Final Session

It must be coming up to the last session on the hard as it's March, having said that I can't see the sea for the boats in front of me blocking the way !

Skips still working to replace the ducting under the floor with a new insulated type.  Retrospectively is causing some issues as lengths under my saloon heads for example has a 'Y' junction which you can't get to as the heads comes as one glass fibre pod lowered in to place during my build over the top of things like the ducting.  The Webasto itself is still not running properly, runs for a while stops then struggles to start if at all.  I think skip has another article appearing in Yachting Monthly over the bio-fuel issue.

It must be my birthday or something as today, skip turned up with a new life raft in a canister, my old one was in a valise and kept in the stern locker, but this one will be hung off of my stern rail, much more accessible should the need arise.  He's just got to fit the frame, which of course being universal, actually means doesn't quite fit anything and need lots of modification to fit, well me in this instance.  Still I'm sure he's up to the challenge and soon I'll have a brand new one attached to my stern rail.

The AIS is working properly now and I can see other boats fitted with such a device on my screens.  This will prevent the incident that I had a few seasons ago when returning from Alderney and the freighter didn't respond to the VHF and skipper wouldn't alter my aspect as I was pushing an average 9.0 knots, only to realise that the skipper of the freighter had seen us and reacted.  At least now data can be interrogated which includes a direct 'phone' number to the bridge, enabling skip to talk to the bridge of the oncoming vessel.

On the Hard 2 - Webasto

Lets continue . . . So with a Jerry can of new marine diesel, skip arrived and set up another experiment, would my Webasto run with fresh juice. A quick flush through with paraffin once more to burn off any carbon and off it went through the by now regular if so monotonous routine now.  The pump, its heart, beat quickly as it delivered the next load of fuel to the glow plug within the burner unit.  Saturday (14th) it was a sunny one, parts of the main land still covered in snow, so skip set out to finish the preparation & polishing of the remaining panel on the starboard side. The heater continue to whirr away. Cup of coffee for skip & check on phone, then time for the polishing, at least cloud cover would make things easier for him even if it meant the jumper had to go back on.

On completion of the polishing one more cup of coffee & skip decided to switch back to the fuel in my tank. With the unit still running he turns the thermostat down slightly & heads for home. He comes back in the evening & its still running the saloon is one point below 18°C.

Sunday & it's raining so skip did things in the north attic of the house, before returning mid-afternoon. It was still running, 7 litres of fuel burnt according to my gauge & still at 18°C in my saloon.

So is the C02 level close enough ?

Skips going to let it run burn some fuel down & then check inside my tank see if after 8 years there's any sludge build up & satisfy himself of how deep the pick up is. He's also going to shut it down & implement a cold start.

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Today, Monday, skip popped down briefly, think he has a cold, but I'm still 18oC in the saloon and my heater is still working away, it had burnt another 3 litres, down to 207l.  It's been a miserable day, fine rain all the time, no let up.

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All change, the heater stopped working soon after and skip just can't get it to fire up again, barring using paraffin.  He managed to almost severe the top of his left hand index finger, working on his house not me, something about a bench circular saw, bit of wood & fingers blah, blah, blah. So once he's capable the unit is coming out and he's taking it to the chap round the corner to inspect the burner and the glow plug, see if there's any trace of rusting which will indicate a high moisture content in the fuel.

He's also going to take the opportunity to inspect inside my fuel tank to see where exactly the fuel pick up point is for the unit and of course see if any debris in the form of diesel bug is present.

Weather down here has been long spells of freezing fog and the two electric heaters I have I think are not as efficient as they used to be, Whilst the I'm kept around 5C, I'm sure skip would like to see the return of 18C that the Webasto kept me at for 80hrs.

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It's the last day of January and skip turned up today, it's not been very nice with either fog, drizzle or just cold.  He came wearing a cover over his finger, which may also explain the reason he's not been down too much recently.  An accident with a circular saw & a piece of timber, still no long term damage done, some blue roll, sellotape and the inside of a loo roll, sorted him out, apparently it took 4 hours to stem the bleeding !

