Topsail Adventures Ltd

Shanty the Seadog Swarms Aboard!

Say a big hello to Amelie Rose's newest recruit, Shanty (or Rysalka Ships Shanty to call her by her full name). Shanty is a Portuguese Water Dog, a reknowned breed of sea dogs who were bred to work aboard fishing boats on the Atlantic coast. They're working dogs who earned their keep by retrieving lost nets, carrying messages between boats, catching fish and standing guard whilst the boat was ashore.

They are excellent swimmers and can even dive to depths of 4 - 5m. In their working life they were treated as a full member of the crew, expected to work hard, and paid handsomely with a portion of the catch. Porties, as they're known, are extremely intelligent, happy, friendly, full of energy and love to be with people. They're also strong willed and easily bored if not given tasks to exercise mind and body.

Magical St Mawes – Amelie Rose and the Pilot Cutter Fleet

Squeezed in between two bouts of Hungry Sailors filming Amelie Rose headed to St Mawes to take part in the 5th Annual Pilot Cutter Regatta there. Joined by Philip Swatman and his crew we had to push hard to get down there from Poole in a short gap between strong Westerlies and an incoming blow but after motor-sailing overnight from Weymouth were rewarded with a nice South Wester for the final approach to Fowey where the fleet met up for the traditional Tribute Passage Race. Sailing all the way into the harbour was a real thrill and as it turned out set a precedent that would be followed by boat after boat as the fleet amassed.

New Toys for Amelie Rose

One of the downsides of filming is that it's all very stop-start; long periods with nothing to do followed by frantic activity to get the shots that are required.

With two crew aboard for the shoot that's a lot of hours to fill and we've not been idle.

In amoungst the day to day maintenance we've been working hard on some upgrades and time savers.

Amelie Rose carves a groove, rounds a Bill and gets stuck in the mud

One of the best things about working on the Hungry Sailors has been the chance to visit lots of new places with Amelie Rose. Some of these are difficult to get into and so tend to be ignored, with others they're just off the beaten track and are never even considered.

Amoungst the many new destinations that we've discovered this season our visits to the harbours inside Lyme Bay and a trip up to the Cinqe Port of Rye stand out in our memories as well as one of the best roundings of Portland Bill that we've had in a while and the inauspicious start that we had to that journey...

Amelie Rose bounces back from a broken bowsprit!

A frisky April South Easterly F6 back set the scene for our first day of shooting with ITV's Hungry Sailors. Heading out of the harbour on a strong ebb we were confronted by a 3-4m short, steep wave front which saw Amelie Rose burying her bow in wave after wave.

Ace-crewman Steve and Hungry Sailor Dick Strawbridge did their best to ensure that all was snug as we motor sailed into the tumolt, and apparently the footage looks awesome, but we were all glad when we were able to get off the breeze and get her sailing properly. After a hour or so of filming we headed back into Poole town quay to celebrate the wrap on our first day's shoot oblivious to what we'd find in the morning light.