New Gear

Well, we might not have been very far this much this year due to Skipper's workload, but I've been benefiting from his spoils.

The J3 is still in its bag back at Dagmar House, with everything but a single pulley needed to fit it.  I've even got not one, but two new AXIOM Raymarine plotters, a 7" at the chart table and a large12" in the cockpit.  These did not appear on any 'would like' or 'must-have' list but as a result of a chat at the Southampton boat show with a representative.  Ok, I could've been taken to the Hamble but the weekend it was planned as always the weather went Pete Tong with F8 and rain forecast, and arrived, so that weekend was scrubbed.  A fortnight later Skipper & crew arrived early on a Monday morning to move me across the river to East Cowes Marina where the Electronic Engineers came and fitted me with the new bits.  Thought it was a bit strange for Skipper to arrive on a Sunday afternoon on his own then start setting up additional fenders and mooring ropes.

It wasn't just the cost of the electronic equipment or the fitting of same, nor costs you'd expect like their ferry tickets to get to me, Skipper managed to lose or drop his phone whilst moving around on the River!  So I'm the proud owner of new 2018 electronic navigational equipment with the latest Oct 2019 software update.

This obviously has a knock-on effect, what doesn't? The analogue radar, that is usually turned on when I'm on the hard in the Yacht Haven over winter will not talk to it, it'll only talk to the new digital variety, but the crew made the decision that, as it's never been used for navigational purposes and that the AIS is far more intuitive than the radar, it has had its day as far as I'm concerned.  It's now on the winter list to be removed to save weight up the mast (improve the AVS) and be replaced by the external loudspeaker.

The screen is a touch screen that can be locked so that AIS targets can be touched to see all its' data rather than scrolling through the right buttons in sequence to find the same information.  And of course, as is always high on the crews' mind the amps required to run it has dropped.  A lot of the instruments such as wind are duplicated on the screen, showing tidal indicators too.  It will talk to the engine or the stereo or video equipment, so let's see if another 'would like' list starts to be compiled.

 

Would like -fruition

Last winter, Skipper produced a number of 'would likes', items that aren't part of my upkeep but that the Skipper considers to be nice to have for various reasons.  Easier to sail, enhanced performance, better use of space.  He entered into the manufacturing and fitting of an 'L' shaped bracket and strengthen my front bulkhead to take a 'D' ring just behind the anchor locker in order that a J3 can be made and flown in either strong winds (which we've had a few recently), or in light air when coupled with the Code 0, as per the Volvo Ocean Race IMOCA 60's had, with the view of getting across Lyme Bay in half the time, when invariably the wind drops one way or the other.  Or cover twice the distance of course.

The new sail has been made and collected and the halyards and lines are just being completed, so soon I'll have another to add to my suit of sails. On the sail front, I understand that my Code 0 will go back to the maker and be altered to take the top-down furling system, which will make its use so much easier and safer when sailing light-handed, as we usually do.

Two more pulleys were replaced at the weekend (6/10/19), leaving three of the old ones left to go, then all at the bottom of the mast have been replaced.  Two more could be changed to match that controls the boom, the main sheet, but maybe these will remain.

My line tidy's that had spider or starfish cracks are still in the garage although I understand one of them is ready to come back, having been resprayed with a white Gel coat and a clear one.  Giving a deeper shine.  It would be good to have those back on soon.

My plotter in the cockpit has been back to the manufacturers a couple of times to have it diodes replaced.  The screen sometimes flickers and goes dark before coming back and more recently it's been noted that the colours in the corners have faded. Clearly, Skip and Crew have been talking to the manufacturers or their appointed dealers at this year's boat show in Southampton as next week (17th) I'm going to be heading to Hamble Point, my original birthplace here in the UK, to have new 2019 hardware fitted replacing both cockpit and nav station screens.  It will, of course, mean that the old analogue radar will not talk to them, but with the more intuitive AIS system I already have, its use has diminished greatly.  In fact, the last fog episodes when we went to Weymouth and back, the radar wasn't used in favour of the AIS system.  So I can see this being removed from my mast taking a fair chunk of weight twenty feet or so above the deck and thus improving my centre of gravity and AVS numbers (angle of vanishing stability).

This was never on any list and so maybe this winters haul out will not be about 'would like's' and 'must-haves' but more basic maintenance and look forward to a new season sailing with all these improvements coming together.  Although I hear there's something else being made to enhance the experience of onboard living!

I'm to be on the hard for three months again and one in the marina.

Never stops

Even if I'm not being taken out for trips, skip still pops down regularly and spends his time if not on maintenance then resolving problems or upgrading.

