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© Wivenhoe and Rowhedge Yacht Owners Association |
Yesterday was the Summer Solstice, so we are now heading back towards the winter folks! Now that I have made your day, I will witter on with another topic.
A chance search on the web brought up some information about Christopher Nicole. He is the author of over a hundred novels in virtually all the genres of popular fiction. Christopher is also a keen sailor, and therein lies the start to a coincidence. Born in Georgetown, Guyana in the West Indies in 1930, Christopher Nicole developed a love of sailing in the Caribbean and went on cruise thousands of nautical miles with his Bermudan yacht Rose of Arden. The namesake of our Rose of Arden.
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| © drascombe-association |
Christopher Nicole is now a resident of Guernsey and one time was Commodore of Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club.
Built by Whisstocks, in 1939, Rose of Arden is a 30-foot Bermudan Yacht designed by Dr Thomas Harrison-Butler.
Rose of Arden was the first of four vessels built to the same design, all involving the 'metacentric shelf formula' which was much favoured by the Doctor. Another of the group, WaterMaiden, still survives having made many crossings of the Atlantic.
Publisher Andrew Cocks is the current custodian of Rose of Arden, which is stationed at Brightlingsea in Essex. Rose of Arden (the yacht) featured on the cover of the thriller “The Eliminator” 2011 printing some 45 years after it was first published. An email from the present custodian "My Rose of Arden (we are not really owners but custodian for a period of their history) was thus named because Harrison-Butler was an Ophthalmic surgeon practicing in Birmingham but living in Hampton in Arden. He designed a sequence of boats Edith Rose, Rose of Arden, Dream of Arden as a quest to find the perfectly balanced boat, under sail that is. A long keel and offset propeller gives me a turning circle barely competitive with your own but when sailing she’s a stunner."
Next time we are down in Essex we will certainly make a point of going to have a little peep at the other "Rose of Arden" our boats name sake.
Another, chance encounter was a picture by Arden Rose, who is an artist who paints scenes from around the world in the French impressionist style. I love art, I love the French impressionist style, more than any other form. So much so that I went to Rome just to see three Monet's a few years ago. One of Arden Rose's pictures is titled Henley and the subject matter is the River Thames at Henley. I remember admiring the picture in the past. When we saw Rose of Arden for the first time I had feelings of Deja Vu at the time but could not bring the reason to mind.
To see some of Arden Rose's work Click Here
I timed my Monet visit to Rome by chance (April 2005) to fit-in exactly with the late pope's funeral. I managed to get myself into St Peters square. I was stood right in front of the all the worlds television cameras. I spent so much time on TV that friends were ringing my mobile to chat. Another friend living in India even recognised me and phoned to ask me to buy her a crucifix whilst I was there. (but that's another story for another posting)
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