Three Years of Sun, Sea, Sand and ...

... ahem! Stop RIGHT there I think!

Well there was some sun although nowhere near as much as we'd have liked. The sea was to be found in abundance. The sand turned out to be mostly mud. The rest I shall leave to your imagination.

In the yard at Woodbridge where we purchased her

We purchased Brigantia on a bleak day in January 2011 and in the March we gathered at the yard in Woodbridge to get her ready be be moved and launched. The move, by road, and launch took place at the beginning of April

Right away we had problems with the engine which would persist throughout the year. That aside all went well that weekend and a fortnight later we reconvended on board for a long weekend of fitting out. That too went well and cuminated in Rik and I taking Brigantia for her first sail up and down the river. We were delighted to find that she sailed well and we even managed (by a fluke) to sail her back onto her mooring without starting the engine at all.

Launching for the first time at Fambridge in the Spring of 2011

On the pontoon at Fambridge

Jane and I had a week aboard that May although variable winds and engine problems (again) meant we didn't get too ambitious. We did visit Brightlingsea, where the engine failed, and Bradwell, where the wind took control and blew us sideways into the pontoons! We had some issues with the genoa setup, later resolved, and spent a night at anchor in the Roach after being beaten up by the classic wind over tide chop in the Whitaker Channel. A great learning experience!

The end of the month and into June saw persistent high winds and led to the cancellation of a planned weekend on board. There really was no point in travelling down as conditions on board would have been unpleasant to say the least. So it was mid-June before we headed down to Fambridge with Mark and Heather. We pottered downriver and pottered back again, nowt too ambitious.

Drying out to scrub the bottom

Back end of June I spend an unusual solo weekend on board, something I haven't done in the three years since at all. It was all about maintenance, I didn't actually go anywhere but I did dry her out on the slip, give the bottom a scrub (the cheap anti-foul was not working well) and manage to snag the topping lift with several boathooks tied together (it having come adrift on our first cruise in May).

Jane at the helm

In no short order, Jane and I were down at the beginning of July for a long weekend on board. We'd hoped to get a bit further afield but gave up trying to get down the Whitaker in the teeth of the wind and spent the first night at anchor round in the Roach again. More engine problems on the Sunday curtailed the trip and we returned to Fambridge to spend Monday trying to fettle the damn thing.

I stripped the fuel system down, dismantled the carb, cleaned everything out and it seemed to be running much better. We also sorted out a better spot on the tender dock with Toby after somebody nicked our existing hole whilst we were using the tender!

August was a no-go month due to other demands on our time and then in September Rik and I attempted our first cruise as a crew. The weather was not kind at all and we spent five days stuck at Fambridge before finally getting underway on the Wednesday afternoon.

Skipper Bru

A night at anchor in the Roach was followed by a mixed bag of sailing and motoring to end the day at anchor off Stone Point in the Walton Backwaters. With the forecast deteriorating for the weekend, it was unfortunately a case of heading straight back to the Crouch first thing the next morning. We lazed around on Saturday and went home on Sunday.

Mate Rik

Bit of a bust from the sailing point of view but we did get quite a lot of useful work done on the boat.

We covered 86 miles (of the nautical variety) in 26 hours and 3 minutes at an average speed of 3.3 knots. We motored for 6 hours and 23 minutes.

At anchor in the River Roach

Back end of that same September and Glen and I were on board for a weekend. We travelled down on the Friday and then motored downriver on a very foggy Saturday morning. An excursion up the Roach beyond Paglesham culminated with a stunning night at anchor just downstream of the entrance to Paglesham Pool. Glorious starscape in the clear dark skies above complimented by the most astonishing display of phosporesence in the river! Sunday saw us heading back to base and then heading back home.

We covered 22.3NM in 7:40 at an average of 2.9kts on Saturday although 5:41 of that was motoring uunfortunately. On Sunday we covered 10.53NM in 2:52 averaging 3.7kts all under motor.

Jane hurt her back at work that autumn which effectively put paid to the season although we managed a static weekend on board in late October and I had an uncomfortable overnight trip on my own to measure up the outboard well in December.