I'll give you a couple of examples, the last time he popped over, he had worked out (another sleepless night) the possible reasons as to why the intelligent regulator he fitted to the engine's alternator charging system had stopped working after he changed the control panel over in the cockpit.  He sat in the engine bay and replaced the power wire that clearly had been severed as part of the previous works, now it works as it s's hould and did.  He's now got to trace the three wires that also have no power to them, but they may have served the LD lights that stop working years ago and are surplus to requirements.

The new J3 that he spent the winter months strengthening the front bulkhead, securing the L bracket and fitting the D ring to the deck is now ready for collection.  He's organised the halyard and sheets and that all costs shed loads of money but hopefully it'll not only up my light wind speeds but provide more control in high winds too.  That'll be two new sails this year, how lucky am I.

One of the line covers that was removed in winter due to some stress cracks, is just being finished off ready to come back.  For those that can't remember, he took them off to repair the spider or star cracks that had appeared in the Gel coat.  Having filled them he's sprayed Gel coat and polished up and then sprayed a clear flow coat over the top and has just completed polishing that up too on one of them.

He's got the parts to carry out a service on my engine and replace the deck lights in my lower spreaders, the UV rays getting to the plastic circlips making them brittle and snapping without warning.

The first reefing line which has been chaffed badly has been turned around so that the damaged section is in the line basket when the reef is implemented and this is due to be replaced this year.  And the jib sheet that has just gone stiff with salt over the years is due for replacement too.

Even the Honda outboard engine that skips had for years and has taken a bit of a bashing is having a facelift.  It's been dropped so many times and its handle has snapped off with the ignition hanging, is all to be replaced.  I think also following this year's boat show in Southampton, the little two-man dinghy is to have a sister in the shape of a larger four-man for when I'm anchored off the coast and they need to get to shore, something the two-man would do but couldn't guarantee to keep the crew or contents dry in anything but the flattest of seas.  The 3.2m can take up to a maximum of a 15hp engine, but the weight and baulk of such engines could give Skip muscle issues lifting or even just moving it around.  A smaller 10hp might be on the cards as will a small crane on the pushpit to aid Skipper in bringing it aboard and lowering it on to the dinghy, but I don't think these things are too urgent given the time of year.

Another discussion Skipper had at the boat show was with Raymarine, the people who originally supplied my navigational equipment back in 2006. Skips had the diodes replaced twice on the external E120 plotter and it is still blanking out on occasions and the corners are losing colour identity.  He's taken photos of the component parts to send in so a list of updated modern replacements can be made and my systems updated with modern touch-sensitive interactive systems.  This yet more investment into my well being, although the old fashioned outdated radar may not be replaced as AIS is far more intuitive so I can see that being removed, to be honest thats a fair bit of weight 10.0m up the mast and its removal would improve my centre of gravity STIX value.

So there's plenty to look forward to if all comes to fruition and 2020 is looking exciting.

Shanklin or not to Shanklin

So the weather or rather wind was looking quite nice for a trip to and stopover at Shanklin.  Off the beach at the bottom of the Chine to be exact, where the Fisherman's Lodge would be open to offer an evening meal.  Their friend from the Fastnet days, Jeff was also up to meet up and so a plan was set.  However, it wouldn't be an early start as a night out at the Wight Proms saw my crew out watching Shappi Khorsandi and Alan Davies live on stage, but Skip new that the tide would be against us till after lunch.

And so with everything on board that should be we set off with a single reef already set and headed out of the small ship channel at or around high tide.  The forecast was for strengthening winds in the afternoon and calming down later and from the northwest, which is why they had planned to meet Jeff in Shanklin, the wind would be coming over the island and so offered protection and dropping off for a peaceful night.  Unbeknown to my crew, Jeff had taken himself around the island via the Needles on Friday night and arrived mid-morning to anchor up and catch up on lost sleep.  Skip text him as we set off from Cowes to let him know we were on our way.  Mid -Solent we were cracking along downwind with a few fishing boats and opted to give Ryde Sands and Horse Sand Fort a large berth as slightly over sheeted Skip had to fight the helm as the crew eased the main as a near broach was foiled.  As we turned around Bembridge the wind was up to 23kts apparent and so Skip text Jeff to see what was happening around the corner 15-17kts was the answer and he could see me on AIS.

As Sandown Bay came into view that raised by a further 10kts to now 33kts and the seas started to rise to around 1.5m in height, too late to put the second reef in now.  We pushed on for a while as we knew the wind was due to drop, but it didn’t and it was too noisy to listen to any weather updates from the Coast Guard nor wishing to leave station and check the phone for updates.

