First photos of 2014

Yet more storms meant New Year's Day was a write-off as far as doing anything constructive was concerned - it didn't stop raining and blowing a gale all day, meaning I stayed in watching disaster movies on DVD and listening to a disaster on the radio (Saints' second-half collapse against Russian oligarch's play-thing Chelski), but today was a rare break in the endless series of storms which have been crossing the country, so today was the first time I could get out in 2014.

I headed to Cowes, along partly-flooded roads, to photograph CMA CGM Strauss on her way past from Southampton.

Some heavy-looking showers over on the mainland meant rainbows appeared from time-to-time

Also in the Solent was Ice Runner, which approached out of the west.

She took her time but CMA CGM Strauss - looking very much in need of a new coat of paint - eventually appeared in Southampton Water. Yes, that chimney is a nuisance at times - now the power station has been closed, I guess it will be demolished at some point. I'll be a bit sad if it is, but won't miss it interfering with photos!

One of the locals

And another local

Ugh, back to work on Monday... :-(

Down by the Solent, August Bank Holiday weekend 2013

Contrary to weather forecasts, today was dry and periodically sunny so I went to Cowes in the late afternoon to photograph a couple of ships which I had no photos of, namely cruise ships Explorer and Seabourn Sojourn. The conditions were variable, mostly cloud with some sun.

I thought I'd missed Independence of the Seas but as I arrived at Egypt Point I could see her in Southampton Water. She made a real racket as she passed Calshot, which I could plainly hear over the car radio (tuned to Radio Solent's football coverage - Saints scraped a draw at home to Sunderland, which was an improvement as we were losing when I left the house).

Next was Explorer, looking a real little minnow compared to the mighty Independence of the Seas.

Aurora was not far behind Explorer. By now the sun had reappeared, sort of, although it was getting pretty low.

Following Aurora was the obligatory car carrier, Canadian Highway, a sister of California Highway which was in Southampton two weeks ago.

Last, but not least, was Seabourn Sojourn. This is the first time I have seen a Seabourn ship, outside of the film Speed 2, set aboard Seabourn Legend.

Summer's nearly finished and, although it has been a cracking summer for weather - in a complete contrast to last year's woeful effort - I'll be glad to see the back of it, for other reasons!

Cowes fireworks

Before I go further, here's an up-front confession - I am not a big fan of Cowes Week and usually avoid the place like the plague when it's on. I lost interest in it years ago when the Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned and therefore no longer attended, and there's no Navy guard ship either. A load of yachts just don't 'do it' for me and the town gets very crowded. The last time I went to either Cowes town during Cowes week was in 1991 or 92.
My sister and her two kids were visiting last week and my aunt decided to book us - me, her, sister and the two boys - onto a Red Funnel cruise from East Cowes, which went out into the Solent for a good vantage point. We could park the car on the car deck for an extra fiver, which saved having to hunt for a space in the town; it was lucky we left home when we did because there was a large queue into East Cowes which started at Wootton.

While we were waiting at the terminal, there was a display by the Red Arrows, followed by the last airworthy Sea Vixen, a former carrier-based aircraft dating from the 1950s and 60s.

The plane photos were taken with the Canon 600D with 100-400mm lens and the firework photos were taken with the 6D and 24-105mm lens.

Red Osprey - our 'party ship'  for the evening - was a little late getting into East Cowes, due to sheer volume of car traffic aboard, not to mention river traffic and she had to be escorted in by the police! We watched her unload - and unload, and unload.
Eventually she was empty and the staff wasted no time in getting us aboard. As we drove on, we have to turn round so the cars were facing the right way for disembarkation later and, just before the display began, the upper car deck was opened for passengers to watch the fireworks from.

Red Eagle was doing a cruise from Southampton

Once the fireworks were over, we waited in the Solent for Red Falcon (on her usual run from Southampton) to arrive, unload and depart which meant we missed the traffic queues out of East Cowes.

Summer's finished, Cowes Week has been and gone, as we say in our family...