Finally – we dreamt that this day would come – our opportunity has arrived to get our Open Source Swan Pedalo out onto the water!
This great news is in no small part thanks to the efforts of Simon of www.wowballs.co.uk who got in touch with us right at the beginning to offer a mutually beneficial chance for the swan to get its feet wet. If all goes to plan then the Open Source Swan Pedalo will be on the water for testing near the Albert Dock during Saturday and Sunday this weekend and then it will be available to the fee-paying public of Liverpool as an enjoyable and leisurely resource for two weeks after that (which includes the Royal Wedding day!)
The basic schedule is as follows:
(tonight) Friday evening 6.30pm: meeting with Simon at basecamp (Andy’s workshop) to inspect the Swan for any damage etc. and discuss the day and arrangements – then off for a sneaky pint at Kavanaghs. If anyone wants to come along and needs a lift I can pick you up – all welcome.
Saturday morning 9am: Swan is being collected by a Man with Van (who was sourced via twitter!) and driven down to the Albert Dock – this is an all hands on deck operation. Again – I can pick people up if need be. Ideally we will have 6 people to lift the swan onto (and off of) the boxvan. It would be good also if we could video this voyage.
(Our Swan will be entering the water near to where the Duckmarine goes.)
Saturday afternoon:
Sam is co-ordinating this – but the intention is that various musicians will be doing short acoustic renditions of their own songs from the Swan and we hope to share this within Liverpool Music Unconference as an alternative model for music distribution.
Sunday: (possibility for more testing – or perhaps free rides for the art-going public?)
Then: 2 weeks of Open Source Swan Pedalo operational on Albert Dock as leisure vessel for public to enjoy.
- The Open Source Swan Pedalo will remain on the water until the end beginning of May operating as part of Simons Wowball venture – there will be a charge of £5 for 10 minutes for an adult + their children (which is pretty fair considering this is the same fee as for a single child in the wow balls)
- Simon is only looking to recoup his costs and any surplus will go back into Swan funds for the benefit of future projects
During the 2 weeks that the Swan is operational on the water it would be desirable if people could sign up to volunteer for one half day to be on hand and support Simon’s lifeguards in operating the Swan. This is not essential but it will mean that we have a team of people with documented experience of working with the swan – we might even do some special badges!
Fri 29th April: the Swan will be on the water for the Royal Wedding! Any ideas how to mark this? Portraits? Bunting? A battered swan banquet?
Tues May 3rd: Open Source Swan Pedalo will leave the water
So -
Any questions? Any suggestions?
John
PS: I decided against posting this news yesterday since the 14th of April is the anniversary of the sinking of Titanic.