2021 - Part 3

The furler finally arrived and skipper set to re-assembling the parts and getting me back together again.

So not quite the summer I had hoped as again skips business had taken on a new project.

Our fortnights holiday was crammed into 4 days and we did our usual to set off and head for our anchorage in Totland, I must have a word with the Crown as I think my names been washed away.  Then the realisation that we hadn’t done this for a long time, in that Skipper hadn’t provisioned any beers on board, nor had they bothered taking the dinghy with us, still a bag of rose wine later (the crew hadn’t forgotten) and we ought to be in for a quiet night.  With the wind dying down overnight, I seemed to roll on a swell that wasn’t there earlier, just enough to set my gooseneck creaking, although we had a cracking sail to clear some cobwebs away on the way.  The crew was also not happy as we only had 100lts of water in the tanks (25%).  So it was a case of ‘what we should do when we go to the boat’, so Skipper suggested we head to Portland and fill up there (plus there’s a restaurant and a LIDL to buy his beers).

Saturday and the windless theme prevailed, although Skipper took the opportunity to set a course for my autopilot to follow and we motor sailed using what little wind there was.  Skipper would have like to have tried the code 0 plus the J3 but the effort seemed too much for their holiday!  Before reaching St Albans Head or rather the closer one (Durlston Head), the autopilot was getting confused again and I started to fishtail putting us into a gybe!  Not sure if it has something to do with the fact that the tri data gauge was showing our boat speed at about 10 times less than it should be, so 0.60 should’ve been 6.0kts, this seemed to tally with SOG and the tidal data.  As we approached St Albans, Lulworth range was on the radio, not quite clear as to whether we needed to be south of the 15’ we headed out to pass the other yellow buoy to starboard. Why he didn’t say that our present course was ok so long as we didn’t deviate to the north I’m not sure, but I’m sure they sit up there and want something to do.  No shells were fired - the road cones along a lane of motorway syndrome.

We motored our way into the marina, where Skip had phoned to book a space and a table at the restaurant earlier in the day.

 Again I looked forward to another peaceful night, no wind no swell, super.  Alas, a squall went through during the night to the east of us and whipped up some 25knt winds, and Skip had to get up three times to sort out the clanging and banging that it was thought there was no need to prepare for!

Sunday and a mixed bag weather-wise.  We set off with a south-westerly bearing in mind it was supposed to be north by northwesterly, but I was doing well and we sailed out on the electronic wind vane past the shambles to give us a decent run back in in the hope that the wind would come round and we’d be lifted so as not to have to tack back out.  It didn’t happen.  What did happen, was for a very angry set of black clouds formed over Lulworth Cove to St Alban's Head and so we tacked out until it got darker and headed to windward to put a reef in, which everyone did remarkedly well considering how rusty they are. The crew went below to fetch the wet weather gear and lifejackets and put those on only for the clouds to have disappeared, we were at least doused with a light drizzle for their troubles.  We arrived on the northern end of Swanage Bay under the cliffs and ought to have had a peaceful night, nicer than Studland as there are no oiks on jet skis.  We even tried my anchor wizard press button to tell it when you’ve dropped the hook and let it know how much chain you put out, it then gives you a ring that includes a drift factor, and sets the alarm.  Skip even put a gybe preventer on to stop the gooseneck creaking, what he had forgotten is that the depth alarm is set to 1.5m and as we approached low water at 0330 off it went!

 Monday and the crew confirms that her hair appointment was for Wednesday, not Tuesday, but they had decided to head back.  We set off on what looked like another good northwesterly of 10-15kts, when the wind instrument hit 20kts we headed up and invoked the well-drilled exercise of reefing, slightly slicker than before and I was well balanced after the reefing, without weather helm and we flew back to the Needles at about 9,0kts most of the way!

 Unfortunately, as we pulled into Gurnard to drop the sails out of the tide, the lazy jack line that I had temporary cable ties failed and plonked the main on the deck!  Our sail ties came into good use.

