St George's Day ships

It's been two weeks since I got home from my trip Down Under (a few more photos from there will be added in due course) and I've been largely holed up at home, suffering the duel afflictions of Being Skint - which is closely allied with the one called Out Of Work - and Post-trip Blues.
In an attempt to banish the latter affliction I decided to nip over to Portsmouth to photograph Cap Finistere, which I had only distant photos of, and Etretat, the former Norman Voyager, which entered service with Brittany Ferries while I was away. The forecast was crap but bugger it, it was high time I left the house. I also arranged to meet my friend Slinky-Dave, which gave me the opportunity to give him back his hoody and tripod bag he left in my car after that ill-fated Tilbury trip last October.

I know that these ships are probably chapeau ancienne to most locals but, distant views of both (Etretat in her former guise) aside, they aren't to me.

First up was St. Faith

Then Cap Finistere

Etretat was not far behind

At least Etretat's wavy blue hull (left from her LD Lines days) makes a change from the largely - boring - white that ferry companies, and cruise lines, tend to go in for these days.

The rain at least had the manners to hold off until we'd got our photos.

Artania

I've done precious little of anything and no ship photography whatsoever since I got back from Dover almost three weeks ago. The weather has been fantastic the past few weeks with high temperatures over 30°C and a lot of sunshine but I've spent the time lounging around at home, job hunting with no luck and visiting my mum in hospital (she's on the mend, defying the doctors' gloomy prognoses). However, today I decided to take a trip to Portsmouth this afternoon to see Artania depart. Built as Royal Princess in 1984 - I remember watching her sailing along the Solent when I should have been in a geography lesson, I would rather have skipped English or maths! - she is a ship that I haven't seen in a while, the last time was as Artemis in the Solent some years back, probably in 2005.
I caught the Hovercraft over to Southsea and walked along the seafront which, in the lovely hot weather (it was at least 32°C/90°F), was packed. During the walk I was 'treated' to a chav couple having a very loud argument about who was shagging who and in which every other word was a variation on the 'f- and c-words', and all the while their unfortunate baby (which probably has no chance) was screaming his head off. Classy. Not.

The photos are a mix of ones taken with the Canon 6D and 100-400mm lens and the 600D with the 24-105mm lens on it.

Commodore Goodwill was coming in as was St. Helen. Yes, there's a yacht in the way. There's always a yacht in the way.

A quick trip to the Still and West for a drink, where I met my friend 'Slinky-Dave' Shepherd (check out his SDS Ship Photographic page on Facebook - you don't need to be signed into Facebook to see it) before heading back to the Round Tower.

By now, it was clouding over and there was a breeze keeping the temperatures down. I could hear distant thunder coming from the direction of Southampton which was not surprising, given the temperature and humidity, and some business-like cumulonimbus clouds were building up.

Bretagne arrived on her usual route from St. Malo

The Wightlink ferries over to the island were in and out as usual. I wasn't going to bother with these too much but I did in the end, for something to do while waiting.

Top to bottom: St. Faith, St. Helen again and Wight Ryder II with St. Faith

Normandie Express (a.k.a. the Vomit Comet or 'VomCom') arrived as we were waiting for Artania - which was late - to depart.

Finally Artania appeared, some 25 minutes late. I assume she was waiting for the VomCom.

Once Artania was gone it was time to go home. I'd missed the 1900 hovercraft back to Ryde but luckily there was one at 1930. I had twenty minutes to wait so I sat in the waiting room, reading Facebook on my phone and studiously ignoring the TV which was tuned to the news...apparently some woman in London has had a baby which, judging by the hype and fervour displayed by the media, seems never to have happened before.

Once back at Ryde I took a photo of Freedom 90 as she headed back to Southsea, totally forgetting about the sand and crap thrown up by the fans; I had to protect my lens from a sandblasting as the craft turned off the pad but I got a nice shot of her passing the pier.

And that's it for now. Apart from the TSS Solent Cruise #2 on August 10th - I hope I can make THAT one! - I haven't got any photography trips planned for the near future, apart from the usual serendipitous opportunities that might present themselves.