We had Speed Oer Ground of 3.5kts as was the action of the choppy waves with wind over tide, although Marine Traffic had me at 6.0kts most of the time.  Decision time do they tack and headed into the Bay and waited to see if the wind and waves eased the further in we went, but they opted to turn turtle and retrace our path. 9-10.0kts surfing down waves and passing a yacht under engine was possibly more exciting than it should be. Once past Bembridge, the sea state lightened up a little and eventually passing Osbourne the wind did too.  With the reef still in but full jib rolled out we had a cracking sail back.

With low water springs and approaching low tide, not quite the best time to cross the chain links path, who was being pushed by the Kingstone Marine boat at the time due to the strong current, the crew  waited for them to cross over and proceeded to pass as wide as we could without running aground on the Eastside.  The working boat at that point looked to be repositioning himself, but was not, it was a job and finish and pulled across us, so we spun round as so as not to be pushed further East.  As we approached again another yacht was coming directly at us from the downstream, we spun again and Skip had to use a lot of horses to stop us from being affected by the speed of the tide and the bow thruster of the Red Funnel car ferry that was parking.  Finally, we got over the chains and headed home.

It was an interesting day full of incidents and situations, Jeff having watch us turn round opted to head back to Gosport.

August Bank Holiday - The trouble with gauges!

So with the Bank Holiday here in the UK approaching the crew were on their way back from Essex from Grandparenting duties and so on the Friday before the weekend, a chill-out day was called for, rather than turning around packing again and heading off.

So it was the Saturday morning before everyone arrived and I was prepared to head out for the weekend.  Sunday would see the Powerboat  Cowes Poole Cowes race and so I was expecting to be in Totland to watch them go by.  Light and fickle winds in the Solent saw us take an age to get to Totland however, we did manage to pass a yacht with its gennaker up which was mildly amusing. With plenty of light still to hand, they opted to don on my donk and dialled the autopilot in for Swanage, not crew’s first choice, but Skip finds Studland full of noisy people and craft, especially as the Sunday we would be waking up to a would be a turning point for the powerboat race.  It’s no wonder that the Seahorses can’t breed in there, it’s not us yachties pulling up the seagrass with our anchors, it’s the fact they can’t hear mating calls for the sound of high-speed twisting props!

We anchored in Swanage Bay closer to the beach than we had done before and Skip hoped that he had set enough chain out to hold my weight in the benign conditions, I don’t think the anchor bit and remembered last time we had an issue with a dragging anchor over weed. Skip took bearings on church spires and sought sustenance whilst everything settled, he also took a reading from GPS on his phone and wrote that down in case he wanted to check it during the night.  The night was not peaceful down below, I don’t know why but he didn’t really prepare me for anchor, no anchor snub didn’t remove the main halyard, nor oiled the Gooseneck etc, etc and paid the price. However, 5.0m was all we’d moved during the nights' change of tide, the neap range was a mere 300mm.  We set off with the tide and Skip always forgets how long sailing takes, he thought that Portland had come into view, then quickly then realised it was the other side of Anvil Head, a slow-moving biplane flew overhead.  Chapman’s pool, Warbarrow Bay, then the fog rolled in bringing with it wind oddly. With the sails set we hit 6.5kts in the fog, the AIS priceless in these conditions but wary of the odd vessel that hasn’t got one or lobster pot buoys.  The crew had become disorientated and so Skipper took the helm until the crew regained the hang of sailing by compass alone.  Lifejackets were worn and the fog horn came out ready and used in earnest to warn the one vessel whose track was a similar reciprocal course to ours, we never saw them, but they too had a foghorn and so could hear them go past.  The fog cleared and we were back under engine for Weymouth, the new gauges fitted by Skip had the oil pressure drop dramatically and recover, once in Weymouth he would check my oil levels.

Rafted up in Weymouth

The hope that the fleet of French yachts sailing East had left Weymouth empty didn’t ring true, it was rammed and we rafted alongside a sailing school who was leaving at 0400!  We opted to switch round and so Skip tied me to the 53’ yacht next to them, the stern line straight to their stern and the bowline taken all the way around the Schools yacht and back to the midships. With my engine running and bow thruster ready, the sailing school slipped out from between us, everyone except Skip wondering how this would pan out.  He pulled in the stern warp and the crew took in the slack on the bowline until able to pull directly against the yacht, as she did Skip applied the thruster and in we went.  Once tied up they helped bring the sailing school in on our port side and set his alarm for 0355 to assist their departure.  Weymouth was busy all round and choice of eating out was not only very limited but also came with a long wait, once fed they headed back on board to watch the fireworks. Our new neighbours were intending on leaving later around 0800 as like me and my mast, he has to be going under the Itchen bridge 3hrs either side of high water to get under.  At 0400 only one chap was up and he headed off to use the marina facilities, about 40minutes later they eventually left to head around Portland and on to Dartmouth.   We left about 0730 and with no wind had the Donkey do the work as the wind couldn't make up its mind whether to assist or not, it didn't.

