May Cruise - conclusions

Overall, this was a very successful first week aboard and bodes well for the future. There were a number of problems and one or two embarrassing incidents but nobody fell in, no significant damage was done (other than to the genoa) and nobody got hurt.

Sailing

On the positive side, in good conditions she sails very well indeed making excellent progress on all points of sailing. Much of the time she will sail virtually hands off - the helm can dive down below to grab a camera or briefly check the chart and she'll stay pretty much on course for half a minute or more.

She will also heave too quite well as we found in the outer Blackwater estuary when we hove to to empty the loo over the side. Put her through a tack without letting go the genoa sheet and she settles down with the genoa taken aback against the windward shrouds.

However, in light airs tacking is a major nuisance due to the genoa constantly hanging up on the shrouds. Further thought will have to be given to this over the future weeks and months.

In a strong breeze and steep chop she struggles to make significant progress to windward. It can be done but it is very slow going. To some extent, I think practice will improve things but I doubt if it will ever be anything other than an outright slog trying to make progress in conditions such as we faced on Thursday afternoon. It is all very well to be romantic about things and want to do as much as possible under sail but there comes a point where reality intrudes and even the most ardent sailor reaches for the engine starter!

On the final day of sailing, I finally persuaded the main to hoist all the way to the top of the track. A combination of easing up through usage and developing technique also saw genoa furling and unfurling happening a lot cleaner. A track stop in the bottom of the mainsal luff groove is a necessity and will be ordered p.d.q.

Catching the genoa on the spreader was unfortunate. Hopefully I can repair it myself, if not then hopefully a professional repair will not be too expensive - it's a relatively short length of stiching needs redoing that's all.

I have now found both spreader boots and we need to see if we can get them fitted with the mast up at the same time as AB Mark is up the mast retrieving the topping lift. We'll need some white marine or self amalgamating tape to tape them on but once fitted they should prevent the same problem arising again.

Under power

Engine reliabilty is an issue which must be resolved one way or another. I am reasonably confident of a diagnosis of plug fouling as we had similar problems with the 2 stroke o/b on Arcturus many years ago. I shall order up some proper outboard 2stroke oil although we'll have to run through the full tank of existing fuel before we can use it. If that does not resolve the problem we will try hotter spark plugs.

If the problem persists, we will have to consider replacing the engine with a more reliable unit. However, that is out of the question financially this year.

She is not keen to go backwards! Critically, reverse cannot be relied on as an effective brake. She will take off like a rocket if given a big handful of throttle in ahead and then just keep right on going even with full throttle astern. Whilst no surprise (it's to be expected given the outboard setup and underwater shape) it has definite embarrassment potential.

Crew Matters

Jane felt queasy on both Tuesday and Wednesday in relatively benign conditions - we concluded this was due to a combination of feeling cold and doing things down in the cabin (such as rolling cigarettes or reading a magazine). Once she felt queasy taking a Kwells did not help. On the second occasion she climbed into her sleeping bag and dozed off and felt much better later as a result.

Before setting out on Thursday, expecting rougher conditions, we both took a Kwells as a precaution. Neither of us felt queasy or sick all day despite being beaten up later on coming in to the Crouch. Jane had also wrapped up warmer and didn't get cold. Whether the Kwells were necessary or effective we'll never know but better safe than sorry.

Jane struggled to steer at all on the couple of occasions she tried to do so. It later dawned on us that she just cannot see a thing over the sprayhood - it's right in her eyeline! We'll try again next time with the sprayhood folded down.

Navigation

By and large, the navigation went well. In so far as we got to where we wanted to be in one piece and didn't run aground or hit anything it could be said to have gone very well. However there were one or two narrow squeaks.

We nearly hit the Colne Spit buoy due to complacency about the forward lookout. Visibiluty through and over the sprayhood is limited and it is essential to regularly look around the sides and get a clear picture of what is ahead.

We came too close for comfort to running aground on the Swallowtail bank in potentially dangerous conditions due to a combination of poor planning and a lack of situational awareness. Had we not fitted the new depth sounder and instead relied purely on navigation to keep us off the sand and mud we would have been in trouble. We might have scraped over but I'm by no means sure we would have. On the positive side, having realised we had strayed into dangerously shoal water, the correct action, to reverse course and backtrack into the deeper channel, came straight to mind and was successfully executed.