Skipper went to this year's boat show and came back with a 2000W inverter, which can run to 4000w for 10 minutes enabling the use of 230v equipment on board from my batteries.  Things as phones, tablets, drill batteries, and the toaster.  I've also a new satellite communication system coming later in the year so that Skipper has access to the world whilst on board from wherever we may be.  This is part of the preparation for our trip in 2022 to Portugal!

My rigging has also been checked prior to our trip to Portland and tightened up quite considerably, this is following Skipper easing everything to remove the forestay.

Skipper has decided that there are still too many boats out there that either do not use AIS or turns it off deliberately and so has ordered a new Dopler digital radar system, more powerful but uses less power and instant startup.

With a small solar panel also bought from the boat show to keep the engine battery topped up as it's the only one not connected to the wind generator, Skip is also looking to install solar power too to complement the wind generator.

So again it might not have been a year of great passages but another where electronics have either been upgraded or new features added to make life on board more comfortable or workable if away for long periods, where his business is concerned.

2021 Part 2

It's not been the year I thought it might, skipper still busy with work and the weather has been fantastic then awful.

This year the Round the Island Race at least ran, not that I went out in it, but we had Nimrod and friends come to stay on the pontoon as usual and even a newer 470 'Junik' came to raft next to me, they were off at 0530, which is probably why Skip and crew didn't want to enter!

We had previously done the race in reverse a few months ago and not in one go, we left Cowes to head to Bembridge and met the building winds around the headland, but with a reef in the main and the fact that the furler wouldn't let out all of the jib earlier, we had a cobweb removing beat to windward to get round and head into Sandown Bay, where we stayed for the night.  This happened to be the same night that their friends on board Nimrod were out on the RORC race Myth of Malhem and so they watched them come round and wished them good luck on the radio and left them to disappear into the night.

The following day we had a cracking sail around St Cats leaving my systems to helm the boat whilst the crew was able to wander around and enjoy the scenery.  Although approaching Freshwater Bay the autohelm did let go again, but we're not sure if it was accidentally disengaged as the touch-sensitive plotter may have been inadvertently leaned on.  However, once recovered we approached the Needles and cut in from the buoy marking the end of the shallows, the sea was rolly, Skipper holding the mainsheet and calling the shots, as a gybe was called for once on the other side, whilst his crew had me surfing down the waves.  Two of us (boats) took the shortcut, exhilarating and worrying at the same time, but we rounded as planned and pulled into Totland once again.

On Sunday the wind had left us but that didn't stop the skipper from trying the Code 0 and using the autohelm to tack whilst crew pulled in the sheet and Skipper spun the furler.  It worked a couple of times but the wind died and I didn't have enough speed to complete a turn, meaning that the Code 0 backed and when a puff did come filled from the wrong side.  All furled up on went the donk and headed home.

The developing problem of the furler eventually had Skippers' mind going, eventually biting the bullet and opting to replace it.  The system is a French one, Facnor, and their mindset is for low to no maintenance, maybe the occasional wash with fresh water of both top and bottom furlers and that it.  It's made that way stainless steel ball-bearings packed with grease in a stainless steel case and a weatherproof seal.  However, it had been getting stiff to wind in, and certainly, you'd expect the wind would easily unfurl it given the chance!  And it may have been the storm that trashed the original jib a few years ago that did the damage as that had no problem in getting all the sail out!

However, the first task was to take the furlers and aluminum foil down to ground (or pontoon) level.  This means that the forestay has to be eased to enable the large bolt at the tip of my bow to be withdrawn and Skipper wanted to do that without any tension at all.  Probably, as he was working some 4feet above the water and any loss over the side meant another item donated to the depths of the River Medina!  Also, if it was easy to slide out then it should be as easy to put back.

He (Skipper) wandered around my decks for a while looking at how the loads worked together to keep my mast slightly bent biased to the rear with the fractional rig I have and what would be required to undo and bring it down, without bringing the whole of the rigging crashing to the deck.  First things first, was to undo and remove the backstay, this is a 19wire 'rope' that can be tensioned to pull the top of the mast backward, hence its name this, in turn, invokes a bend in the mast and creates a sag in the mainsail, losing some of the sails power, so useful in strong winds and to provide a balance between the sails meaning the rudder remains dead center.  Any deviation from dead center produces friction and as we all know friction slows things down.  In its place, he used both the topping lift (used to raise or support the boom) and the main sheet and lead these to my stern quarters, creating 'flying' backstays so to speak.