Expecting to have the tide with us and wondering why the Sailing School chose to cross Lyme Bay at this time, Skip realised that the Easytide prediction information was miss-leading.  It suggested that low water was at 0750 and so what comes next is a flood tide which should take us East, but no the current didn’t turn till 1330!  There was a spell of some wind but by the time they were adjusting sails it disappeared as did everyone else as the fog rolled in and thickened once more only clearing as we approached the Needles.  With four hours of the tide with us left, they opted to head for home rather than anchor up at Totland at 1500.  During our passage, the oil pressure gauge kept flashing again as the pressure fell below 25psi.  Skip had checked levels in Weymouth and it was just below max but it did it again on our way home and so dug out the spare oil from under the bunk in the rear port cabin beneath all Gennaker, clean bed linen and pillows.  Now unlike petrol engines, Skip hadn’t realised that venting through the cap doesn’t occur on diesel engines and tried to pour oil into the filler only to see it go vertical!  He got the crew to put me on tick over to reduce pressure and the same thing happened. Finally, after turning the donk off and knocking the oil over, he used what was I had left (120ml) and the gauge went immediately back to 40-50psi.  They lowered the revs from 2200 to 2000 as the tide was by now kicking in behind and with more oil the water temperature dropped by a degree, such is the sensitivity and accuracy of these new gauges.

Fog pouring over Tennison Down

Opting not to anchor in a busy Totland Bay at 1530 and with another three hours of tide behind I was decided to continue to home, giving the crew time to sort themselves out before re-packing and heading back to Essex for more Grandparent duties.

So an interesting weekend, Weymouth rammed and eating out an issue and rather than queue for a beer in a traditional pub they headed back to me and sat and watched what they could of the fireworks.  Clearly, the forecast of good weather and little wind had all the big gin-palaces out too.

Apologies

Skipper has been quite busy with work, but that doesn't mean I've not been out.  Far from it.

I think I've been out more often but only for short trips this year than any other and this weekend was a typical example.

It happens to be the Fastnet race, 388 yachts competing in one of the most gruelling races and my crew know, between them, they've done five.  Luckily for me, they don't intend to put me through the same experience, however, having said that a few weeks ago I had a constant 20kts over my bows in the Solents short sharp chop.

With two reefs in and a partially rolled jib, we punched our way up the Western Solent.  Completely against the game plan, which was to head to Shanklin and anchor off the beach there.  The wind doesn't seem to conform with what the forecasters suggest and so they changed their minds.  They changed their minds again and turned me around and headed home.

They're not wrong when they say "If you can sail in the Solent, you can sail anywhere", with double tides, wind anomalies being effected by the island plus sea breezes you have to have your wits about you. Add to that all the 'let's go sailing' types that don't have full or some knowledge of the COLREGS and those that are 'Racing' and believe the regs don't apply.

So this weekend saw the start of the Fastnet race and my crew took me off to Totland to get a reasonable spot to watch the fleet go by.  Now skip clearly has not been off the boil and had trimmed the sails such that I could sail a straight line myself.  The new Jib is proving its worth and brings with it plenty of power, something I relish at my bow.  If the sea breeze hadn't brought with it a change in the underlying wind direction, I think we would've sailed almost all the wat without tacking.

Friday night was very peaceful.

And so Saturday with Skipper keeping an eye on three yachts in the race, an easy and pleasant day was had and Totland Bay filled up.

Now I know Skipper keeps an eye on tides, but we left our anchorage fairly early on Sunday morning 0930 and within minutes he had me up to 12.2kts SOG passing Hurst. In exactly two hours I was in the Medina.  Skip has obviously enhanced his understanding of what he can do with the new Jib and I was showing everyone my speed.

He's sorted out the new J3 to be used in both light and heavy airs.  Twinned with the Code 0 in light airs we shall have a lot of fun the idea is to cross Lyme Bay in about half the time it usually takes when under engine as the wind drops.  Likewise, when the wind is in the mid 20kts then the Jib can remain furled and the J3 can deliver the power needed for me to cut through the waves.

Every outing and I'm being sailed better, bring on the new sail.

Strange Weekend

This weekend saw another attempt thwarted to take me further than what is the usual, Totland. It started well, with everyone on board and be prepared in time to leave the Medina in order to catch the remainder of the ebb tide West.

