Other: Sir Paul McCartney, One of us!

Happen to read this article in todays Times on Line. Paul is selling his trawler and it is one we can relate to.

Sir Paul McCartney selling his fishing boat Barnaby Rudge | Mail Online


Enjoy the content.
Al -Ketchikan (Bridge to Nowhere) Alaska

Selling it for 60,000.00 LS and giving the profit? to charity. I wonder how much profit there is from the sale of a old trawler one has owned for years?

What is that in the first picture a change counter? (To the right of the picture)

That is a nice wiring job to a bank of brass switches.

Steve said:

Selling it for 60,000.00 LS and giving the profit? to charity. I wonder how much profit there is from the sale of a old trawler one has owned for years?

Click to expand...

Further into the article it state the "proceeds" will go to charity. I doubt he would squabble over such a small amount.

Love the lines of that boat. Classic. At that price someone should snap it up unless condition is poor under the skin.

That is a perfect boat for a very famous person to hide on. That boat would just blend in and nobody except boat people would give it a long look.

Over the last few weeks I have been "flying over" and "visiting" the coast line of the UK with Google Maps and Earth looking for ports that would be interesting to stay in and for sights to see

Rye was interesting because during WWII the fishing fleet refused to go to Dunkirk to help evacuate the British Army. I was looking at the town with Google Earth/Maps and it has limited dockage with what appears to be a mixture of sail and fishing boats. There is one boat about as far up stream as you can get before a bridge and the boat really sticks out. It looks to be about 75-100 feet long and I really wonder how they got that boat into that part of the river. The boat must have been backed into place around a tight bend in the river.

From some of the Google Earth land photos taken by people, it looks like the boat is a wooden boat that someone is fixing up. From the satellite image it looks like a government boat because of its color and size. It really sticks out.

Down stream a bit is another boat that sticks, literally, out into the river.

I think this boat might be McCartney's. Shame he can't use it any more.

I have been enchanted by Scotland. Such a pretty and seemingly empty place. I can seen why McCartney lives up there. One of islands I was reading about has quite a few stone markers one of which is in a circle. The link to the story about McCartney has a photo of his place that shows a stone marker which is interesting.

Seems like most people who want to travel by trawler want to go to the Caribbean which is not that big of a draw for us. Seeing the UK and Ireland is a bigger interest.

Parting with that boat most be difficult.

Later,
Dan

Dan, I'm familiar with Rye as it's not too far from my sister's place south of Ashford. Wonderful little town to walk around with a mix of narrow streets with small "shoppes", pubs, etc as well as the various river harbors. The curved commercial harbor on the main river to the east (east of the bowling green, top right in the photo) is worth a visit. The other branch of the river that leads into town is mostly recreational boats. Be sure to visit the waterfronts at both low and high tides. The difference is stark and many of the boats end up high and dry on the mud at low tides. Not something most of us US boaters are used to (maybe Maine?), but quite common in UK coastal harbors.

Anyway, put Rye on your list for at least a couple of days and nights. It can get a bit full of bused in tourists during the height of summer, but that's now the case with almost any quaint photogenic village in England. By staying a night or two, you get to enjoy the relative quiet of early mornings and evenings before and after the buses.

BTW, I think I found McCartney's boat. I have it marked in this screenshot of GoogleEarth. That the one you mentioned?

Further "sleuthing" and I'm now sure that's the boat. Check the 2nd and 3rd photos. Yeah, too much time on my hands.

And it's gone... Dickens Class 50ft - Used Motor Boats for Sale - Ancasta
More pictures and details at the broker site but "no longer available". Not surprising at that price once the association was made known. Pity though! I was just forming this great idea of a UK "cottage" for our own occasional use and a rental at other times for Beatle fans. Oh well.

Tonic said:

Dan, I'm familiar with Rye as it's not too far from my sister's place south of Ashford. Wonderful little town to walk around with a mix of narrow streets with small "shoppes", pubs, etc as well as the various river harbors. The curved commercial harbor on the main river to the east (east of the bowling green, top right in the photo) is worth a visit. The other branch of the river that leads into town is mostly recreational boats. Be sure to visit the waterfronts at both low and high tides. The difference is stark and many of the boats end up high and dry on the mud at low tides. Not something most of us US boaters are used to (maybe Maine?), but quite common in UK coastal harbors.

Anyway, put Rye on your list for at least a couple of days and nights. It can get a bit full of bused in tourists during the height of summer, but that's now the case with almost any quaint photogenic village in England. By staying a night or two, you get to enjoy the relative quiet of early mornings and evenings before and after the buses.