It was then up to the French to send a replacement to the main dealer in Plymouth and so the wait started! 

2021 has finally arrived!

It's here, well it's been here for three months now - 2021 and it looks like you chaps in the UK are coming out of the national lockdown, hopefully with a bit of common sense and in an unselfish way you'll stay out!

And so it's looking better for the new sailing season and again so am I.  Skipper stayed out of the Yacht Haven as requested to comply with the requirements of the lockdown and then received not only full and complete invoices for the months I was there but a phone call reminding him I was due to go back into the water on the 1st March.  This was not received well, as none of the work to the outside of my hull had been carried out only a few bits inside during December, plus others he could take home with him to clean, etc.  So a sort of agreement was reached that if he could manage the 16th, so he set too on his trusty scaffold tower and gave me a good going over.

It was around this time that my new mainsail had been finished and was ready for collection.

Having tested the fluxgate compass and the clutch on the motor on my autopilot Skipper was still not happy that the problem of me wandering off course had been located let alone fixed.  He opted to order a replacement and I can tell you that today 7th April it was fitted as was the new main.  All my Christmasses have come at once.

Having spoken to his youngest son, a tree feller, Skip bought himself some SLT climbing gear (single-line technique), this enables him to climb up, the mast in this case, and lower himself down again.  So after a few practices making sure he had the gear correctly fitted he shimmied up the rope and replaced the two-deck lights from under the first spreader.  The former plastic C clips had suffered from age and weather and turned brittle and broke in pieces leaving the old lights hanging down and open to more weathering.

The next job will be to bring down the analog radar that the new Axiom MSD cannot read, that'll save some weight halfway up the mast, although it'll be replaced with a loud hailer.  This is so that in the fog the VHF radio can carry out the necessary fog horn sounds, save the skipper having to pump up the one he's got now.  And that's another thing, the Raymarine speaker in the cockpit is not reliable and so I'm getting a replacement from a better manufacturer of VHF's.  Likewise having a new P70s head controller for the new autopilot sitting on deck shows up the old SD wind and tri data gauges and so they're going to be replaced too.

On the 15th of April, we finally set off in what was deemed to be light airs all weekend.  With the new main hoisted and engine under tick over, the opportunity was taken to check that everything was in the right place, tied to the correct thing, and without twist or hindrance - it was.  It was just after lunch and with light not fading till around 2000 it was decided that we'd reach Totland and call it as to whether we'd press on to Studland or Swanage.  By the time we were in the Needles Channel the Solent sea breeze had picked up to around 15kts and the tide had spat us out at around 8kts, within minutes of clearing land the breeze died again.  This gave us the chance to try out the new autopilot and so skip placed a 'go to' waypoint south of the shipping channel into Poole and hit go.

The noise from the steering appeared a lot quieter than before strange seeing as the same motor was being used however, the new computer takes into account pitch, roll, yaw, tide, and wind speeds and so the journey was a very smooth one.  Apparently, the 'system' learns my characteristics and adjusts accordingly!

What was a surprise was that whilst the cross-track error grew as the tide turned and the words 'steer to starboard' came up none of my occupants realised it was an instruction, the autopilot in this mode it seems doesn't automatically steer to the waypoint.  Further investigation needed.

Would Skipper get the first night at anchor in complete rest with little to no wind?  Of course not, it might have been shipping taking advantage of the late high tide to move in or out of Poole or just a reflective swell coming around Old Harry.  Fortunately, the Webasto had been timed to come on at 0430 for four hours which it duly did and took the growing chill out of the air and more importantly the condensation from building above the heads of the occupants of the master cabin before it accurately dropped on their faces below.

Saturday morning dawned and Skip brought out Thor Junior the Code 0 and secured it on deck.  A bright sunny morning implied another day of light airs in which he can try his dual sail package.  With a slight apparent breeze forming as the momentum gained under engine whilst leaving the anchorage was turned into power.  Whites were raised and I didn't look back, 6.0kts of apparent wind and 6.5kts Speed Over Ground recorded, I could point higher too, clearly, the combination of the new main and the year-old jib was working well, Thor Junior lay in wait.