Skipper wanted to run me on the jib only so he could see how much of a difference the new sail is compared to the old one.  Unfortunately, it was soon discovered that the wind was going to be fickle and light. So with the whites up what wind there was took us slowly along the Western Solent in lovely sunshine.  The wind was fickle and in the end, the engine came on and left at tick over, 5kts of boat speed and 7kts speed over ground (SOG), but the target of Studland or Swanage seemed too far to warrant winding the engine up and going for it, after all this was supposed to be another pleasant sail.  With the usual rapids ride past Hurst Castle the main was dropped and packed.  It was at this point the wind picked up, Totland Bay was busy the sun had brought everyone out including a sailing club from the mainland.  a flotilla of dinghy's had raced over in the morning, complete with a fleet of safety boats and the bar-b-q, food and drink brought over by a much smaller fleet of motorboats and yachts.

We opted to leave our usual anchorage as it was too close to too many and anchored further out, but with 10m more of chain than usual, a mistake rather than planned, as the chain marker was missed.  Skip opted to continue with his fish studies whilst the crew read her book, the wind didn't abate.  In fact during the night skip got up to turn off my wind generator as that always makes it sound worse than it actually is and with the anchor light and AIS on a measly 0.2amps of power was being used.  It is usual for the skip to remain awake as he listens to creaks and groans and tries to work out where they're coming from. This particular night there were none bar the wind generator and the anchor chain.  Despite the snubber being on, various noises came from the bow and skip made a mental note to check all the fittings to make sure nothing has been working itself loose after all this time.

Around 0700 Sunday morning, skip awake he gets up to locate his phone and turn off the anchor light, noticing out of the window after a quick sense check of where I was in relation to everything else, he noted a freighter coming in to go through the Needles channel.  He also noted the mist that was on the top of Tenneson Down and the Needles Lighthouse sounding its horn, automatically acted in poor visibility.  He went back to bed and checked the weather and tides, the plan was to leave later in the day and catch the flood tide back to Cowes.  The weather app suggested some 35kts of gusts in Cowes later and so the crew was woken and a swift retreat catching the last of this flood was made.

The fog had descended by then but whilst visibility was poor, grey objects could be made out a few miles around you.  The wind what little there was again, was by now from the South West and virtually from behind so back on went the engine and this time run at 2,200rpm to get back to Cowes to beat the strong winds.  By the time they had me sorted, washed up and back indoors, the sun came out and a lovely afternoon unfolded!

Pete Tong - (went wrong)

Skip had been talking to his friend Jeff (Escalon), who’d enquired why he always went West and not East, with Brighton being a similar distance to Weymouth.  He wasn’t wrong, from Cowes, it’s slightly less distance to Brighton than it is to Weymouth or even around the Island for that matter.  So with this in mind, he text his youngest, who tends to visit Brighton quite regularly with his girlfriend and suggest a meet up on the Sunday with a cabin to stay overnight so enabling them to drive back Monday, if they so wished.  He got the usual standoffish reply ‘I’ll check with AJ!’ meaning it wasn't likely to happen.

Anyway Brighton was the plan for the bank holiday and the wind was looking a tad light but from the SW, which isn't a bad thing and a possible option to put up Thor.

Skips crew, had a slight turn the last time we hoped to make Weymouth but this time all appeared good to go and so we set off, later than planned of course, but skip had been down to me the previous day to prepare, open the lazy Jack bag, connect the main halyard, put the log in and various other things to save time.  We left and even entered the small ships channel, skip having attended the CHC AGM the previous night to learn that it’s now dredged to 2.0m below chart datum, at low tide we had 1.3m below us.  He put the main up as he did the motoring cone, dialled in my autopilot and dobbed on the sun cream.  Jeff skips friend came on the phone and so by the forts, he spun me round till we pointed directly at him to locate him from the rest and then went to have a chat.

 

Having already decided by then to head to Shanklin instead, due to the lack of wind, anchor there before continuing up and close to the coastline on Sunday.  Enabling them to actually see the coastline and have a look at Freshwater Bay before stopping in Totland for the night and heading back home on Monday.  As soon as we left Jeff, the wind kicked in and we had 22kts of apparent wind and had a cracking sail up to the Nab Tower before tacking back to Sandown Bay.  Full main and we were pushing 8-9.0kts of boat speed and the tide pushing us back towards Portsmouth. So we tacked a couple more times to make the far end of the Bay and stopped near Shanklin Chine.

We always seem to take an age to get to where we want to anchor and we seem not to be as close to the cliffs as Skip would like and be out of the wind, but hey apart from one other yacht we had the whole Bay to ourselves.  Skip opted, as he often does, to send 5.0m of chain on the back of a leaded line over the back to slow our swinging and tied it to the Davits to keep it clear of my rudder. As the wind was pushing us Skip opted to secure the Davits to the small winch on the starboard side to provide support.  However, the tide changed which took me the other way and so the untied side then took the load and bent one of the Davits beyond repair, as the chain appeared to catch on a rock or something, which once the strain was removed seemed to disappear and be easily hauled in!

