'Amfora' heading towards Garstang.

Freeman 26 'Amfora' Lancaster Canal, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

I took a couple of pictures of other people's boats last weekend, and had the pleasant task of giving the owners a print of the photographs this afternoon at the marina. After their initial, and completely understandable, hesitation, while I reassured them that I was not going to start asking for money like a door to door aerial photograph salesman, they all seemed genuinely pleased. I explained that it is surprisingly difficult to take a photograph of your own boat in motion, as you tend, by definition to be on board when it is moving. I always try to be anyway. I suppose I was hoping that one day somebody might take a photo of me as I go past, an ambition I have yet to achieve.
I once suggested to Mrs. Kirk that she could photograph me if I set her adrift with a camera in a rowing boat on Windermere while I sailed my Beneteau 'Annapolis' up and down, but she was shockingly unenthusiastic about the idea for some reason.
A friend at the marina took a photograph of me on the canal in 'Henry' a couple of weeks ago, but he was driving his own boat at the time and since he hasn't mentioned it, I suspect the result may have suffered from the inevitable division of attention that was involved. In any event, I haven't asked...
So if you see a fat bloke (although I have just joined a gym, so it is only a matter of time before I am size zero) pointing a camera at your boat, smile and wave. You may well get to see the result.