Following a brief outing last time in which I took my crew up to Horse Sands Fort at speed. The second May bank holiday has just past and so it was on the Sunday my skipper and crew complete with provisions arrived.
Two new pulleys have arrived and have been fitted to the D rings that have the safety line attached. They both have some elastic looping over the top safety wire to stop them bashing the deck. They have been added as it sounds as though I'm soon going to have a new sail, a G2 Genakker complete with a snuffler. This will be my down wind sail and be able to be de-powered by pulling a huge 'sock' over it by one of the crew, whilst the other remains on the helm.
With the conversation about it deminishing, I was prepared and the lines slipped. There were a vast number of yacht out in the Solent, racing, cruising or just visiting. My nose was tipped to the east and once clear, the main was hoisted shortly followed by the jib. With the tide and on a broad reach I soon hit 8.0 knots. Within an hour I was at the Forts again but this time continued east, in fact we reached the entrance to Chichester harbour but time was against us as high tide was fast approaching. My skipper was unhappy of the possibility that I could find myself not only punching the ebbing tide out of the channel but with the wind around 15 knots, making manoeuvring difficult when finding a visitors buoy amongst other yachts on their swinging moorings.
I bore round and headed back west. My skipper kept a careful eye a stern on a small container vessel that was entering the main shipping channel. In fact he tact over to show clearly that not only had we seen him but was keeping out of his way. This new bearing took me towards the Wight Link ferry from Wotton Creek or Fishbourne as its otherwise known. After a few minutes I was tact again back on the original bearing, again showing the ferry awareness. This new bearing brought me close to the freighter once more, but by know the pilot was aware of what my skipper was doing and a visual check out of the bridge side window and an acknowledgement wave, proved the point as soon as he'd passed I went across his stern, as the previous bearing was compromising me with wind angle. The crew on board the freighter clearly found this amusing as camera's came out and they stood at the stern taking photo's of me. Travelling at around 7.0 knots, I headed up the main channel until Osborne House was on my port side, then I turned and headed across towards the bay. This had me crossing in front of a cruise liner, but my skipper had judged this one to perfection and I was leaving the channel on the other side we before the liner was upon us.
Rounding up in to the wind the main de-powered and the engine was on. With sails down I was taken further east of the Bay than usual and anchored.
With 20m of chain out and the wind building, my crew retired for the evening. At around 0230 my anchor alarm sounded and my skipper was soon at the GPS to see what was happening. Simple really the setting of 30.0m radius on the alarm was just not enough, being 14m, the combination of chain and the location of my GPS antenna took me 4.0m beyond the range and so the alarm kicked in. I was surprised at how quickly the skipper had realised this in the middle of the night and he reset the distance. Mind you he does lie there listening to all my noises and reacts accordingly or not.
In the morning the Solent was flat calm and the skipper emerged after breakfast and stripped down my starboard side Harkenen 46 winch, that was stiff, this usually takes the jib sheet. Once done and re-assembled I was back on my way to my pontoon.
Monday 25 May 2015
Monday 11 May 2015
May Bank Holiday I
Well it wasn't the usual bank holiday weather that stopped me from going anywhere, but the family members of the crew, who complete with little one, wasn't going to go anywhere near the waters edge let alone out with me.
The weather was, as expected, not very good, but my skipper came on board to check things over and carry on with some work. This was a bit limited, but the sticky substance left behind by last years Round the Island Race sponsor has finally been removed from the port side. The side that was moored against the pontoon. It was a case of easing out my stern and pulling in my nose, so that he could reach. In fact once he'd removed it all, he then set about rubbing down the dent that the anchor had put in my nose, when I was borrowed by his friend many years ago when I lived in Scotland !
Talk about taking your time to get round to things ! Still the dent, about the size of a 50p piece, was filled when I was out of the water around Christmas time. He set to, with wet & dry paper and rubbed it down and sprayed over, rubbing most of it off before applying the next. He did this several times before leaving it for another day. This is how he repaired my damage from Poly Agatha and filled the holes where the Marlec once was. So it will soon be back as new.
The ammeter is working properly, there was a decent amount of wind and it was showing a charge. Batteries were at 100%, with the volts at 13.1 dropping to 12.7v when he put on all the nav., equipment, VHF and stereo to discharge them.
Friction is the biggest absorber of energy and so the deck tidy on the starboard side that passes many of the halyards from the base of the mast to the guys at the back, will be the next item to have attention. Its removal to remove the salt crystals from within effecting the bearings over time until, it seizes the wheels. A simple form of maintenance is to wash down with fresh water after every trip, but being on a remote pontoon this is not always practical and sometimes seen as not necessary. However, it is almost seized and was to be removed, immersed in water back on land and stripped down. One of the Alen headed bolts has got very tight and previous attempts to drill and extract failed. I am sure this will soon be resolved.
Following this Sundays (10th) run out it would appear that the deck tidy is not the only thing causing friction. My rear winch, the smaller 45 has stiffened up over the winter period, So that'll be another job to do, have all four apart and re-grease.