I passed three other yachts in the north channel by Hurst Castle and once clear tacked in front of them to head into Totland.  It had been a cracking four hours of sailing. Texts flying to and fro and the manual for the P70s control head was passed across and read by both parties.  It seemed that the satellite bar at the bottom was indicating that the system needed calibrating, something Skip had been told wasn't necessary and so a penalty turn was required to sort this out.

The Webasto was this time left on in Eco mode with the temperature set to 16C, the night was a peaceful one.

The Needles Channel was a millpond, only ripples pointing at the direction of flow from crab pot buoys disturbed the surface.  With main hoisted not one but two penalty turns were carried out and bingo the satellite bar pinged into life stating that the calibration had been successful.  With whites again raised 7.0kts SOG towards Hurst in an otherwise still day, this time the auto tack process was initiated and so my bow slowly but deliberately came through 90 degrees and pointed 30degrees to the wind.  This novelty was tried several times as we made our way back to Cowes.

Finally, the wind dropped further and so Skipper hoisted Thor Junior behind the jib. This took longer whilst he remembered what was needed to prevent lines from being crossed, eventually, not only did the wind stay long enough but Cowes loomed and so we headed in having dropped the sails.  Thor did get deployed but only once tied up on W pontoon!

Can't wait for the next time out, see if I can keep up the performance and try the 'follow' route mode.

2020 Part 3

The 2020 season has come to end early due to the actions of the current Government, I am due to come out of the water on the 1st of December which is still true but Skipper and crew could still make use of the time left to take me out despite having a few weekends planned with visitors or rips away.  Firstly Skip was due to take his son back up to Norfolk where his drift car had been left a week prior to having its ECU remapped to produce more power out of the engine but also to ensure that cold, as well as hot starting, wasn't a problem.

The Government closing the door meant that skip had to abandon, although his son along with a friend of his went to collect the car, people's business relies on others paying their bills and collecting the goods.  The Crew had also arranged for friends to turn up but this has had to be abandoned too as it's not an essential journey!  So my team turned up this weekend (7th November) and removed both my main, jib & lazy jack bag.

The latter requires a new zip having had one of the handles of the double-sided zip get caught in the pulleys at the end of the boom and a patch where it has got caught elsewhere.

On the 1st December, I'm being taken back to the yacht haven to be put back on the hard for three months whilst skip goes right through me to clean and prepare for 2021.  He has a few new projects up his sleeve so we'll see if these come to fruition. Whilst I have not been far this year, I have benefitted from Skips' busy commercial year with the top-down furler for my code 0, on the new bracket.  The new Webasto heater with the ducting sleeved with a thermal sock and junctions turned round to provide the air pressure within to circulate air throughout my interior and the J3

I have it on good authority that my main will be replaced this winter in the same material as the J3 DP Hydranet 393!

With 2020 being a lost year for you humans maybe 2021 can be a year to push boundaries.

2020 Part 2

So for the first time this year after a couple of stutters, we came out of the Solent and headed to Studland not for the August Bank holiday weekend but just after it. We left on the Monday around 1130 and arrived some 5hrs later, half under engine until just passed the Needles, then we were able to sail wind WSW but in 6-7 kts of fickle breeze.  Five smaller yachts had followed us out and despite Kites being flown by one of them we managed to stay ahead losing ground in the lighter airs but making better headway in the stronger gusts and of course sail trimming.

Four liners were at anchor in the bay, nowhere to go nowhere to be, one left probably out of boredom but was back by the Tuesday morning.

Dinosaur of the Seas

It is a beautiful spot down there off Studland, with some rolling hills, trees, the white chalk Cliffs offering protection from the predominantly South Westerly winds, however, it is this that brings its' downfall.  Jet ski's that seem to see how fast they can go then turn sharply, then do it over and over again, speed boats dragging behind them inflatables with excitables' on board, no winder the Sea Horses can't hear themselves calling to enable them to breed.