It's a bit milder now, hence the fog so the dehumidifier is back on.  He tried to fire up the Webasto but again it refused to start, he spoke with his man before climbing on board and they're going to do a fuel test to see if moisture is a problem, then replace the burner with a new on and adjust the C02 levels  -  progress.

Skip has also been enquiring about my life raft.  It seems it was 3 years ago it was last serviced so due for another, but he wants to put in in a canister and hang it off my stern rail where currently a life line is hung, but it makes sense.  Conditions have to be pretty dire to even consider using one, not that I want anyone to leave me in such a state.  A couple of years ago he dragged it out of the stern locker and strapped it across my deck, useful in a hurry but an eyesore, especially as its in a bright yellow valise.  He'll need to get a stainless steel frame made up but it'll be right where you want it should the need arise.  The solid canister, like a decent suitcase, will be white and match my hull.

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So skip popped down today and took the Websto unit off.  The picture above is the burner unit itself and you can see this is quite black with carbon deposits, probably a sign that it's not burning efficiently or hot enough, allowing the deposits to build up.

Having said that skip says that his friendly chap reckons it's not too bad nor is my diesel contaminated.  You can see a very light patch next to the glow plug a good sign.  So he's going to get it back on board and running again and get the chap to plug his lap top in and see what's happening.  There's a suspicion that may be the fuel pump stopped !  The saga continues.

I understand that a new life raft has been ordered and it will be in a canister rather than the valise the current one is in, including a frame and this will be hung off of the stern rail in the centre where a man overboard throwing line currently lives.  At least it will be readily accessible should the need arise and create more space in that cavernous locker.

On the hard

My skipper has been working away on my hull as promised, cleaning & polishing but it's slow progress.  Christmas obviously got in the way, but now that's over, he's back and has been working down my port side, it's slow progress - not due to the lack of effort, no, but the weather.   Recent fog has left my sides not only damp, but threatened to cover him too with  fine layer of dank cold moisture, so he's worked inside instead.

Two new wooden items were bought in this years boat show at Southampton and he's fitted them.  First is a kitchen towel holder.  This is located below a similar wooden holder that has had the teas & coffee jars in.  I think this was brought about by a small fire that occurred when the kitchen towel roll kept with the mugs behind the hob, rolled out when the hob was on.  Usually the thickness of the towel roll is such, that it is jammed between the mugs and the top of the unit preventing the mugs from rattling about too.  On this occasion the roll was nearly all used and was able to roll freely.

 

Oddly despite slamming in overfalls, the tea

& coffee jars have never moved

The second item can be described as a magazine rack, but this is being used to house the cooking oils & vinegar's and is deep enough for the mainly plastic bottles not to come out during a sea passage.  This is down the side of the sink unit and doesn't infringe on the saloon space as the steadying pole is located there.  This does however free up yet another cupboard which has enough space to fit a shelf and make more use of the space.

Free's up storage space in a cupboard

Remember my skipper blowing up my radio, well yes he did fit a new digital model whilst we were away, but the aperture was just to small to fit housing unit at the time. Well this has been done and the  front has been fitted and it looks so much better as it should.

So with the fog today (30/12), skip set to on the Webasto ducting and decided to replace the first length between the heater unit and the first Y junction in the rear port cabin.

Inner liner has come away

blocking the free flow of heated air !

So he's going to work his way through me from rear to the master cabin, replacing the existing duct with new, which hasn't got this liner and add an insulation sock to its outside.  Once he's reached the saloon outlet, he's going to see just how much air flow and heat is reaching that point before making a decision as to whether the variable speed in line fan he bought ages ago is actually needed. If it is fitted beyond the saloon outlet he will then have the ability to, when none of the rear cabins are in use, to draw the air forward to the master cabin, where currently nothing but hope appears at the outlet !

