#17 in the Newport Canal series
Swan Canal gives water access to the odd houses on Wildfire Court and even houses on Arrow Court. Deep water access is via Jabiru canal into Albatross canal and out to Moreton Bay.
The story of the yacht, Wildfire, is one from the birth of the America's Cup yacht race.
Wildfire was an Irish sandbagger or beach yawl yacht which entered the race around the Isle of Wight in 1851. The other entrants were schooner and cutters, including the yacht America. The haughty officers of Royal Yacht Squadron did not like that type of boat although it was an established type in the US at that time. They refused her entry, but that did not stop her from starting in the race together with the other smaller yachts. After having sailed for about one hour the yachts should take the Nab light vessel to starboard, some miles off the coast. Most yachts did so but America followed the coast and fell off, thereby gaining some miles. The other yachts protested of course but the race committee explained that they had given the guests a special, very elegant copy of the sailing instructions where the Nab by mistake was left out in the course diagram. They could not be blamed for following that diagram so the protest was dismissed. It is not quite clear but it seems that some other yachts followed in the wake of America, among them Wildfire. An hour later two other cutters, Volante and Frank, had worked closer to the shore south of the island and were then in the lead. This is confirmed in the log of America. The wind was light and the tide against. Now America put in a number of tacks to get close to the shore as well. The reason was to cheat the tide. Other yachts followed, and soon a number of yachts were fighting hard for free wind. Frank tacked in front of Volante and broke her bowsprit. When the yachts rounded St Catherine’s Point – half way round the island – Aurora was close behind America but first of them all was Wildfire. Her lead was substantial, three miles. This was confirmed by Montague Guest, the official historian of the club, who wrote about the race in 1902. When they later could ease the sheets, America managed to catch up with Wildfire near the Needles, the formidable rock pillars outside the western point of the island. The wind was again dying and, what was even worse, the tide had changed and was now against. America had now goose-winged her two big sails in order to catch as much wind as possible and chose to get out into the Solent. In contrast, the smaller yachts tried to get as close to the coast as possible to cheat the tide. In fact, they even went in to bays and nooks as there was no tide there at all. Finally America managed to cross the finish line, which was when that footman told the Queen aboard the royal paddle steamer that America was first but there was no second. Where were all the others then? They could not have sunk all of them and they could not possibly be below the horizon. The truth is, of course, that they were inside a nook and obscured by a headland. The official results show that the second yacht, Aurora, was only 8 minutes behind. She had a very high peaked gaff, making the rig more like a gunter rig. If it is a formidable achievement that America (30.86 meters and 132 ton) beat Aurora (19 meters and 47 ton) by 8 minutes after having sailed 54 miles in about 10 hours is up to the reader to decide, especially as America cut the course at the Nab and Aurora did not. While Wildfire was not in the official results, the press reported that she was a few miles in front of the winner when she finished. Perhaps the winners themselves can give us their appreciation of the yacht America. They sold the yacht as soon as they could, grabbed the cup and the money and went home to New York. Did they brag about their feat? No, they put the cup in a cupboard where it stayed for seven years before they took it out, renamed it America’s Cup, and donated it to NYYC. Then the idea of the America's Cup yacht race began.
Swans are large waterfowl and amongst the largest flying birds. Black swans are widespread throughout much of Australia, and occur wherever there is a wetland, from river estuaries, bays and great lakes to inundated pasture and water-meadows. In some places, where the wetlands are permanent, Black Swans are sedentary, remaining throughout the year. However, where the wetlands dry out for part of the year, swans are forced to disperse over wide distances in search of suitable water, and have even been recorded swimming in isolated waterholes surrounded by vast tracts of arid stony desert. The Black Swan is a vegetarian. Food consists of algae and weeds, which the bird obtains by plunging its long neck into water up to 1 m deep. Occasionally birds will graze on land, but they are clumsy walkers.
You are looking for a tiny nano in the middle of the park. Use your geocaching stealth as always.