A box jelly fish passed me as skip continued with his fish survey (Non-successful fishing).

In the morning the forecast was for 5-6 occasionally 7 at first southwesterly and so a reef was put in my main and we set off.  However, I think the new jib and the power that it brings requires a re-think as we were so overpowered that we nearly broached twice trying to get beyond the headland.  In fact, a bit shell shocked, we turned back only to accidentally jibe and the lazy jack supports popped on the starboard side.  The jib was brought in and as the wind remained at 170° Skip gingerly headed back out to get passed the headlands the other side of Sandown, without jibing again, assisted this time with the tide pushing us out.  We got ourselves back into the Eastern Solent and nearer Lee on Solent before tacking back to port to put the main on the good side of the Lazy Jacks, where Skip jury-rigged something to get the other side of the Lazy Jacks back up and dropped the main into it. We motored home.

So not quite the weekend he’d hoped for and whilst he was expecting an expensive one, taking four out for a meal in Brighton Marina, plus marina fees, it turns out a new set of Davits instead at £350. And of course an inquiry as to why they couldn't sail to where they wanted to go.

Skip returned today (Monday) to wash down the white bits of my deck and also managed one side of my hull.  Force 4 has a set of Davits in stock so Skip will pick them up from Lymington on his return from Romsey on Wednesday.

Pete Tong is a Cockney rhyming slang language for gone wrong!

Slow Start

Well, let's start with some good news.

This weekend was the first of the May bank holidays and whilst again another trip planned had to be put aside, work leading up to the break had Skip discovering two minor issues that had lead to the rev counter and his new gauge from not working.  The rev counter comes with three terminals at the rear, well four actually but let's discount the one for the backlight as that's straightforward, that left ground or earth, again straightforward and two more.  Ignition and pulse, for some reason Skip, had lead two wires back to the intelligent regulator where he could take the pulse connection from and clearly had in his mind where the ignition feed could come from too. However, all he needed to do was to link up with the wire back to the alternator at the back of the ignition switch some 4" away.

Once he'd worked out which was the wire to the alternator and made a connection to it, bingo, the rev counter did exactly what it's supposed to do. The second was even more straightforward so more puzzling, in fitting the new gauge he had to extend all the leads to the sensors, as these are based on a car dashboard to the engine not cockpit to the engine.  However, the earth lead he made and heat treated clearly lost conductivity somewhere along the line and so no earth, once discovered, fortunately, before remaking all the other connections, the gauge too came to life.

It was Skip's intention at Easter to take me over to the Channel Islands and fill up with diesel and then spending a few days in St Malo, however, his workload suddenly took a turn for the better and so the trip was put on hold.  Also with the control panel not working as it should, he felt reluctant until he had it sorted.

Again this bank holiday, the plan was to sail to Weymouth on Saturday, chill out Sunday and return Monday.  Monday was looking rather light with the wind so much would've been under the engine for the return trip. However, his crew member didn't feel that great with lightheadedness and so Saturday was abandoned and instead on Sunday we pootled off to Totland for an overnighter.  Thoughts were for Studland or Swanage, with the former being a bit exposed to the Northerly winds and the volume of motorboats and jet ski's, the latter was considered.  Winds in the Solent were fickle, one minute the tide providing the only source of forward momentum the next 10.0 SOG (speed over ground).  Knowing that Monday's forecast was for little wind a decision was made at the 1m-Warden green starboard buoy, the point where we usually turn for the Bay and so in we went.

Sure enough, Monday was as forecast and at 1400 rpm we were middle of the Western Solent at a steady 5.0kts of boat speed with the autohelm struggling to keep me straight as the tide was occasionally nullifying the rudder.  The rudder needing water flowing over it to work.

So till next time, Skip still has to sort out the intelligent regulator the only thing that's not working that was before I came out of the water for winter!

2019 Season starts

Apart from Skipper spending a lot of time and effort on keeping my shell in the best condition he can, which happens to be one item on his A4 winter list of jobs, there are lots of other jobs on that list.  The list also contains a number that has been transferred over from last year and a number of new ones.  Some jobs are not necessarily urgent like moving the AIS aerials to the lower spreader to get better coverage and some are what he deems 'would likes'.

One job that was a must, was the replacement of my jib, torn to shreds by the wind when the sail tie used came undone.  This has been collected and is in position.