Today skip turned up and ran the heater unit once more but brought a little toy with him.  The temperature at the open end of the insulated duct in the rear cabin reached 102.6C and a velocity of 8.5m/s.  He left it running and returned home returning later in the day to find the unit had shut down once more with the same pattern of two flashing.  He shut it down and tried to fire it up again, no flashing but no noise from the stern locker either.  So he shut it down again to see if there was an amperage demand when he turned it on again - nothing, zilge.

Today 2nd January, skip arrived and set off the Webasto once more.  He then set about cleaning & polishing my hull on the starboard side once more.  The heater unit ran faultless for ages, dipped after an hour or so, then picked up again for another couple of hours.  It then stopped again.  Skip decided to run the fan only option and eventually got that to work and so all the heat was taken out of the unit before trying to run it once more.  This time he succeeded and it fired up.  He eventually turned it off and allowed it to run through its shut down procedure, a sequence that doesn't often happen.  The fuel gauge also fell by 5l but this may be the inaccuracy of the gauge itself and reflect on some of the diesel used to get to the Yacht Haven.

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Wednesday 4th January and skipper returned to see what had happened with the overnight experiment.  The heat had turned on, probably as the thermostat reached its lower limit, but again two flashing of the indicator light.  This time he changed tack and decided that with the thermostat turned right up and the saloon reaching 22C on the opposite side as to where the heat was dissipating, he'd pull himself back a bit.  So instead of the dial being set at 3'o'clock and the unit running at full throttle till it stops, he'd set it to 9'o'clock and just run it and see what happens.  The fuel gauge had dropped from 230 to 227l, so he'll keep an eye on that.  There's no signs that diesel is leaking from anywhere and there's no great bluey white cloud coming from the exhaust at start up.

With the unit running happily at its lower level, skip proceeded to disconnect the 60mm duct from the starboard side cabin and slide the insulation sleeve over and secure it back again.  May be tomorrow he'll add the insulation to the duct that feeds both outlets up to the T junction, leaving the port side to finish off in the stern.  With the heater still running, he set about cleaning & polishing another panel along my port side and was interrupted by the owner of High Flyer, a sister yacht to me and one we tried to follow during one of the Round the Island Race a couple years back.

She has two alternators on board, plus a 2.6m keel, he also suffered from galvanic erosion but is moored in East Cowes marina, where not only are all the shore power points are earthed through the metal piles but the then new estate near by is too.  Apparently a few boat suffer quite badly over there.  So that may answer why my old prop started to pit and the fitting of the third manual anode has helped.

So skip left leaving the Webasto running on low, still 20C in the saloon and is hoping that the unit continues to run without fault.  If this can be achieved then he'll re-connect the downstream side of the ducting and see if the increase in back pressure created caused the unit to overheat and stop.  His thoughts now are that the thermostat is very sensitive and by trying to run the unit at its' upper limits only causes the problem, by giving it some slack or range to work between the unit can, go in to idle mode and then increase when the thermostat tells it to.  I'll let you know tomorrow when he returns.

Just one other thing to show you how my skipper thinks outside of the box.  He's not left my shore power battery charger on constantly and forgets it, but when he turns up and puts the VHF on as he does and listens to the radio (although today he was listening to the heaters diesel pump ticking away instead), he discharges my batteries and before they reach 50% capacity he then turns the charger back on and lets it go through its full charge, absorption & float sequence to clear any sulphide build up on the battery plates and prolong the life of the batteries themselves, before shutting it down again.

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Friday 6th January - My Webasto has managed to run all night last night, a Wha Hoo moment as my skipper stood on the hard looking up listening to the singing of the exhaust. So today he opted to connect the un-insulated downstream section of duct which goes beneath my saloon heads and finishes under the navigation table, where the another Y junction existed and turned the dial (thermostat) up slightly and continued to polish my hull before the rain drifted in.