Sundays sail was cracking and I think the crew are back in the groove. The first reef was set prior to me leaving the pontoon, which required adjustment once the sail was hoisted. I was taken east for a change, but that's due to the tide. The wind was southerly and about 8 knots gusting 12, and so my sails were set for a broad reach, we drew level with a smaller yacht. That's always a challange for my crew and so with sails trimmed I started pulling away.
The crew were puzzled as to why I was sailing at 7 - 8.5 knots of boat speed and thought my wind instruments were giving false readings. So the skipper got details from both weather stations at the Bramble Bank and that off of the Chichester entrance, no my instruments were fine. In fact as we caught and passed other yachts, it soon became apparent how quick I can be. The sun struggled to make any real impression on the temperature and as we passed Ryde for the first time jumpers and jackets came out of the wardrobes.
As we drew alongside Horse Sands Fort, the marker for outer likits of the WWII anti-submarine barrier on the mainland side, the depth gauge showed that just 2.0m remained beneath my keel. Allowing one of the Brittany Ferry fleet to pass as it made its way in to Portsmouth, the skipper tacked out into deeper water and headed due south. Once level with No Mans Land Fort he tacked again allowing plenty of sea room for the approaching car carrier and ran me close to Ryde Sands heading west out of the way. With a course set for Osborne Bay, the sails were re-trimmed and again speed over the ground was 6 - 6.5 knots, with 1 - 1.5 knots of tide against me. East Solent was bustling with races apparently being held everywhere. So much so that the decision not to stop for lunch in Osborne due to the number of boats in there was made, although the fact that I was catching two more yachts may have had something to do with it. Once they had been dealt with, I was brought in to wind and my sails dropped.
Once back on my pontoon, the crew had lunch and packed me away. It may have only been four hours but it was packed to the brim with speed.
The weather was, as expected, not very good, but my skipper came on board to check things over and carry on with some work. This was a bit limited, but the sticky substance left behind by last years Round the Island Race sponsor has finally been removed from the port side. The side that was moored against the pontoon. It was a case of easing out my stern and pulling in my nose, so that he could reach. In fact once he'd removed it all, he then set about rubbing down the dent that the anchor had put in my nose, when I was borrowed by his friend many years ago when I lived in Scotland !
Talk about taking your time to get round to things ! Still the dent, about the size of a 50p piece, was filled when I was out of the water around Christmas time. He set to, with wet & dry paper and rubbed it down and sprayed over, rubbing most of it off before applying the next. He did this several times before leaving it for another day. This is how he repaired my damage from Poly Agatha and filled the holes where the Marlec once was. So it will soon be back as new.
The ammeter is working properly, there was a decent amount of wind and it was showing a charge. Batteries were at 100%, with the volts at 13.1 dropping to 12.7v when he put on all the nav., equipment, VHF and stereo to discharge them.
Friction is the biggest absorber of energy and so the deck tidy on the starboard side that passes many of the halyards from the base of the mast to the guys at the back, will be the next item to have attention. Its removal to remove the salt crystals from within effecting the bearings over time until, it seizes the wheels. A simple form of maintenance is to wash down with fresh water after every trip, but being on a remote pontoon this is not always practical and sometimes seen as not necessary. However, it is almost seized and was to be removed, immersed in water back on land and stripped down. One of the Alen headed bolts has got very tight and previous attempts to drill and extract failed. I am sure this will soon be resolved.
Following this Sundays (10th) run out it would appear that the deck tidy is not the only thing causing friction. My rear winch, the smaller 45 has stiffened up over the winter period, So that'll be another job to do, have all four apart and re-grease.
Sundays sail was cracking and I think the crew are back in the groove. The first reef was set prior to me leaving the pontoon, which required adjustment once the sail was hoisted. I was taken east for a change, but that's due to the tide. The wind was southerly and about 8 knots gusting 12, and so my sails were set for a broad reach, we drew level with a smaller yacht. That's always a challange for my crew and so with sails trimmed I started pulling away.
The crew were puzzled as to why I was sailing at 7 - 8.5 knots of boat speed and thought my wind instruments were giving false readings. So the skipper got details from both weather stations at the Bramble Bank and that off of the Chichester entrance, no my instruments were fine. In fact as we caught and passed other yachts, it soon became apparent how quick I can be. The sun struggled to make any real impression on the temperature and as we passed Ryde for the first time jumpers and jackets came out of the wardrobes.
As we drew alongside Horse Sands Fort, the marker for outer likits of the WWII anti-submarine barrier on the mainland side, the depth gauge showed that just 2.0m remained beneath my keel. Allowing one of the Brittany Ferry fleet to pass as it made its way in to Portsmouth, the skipper tacked out into deeper water and headed due south. Once level with No Mans Land Fort he tacked again allowing plenty of sea room for the approaching car carrier and ran me close to Ryde Sands heading west out of the way. With a course set for Osborne Bay, the sails were re-trimmed and again speed over the ground was 6 - 6.5 knots, with 1 - 1.5 knots of tide against me. East Solent was bustling with races apparently being held everywhere. So much so that the decision not to stop for lunch in Osborne due to the number of boats in there was made, although the fact that I was catching two more yachts may have had something to do with it. Once they had been dealt with, I was brought in to wind and my sails dropped.
Once back on my pontoon, the crew had lunch and packed me away. It may have only been four hours but it was packed to the brim with speed.
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