Sail v. Motor

The fact is that there was little point in hanging grimly on to the sails last Thursday once we'd crossed The Spitway. It was worth doing to find out how she'd go but now we know - she won't go well in those conditions. In future, I would be planning on getting the sails in and hitting the motor as soon as we rounded the Swin Spitway buoy. In better conditions, she will likely as not beat up the Whitaker with a fair tide but not with that strong Sou'Westerly and the wind over the tide.

It might have been worth trying to come up channel against the last of the ebb rather than with the flood. It sounds counter-intuitive but although we'd have faced a foul tide the seas would probably have been flatter as the tide would have been running with instead of against the wind. We'd have been fighting an adverse 1knot or so current but potentially might have made a better VMG overall. Could be worth a try faced with the same circunstances in future.

Below Decks
After anchoring, we found that the cabin carpet had a large damp patch extending forward to the heads bulkhead (the resulting stain after it dried can be seen in the later photos of the cabin). We are not sure what caused this - there were no signs of water incursion anyway above cabin sole level that we could find. We suspect there is dirty standing water in the forward bilges (which are covered by carpet and vinyl and not easily accessed) which had come up through the floor when we were pitching heavily in the choppy conditions.

The carpet needs to be replaced with a more durable flooring incorporating easy access to the bilge spaces. As the bilges are separated into several unconnected compartments it is vital that we routinely check them and sponge out any acculating water. Practicalities aside, the carpet is grotty and hard to clean anyway.

After the marathon tidying and organising session on Saturday, life down below was vastly improved. It is now important that we keep it that way. There is, although some further refinements are likely, now a place for everything and everything in its place. In due course, a stowage plan will be produced.

Each crew member has a personal small kit space in the shelf either above or in the front face of their berth. There are two lockers for stowing clothes under the forward berths. Two crew can bring one of our large holdalls (or an equivalent bag) each - because of the ease with which the holdalls can be accessed whilst in the locker I would suggest that they are preferable to rucksacks or other types of bag. Crew can always repack their kit from their travelling bag into a holdall on arrival at the boat.

With three or more aboard (and four is the realistic limit for anything other than a mid-summer overnight pub session at the Ferry Boat, any more aboard would really limit us to a day sail) the kit locker space will have to be shared either with two smaller bags or two crew sharing one holdall. As trips with larger crews are likely to be shorter anyway this should not be an issue.

Sleeping bags are rolled up and stuffed up the end of the berth at all times when not in use. Likewise blankets. Pillows (one per crew member max.) follow them. We will, when funds allow, obtain some cushions for the seats which will also be usable under a pillow for those of us who like two, or in my case three, pillows.

Catering

The stove works very well indeed. Meths consumption is not astronomical - we used less than 5 litres I'd estimate (the tanks are fairly full on completion of the trip) - but at DIY store prices that's still not cheap. I shall look into bulk buying the meths on-line.

Tinned food such as curries, stews, etc. work really well and the boil-in-the-bag rice was excellent. The double skillet has yet to be fully exploited but it made lovely toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch one day!

Tin opening needs to be improved. None of the three tin openers on board was any use at all. Ring pull tins are preferable whenever possible but we need to be able to get the lid off conventional tins so a decent opener that actually works would be nice.

The cool bag we dug out of our loft is perfect in the cool locker. Two bottles of frozen milk kept until mid-week and, although some sausages went off, the bacon stayed good right through until Saturday when we ate the last of it for breakfast. Cheese and margerine likewise stayed cool and nice even though temperatures were well into the 20s at times, especially below decks.

General

There is much to be done improving the boat as and when funds allow.

We have also yet to put together and practice safety drills such as fire drill, man overboard drill, casualty recovery etc.

I would probably not embark on another ambitious excursion to the Blackwater or beyond with Jane as crew for a while. It was worthwhile this time but Jane needs practice at steering and sail trimming which she will not get on long legs on the same course.

I would also be leery, for now at least, about venturing out of the Crouch if there was anything even vaguely hinting at wind force 4 or above in the weather outlook. It can be done and no doubt in the future will be done but for this year we'd be better off keeping it somewhat less adventurous until we've really got our act together ... and until we've got our safety procedures fully in place and kit such as safety lines installed (I really would NOT have liked to have to go on deck without a safety line on Thursday afternoon)

Here's to more sailing ... preferably sooner rather than later!