With light fading and one more section complete, he sat on the floor with a cup of tea, a torch and the Kestrel 3000. He pondered as how he was going to feed the larger 90mm duct forward to the master cabin, as the existing is 60mm is attached to the hull with cable ties. He decided that he will have to 'drill' circular inspection holes (150mm dia) in the base of my storage under the seats, so he can not only get to these cable ties, but get two arms in to be able to feed the new duct through, the next obstacle being the master cabin en-suite.
With the torch he could not only see the cable ties but could also see that at sometime during manufacture someone had stepped on the duct flattening it ! This clearly is one more reason why nothing but hope & anticipation came out of the front. Is the puzzle being slowly unravelled ?With the Kestrel, he measured accurately the velocity from the new free end and it reached 2.0m/s and the temperature was a cosy 45.0C. There is of course another take off (Y) under the saloon heads feeding the heads themselves. Skipper likes the idea of this being nice and warm acting as a drying room, but mustn't get ahead of himself.


So for now at the new setting he's left it running, hopefully it has settled down. The fuel dropped from 235l by 15l, suggesting that there was an issue. Last night it had only dropped 2l.


I assume he'll be back tomorrow to see if it's still running and finish off the last section of polishing of my starboard side.

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Saturday the 7th - The heater unit had stopped but the indication lights weren't flashing, skip decided that as it was mild, hence the fog/mist that covered the Solent, may be the thermostat had done its job and my system was in standby, so he turned the dial up.  The rapid flashing indicated that start mode was now in progress and soon heat would be pouring from the duct beneath the chart table.

He checked the in line filter and oddly it was almost dry.  He opted to remove the filter and let the pump draw directly from the tank.  A further 3 litres had been devoured by the beast.

Skip emerged from the saloon and spent the rest of the day polishing the push & pull pit stainless steel rails, the dampness preventing him from continuing with my hull.  Having cleaned the pull pit stainless at the bow he moved to the stern to do the same to the push pit.  Here he saw a cloud of blue smoke emerge from the exhaust of the heater unit and it cut out.  Reading from the internet that these units are very temperamental about the quality of fuel they burn, skip is now considering running paraffin through my heater to increase the temperature within burning off any carbon deposits and then using my spare fuel cans with some high grade diesel in to see if the unit runs without issue.  If the low grade marine diesel is the cause, then a second dedicated tank will be made and installed behind my existing tank to serve the heater only.

He's not best pleased and will have a chat to Webasto as to why their technology is falling behind changes to fuel quality.  He does love a challenge.

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Today Sunday (8th), Skip ran some paraffin through my Webasto heater unit and although he didn't measure the temperature it certainly felt hotter to me. He has since set it up to run on 10l of road diesel over night. So two thing will be learnt from this, firstly will the fuel make a difference and secondly is it over pumping causing it to flood and die, so how long will the 10l last ?

Today the UK Webasto guys responded to his terse e-mail and the content of the discussion was very interesting. C02 could be the answer to the problem. With a new burner fitted a while back, but skip knew nothing about C02 levels at the time or now, apart from those that you install an alarm for in a household situation. It would appear that if he takes my unit down to a local fitter/supplier, he can set it up on a rig, run it and like your car, the exhaust gas analyser will tell the technician all sorts about how the unit is performing and adjustments can be made to get it to the optimum burn, with the "standard" diesel

This means that the marina fuel which is ultra low sulphur road fuel, with dye, that this "standard" fuel and it now has up to 7% FAME ( bio-diesel). So by adjusting the units C02 it can run as intended and efficiently as possible.

So the way forward is to take the unit off and go get it set up on a bench and I'll let you know how skip gets on.  In the meantime I'm assuming he'll continue to play with the tank of road diesel until he's booked in to go across the main land in a car.

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Well Skip popped down on a very wet Monday and sure enough the heater unit was still going.  It was as he calls it in standby mode in that both the fan, fuel pump and heater itself were running.  A light breeze was coming from the duct with an ambient heat.  This he recons indicates that the thermostat is functioning as it was around 18C in the saloon.  He checked the fuel can and this had dropped probably by 2l over the 24hr period.