And so ended 2011.

It had been a good albeit at times frustrating first year of our new adventures afloat.

We'd been to Brightlingsea, Bradwell, Paglesham (although we didnt go ashore), the Walton Backwaters and made significant progress learning how to handle the boat.

The weather though had been fairly rubbish all year, we'd coped but we hadn't had a single day of what you'd call nice weather. It had always been chilly, windy, damp or a combination thereof.

and so to 2012 ...

The year started with a big outlay - the purchase of a new 6hp 4 stroke Suzuki outboard. It definitely put a dent in the bank balance but we despertely needed a reliable, more economical and quieter engine. Well two out of three ain't bad since it turned out to be rather noiser than we'd hoped!

The new outboard

The first weekend in March saw Rik and I on board on Thursday evening and off to pick up the new engine on Friday morning. By the afternoon it was in the hole although some work still needed doing to the mounts.

Saturday, and with extra hands on deck in the shape of Glen and Mark, we dropped the mast, replaced all the blocks, rigging and the VHF ariel (running the cable down inside the mast instead of down the backstay as it had been) and made much progress on the engine well modifications.

Refurbished masthead

We got the mast back up in a hurry on the Sunday morning as the forecast for later in the day was not good! Glen and Mark departed after lunch whilst Rik and I had an uncomfortable night on board and an even less comfortable day on the Monday being bounced around all over the place in a howling gale. Tuesday saw Rik perform wonders of carpentry in the engine well to finish the installation despite the boat bouncing around like a very bouncy thing and then we went home!

Some of the new running rigging

Glen and I headed down for the weekend mid-March with a box full of new string and spent the wekend replacing all of the running rigging.

Mid-April and I was crew on Sabre, a Moody owned by Rog Smith, from Bradwell to Shotley arriving, excitingly, in the dark. A social evening with the denizens of the East Coast Forum ensued followed by the return trip to Bradwell on the Sunday.

The old engine was sold on via the YBW For Sale forum and then the weather got in the way again. Plans to dry out on the slip to scrub and anti-foul were scuppered by high winds and with the whole summer season at risk we had no option but to get her hoisted out for a week thus blowing everything we'd saved by staying in the water over the winter.

Paul under close supervision from Toby and Bru!

Drilling a hole (to let the water out?)

Early May saw Rik and I on board but on dry land. We anti-fouled the hull, fitted the log impeller and ticked off a fair list of other jobs over four days despite Rik being a little under the weather.

Unfortunately, it was mid-June before Jane and I could next head to the boat. After travelling down on the Friday, Saturday was a shopping trip for foul weather gear for Jane and a new VHF for the boat. Sunday was a day of pottering around doing odd jobs.

Relaunch Spring 2012

Monday saw us back in the water at last and by Tuesday, after throwing a lot of money at the faulty depth sounder, we were back in commission. The depth sounder was annoying as it was only a year old but it was either spend the money to replace it today and be able to go sailing or send it away under warranty and scrap the rest of the week. We chose to spend the money!

We spent Tuesday night at anchor in the Yokesfleet off the River Roach and then headed into Burnham Yacht Harbour on Wednesday. Thursday saw us back at Fambridge - last of the big adventurers or what?! No, unfortuntely poor weather was once again in the offing so we resigned ourselves to going back into maintenance mode.

Friday morning saw the installation of our new tiller pilot completed before we jumped ship and went off for a drive to visit the antiques centres at Battlesbridge. Conditions on board were untenable in high winds with the

tide in but they did settle down later.

Saturday was more of the same so we called it a day and headed home.

Early July saw Jane and I on board again for the weekend and another visit to Burnham Yacht Harbour to dine with friends aboard their yacht and then the back end of the month saw the first of our two epic adventures to distant lands ...

The 2012 Summer Cruise

At anchor in Abrahams Bosum on the River Ore

It's hell out there!

