Why no posts?

A tale of woe unfortunately, I feel very neglected. Since the family trip at the beginning of the summer there have been very few signs of il Capitano. A mixture of problems at work and poor health have conspired to prevent him from making his way over to see and sail me. Anyway, he is feeling better and doesn't have a job so what is stopping him, apparently contracting work in the USA has.

There were a couple of short trips, one to Colchester on a spring tide and another to The Walton Backwaters so hopefully he'll find time to write these up.

Family Trip

A very quick sail down the river for lunch and back. Daughter, BF and their dog all well behaved.

Best sail for a long time

It doesn't often happen that we have a following wind there and back but that is what happened over the bank holiday weekend. We set off from Bridgemarsh a couple of hours after high water and made it to The Spitway with a hour of tide to go. 3 hours to do 15 miles is a record. Then we sailed up the Colne and anchored in Pyefleet Creek.

Whilst at anchor the new sails went on. Then the wind which had been from the south died down making for a very comfortable night at anchor. The next day two plans were considered. Go up the Colne on the tide then turn at high water to go with the flow back to The Crouch via the Spitway OR set off with a couple of hours of foul tide and aim for the Ray Sand Channel at high water, then sail up the Crouch against the tide.

With a pleasant Northerly breeze and new sails up we went for option 2. Against the tide, we made it back in five hours!

New Sails part 2

The new sails arrived from Crusader, each in a sail bag. They went on with no fuss and all lines went where they should, maybe the fool can measure! The Genoa luff rope might be a little on the skinny side but it hasn't popped out yet. If he ever gets any friends who know how to use a camera then we may get a photo of me going at full speed with my lovely bright white sails.

First Sail of the Season

He couldn't wait, sails bent on and engine started first go, we were off. Just a quick sail with a single reef in down through the largely empty moorings in Burnham roads. Anchored in the Roach entrance and once the tide had changed and was with the wind the night was relatively peaceful. A big tidy up and fitting the shroud guards in the morning while he waited for the tide to turn. Then back to Bridgemarsh. There were a couple of different classes racing in Cliff Reach and the tide hadn't come in enough to enter Bridgemarsh creek so we stoofed around trying to keep out of the way of the racers. Coming alongside was tricky with an off shore breeze but found a good vector on the second go.

The new rudder seems very good, didn't miss a single tack despite having a reef in.

One problem encountered, the new VHF antenna doesn't work! My illustrious owner is an RF engineer! Not a normal problem, the antenna works to a degree when the outer of the coax is disconnected! Still, he needs a project.

Still waiting

The yard had a set back and my mast isn't up and I am not in the water :-(

Also, I found out one of the fool's secrets, he only posts projects that he has finished! That accounts for why the latest self steering gear project that he has been working on for months now hasn't made it to the public's attention.

Winter maintenance done, let's go sailing!

While the winter has been mild and there hasn't been any snow it has been a long one tucked away in a damp and dirty corner of the boat year. With all of the rain, the ground to my port side has been water logged until last week. This is where the yard set out my mast on stands. The fool has applied a very light anti-fouling with the last of the cheap 'work boat red', normally called brown or dirty purple. My mast is fully rigged, let's hope the new wire is the correct length. I have a new mast head light with combined anchor and try-colour and new VHF antenna with windex. The cap shrouds have sail protectors where they pass the cross trees so my new sails shouldn't chaff too much. He has left new clevis pins in the cockpit which are drilled to take pins in two places. To make sure they fit the rigging screws he has drilled them out to 10mm. The rudder looks passable, the colour match on the above water section isn't great and the finish is a bit rough but nothing like as bad as the stem which he tried to fill! The VHF cable from the radio set to the deck fitting has been replaced, it still needs to be fixed to the bulkhead but there is every chance of the radio working. The top sides have been lightly sanded to remove the chalking and then cut back and polished. I feel great and cannot wait to get back into the water. The beach legs that he made fit very well now that he has worked out that he labelled them the wrong way round. I dread to think what will happen when he tests them but I am sure it will involve mud and stress.

New Sails

After much deliberation he has decided to treat me to a new wardrobe. A 135% Genoa and a Main with 2 reefs plus a new boom main cover from Crusader Sails. We'll see if he can measure up correctly!

Ray Sand Channel

Better late than never! It has been a fraught few months for the fool but here is a mini report from my last trip of the 2013 season.

He vowed not to go through the Ray Sand channel again after almost getting stuck a few years ago and hearing that the channel had silted up. But to avoid going round the Spitway and getting to Pyefleet Creek after dark he chanced it. Two hours after high water there was just enough water to get through and he made it safely through, albeit with his heart in his mouth. Then we had a nice gentle sail up the Colne entrance channel and anchored just as it was getting dark. About an hour later a large barge anchored just down stream of me and based on how much chain they laid he got worried that we might come together when the tide turned. To avoid this we dropped back on the tide and re-set my anchor. In the morning the barge Reminder, who we seem to keep coming too close to, was close astern. 

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We set off back home just before the tide turned and made it back through to the Ray Channel three hours after high water. Things were definitely going to be tight as we had less than 0.5m when going North through the previous day. As it turned out we had almost 1m to spare and he found the Ray Channel mark and the elusive Ray Middle fairway mark.

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He didn't see this on the way North even though we must have been within 0.5 nm of it. As it turned out the chartlet available from East Coast rivers was spot on and the channel has moved almost a mile towards the coast since my first passage through it in 2009.

Back in the Crouch we sailed back to Bridgemarsh and going through Burnham moorings we passed Lady Mary of Woodbridge.

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and Ming Ming II in all of her battle ship grey glory!

All in all a very pleasant couple of days when it was warm and sunny. A whole season without a serious grounding, what a result!

Winter maintenance

Signs of sensibility, the weather was so bad and winds very strong during October so I was left in the water until November. Since being out of the water I have only had one visit from my illustrious owner and then he broke more than he fixed! After loosing all of the draw strings and a cable in the mast he then went on to snap the furling foresail foil!! The aim this winter is to replace the rigging and add a combined anchor and try-colour mast head light. New rigging has been made up against the old rig by Aladdins Cave in Burlesdon for a very good pice and very quickly. Also this winter, self steering mark II is well underway along with a new rudder. The steering performance has always been a bit iffy when trying to tack, especially when reefed. To try and counteract this a larger wetted area foil is being made out of marine ply with a cloth and epoxy coating. The new rudder will have a better tab than the old rudder and the self steering will be based on a horizontal pivoted vane with cable control to the tab. Pictures to follow in the projects section in due course.