On leaving he turned it up slightly higher but not quite enough to set the thermostat off just at that point, this will occur tonight as the temperature outside drops.  So encouraging news !

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One step forward . . . So on return on Wednesday after his meeting in London, skip returned to find it had stopped, but was not disappointed as it had run out of fuel.  He set it up back to my main tank and left it running once more however on Thursday he returned to find it running cold, this was as he had inadvertently switched it to fan only !  To he's been down twice today and my heater still doesn't like the fuel in my tanks, it just wont fire up again.  He's going to try to run marine diesel from another supplier to see if it'll run consistently on that.

If it does his suspicion that because I can carry 240l of diesel in my tank and during a season only 50 or so litres of fuel is used, the remaining residue fuel is absorbing moisture (through its bio content - don't ask it all becomes a bit daunting).  Thus my heater, with its current C02 setting struggles to burn.  Tomorrow (Friday), he's going to another fuel supplier down the river and going to see if I can burn 10l of that.  If I can then the finger points to old fuel and moisture probabilities or C02 setting is wrong.  Three things he can then do, one is to fit a dedicated tank for the heater unit, so that the circulation of fuel in this tank will be far greater, get the unit down to the supplier he's been talking to to get the C02 levels correctly adjusted and lastly ensure that the full 240l of fuel I can carry is used during the year so that at winter times fresh diesel fills my tank.

It snowed today the first of the year down here.  I'd hate to think what my old home, Inverkip, has been like.

I'm Out !

Yes I'm out of the river and back on the hard.

Friday (9th), my crew turned up on the Harbour Masters boat & straight away fired up my engine, no messing, just turned the key and I responded immediately to show I was capable and ready.  With my iron sail ticking over, the intelligent regulator recharging my batteries with a hard hitting baulk charge, my crew set about dropping my jib.  With it down it was tied to the guard rail and so I was prepared with slips made and the spring lines brought aboard.  With the bow thruster lowered and tide accelerating with time behind me, skipper pushed the bow out in to the main stream.  With the crew ready in the pull pit I was hanked in to reverse and my 21" props bit in to the tidal stream and I eased back removing the tension in the stern warp.

The order to slip the line came and the gear box was shifted in to forward, skipper aware that revs needed to be applied if the rudder was to do its job, a lesson learned a while ago, when I came against my neighbour Polly Agatha. The prop blades soon had me across the Medina and power could be eased as the tide was carrying us upstream, skip kept me over to the port side as the Red Funnel ferry was making its way towards its berth at East Cowes.  Typically one of those annoying instructors was getting his crew to practise boat manoeuvring within the marina so skip gave him a loud whistle to get his attention an told him what his intentions were.  Once level with the south entrance, I was shoved in to reverse and revs increased, those 21" blades bit again and stopped me as the Red Funnel ferry passed, soon I was heading backwards as skip turned me in to the marina.  Once he was happy that he had control, turned me in, power came off as he lined me up for the waiting pontoon for the crane.  Fettling my throttle, skip brought me at low speed alongside the pontoon, where the shoreman was waiting.

Once tied up, My jib was moved on to the pontoon and folded whilst the crane crew had their tea break.  I was then hoist out of the water and the Medina mud removed from below the water line. This year I was taken round to the far side of the hard, closer to the high speed Red Jet terminal.  Since then my skipper has been back and washed off all the salt from my hull, the heaters and dehumidifier are on and he's put back on my spray hood,

It seems that the next three months will be my time.

This is my new home for three months, I've just been washed

This is my prop one year on, Anodes shot to bits but still present

better than some previous years and no pitting.

This is my prop now, 2 days ago (19.12.16), all cleaned

new anodes back and forth.  Just the sail drive to anti-foul

It's Official !

I'm to be taken out of the water to be put back on the hard at the Yacht Haven from December 9th.

