Bacliff Exploration Society 2011 Autumnal Equinox Cookout and RIF-A-Palooza

The Bacliff Exploration Society 2011 Autumnal Equinox Cookout and RIF-A-Palooza will take place on September 23 at 6:00 pm at Watergate Marina.  This is a potluck event, so bring some food.  The HMS Sharktypus will be there, and will either be tested with an outboard motor, or used as a cooler for beer (possibly both).

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The Bacliff Exploration Society Salutes Epic Open-Boat Journeys

Launching the James Caird

The Bacliff Exploration Society salutes Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and Royal Navy Captain William Bligh, commanders of two of the most epic open-boat journeys in naval history.

In 1789, after the crew of the HMS Bounty mutinied, Bligh and 18 crew members navigated a 23 ft open boat on a 47-day, 3,618 nautical mile, voyage from Tofua to Timor in the Dutch East Indies.  In 1916, after the loss of his ship the HMS Endurance, Shackleton and a crew of five launched a 22-foot lifeboat (the James Caird) from Elephant Island, and sailed 800 miles on the open sea to South Georgia.

See also: Leadership Lessons from Ernest Shackleton (The Art of Manliness), The Voyage of Bounty’s Launch (Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: A Companion to the Bounty Adventure by Sven Wahlroos), HMS Sharktypus

HMS Sharktypus Update

HMS Sharktypus ready to be painted. The HMS Sharktypus, principal research dingy of the Bacliff Exploration Society, is primed and ready to receive its Sharktypus paint job.  The finest European paints and honey badger hair paint brushes will be used for this project.  It is hoped that the paint will significantly improve the vessel’s structural integrity.

HMS Sharktypus

HMS Sharktypus under construction
HMS Sharktypus under construction

The HMS Sharktypus is a stitch-and-glue flat-bottom dinghy with a Sharktypus paint job which is currently under construction. When complete, it will serve as the principal research dinghy of the Bacliff Exploration Society.

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