Busy, busy, busy

Well another weekend arrives and I'm out once more, this looks to be an exceptional year, although I'm still providing my skipper with a few issues to keep him on his toes.

The sun was out and the winds fairly light but there was a vast number of yachts out in the Solent, I had watched a few arrive in the Medina river the previous evening. My skipper arrived at my pontoon, with two people and then two more and two more, I had heard that skip had spotted a sea horse whilst getting the dinghy ready for launch !  Some people clearly hadn't been on board before, as a safety briefing was given and how to put on life jackets and use my heads etc. With sun screen rubbed in hats dished out, skip eased me off the pontoon and we headed out.  The Solent had about three different yacht races going on and the colourful sight of all the kites was a warning that it was going to be busy out there.  Skip, with a colleague, manually hoisted the main, whilst another tailored the winch.  Then when almost fully raised used the repaired electric winch to complete the lift.

With the wind light and going lighter, plus the approach of yet another car transporter, I was kept over close to Norris point and close to Osborne Bay. Eventually with the tide making up for most of my speed and the fact that we had a late start, the engine went on and I was pointed in to the Bay for a lunchtime stop.  It must have been my Skippers birthday as a cake came out for him.  With everyone suitably fed, plates washed and stowed, I was led across the main channel to the other side near the Bramble Bank.  The theory behind this I believe, was that Thor, the G2 Gennaker, came out and soon I powered up and was passing others that struggled to make progress.  However as I approached Cowes the wind shifted slightly and I was heading more northerly, so the decision to return to the pontoon was made.  Now the fairway is a busy place at the best of times, but there's still the idiots who come in on their mains and then have to drop them within restricted water, getting in the way of others, no wonder I hear the ferries blasting away five quick blasts almost every weekend since I've returned to my berth.

Skipper ran the crew back to the shore and returned to sort out my halyards, sheets, stow the main, gas off and the usual list of jobs once we've been out.

Although the weather was good, it was a shame that there wasn't more consistent wind to enable me to stretch my legs and show the whole crew what I'm capable of, or better still get the code 0 out.

My wind generator hasn't returned yet, since the manufacturers told my skipper to return it together with the controller as allegedly it had burnt out. So not sure what's happening with that as now my only source of charging up the batteries is by running my engine or if I'm taken to a marina, am sure it'll be sorted soon.

Had to laugh !

This weekend my skipper and crew turned up on Sunday and took me out for a similar run to last week.  However this week the wind was stronger and from the East.

So I was taken out of the Medina with my old mate Polly Agatha back in her space.  With a reef already sorted out on my mooring the main was hoisted with the aid of the electric winch, all sorted out by skip previously.  I was a tad difficult to control until the jib went out and sorted out the pointing of my nose.  This then enabled me to dig in and push through the waves. I was taken over to the beach on the main land and the crew had my sails perfectly balanced again, so the helm was as light as a feather.

Last time after 11nm I was passing the forts but this week with the wind on the nose 11nm only got me as far as Ryde Pier and the guys took me in really close before gybing round and heading back (my skip had other work to do).  With the wind to my rear quarter and the tide on spring and going for it the apparent wind speed fell off.  So skip decided that it would be a good idea to fly, for the first time in the Solent Thor the G2 now the bag was in the rear starboard cabin, so he fed it through the master cabin and up out of the hatch.  All was good but a last minute gybe to make the point they wanted to achieve, upset the proceedings.  The lines had to be re-fitted and this appeared to be done but proved otherwise during the release as the G2 just wouldn't fly.  Once the reason was spotted the sail was bagged and the lines reset, bar one.  Yes it was realised that one of the guys that should've gone round the jib hadn't and so the sail was not released.

Just as well really, Cowes was looming such was the speed of the tide and by the time skip had the lines sorted I was heading back in.  This however proved trickier than first thought.  The tide was so strong that I was going no where in the Fairway and the car ferry was approaching.  Skip took the wheel and soon had me crabbing sideways in to the River but at least I was making headway and not heading for the shallows.  Once safely inside behind the new breakwater which to be honest may have caused some of the issues, the helm was relinquished and my fenders set.  As we approached my berth it became apparent that another boat was sitting not too far downstream of my place.

Anyway skip decided with the wind blowing me on he could make the gap, what he forgotten of course was the G2 still in its sock was creating more windaged and so as soon as he drew level with my berth and slowed me down the bow was caught by the wind and turned me into the berth.  Now this would've been fine if there was a roving fender but there wasn't and so I got a bloodied nose but we hadn't hit anyone and I was in.  Within minutes the tide was almost full bore and would've made the proceeds that much more interesting.

The up side of this is the boat that had squeezed my space took aged to work out how to get themselves off.

It was a cracking day never-the-less and at least all of my remaining electrics behaved themselves.

So Far So Good, but not for Skip !

So far I've been taken out on quiet a few weekends since being back on the water and I've been able to show them what I can do.  Although I must admit I'm probably testing the patience of my owners with a few issues that weren't apparent when I was in the Yacht Haven.

So lets go back to the last Bank Holiday.  My skipper had replaced the bearings on the Marlec wind generator but the unit struggled to spin.  After the usual e-mails he sends to the manufacturers when he gets puzzled, it turns out they feel that the unit has managed to burn out.  So he's taken the whole unit complete with stainless steel mounting pole off.  The unit has headed north to Corby to enable it to go through research and be diagnosed as to what may have occurred, it's regulator has also gone, as in theory this should have prevented any damage from occurring.  The manual anode that skipper fitted has had to be replaced as this managed to slip over the side during the removal of the pole.

So come the last bank holiday I was yet again taken out for a run.  Both my G2 & Code 0, was attached to the guard rail at the bow in readiness but the wind hung just below 15 knots, which is usually the time to put a reef in the main and well above the time to fly this extra cloth.  I was taken well past the forts near to Chichester and was turned round to head back.  Now before I left the pontoon earlier in the day I had a misdemeanour with engine running and all usual circuits on I managed to cause an entire black out when the bow thruster was tested.  Not only did all the instruments reset themselves but the intelligent regulator attached to the alternator died, this meant that even with the engine running the batteries appeared not to be recharging.  Whilst my skipper wasn't in too much of a panic his crew certainly was.

Anyway we had a cracking sail back from Chichester with boat speed and SOG being as expected.   I was being held at a good wind angle and a larger 50' yacht just couldn't pass me, despite its huge 110% genoa.  Any way my engine started without fuss and we headed back to my pontoon.

On the Monday skip returned and set about lifting the floor to check my batteries before disconnecting the intelligent regulator from the alternator and sure enough the batteries charged.  After a few minutes he reconnected it and it returned to normal.  So he repeated the exercise and run the bow thruster to make sure.  During a trip up to London he carried out some research in to the fact that even though I have a 100amp alternator only about 30amps ever is discharged.  So now he knows that the ratio between crank pulley & alternator pulley is 1:2.5 and he's downloaded the power curve, he can see what he should expect in terms of amps at any given revs.

He's also temporarily rigged up the AIS so you should be able to see where I am 24/7 just go to www.marinetraffic.com and look in the Solent area or type in my name in the search window.  He's got about 4,000 different combinations to work out the final wiring configuration but I'm sure he'll sort it in due course.  He also stripped down the solenoid for the electric winch so now that's back up and running.

I understand that the Honda outboard motor has been given a thorough service and this has required a new carburettor. The Yamaha that was drained before winter has started and ran like clockwork.

I'm looking forward to this weekend to see where I'm taken and show them that I am a fast cruiser and keep their trimming skills well honed.