New Years Day and bugger all on the TV as usual! But wait ... there's movement out on the River Humber in anticipation of the docks and wharfes returning to work after the festive break.
PAVIS
http://www.humber.com/navigation/shipping-info.asp - humber.com's online expected listings - showed six vessels moving on the river that would be passing Paull. So off we went equipped for a days shipspotting - we being myself and the old man.
The weather wasn't brilliant but hey, it was a chance to get out of the house. It was forecast showers for late afternoon and would be windy with a 30 mph SSW wind.
I was armed with my Samsung GX-1L dSLR, Sigma "Bigma" 50-500mm lens and Manfrotto tripod. Can't forget the tripod especially in this wind! The tripod ended up being essential as it is doubtful if I would have gotten any shots without it's aid.
My 'new' favourite viewing pointOut to the east of the town of Hull is the small village of Paull. There is access to the riverfront here and it affords some wonderful views of the River Humber.
To the right (looking northwest) you can see the entire riverfront of Hull and the various docks. The BP terminal at Saltend is not far from here
Any vessels that are using Hull Docks will also have to pass by here along with anything this is visiting New Holland, the River Trent Wharves and the inland Port of Goole. Any vessels passing here will do so quite close by so there are lots of opportunities for photo's. For my own part I always find a 300mm lens to be amongst the most useful focal lengths when photographing vessels from here.
Another plus point of visiting Paull is that there are three Public Houses in the main village so whilst you are taking your photo's you can also relax a bit with a nice pint!
The ShippingFirst up the river was the RoRo BIRKA TRADER. The BT has evaded my attempts to shoot her on numerous occasions and despite her almost weekly visits to the river i've waited over six months to see her!
Unfortunately I paid dearly for these shots as when I was setting up a Tamron SP 300mm rolled out of my bag, off the top of the sea wall and smashed on pavement.
Damn! It was given a ceremonial burial at sea and now rests at the bottom of the briny, well muddy river humber.
Next up was the BALMUNG for Goole's SW Berth.
Listening to the VHF we heard the tugs NORMAN, YEOMAN and ENGLISHMAN penning out of King for a berthing job in putting the ARIS on Immingham IOT3. What a splendid sight these three were as they were bombing up the Humber in the high winds!
A surpise was the Container Feeder TRANSAGILA for Goole. Not so much in seeing the Transagila herself but she was expected some two/three hours later when it would have been too dark for photography. I got a really nice shot of her as she was leaning over with the high winds.
ATLANTIC SUN was next up headed for Albert Dock SE Corner.
Light was going by this point but we stuck it out for another two vessels that were still expected.
Finally the BOUNDER appeared followed closely by the MEKHANIK MAKARIN. As the light levels had dropped dramatically it was difficult in capturing shots of these vessels especially as the wind was freshening too.
Overall it was decent day of shipspotting despite losing the lens.
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