Sailing By

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Saw this as I was leaving Biwmares on Saturday afternoon. Had to pull the van over and take a quick snap with my phone. The quality's not good but it was such a treat to see a boat actually under sail for once and the colours contrasted so nicely against the encroaching gloom of the cloud rolling over the Carneddau, that I just had to record it.

According to Joe, who knows more about such things than I, it's a gaff cutter; I defer to superior knowledge.

As anyone who has ever lain in bed awake between midnight and one with Radio Four on the wireless will know, 'Sailing By' is the link tune introducing The Shipping Forecast. Written by Ronald Binge in 1963, its repetitive refrain was broadcast so that ships had enough time to get their radios tuned in to the broadcast in time for the weather forecast. For me, it's always been a curious and somewhat poignant link with our island's sea-faring past and as is usual with me, a nostalgia for things and times not personally experienced; a connection with a collective cultural heritage fast disappearing into history as we merge into global homogeneity.

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