Still part of the reason for going on Monday afternoon was that most if not all of these would soon head home leaving those that can stay in the peace and tranquility come sunset Skip counted 36 other vessels in the Bay, with less than half a dozen motor cruisers.

Sunset in Studland

Tuesday would've been a good day to carry on heading West, the tide was ebbing from around 1030 and what little wind there was seemed to be coming from the East whether North or South.  It had been suggested by the weather forecasters that Monday would've been the coldest Bank Holiday on record, but it didn't seem like that.  Whilst Skip was itching to set up the new Webasto heater to come on before dawn and warm the master cabin up to prevent condensation from forming, it really wasn't that bad.  Yes, condensation did form but not to the extent that it dripped on my occupant's heads in the early hours.  It was crisp but not to the extent that breaths could be seen a decision was made to run it for 30 minutes just to take what little chill away.  All worked well and by the end of the timed period jumpers were coming off.

It was also decided rather than sit at anchor all-day and wait, we'd set off under tick over and make some headway.  It was another glorious day and Skipper set up his trolling line but not with a Mackerel spinner but a spinner plus a squid lure,  Maybe deeper waters were called for but in the end, it was taken, was that the one that got away! So with the line out of the way and the realisation that we would not be at Hurst till about 1700 and Cowes at sunset, the pace was raised and I went up to 2,500rpm aiming for the North Channel.

Two days before Full Moon

2000hrs

The Solent, once past Yarmouth, was flat calm, the tide still against us until we were passing Newtown Creek.  Dinner would be a take-a-way as key elements of the proposal was still in the freezer back home.  I was prepared for bed long before we arrived at the harbour entrance, with only items needed, left on or open that wouldn't take long to put away or power down once moored up, left to do.

Whilst not the purest few days of sailing, everything was run for a while with no problems reported, even the repaired crack to the Corian galley sink didn't leak

2020 part 1

For the first time this year, the restriction for stopping over in the same place overnight has been lifted, which is a Governmental thing gone ballistic when it comes to the sailing community. Same household crew or yachts that don't require a large number of people to go sailing, should have been allowed to continue to do so, after all, skippers carry out more risk assessments than a bomb disposal expert on a day to day basis.  Whilst I'm kept on a pontoon, the risk of my crew getting within 2.0m of anyone when launching the dinghy to arriving back is minimal, especially if they use the larger one which is launched from the public slipway next to Shepards.

The time had come this weekend (11-12th) for us as a household to venture out for more than 24hrs, Skipper having looked at the tides had Sandown in mind but the crew fancied Studland, longer passage and so that was the plan.  The wind was looking light and the sun hot, but it could provide the opportunity to try out the new furling system on the code 0, even if my engine had to go on to get there to the final destination.

However, in the Solent, you can never tell what's going to occur, the Metoffice had a northerly and light wind which matched most other weather models.  The wind was definitely coming from the southwest and so full main and bring out the jib, eventually the wind built to 20kts although being overpowered I was still able to point higher than most, my crew ended up with at least four layers of clothing and we covered 22.5nm for what is usually a 10nm journey.  Instead of heading to Studland, after a discussion and four hours of beating back and forth to windward, we headed into Totland to spend the night there instead, the wind did eventually drop.  And so the first night under anchor was a peaceful one, although we did drag before the anchor bit, the distance markers clearly need cleaning as Skipper couldn't tell how much chain had gone out but eyed the anchor buoy, having kept an eye on the other boats and the tracker he was happy that the anchor was set and settled down to putting the main away.

Facnor FX+ Code 0 furler below jib furler

Bright sunshine greeted us in the morning and three cruise ships could be seen anchored off Poole and Bournemouth.  No wind registered and so after breakfast, the anchor was weighed and we headed under tick over and with the tide, back passed Hurst Castle towards Lymington. What Skipper wanted to do on Saturday he did today, up went the code 0 and the engine cut, at first the sail was difficult to deploy but this was that it had been furled in the sail loft and was a bit baggy at the bottom, which was catching on the jib furler.  As soon as that was helped round, deploying and retrieving was a quick and simple process, the crew would just ease what was now the lazy guy, whilst Skipper sat by the mast and furled it in, the tack was made and Skip would stand up and collect the working guy and bring it back to the stern deploying the sail at the same time.