It's my turn.  With the crews house taking precedent during the later half of the year leaving me home and dry for 6 months, I'll be home, of sorts, and dry again for another 3 !

Clearly my skipper will be keen to see the state of my new prop having been under water now for almost a year and how the sacrificial anodes have fared with the third 'manual' one having been in use for sometime now.  Also the covering of my sail drive with a resin based product, how has that fared. Following negotiations with Marlec the new Rutland 1200 Windcharger has been delivered since the Southampton boat show and is waiting to be assembled in place of the burnt out model.  Apparently this is more powerful than the previous model, lets hope it doesn't suffer the same problems and has an overheat cut out switch.  My batteries will soon be back up to full strength and it may be a case of leaving a system or two on so as to keep a constant flow of electrical current.  This wont be fitted till after I'm back in the water, given what happened last year to the bearings of the old one.

I note that some of the insulated ducting for the Webasto heater has been readied, so hopefully this will be one of those jobs that will actually be completed.  The skippers idea is to add an in line fan with a variable speed diode to draw the hot air to my master cabin that's been devoid of heat since I was launched.  Despite the reservations of the manufacturers, skip feels that his idea will work and if the in line fan gets anywhere near as hot as the manufacturer suggests then the cabin will have reached a temperature such that the system will be shut down by the crew who will be too hot !

My engine should get a service too, new fuel & oil filters, new oil & antifreeze, new impeller.  It's like going to the Hygienist at the dentist, you don't notice any plaque build up, it's a messy job, but you can feel the difference once its done.

I'm not sure if my sails will be sent for servicing & cleaning this year, they've not seen much use.

So I'll let you know how things are going but for now here's a picture of the crews other project, compare this against the one I posted earlier, there's a huge difference and no wonder it took time.

                               Check the previous - see the difference

Twidelling Spreaders

I know my crew is busy with their house, but I've not been anywhere since I returned from the summer cruise.  The weather has been exceptional and all I've done is watch both my neighbours come and go, in fact one has headed off to the Canary Islands for the winter.

Me well, my skipper hasn't even removed the courtesy flags from Dorset to the Scilly's and the wind un-picked my Devon flag and sent down the river.  Still I am still the pretty boy, the work my skipper put in scrubbing my decks is still plane to see.  Yet I'm a sailing yacht and sailing is what I yearn to do, but currently my presence remains on the pontoon.

My crew did turn up the other day to show me off to some friends, the flags came down.  I also know that they did go to the boat show and I've got some new bits that my skipper will either fit or store on board in readiness for next year, s I'm to be stored back on the hard at the Yacht Haven once more.  My Gel coat is still in a shinny state after the skipper spent virtually three months, cutting back the grime and polishing me up, but I bet I get another going over.

Works to the ducting and my Webasto heater will no doubt get sorted this year too, which will, if successful, enable my crew to enjoy some early season sails and still be cosy & warm below once light fails.  I understand that the latest model of wind generator from Marlec has been delivered ready to fit once I'm back in the water.  This is supposedly more powerful at lower wind strengths, quieter than my old model.  This will keep all my batteries more then topped up.

So I wait here patiently, it'll be my time soon.  I'm glad they're having a purge on the house as once finished it's my turn.

                         My skipper working on the scaffold after cutting a
                                            hole in the gable wall

Summer Cruise

After all this time of in activity and this years summer cruise started early !

Three days early, but I understand that my crew had to ensure that the works ongoing at their house had reached a stage that could be left.  And so my skipper arrived with bags of provisions and bags of clothes and on the Wednesday my lines were cast and I slipped in to the Medina and headed out.  At last I was out and it was of no great surprise when my bow was pointed in to Totland Bay, where I anchored for the night.  Not having been out on many occasions this year meant that the majority of my pulley's needed attention and to remind my skipper of this fact I kept him awake most of the night with creaks and groans.

