Nancy Blackett made it to Flushing (aka Vlissingen) in just under 24 hours, arriving at 3.15am today (Wednesday), having cast off at 3.30 the previous night. Skipper Bryan Bonser reports an uneventful passage, with very little wind. “We had one hour’s sailing at 5 knots, followed by a half-hour at 4 knots, then what could […]
Nancy Blackett's voyage to Vlissingen in Holland, 75 years after Ransome's own trip, was delayed by 36 hours by both weather conditions, and the discovery on Sunday morning that a bolt holding the alternator to the engine had sheared off. Repairs however were quickly achieved on Monday, once Volspec at Woolverstone Marina were open for […]
An oil painting of Nancy Blackett by Geoff Hunt, Britain’s foremost marine artist, is to be auctioned at the Nancy Blackett Trust’s AGM on 16th July. Geoff Hunt, a past president of the Royal Society of Marine Artists, specialises in interpretations of historic naval vessels; his cover artwork for Patrick O’Brien’s novels is well-known and […]
Julia Jones, author of the acclaimed new post-Ransome children's novel "The Salt-Stained Book" will be at the Nancy Blackett Trust's AGM on 16th July. Copies will be available to buy at a special price. "The Times" called it "quirky…funny and exciting" in a review published on Saturday 25th June. Here's a bit more of what […]
Yes – the Nancy Blackett is eighty years old this year! Born in 1931 at Hillyards boatyard in Littlehampton, Sussex, she was first registered as a British Ship, under her original name Spindrift, on 30th March. Her actual launch date is lost in the mists of time and Hillyard’s notoriously non-existent record-keeping. After a short […]
Come and see us at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show, March 5th-6th, Alexandra Palace, London. Nancy herself won’t be there – too big for our stand and not actually a dinghy – but we’ll have plenty of information and people on hand to talk about how you can enjoy sailing on Nancy, and maybe become a skipper or mate. […]
The Round the Island Race, in which Nancy Blackett participated this summer, is the subject of a forthcoming two-part series on Channel 4, called "Britain's Favourite Yacht Race". Both episodes will be broadcast on Saturday mornings – this weekend, 13th November, and again on the 20th November – at 7.30am (but you can use Channel […]
For everyone who came to the Nancy Blackett lift-out weekend hoping, quite reasonably, to see Nancy being lifted out, our apologies. It’s honestly never occurred to us before, but it doesn't work like that. The aim of the weekend is to mark the end of the sailing season, clear Nancy ready for her winter lay-up […]
This Saturday, October 23rd, sees the end of Nancy Blackett's sailing season with laying-up day in Woodbridge. From 11am, members will be gathering in the Tidemill Marina to clear and clean Nancy. In the afternoon, we'll be drawing the raffle and in the evening, laying-up supper at the Cherry Tree pub. If you plan to […]
Nancy Blackett will be on display this Saturday, 25th September at Woolverstone Marina – come and see Arthur Ransome’s Goblin, step aboard, look around and find out about opportunities for sailing aboard her. Everyone is welcome, particularly families, youth groups, sailing clubs, etc. Nancy’s open day, 11am-5pm approx, is part of her home Marina’s own […]
Young fan’s ‘pier-head jump’ aboard Nancy Blackett. Nancy Blackett’s return voyage form the Maritime Woodbridge festival turned into an adventure reminiscent of Arthur Ransome’s “We Didn’t Mean to Go To Sea”, when a young American fan jumped aboard at the last minute. Nancy’s appearance at the festival attracted loads of visitors, including a Japanese fan, […]
Nancy Blackett’s appearance at the Maritime Woodbridge Festival this weekend (11th-12th September) coincides with an important anniversary in her long career. It will be exactly seventy-five years ago on Sunday that Arthur Ransome purchased her in Poole Harbour, for £525, and immediately changed her name from the previous owner’s choice, Electron, to Nancy Blackett, […]
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