{"id":63509,"date":"2026-03-19T11:46:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=63509"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:46:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:46:00","slug":"i-witnessed-the-maiden-voyage-of-hms-coracle-on-the-regents-canal-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/i-witnessed-the-maiden-voyage-of-hms-coracle-on-the-regents-canal-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"I witnessed the maiden voyage of HMS Coracle on the Regent’s Canal in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I was honoured to witness the maiden voyage of a home made coracle on the Regent’s Canal\u00a0 yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n

A coracle is a small round boat made of wickerwork covered with a watertight material, propelled with a paddle, and is popular in my home country of Wales and Ireland.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I struck up a conversation with the gallant captain – who was indeed Welsh! – and they explained that the coracle was part of an architectural project for their studies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Although they’d accomplished a frankly magnificent job of building the coracle, the student admitted that they’d forgotten to build an oar, so had improvised by using a plastic cleaning sign instead.<\/p>\n

Despite being advised that a swift passage could be achieved by employing a figure of eight motion with the makeshift paddle,\u00a0 navigation was also proving problematic, so\u00a0 the vessel erratically made its way to safety by the side of the canal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The disembarking procedure could perhaps\u00a0 have been a tiny bit more elegant.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Personally I was deeply impressed with the work that had gone into this project.<\/p>\n

Many years ago, I had a go on a coracle and could only go round in circles until someone hauled me out of the pond.<\/p>\n

Coracles and football<\/h4>\n

Shrewsbury Town Football Club used to employ Fred Davies as a ball boy, tasked with fishing stray balls from the nearby River Severn in his coracle.<\/p>\n