And so it was that on the second night we stopped off at Studland Bay, at least this time it wasn't full of oiks and the skipper had heeded my advice on the pulley's and applied plenty of lubricant.  So he was rewarded with a quieter night although I know the fact that his lack of sea time over the summer would still play on his mind keeping him awake.  A state he would remain in until he'd got back in to the rhythm of the sea.

From Studland we were well received in Portland marina, where the staff remember my name and still think my lines strikes the best look in the marina.  With the tidal information assessed we left the following day and just caught the start of the races East of Portland Bill but soon were heading West and the promised wind never came.  It wasn't till a few miles out of Babacombe Bay that the wind filled in and my crew had me unravelled and sailed me in.  Picking a buoy closer in supplied by The Carey Arms.  A lunch within with just one half of their friends paid for the mooring and the owner said that she'd watched my come serenely in under sail and also loved my lines.

Me in Babacombe Bay

A quiet night on the buoy and we rounded the point and headed to Salcombe.  My skipper had a 'post it' note stuck on my Nav table with dates of all the regatta's so as to miss them !  The wind picked up and I was slamming on a buoy in the river, my crew not having the most comfortable of nights.  Once the wind had abated, we headed to Sutton Harbour within the heart of Plymouth.  This enabled my crew to meet up with her friend as they tend to do each year when possible and so this year a meal was had on board, they then disappeared for a night cap on shore.  My skipper wandered off to the Marine Bizzare to buy a few bits and eventually the whole crew went walkies in search of a Gaz bottle as one of mine was empty, but more importantly the suppliers had been having issues and so the UK was suffering with depleted stocks.  Whilst I carry two and one usually lasts me for their summer break, they have fitted a new oven in my galley with a grill and meals were being prepared most evenings on board.

The Helford River was my next stop and I was taken to my usual spot to anchor, beautiful as it is, it's becoming busy, although the photo below doesn't show all the moorings & anchorages.  As is always the steady wind that had taken me there became awkward as my attitude changed and the crew had to fight to get my sails down, from what had been a fairly innocuous day.

Pretty Helford River

From my anchorage we headed around the Lizard to Newlyn.  The wind was such that we went quite south of the Lizard and eventually the wind died, the skipper spent at least a good 30 mins trying to fill my sails and get me moving in the direction we wanted to go.   Alas in the end the engine had to go back on.

Newlyn is a special place for my crew.  Not for any emotional reason, just that this is a real working port.  Doesn't matter what the clock says, if fishing crew come in then the harbour awakens. Oddly despite the noises my crew sleep soundly in between.  It is here that my skipper is studying the weather forecasts and evaluating whether or not this is the end of their cruise or whether the Atlantic and Azores High is going to give them enough window to head further West and make the Scilly Isles.  Again this year there was a break and so the 6 degrees 50 minutes West longitude was made and I was once again anchored close to Hangman's Island.  Not that this was straight forward, it took three attempts within New Grimsby Sound to anchor away from others in a busy place.  The wind around F6 keeping me pinned against the rock.

The gruel some Hangman's Island

With crew keeping any eye on the weather as you have to in this place, they went off and toured the Abbey Gardens on Tresco, a place that last time they didn't appreciate existed.  Set in 17 acres of land the former owner had the gardens laid out to support and reflect the areas that the plants came from.  A well worth visit including the Red Squirrel's that adorn my crew's homeland.

With the skipper noting that an Atlantic low was coming in and the fact that the strong winds had abated. Causing an 0600 meeting with the French mid stream, it was decided that a move back to the mainland sooner rather than later was on the cards. The wind however was not playing ball and despite trying to sail twice the swell knocked off any speed the sails could muster.  Fog or mist was never very far away and with my engine running skipper decided to take the opportunity to have radar practise.  Rounding Lands Ends 3nm off no shore line could be seen, even my close proximity alarm went off (0.5nm) but yet my crew couldn't see any vessel and so they creeped back in to Newlyn.

