +0000

I was able to get out on the water this AM, which was, needless to say, a very good thing. I set my kayak in Piscataway Creek, MD, a Potomac tributary several miles downriver from DC. I’ve been there a few times and am always impressed with it. [...] Related posts:

New paddling discovery – Mattaponi Creek, MD I got out in the kayak last weekend for the...

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Cuttyhunk for Memorial Day – boats, but no boating

Tim Shaw — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:09:50 +0000

I got out to Cuttyhunk Island for Memorial Day to open the house there. No boats to play with, but I did get a chance to snap a few pics. Enjoy!

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The sea was angry that day, my friends…

Tim Shaw — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:15:50 +0000

… well, it was a little miffed… Some pictures from a Thanksgiving eve outing to Pemaquid Point, Maine, a fantastic spot for a walk-about.

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Northern Forest Canoe Trail benefit auction

Tim Shaw — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 02:08:40 +0000

I mentioned the Northern Forest Canoe Trail a bit ago. I see in Paddling.net’s newsletter today that they are holding a benefit auction online. Check it out.

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Boats of Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa), Africa

Tim Shaw — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:06:19 +0000

We bloggers tend to pay a great deal of attention to our web stats – page views, visitors, visits, etc. It is a tangible validation that somebody is paying attention. Or, in my case, 50-75 somebodies a month, pretty consistently (you know who you are). One area I am always eager to [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Excellent paddling – Summer vacation at Cuttyhunk Island

Tim Shaw — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 03:04:00 +0000

Ah, and so comes to an end our Summer vacation, but what a good one it was. Highlights included some excellent paddling, as seen in the pictures below:

You can also see these plotted on a map.

Related posts:New paddling discovery – Mattaponi Creek, MD I got out in the kayak last weekend for the...

More from Cuttyhunk – treats in the harbor

Tim Shaw — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 03:03:50 +0000

One nice thing about knocking around Cuttyhunk is that there are usually a modest number of boats worth ogling. Here are a few choice ones from the trip:

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And while I am thinking longingly of destinations… The Northern Forest Canoe Trail

Tim Shaw — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:15:22 +0000

The American Rivers blog found this enticing idea – The Northern Forest Canoe Trail, a paddling trail from upstate New York to Northern Maine using traditional routes.

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On my list – paddling Baja

Tim Shaw — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:00:19 +0000

In case you haven’t tried it yet, among the benefits of Paddling.net’s newsletter is the weekly dollop if insiration in the form of a paddling photo of the week. Some are predictably generic (another sunset over the bow of a canoe / kayak, anyone?), but some are nice. Here is a recent favorite [...] Related posts:

New paddling discovery – Mattaponi Creek, MD I got out in the kayak last weekend for the...

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And more – the Vietnam Wooden Boat Foundation

Tim Shaw — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 01:30:00 +0000

WoodenBoat was also good enough to highlight the Vietnam Wooden Boat Foundation, which is:

Dedicated to preserving the maritime history of Vietnam with an emphasis on the art, craft, lore, and history of traditional Vietnamese wooden boat building.

I can buy into that. They seem to be small, but ambitious. They are collecting and [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail coming into being

Tim Shaw — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 22:29:00 +0000

The same e-mail from American Rivers that I referenced last night also announced the official creation, courtesy of the pen of George W. Bush, of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, a water trial in the Chesapeake commemorating the English explorer of the Mid-Atlantic. These trails are great. They are designed [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.