Thor junior keeping me moving in light airs, a
J3 is also available to go in between

Several tacks were made across the Solent and the wind again moved from South East to a more Easterly direction, but the exercise to see what issues there might be had been completed once furled the sticking that was inbuilt after the first land-based furl had gone.  As we approached Gurnard the wind picked up once more and so the Code 0 furled in the jib was deployed and we carried on sailing till approaching the River and headed home.

The Skipper has had a J3 made that when deployed with the Code 0 in a twin sail configuration, in between it and the mast, as above, it should accelerate the wind providing more power.  The thoughts here were that in one direction or another crossing Lyme Bay the wind would die meaning 10-12 hours of engine, once I was being carried on by the tide apparent wind would be generated and with the sails set correctly could see a 5kt boat speed increase to 10kt halving the crossing time. That's the next trial.

Shake down

After such a long period of not being in the water, the thought of a mere shakedown rather than a decent cruise to somewhere for a while seems a bit of a 'Toe in the Water', but on Bank holiday Monday at the end of May that's exactly what we did and as it turned out for good reason.

With the glorious weather that has bestowed us recently, it is tempting to just want to start sailing and not come back for a while.  However, Bank Holiday Monday like most bank holidays this year with the restrictions in place was glorious, and with some of the restrictions on movement being lifted for you humans, the chance to get out was grabbed by my skipper and crew.  However soon after starting my engine it became apparent that something was wrong as water failed to continue to flow out of the exhaust.

Unperturbed, the skipper took me out of the small ships channel where my sails were raised for the first time this year.  No birds nesting in the main, but no wind either and we drifted for a while and as the tide changed and the wind died. I spun around as what little wind there was altered 90 degrees.  With my engine slightly cooler, and the sails dropped, as we leveled with the Madina I was turned for the river and under tick over made my way in.

A saved impeller left and the one just removed right

My Yanmar engine has two cooling systems, one is a sealed one like you find in most cars and the impeller within the water pump is metal.  This system runs through the clarifier, like your hot water tank at home and the hot water from the engine follows a series of loops within the tank and so transfers the heat from the engine to the tank.  Clearly, once the water in the Clarifier reaches the same temperature as that of the loops its cooling efficiency is somewhat negligible.

Skipper replaces the impeller every time he services my engine and after inspecting the old one keeps it as a spare.  I have a few.  And so it was a simple switch over and then run the engine again to check all was well. He opted to return the following day to run the engine longer and whilst that was going on repair another leak that of a drip from the galley sink.  It appears that during this exceptionally warm weather we've been experiencing for the past few months, plus an extended stay on the hard and so no use, lots of rubber O rings or washers appear to leak, the other two sinks in the heads do the same.

Skipper liking to keep my engine and engine bay clean mopped up some water as a result of the impeller change, or so he thought, except more water appeared and so he checked the hoses to and from the impeller in case a split had occurred.  Having shut the engine down he traced the leak to that of the Waterstop, a system that prevents seawater from flowing the wrong way if a wave happened to go into the exhaust outlet and so set to, to remove it.

 Left is the waterstop in situ at the back of the engine where the sail drive (propeller unit) lives.  The leak was underneath.

Right is the waterstop taken to pieces to be cleaned, removing any pieces of the broken impeller that could be found.  Once re-assembled Skipper filled it with water to see if there was a crack or whether the rubber O rings, following cleaning, would now be watertight.  They were it was refitted and the engine ran once more.

The sink could be attended to.






As always seems to happen when I come out of the water the Marlec Rutland wind generator seems to have a problem.  This year the display unit started to scroll on its own as if one of the buttons was stuck, a quick e-mail to the manufacturer and it is going to be sent up to Corby for checks.

The day after the bank holiday my Code 0 returned complete with Furlex 4500+ top-down furling system.  This should make things a lot easier for Skipper and make tacking fast and straight forward.  With the J3, shown in the previous article 'Launch Day', the twin sails should provide a turn of speed in light airs.

So I reckon my time at the Yacht Haven is up and I will shortly be moved back to my mooring.