Sure enough the weather changed and the winds increased.  This gave my skipper time to replace the stereo radio he managed to blow up in Plymouth, when washing down my decks and a bucket of water entered an open hatch to soak the system, plus source a new aluminium step ladder having lost the original off Gorran Haven with a gust.

Once the weather had abated the journey East commenced.  Five days in Newlyn was not an issue but meant that to make ground East longer passages would need to be made. So we set off for Falmouth or rather Pendennis marina next to the British Maritime museum, wind was south westerly and we were making good progress with the tide too, but then came the Lizard as serene as anything on the way but this was something else.  I'd say worse than the Portland Bill we faced a couple of years ago, short steep waves built and whilst I had 6 knots of boat speed I only had 1.5 knots SOG (speed over the ground)  and so I became held up.  The waves crashed occasionally on my stern and tried to turn me, all my skippers senses where put to use including his ears which listened out to the oncoming beasts from behind.  We seemed to clear one area when a steeper section took hold, other, mainly motor boats where like trawlers, bows out of the wave and crashing down in to the trough behind.  Eventually the waves eased and my skipper was able to hand over the helm to his crew, after a long two & a half hour session.

The following day, day 28 we left a quiet Falmouth and headed for Fowey, the wind had also left and at under 10 knots my engine was back on once more.  It took 3 attempts to connect with mooring buoy S7, due to a malfunctioning mooring mate.  My skipper almost went over board trying to loop the ring leaning over my port side.  Never a good idea, so high is my free board.

The following day was again a mixture of wind conditions and as such my crew had me catching and passing others.  Thor the 170msq G2 Gennekar was out for a while,  We were naking such good progress that a change of course was made, but yet again the iron sail, the engine came on, to make our final destination.  Skipper, in front of the harbour master had me serenely reverse in to my allocated spot with ease.  Dartmouth had its regatta but we had a place for the night.

                                                                 Thor in the Sunshine

Lyme Bay was in the Doldrums on the way west, would it be the same going home ?  The simple answer was yes, with the added condition of fog.  Skipper played with my radar system again and responded to a Naval warship Southerland that was about to fire a few live rounds, fortunately it was confirmed that I was to continue my passage on the chosen course, to my allotted conclusion Portland.  The question was inner or outer route, this depended on what time we arrived.  As it was the sea was calm but soon evident that the boiling waters wasn't far away.  The surface of the otherwise benign sea soon had ripples and the swirls of the current deep beneath appeared on the surface. By 1800 my skipper had approval to enter the East ship channel, twenty minutes later I was secured on Tango pontoon.

Here I took on 170 lts of diesel with a touch of diesel bug inhibitor as always during a major refuel, prior to setting of once more.  The East channel was approved proving I had cleared the entrance as traffic was expected.  This came in the form of a cruise liner, wind under 10 knots and from the south west, Thor once more was hoisted this time without the main being up, instantly I picked up speed and headed for Anvil point and the overfalls that we've encountered many times before.  A gust of wind had me headed and my crew worked quickly to drop the sail and hoist the whites.  This may have been a tad over reacting but the exercise was completed quickly and I was back under sail quickly.  Again the overfalls weren't of significance and progress was very good, another race ensued.  However Studland was full of, well others that spoiled a place of natural beauty, ski boats, jet ski's, speed boats, all making life unpleasant. with a quick check on the tidal calculations the Skipper suggested that there was two hours maximum to get through the Needles and anchor in Totland Bay.  With some wind, I was motor sailed at around 7.0 knots, we approached the Shingles Bank buoy just as the tide turned, keeping to the island side picking up a slight eddy, anchoring further in Totland Bay than I've been before.  Once settled diner was on the go and a fleet of racing yachts took advantage of the ebbing tide to sail to St Peter's Port for their weekend race.  Their tricolours gently waving at the end of their masts as they silently past me.

Day 32 was not a very nice day, overcast with the threatening rain.  My crew motored me back to my home pontoon another summer cruise complete and I returned to Cowes in a better condition than when I left.  Lets hope that I don't have to wait to long before my next outing.