A blip with a nautical flavour...

...from the quayside at North Shields...
Walked down to the Lowlight this morning to hear a talk about the AHTS Bourbon Dolphin, a new high-tech boat which capsized seemingly inexplicably while laying an anchor for an oil rig west of The Shetlands. The speaker gave a very technical but easily understandable explanation of the "perfect storm" of event that conspired to cause the capsize of the vessel, the loss of eight lives including the Captain's 14 year old son, and its later sinking while a salvage operation was taking place. A combination of high winds, tide, lack of knowledge of the boat's limitations and the unwillingness to simply abort the day's task added up to the tragic events of the day - a sobering thought...
These two blue buoys are a more cheery reminder of life at sea - and you can see by the sky the change in the weather today...
Great "cheap and cheerful" lunch at Sambuca on the quayside before driving home to Yorkshire - in fact it was so cheap we queried the bill, and we're still sure they must have missed something off  ;)