This year he's managed to get a few 'would likes' off his chest and more importantly off the list.  Take the photo above for instance, you can see that the Gel coat on the deck has had the Skipper treatment and the rain can be seen to be 'bubbled' due to the wax.  For those of you with a keen eye, you'll notice that you can also follow the lines all the way to where they turn 90 degrees to the mast, this is usually covered with a panel and when rafted people tend to walk on it.  Skip not keen on the dullness of the surface also spotted a number of star or spider cracks as seen below.

These cracks are stress cracks heavy objects or something being dropped usually causes them, so with the aid of the multi-tool, each crack is followed and filled. The panel at the top if from on side and the panel at the bottom the other, hence why the cracks don't line up!

Once filled rubbed back and repeated a couple of times, Skip then went and bought a G-100 spray gun specially made for spraying Flow Coats, which is Gel Coat but with a wax mixed in that evaporates.  This is not quite as easy and YouTube was correct when users suggested that the gun leaks as soon as it comes out of the box and he discovered that one of the rubber O rings had split.  Now the gun is not as sophisticated as some he has and even with new rings, it still hisses all the time.

So above is one of the line covers (panels), the other is underneath on the floor and it has had three coats and is being rubbed down.  To get the shine back he's used P600, 1000, 1500, 2000 & 3000 grade wet & dry, the last four are mini sanding disks that fit on his air-powered palm sander.  The secret apparently is to use water with washing up liquid in it to provide the lubricant.  Once a hazy shine has been produced it's then a case of turning to the much finer liquid cutting compounds.  Finally, a couple of coats of clear Flow Coat is applied and the polishing process is repeated, to give added protection and that deep glassy shine he's looking for.

Above you can see three stages during the state of polishing, the one furthest away liquid compounds have been used, the middle is going through the various stages of wet & dry and the nearest has has a P120 grade sanding. Skip has also chased out a number of stress cracks on my stern and dug out and filled some dings too.  These have all been rubbed smooth and he's likely to spray in the summer when the ambient temperature is better.

Another job that was part 'Would Like' and part replacement was the new control panel on the cockpit.  The old Yanmar rev counter had packed up towards the end of the season and the four LED lights had long since given up the ghost probably even before skip and crew had taken possession.  Also, the ignition key is a simple square key that other uses could be to bleed radiators, this is not very secure as a pair of pliers could be used instead.  Also, occasionally the key would fall out and turn the ignition off, being diesel the engine would still run but the bow thruster would not function and guess when this was more likely to happen - yep just when you're looking at coming alongside and not looking down at your ankles!  As you can see below he's fitted a split digital gauge too, the upper display is oil pressure and lower is water temperature.  When running within tolerances (set by the user), the display is green, when it exceeds the range it goes red and if allowed to stay in the red, then flashes.  On start up the display is purple till it reaches the desired tolerance. These colours can be different but that's how Skip's set it. It still has the protective plastic over the panel.

Another of the 'Would Likes', is something Skip saw on the Volvo Round the World racing yachts.  His engineering brain liked the tri-sail pattern which causes the wind to accelerate between the sails causing higher boat speeds.  Whilst Skip is not intending on racing, the light winds usually found when we cross Lyme Bay causes us to travel at or below 5.0kts making the crossing a long day, by adding a sail between the code 0 or even jib could reduce the crossing time by up to half.

Using a laser, Skip carefully cuts away at the ceiling and panels to fit the big steel bracket to transfer deck loads to the bulkhead.

Here the bracket is chemically bonded to the bulkhead and held in place with two screws until the bonding has fully taken place. The access door is to my retractable bow thruster and is usually hidden by the head board.

On the other side of the bulkhead is the anchor locker here the steel plate is lined up against the bolts and tightened as the chemical bonding takes place of the D ring on the foredeck. The photo above is prior to that stage as the halyard that is used for the Code 0 and Jenneker is attached plus no nuts on the bolts!  Below the 12.5mm thick marine ply is chemically bonded  to the bulkhead with the domed nuts tightened to squeeze tight the two sides.

Then the ply is made watertight by fibreglassing it and a Gel coat applied to seal any pinprick holes that might have been missed.

Inside the visual impact of the bracket is reduced by fitting a thin bit of veneered ply to the sides and the front.  The front has magnets so that it can be removed to expose the bolt heads for inspection.  Skip needs to find the correct stain, which he thinks is Chestnut and a darker for the lower portion so as to reduce the impact further.  All he needs to do now is to obtain an appropriate halyard and feed this up the mast and to the cockpit and of course take all the relevant dimensions and get a J3 made, having spent money on a jib replacement the budget for another new sail is work in progress.