BTW, I think I found McCartney's boat. I have it marked in this screenshot of GoogleEarth. That the one you mentioned?

Further "sleuthing" and I'm now sure that's the boat. Check the 2nd and 3rd photos. Yeah, too much time on my hands.

Click to expand...

Yeppers, that is the boat.

That looks to be a perfect spot for a famous person's boat. Seems like he could have easily gotten to the boat without being seen and been off. After this thread was posted, I went back and look at the street view from across the river and there is only one angle that can view the boat. When the Google car took the photo at that spot it looks like there was a tarp blocking the view of the boat.

I have noticed in Google Earth/Maps that the tide in the UK seems to range quite a bit.

I am intrigued by some of the small port towns I have seen and I could see that it would be very easy to spend a few days in some of these towns. Though I wonder about the tides and anchoring in some of the areas of Scotland.

Sad about McCartney selling his boat though.

Later,
Dan

Yea- he use to be "one of us".


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Lehman 135 Twins

I saw an interview with him a long time ago while he was piloting the boat in rainy weather. Like others I thought it odd such a rich guy would have a fairly humble boat, but then it made sense if someone just wanted to get away by themselves; judging from his houses, not a real glitzy type of person.

I'm pretty sure the interview was part of the Beatles Anthology series.

caltexflanc said:

I saw an interview with him a long time ago while he was piloting the boat in rainy weather. Like others I thought it odd such a rich guy would have a fairly humble boat, but then it made sense if someone just wanted to get away by themselves; judging from his houses, not a real glitzy type of person.

Click to expand...

She ain't a humble boat! She is PRETTY!

I don't follow famous people but my impression of McCartney was that the money and fame did not go to his head. He stayed humble. It is sad that he has kinda aged out of his boat which happens irregardless of wealth.

We were "flying" over Scotland last night, on Google that is, looking at the town of Tarbert which has decent size dock filled mostly with sail boats but there are some fishing boats in the port as well. We want a Diesel Duck which very much looks like a trawler/troller boat since that is the design reference.

A Diesel Duck, or McCartney's "humble boat" , would fit right in at the ports we have been "flying" over. I was trying to get better views of the fishing boats in the ports! The sail boats and the few power boats just did not grab my attention.

Course, with the price of diesel fuel in the UK, I might have to go work on a fishing boat to pay for the fuel to return to the US!

I will have to see if the movie mentioned is on Amazon or Netflix. I want to see the boat!

Later,
Dan I know I have a problem. It is called Duckitis.

On the UK (and just about all of northern Europe)-the tides are pretty extreme. Many boat basins go dry at low tide and the boats sit in the mud. More than a few have a "tide gate" that closes as the tide drops to keep water in the basin and keep the boats a float. Thus you have only access to the docks limited by the gate, generally around the half-tide level. See St Katherine's Dock in London.

THD said:

On the UK (and just about all of northern Europe)-the tides are pretty extreme. Many boat basins go dry at low tide and the boats sit in the mud. More than a few have a "tide gate" that closes as the tide drops to keep water in the basin and keep the boats a float. Thus you have only access to the docks limited by the gate, generally around the half-tide level. See St Katherine's Dock in London.

Click to expand...

Heck, it seems like most of the basins I have looked at had locks! To say that was a surprise is an understatement! I was looking at St. Katerherine's, South Dock and Lime house which all had locks. Amazing but obviously needed because of the tidal range.

I THINK my Google Flying was because of Doc Martin. The photography in the show is amazing and I had to find out where it was filmed. It is funny to see the cars parked at the sea bed and in the show they go out and build sand castles! I wish the boat we were interested in buying had twin keels so we could let her dry out. I think that would come in handy in some ports.



The UK has some stunning views...

Later,
Dan

The article showed his farm at Mull of Kintire. Here is one of my favorite songs of his Mull of Kintire looks like a beautiful spot,
Paul McCartney & Wings - Mull of Kintyre 1977 Video stereo widescreen - YouTube

Steve said:

The article showed his farm at Mull of Kintire. Here is one of my favorite songs of his Mull of Kintire looks like a beautiful spot,
Paul McCartney & Wings - Mull of Kintyre 1977 Video stereo widescreen - YouTube

Click to expand...

Thank you for posting that link. I had read about the song but never heard it. Very nice. Kinda surprised it did not do well in the US.

Gotta love the bagpipes.

Funny how music "videos" have changed over the years. The scenery in the video is gorgeous. The bag pipe band was from Campeltown which was one of two ports that would be interesting to visit.

Later,
Dan