Ferries at the bottom of their gardens

Back in January Saga Ruby was supposed to have departed on her latest - and final - world cruise but she broke down with a crankshaft fault. Saga decided to repair her alongside at Southampton and she would be sailing on a much shortened long cruise on 20th February instead.
Repairs completed, she was to have sailed for some sea trials today, departing from Southampton at 0900 and sailing out to the Nab, so I went to Cowes to photograph her on the way out.
My phone signal was intermittent - i.e. crap - and I couldn't check Marine Traffic AIS properly to see where she was so, when the signal allowed, I texted Patricia Dempsey who was at Hythe Marina. Saga Ruby had left the berth, assisted by the tugs Phenix and Wyeforce, but it was soon discovered that she had a fault which was soon fixed...but then another one developed so she returned to the berth. No new sailing time has been announced yet, so we have to wait and see.

It was a wasted journey from the photography point of view, especially with the cost of petrol these days, but it was a pleasant, if cold, morning and the dogs got a walk along the seafront at Cowes...lots of new, interesting, smells and 'p-mails' to check!

Apart from Red Osprey, one of the Red Jets and a solitary WAFI, the only floating object in the Solent was this Great Crested Grebe, already changing into its breeding plumage with the crest that gives the species its name.

I wanted to go to Tesco at Ryde, so I drove there via the East Cowes chain ferry and Fishbourne. I had not been to Fishbourne village itself - as opposed to the ferry terminal - since I was a kid when we used to go to the beach there (no idea why, as it's a crap stony and muddy beach and the island is blessed with much nicer ones!) so I was curious to see if I could park and get some nice photos of the ferry - I wanted to take some photos of something! There is limited parking down there and a turning space to extricate oneself without having to reverse back up the road.
St. Faith was in and just about to depart while, out in the Solent, Don Juan was passing, on her way up to Southampton with another load of cars.

Fishbourne is a pretty little place, once you are past the Fishbourne Inn, with some lovely cottages and, despite the presence of the Wightlink terminal, is - in estate agents' parlance - a 'much sought after' location. It could be said that, with the terminal there, they have ferries at the bottom of their gardens (that pun is too good not to use!). It is a lot smaller than I remember but, as the last time I was there was when I was a teenager - when myself and my stepbrother got yelled at by an old chap for throwing stones into the water, although we were actually doing no harm, and we cycled away giving him absolute abuse, the nice kids that we were - in 1980-something...! More than 25 years ago anyway!

St Faith starts her engines...

...and backs out of the terminal

As for Saga Ruby, these are uncertain times and, for the ship's numerous fans, worrying times due to her age. It's best to discover the problems now and fix them, rather than find out on Wednesday, when she is due to sail on her shortened world cruise, which has become a round-South America cruise instead.

Update - Saga Ruby is now scheduled to depart on her sea trials at 1700 this afternoon.

With thanks to Patricia Dempsey for the additional info and updates via text!

Sunny Southsea

I hadn't been to Portsmouth for a photo-taking trip for quite a few years so decided to go over to Southsea on the hovercraft (Freedom 90 was the craft in use today) for a couple of hours today (I was also meeting an old friend who I hadn't seen for a number of years, so it was nice to catch up over a pint).

There wasn't a lot on the move, as it's still in the depths of winter, although I did catch Commodore Clipper, Mont St. Michel, St. Faith and Wight Ryder II. Again, like most trips of late, it's as much about a change of scene as anything else.

Commodore Clipper was on her way out, on her regular sailing to the Channel Islands...

...while Mont St. Michel was on her way in. Unfortunately, the sun was in the wrong place - or rather, I was in the wrong place relative to the sun - and the photos are washed out, but I won't complain too much as it's just nice to see the sun, instead of endless gloom.

Wight Ryder II was also approaching, on her regular run from Ryde PH

WR II's larger colleague St. Faith left the harbour on her way over to Fishbourne. The youngest of the Saint class ships, St. Faith entered service in 1990. Of all the Solent car ferries over the years, the Saint class are my favourites not least for the fact that they have a bow and stern, rather than being double-ended.

I am currently doing a temporary job for the next few weeks. It's a pretty crummy filing job, which has another three weeks to run, but when it finishes, I am planning a few days on the continent, taking photos at Calais, Ostende and - hopefully - the Hook of Holland. Of course, this depends on finances.