Rik introduces helmsman George

Royal Nofolk & Suffolk Yacht Club

The deliberately optimistic passage plan called for a flat out mad dash Northwards which might even have seen us reach the distant wild lands of Co. Durham and a visit to the town (now city) of my birth. Realistically, we hoped to reach as far North as Scarborough or failing that the North Norfolk coast.

The first crimp in our plans was the loss of our third hand. No, he didn't drown or get keel hauled, he had to work and cried off the trip. Then the weather intervened. Rik and I did mighty well, I reckon, to sail to Lowestoft in two days via a night at anchor on the River Ore (although we did spend some of the night on the mud at a hell of an angle after we swung onto a shallow patch!)

The plan to sail overnight from Lowestoft to Blakeney went awry in the wee small hours when the weather turned foul and we had to retrace our steps all the way back to Lowestoft. Technically we made it as far as North Norfolk I guess but we didn't set foot on it or even see much of it!

Southwold

St. Peters on the Wall

Motoring

The rest of the fortnight was spent gently idling our way back South including four days stuck in Southwold, having made a dicey entry into the harbour following a failed attempt to get back South (it was Southwold or back to Lowestoft again).

It wasn't quite the epic adventure we planned but actually it turned out to be a really enjoyable trip!

We visited Lowestoft, Southwold, the River Ore, Levington and Bradwell (including a walk up to St. Peters Chapel). We covered 323.1NM in 83:09 inclding 8:34 at night and 33:21 under motor.

The beginning of September saw another family weekend of going nowhere and doing nothing much and then the weather put the mockers on our planned long weekend later that month.October saw Glen and I on board for a day of drifting and motoring and a day of fixing and fettling then a fortnight later Jane and I were down for a weekend visit to Burnham Yacht Harbour and a meal in the Swallowtail with friends from the East Coast Forum.

To round off a busy month, the last weekend of October saw Tony and I making an overnight visit to lay her up for the winter after she'd been craned out into the yard the previous week. On the way home we dropped the engine in to Seamark Nunn for servicing and winter storage.

And thus ended 2012.

We squeezed in 10 trips to the boat, I spent 40 nights on board whilst Jane spend just 11 nights on the boat. We covered just over 400 miles, 321 of them during the summer cruise, at an average speed of 3.9 knots. The split between sailing and motoring was roughly 60/40

All in all not a bad result given the mixed weather.

And on to 2013 ...

Well almost. In fact 2012 wasn't quite done yet as the Bosun (Glen) and I made a brief visit at the back end of December to measure up for new sails. The weather being less than clement we didn't stop over and came back home the same day.

The beginning of 2013 was expensive to put it mildly. After some over-winter debate about possiby changing to a bigger boat we'd decided to stick with Brigantia for several years (a decision that wouldn't last out the season) and so that led to the decision to buy new sails and various other items of equipment etc. The bill went well into four figures!

Ho hum, early March saw all the boxes and bags loaded into two cars - there were too many to get into one - and the maintenance team of myself, Rik and Glen convening at Fambridge over the weekend. Despite poor weather, much progess was made before Glen departed homewards on the Sunday but Monday was a dead loss - at midday it was still well below freezing and conditions on board were horrible. We jumped ship a day early and gave up.

What had originally been planned as a full week was now split into two with a visit to the Status Quo Frantic Four (the original 1970's lineup) reunion gig at Wolverhampton.

With that out of the way, Jane and I returned to the boat on the Thursday and spent the weekend fitting new carpet to the cabin and lining out the heads with wood effect vinyl. Neither job went quite as well as I might have wished but the overall effect was definitely an improvement

Mid-April and the Bosun and I spent a quick and dirty weekend in the yard slapping on a couple of coats of decent anti-foul. Enough of the cheap stuff that doesn't work, it was on with the Jotun Seaqueen which everyone who's in the know recommends.

The back end of April saw Mark and I on board and Brigantia back in the water. The weekend went well with the new sails bent on and looking great and everything ready and ship shape for our third season of sailing.

and then it was the big event of 2013 ...


