POSH Shackles

We’re POSH Shackles.

Not posh in the fashion sense.

But, Port Out Starboard Home, in nautical terms. Port is colour coded red; Starboard green hence the colour of the navigation buoys which are red to port, (left), or green starboard (right).

The term POSH was used by sailors so that they navigated Port (or left) as they left a harbour, and Starboard (or right) Home as they entered a harbour.

It was also designed to stop running aground and reduce the numbers of vessels colliding by establishing 'The Rules of the Road'.

Incidentally, 'Port' replaced 'Larboard'; as shouting 'Larboard' in a Force 8 gale could easily be confused with 'Starboard'. Might be useful in a pub quiz.

We want to travel around the coasts of England, Wales and Scotland, including the islands in a POSH route – to any land lubbers, that’s clockwise.

Finally, we want to get back to Start Point, South Devon, where we started.

And then we’d like to go on another tour around the coasts. Later, we want to reach the landlocked Midlands which at 75 miles from the sea is still along way from a shore.

Can you please help us in our travels and reach our goals?

Thanks for reading about us.

By the way, we’re not camera shy. Any photos will make our day, particularly in a nautical setting.

POSH (galvanised) Shackles.

We originated from Dawlish in South Devon in the 1960s.

And have experienced many adventures afloat in sailing dinghies from those days.

That was until stainless steel came along and then we went quickly out of fashion.

Then, we were kept as a spare.

Now, we are in our middle age and we want to smell the sea again and hear the waves.