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Saturday 13 June 2009

Portencross Castle











Portencross castle lies a few miles from the village of West Kilbride,it stands on a rocky shore with a small bay at the entrance to the castle.

The area surrounding the the castle is very scenic with fine views across to the Little Cumbrae Island and the Isle of Arran in the distance.

Portencross was the seat of the Barony of Arnele conferred by Robert 1 on Sir Robert Boyd of Kilmarnock.
Robert the 11 and the 111 were frequent visitors at the castle while they were in transit to their favourite residences of Dundonald on the mainland and Rothesay Castle on the Island of Bute.

Some observers believe that the castle was built for this purpose,it remained a Boyd property until 1737 when the roof blew off,it has been an empty shell since.

It is hoped that the castle will be made safe and open to the public in 2010.

Friends of Portencross Castle can be found HERE

Friday 12 June 2009

MV Ruahine

Built by John Brown Clydebank,launched 11/12/1950.
She was a refrigerated cargo passenger liner built for the New Zealand shipping Co,she was able to carry 267 passengers in one class,scrapped 1974.

Monday 8 June 2009

Saturday 6 June 2009

Norwegian Jade

Norwegian Jade departing from Ocean Terminal ,click HERE for photographs of her on a previous visit.








Friday 5 June 2009

AASVIK



Aasvik a self discharging ship,a popular sight on the Firth.

Gay Queen

The Gay Queen cruised the Kyles of Bute and Loch Striven up until the early eighties,apparently the skipper was well known for breaking into song.

SD Husky



Heading for the Great Harbour at Greenock.

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Drum











Drum is a boat with a very interesting history.
The 78 foot, Maxi racing yacht was designed
by Ron Holland in 1985, and built by Vision Yachts of Cowes, for top racer Skip Novak.


She was originally commissioned by Simon Le Bon, lead singer of Duran Duran with the purpose of taking part in the 1985 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.


On August 10th 1985, to assist with crew training and to test the boats equipment in advance of the Whitbread Race, they entered the Fastnet Race which is a 608 round mile trip from the Isle of Wight to Plymouth.

However, during this race they encountered serious gale force weather conditions which caused the 14-ton keel to fall off, capsizing the yacht with all 24 crew members still onboard.

Thankfully another yacht Carat competing in the race witnessed the capsize, raised the alarm and they were able to scramble a helicopter. The Royal National Lifeboat Institute assisted with the dramatic rescue operation resulting, thankfully, with no casualties and no one being seriously injured. The team only had one month to get the boat back to racing form; salvaging her, fitting a new keel, mast and sails, and replacing all electrical systems.

Drum successfully competed in the 1985/86 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, scoring 3rd overall. Because of her history, and being the only British Maxi, she generated huge publicity with more than 10,000 spectator boats turning out to welcome them back to Britain.

In 1988 Drum was bought from Simon Le Bon by Scottish businessman Sir Arnold Clark, and was to be his fourth racing boat. Over the next few years Sir Arnold competed in UK inshore and offshore races winning trophies at Cowes Week and Scottish Series whilst winning offshore classics like the Round Ireland Race. He was also known to sail on Drum extensively with his family.

As Arnold Clark Automobiles grew, Sir Arnold found himself with less time to spend aboard Drum so the boat started being used for more corporate charter days allowing more people to participate in the ultimate experience - sailing a Maxi class race boat.

In 2005, Sir Arnold kindly agreed to loan the yacht to Le Bon and his crew to become the primary sponsor when he heard about their plans for Drum to race again raising awareness of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Simon Le Bon and the original Whitbread Round the World crew planned to compete in the Fastnet race to mark the 20th anniversary of their fated 1985 Fastnet capsize and to complete some ‘unfinished business'. They were hampered by light winds the whole race but eventually managed to complete the course without incident raising money for the RNLI as a thank for rescuing them all those years ago.

Today Drum sails every day of the summer months introducing new people to the exciting world of big boat sailing.


Thanks to Sir Arnold Clark for the information.

US Porter 78










American guided missile destroyer returning to Faslane after her part in Joint Warrior 2009

Monday 1 June 2009

AIDA CARA















Aida Cara leaving Greenock Ocean Terminal.


NAME

AIDA CARA (AIDA)

CLASS

CRUISE SHIP

ENT/SERVICE

1996

BUILT

KVAERNER MASA / TURKU / FINLAND

WEIGHT

38,531 TONS

LENGTH

634 FEET

WIDTH

90 FEET

SPEED

21 KNOTS - DIESEL ENGINES

Aida was the first new cruise ship to enter service for the German based Seatours cruise line. This line also owns large riverboats that are operated throughout Europe. P&O bought 51 percent of Seatours shares in 1999, and by the year 2000, had acquired all of their shares. Plans were made at that time to extend the cruise fleet with new ships under the name P&O/Aida Cruises. With the new company ordering new cruise ships, Aida was renamed Aida Cara.

This cruise ship has 9 passenger decks, 1 pool, fitness center, 540-seat theatre, 391 outside cabins of which 4 have balconies, 202 inside cabins, can carry 1,186 passengers and a crew of 370.

Black Prince passing Gourock



Click HERE for some more pictures