So I'm now back in the water and back on my pontoon up the Medina.  The removal of the old ignition switch didn't go without a hitch and at first, neither the bow thruster nor the windlass would work.  However, Skip found the wire that needed to be reconnected to enable this to happen.

Easter is approaching and it's hoped that we will be able to see how the new jib fares and have a shakedown for a few days before setting out further afield.

Winter III

Well, here I am the starboard side all washed, cut & polished as only the skipper knows how.

It would appear that due to the fact that my Skipper has been busy since Christmas and also picked up a flu type thing followed by a stomach bug, I'm to remain here till April, giving him time to work through his usual winter list plus the additional 'would like' items he added to it this year.

With the Hull completed, he'll set to on the deck bringing two of my panels back to his garage to have the star-shaped stress fractures rubbed back and the panels re-sprayed with Flow & Clearcoat, to bring back the shine he so desires.

Items on the list are the new control panel in the Cockpit with new tachometer and a dual digital oil Pressure and water temperature gauge that changes colour as the limits are reached.  So, for example, purple when the below the desired range i.e. cold, then green when achieved the optimum levels and red for over, so a simple glimpse will tell you how my engine is doing.  This is a bit of a hangover from Skip's rally days.

Then there's the big item on Skip's 'would like' list, the fitting of the bracket, strengthening of the bulkhead and the D ring on the deck for the J3 staysail. Not to mention the D ring fitted up the mast to take the new halyard and mouse line.

Then there's the servicing of my engine with new oil and filters, not done for a few seasons as I'd not really travelled that far.

Winter List

Sorry for not keeping in touch a lot has been going on although time has seemed to pass very quickly.

A few major points to make, in that my jib managed to become unfurled during high winds whilst I was on the pontoon and it trashed it. The metal horseshoe snapped in half and tore the bottom third of the sail and leaving it looking more like dreadlocks than a sail.

I have been back on the hard at the Yacht Haven since the first week in December.

On returning from my last trip, the skipper decided to leave off the jib sheet, which he did to make the fore deck clearer and safer to work on and tied it up with a sail tie. Unusually he didn't pop down to me prior to the expectation of high winds and double up or even re-attach the jib sheet as I was going nowhere for a while.  If there is a, fortunately, then it is the fact that nothing else sustained any damage, the nearby stantions, the deck nor the bow, all appeared clear of the flailing sail and metal horseshoe.

Anyway following a call from the Harbour Master, skipper arrived and removed it from my cockpit where it had been taken down in the high winds and stored.  He folded it, bagged it and took it to the sail loft in the Yacht Haven to see what could be done.  Due to the age of the Dacron, a new to old joint wouldn't work and so it was written off and so he's been seeking quotes.  Today (4th January 2019), they've just returned from the sail loft in Lymington that made Thor Junior (Code 0) and have paid the deposit for a new jib made out of a slightly stronger material called Velcron.  Skip also discussed the top down furler system to Thor Junior and the J3 staysail that he's been planning.  He came across a local the other day who's a welder by trade and has finally had the bracket made.  This is on his winter list to fit and he's been looking at how to fit it to the underside of my deck whilst making the least disturbance to the ceiling of the master cabin as possible.

Meanwhile, it has been very mild to date and whilst skip is working away at the moment during the week, he's managed to rejuvenate the two lower blue stripes near the water line that suffers from oxidisation and clean and polish the whole of the port side already.  The anchor chain has been washed down and is stored on the floor enabling the chain locker to be cleaned out, items like an old broom head and sponge were found in there, together with other hard items of debris now removed.

Water that is occasionally found below the companionway in the bilge became more apparent and this turned out to be a fault with the outlet of the pump housing.  Turned out that the jubilee clip had been over-tightened, likely when first fitted and the plastic has gone brittle with age with the result that the outlet failed, allowing the water that is on the downstream side of the non-return valve to leak.  This has been removed and the whole assembly cleaned up including the bilge itself, enabling the plate the pump is secured to, to be re-glued down.  The glue also failing as the unit was being pulled about to unscrew.

Skip has also been cleaning up and filling and dings that have appeared in the bow and stern as well as cleaning out some stress cracks at the stern.  He's taken possession of a new spray gun and clear as well as a white flow coat to enable him to rejuvenate the panels that hide my sheets and halyards that run from the bottom of the mast to the cockpit.  This new gear will enable him to spray a Gelcoat, (flowcoat), a white hard shiny surface and finish it off with a clear coat to give a deep shine and add another protective layer.  Other areas of my bodywork could receive the same treatment if all goes well, such as the altercation with Poly Agatha's anchor, years ago.  Whilst that damage was repaired straight away, the surface needs to be finished off properly, also any 'tired' surfaces can be rubbed back and a new one applied to give me a new shine.