Return to the Water

[Renegadenemo]

Bill, can I write to you in a condescending way?

Of course you can - we're old buddies, which is why I enjoy teasing you. Your turn.

[Black Knight]

You sure you're not dealing with the CAA?????

What will happen if the proving trials are not allowed on Coniston? Wasn't the plan with all the spare engines etc that she'd be brought out for special events/occasions & run? My feeling is if that were the case then the Ruskin will lock the door & lose the key, to prevent it leaving.

Opening a dedicated museum could prove costly, couldn't a tour of museums around the country be arranged? where she could at least be pulled out & fired up????

Thinking aloud here

[Malcolm Ops]

Your turn.

I feel like I should just sit here, be a grump (which it is said I am good at), shuffle some papers around and be totally non productive for a day. So no riposte at the moment.

The temperature is rising on faceb******s initiated by our project historian. I might just use that as an excuse to do bugger all .

Malcolm

[Malcolm Ops]

Farcical - I had to look up, to see what the adjective meant when used with a time element. I used to watch Brian Rix farces on TV.

Perhaps the writer did want to convey to the crew that each one of us has become involved with an absurdly futile proceeding or a pretence.

Lets be generous and accept that the people of the village saw something in this ex-councillor to have him involved in guiding them.

Malcolm

[Richie]

Its happened now folks.... just move on.....



We still need to train, we still need to run through countless rescue and recovery methods, deploying divers, adjusting trim and steering issues, extracting unconscious pilots from cockpits, extracting pilots from inverted cockpits, you name it ! drills ! drills ! drills ! We are after all a professional outfit are we not ? The last thing anyone wanted to do was to wing it, turn up unannounced and launch on Coniston only to end up floundering around on the lake like a grade A end of a bell, then sink it in front of the worlds media...... I mean come on, who would do such a thing !?


The cards have now been laid bare, we have nothing to hide, yes we are currently wounded by the LDNPA and yes it appears Bill and his "Followers" are hated by all and sundry within the village

(That actually stung a little bit, these people don't know me, if they did they would realise I hate myself enough so nobody else has to, I am not self-deprecating for nothing.....................

Anyway I digress, as long as history recognises that we wanted nothing but the best for the boat and we all wanted the homecoming Gina and Bill wanted...... thing is, we wont get it, more important than that, the world wont get it either.


Not one man (or woman) involved in this endeavour is bigger than the boat ! K7 will tell her story and she will be seen on her planing shoes once again..........just wont be where we all wanted it to be.

MEH !

[Renegadenemo]

Sounds to me like many toys out of the pram via Facebolleaux yesterday - is it any wonder that I hate social media so much and have no part of it. I was out of the loop most of yesterday at a funeral. Our John's dad's funeral, to be exact, but I can say with certainty that I have no missed calls from Cumbria so nothing new there.

Now where were we?

Ah, yes. I thought I'd take a look at the LDNPA website to see if they'd broken cover. They've popped a brief statement on their website.

*

Steve Tatlock, Park Management Team Leader for the Lake District National Park, said:

“We are disappointed that the Bluebird team have chosen to undergo proving trials in Scotland and not on Coniston Water.

“Power-boating and the desire to set new records has been a part of the cultural history of the Lake District for nearly 100 years and we are currently reviewing an exemption to the byelaws by the Vector Project to break the electric world speed record on Coniston Water later this year.

“The National Park Authority facilitated a change to the Coniston Water byelaws to allow the proving trials of Bluebird K7. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of local people and communities and encouragement from others from around the globe. The efforts of the Bluebird K7 group to recover Bluebird and her pilot Donald Campbell was the start of a long journey which will hopefully end with Bluebird resting in Coniston just a stone’s throw from where Donald Campbell already rests.

“We remain committed to supporting this ambition and hope to see Bluebird K7 return on Coniston Water in the future.”

*

Now I happen to know that this was in direct response to a question posed by a journalist a couple of weeks ago and I predicted the moment it was asked that we'd get nothing decisive, only a load of wishy-washy rubbish aimed at taking everyone's eye off the ball so, in the interests of keeping the record absolutely straight here's my appraisal of it.

“We are disappointed that the Bluebird team have chosen to undergo proving trials in Scotland and not on Coniston Water.

That should read,

"We are frantically covering our bureaucratic bottoms because we failed to appreciate that they didn't want our lake so badly that they'd grovel at our feet for the use of it, and that's without how lazy we've become in recent years. We messed them about terribly despite their superhuman efforts to be reasonable so now they've no option but to form a strategic alliance with a very forward-thinking and proactive partner on Bute despite having declared their intentions to the relevant Cumbrian parties last summer leaving us utterly embarrassed and on the back foot."

Next you get a serving of sentimental waffle to melt your hearts and draw you into feeling sympathetic. It is neither technically nor historically correct and there for all the wrong reasons. And let's not go into the electric record referenced there or we can have a good old chat about their car parks and flora and fauna and pollution experts in the employ of the LDNPA to be billed to the participants. They imagined they were backing us into that territory too at £700 per day to break the speed limit we're already exempt from. Not happening.

“The National Park Authority facilitated a change to the Coniston Water byelaws to allow the proving trials of Bluebird K7. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of local people and communities and encouragement from others from around the globe. The efforts of the Bluebird K7 group to recover Bluebird and her pilot Donald Campbell was the start of a long journey which will hopefully end with Bluebird resting in Coniston just a stone’s throw from where Donald Campbell already rests."

A proper slap in the face for Malcolm who did 90% of the running to change the byelaw whilst I actually wrote the wording And I know who's had the long journey and it certainly isn't them! And finally...

“We remain committed to supporting this ambition and hope to see Bluebird K7 return on Coniston Water in the future.”

OK, Mr. Tatlock, if you are so committed you will know that I have called your office and left messages and contact numbers with your PA and also on the voicemail on your mobile over the past couple of weeks...

I'll be in my office all day.

[Renegadenemo]

We want to continue working positively with K7 team to get the boat onto Coniston. Bluebird K7 could be launched on Coniston now and run under power up to 10mph; however in order to run at speed we need sight of their operating plans to ensure that it will be run safely, with minimal environmental impacts and that full consideration has been given to managing public interest. We’ve been clear about what we need and once we have these we can move to finalising the approval for Bluebird K7 to run at speed on Coniston Water.'

Equally - we have been clear about what we need and, whereas we will have no problem meeting the necessary criteria, especially with Malcolm managing that side of things, there is absolutely no point in us even starting until the LDNPA confirms that it will meet our needs. At Malcolm's last meeting with them, instead of helping things along they threw an extra 31 potential problems in our way in the shape of organisations that we are supposed to get on side before we go anywhere. The LDNPA has also intimated that we are expected to pay hefty sums for exemption to the speed limit from which we are exempt anyway because of our success in having the byelaw amended.

We're not messing about with such nonsense! That's the LDNPA's job - not ours.

So, for the avoidance of doubt, we will not be making any application to do anything until we are assured by the LDNPA that the obstacles have been removed and then, and only then, will we set out how we propose to run the trials meeting their criteria above. Nor shall we be paying a single penny for the privilege of enjoying our own byelaw.

[longarmedgibbon]

Is there any plans bill to put on board and in cockpit cams when running her? Ian lazenby

[Renegadenemo]

Probably but getting the engine in is a bit higher up the list right now...

[Terminator]

I dont suppose the phone rang today by any chance Bill ?
Novie