Small Boat to Chichester

Ramsgate at night

I wouldn't have admitted it at the time but quite a lot was riding on this trip. We'd failed to get anywhere as far afield as I'd wanted to in 2012 and the year had really been a bit of a washout. If 2013 went as badly it would raise questions about the future and given how much we'd spent fitting out for this season that was not to be contemplated!

I needn't have worried! We had a storming sail along the South Coast reaching Hayling Island in just four days with stops at Ramsgate, Dover and Eastbourne. A couple of days in Chichester Marina and then it was a more gentle run back again adding Brighton to the ports list and a two day stopover in Dover.


The weather wasn't perfect it's true - it was unseasonably chilly most of the fortnight - but we didn't lose any days to bad weather (although we should have stayed put on the day we moved from Chi to Hayling Island on the way back, that was a bit extreme!)

We covered 357.5NM at an average speed of 4.1kts in 87:17 of which 39:03 was under motor

A bit less motoring would have been nice but the leg to and from Ramsgage to Fambridge accounted for a lot of that as we had to motor most of it both ways due to lack of wind.

A fantastic, if somewhat tiring, trip. Tiring, I felt, because of the rather chilly weather and the lack of space on board when spending a lot of time at sea three up.

There was a hiatus now until Jane and I headed down for a long weekend. A senior moment led to my leaving the boat keys at home which meant either a round trip of nearly five hours to fetch them (which simply wasn't on) or a trip to the nearest camping store to buy a toy inflatable in order to get out to the boat on her mooring

Tollesbury marina and saltings

Luckily, you see, I had a key to the cabin on my car keys as well but without the boat keys we could't unlock the padlock on the tender. A Sevylor inflatable canoe was duly procured, a bit expensive but all they had, and it did the job adequately.

Saturday morning saw us dive into Burnham briefly to purchase an additional lifejacket having discovered that another piece of idiocy on my part had left us with just one on board and the rest at home. I wasn't prepared to chance my arm heading out in the estuary without a lifejacket for every crew member so it was a case of pick up the cheapest one they had in the chandlery. That jacket will live in the storage compartment in the boot of the car in future so I'll always have it to hand if needed

Then it was off round the corner to visit Tollesbury. We'd never been there and we'd long wanted to. In company part of the way with another forum boat Miracalee, we duly arrived and took up a berth in the marina. It's a nice spot with a nice club and a nice feel to it.

Yes, it really is a British summer

Miraclee departed on the Sunday whilst we had a nice day in the sunshine and warmth, yes warmth, exploring the village and surrounding area on foot.

Monday saw us beating back into the Crouch as is so often the case and encountering a vertiable fleet of Police boats! Back home on Tuesday morning after the best weekend we've had yet!

Sailing was now interupted by our annual excursion to the IWA National Waterways Festival, this year in Watford, where for years now we've provided the PA, lighting and stage crew for the entertainment venues at the event.

Our summer cruise in August started off a bit windy so Sunday saw us having reached the epic desintation of ... Burnham on Crouch (again!). For the first time though we had a good explore down into the town. Monday saw us stay put before a slightly bouncy run around to pay a second visit to Tollesbury on Tuesday.

We wanted to go back as we had been considering a move to the moorings on Tollesbury Saltings. This would be slightly cheaper than our swinging mooring with the benefit of walk ashore access. However. the significant downside would be only being able to get on and off the moorings an hour or two either side of high water. Ultimately, we decided against it for now but who knows in the future?

As we had planned for this trip, Wednesday was spent at our leisure in port. It would turn out to be a very expensive day! For want of something better to do, we decided to do some tyre kicking in the boat sales area and have a look at a couple of boats that might be of interest in the long term. We had no intention of buying any of them. Ahem!

Thursday saw us heading up the Wallet to Shotley being chased by "Apogee" and beaten to the lock at Shotley by "Sirenia" (both ECF forum boats). After eating on board, all three crews repaired to the Shipwreck for beer and banter.

After a day in port on Friday, a run up the Orwell on Saturday took us to Fox's marina where we had a look over our friend Lisa's new ship (it's too big to be a boat!) and a good meal followed by some singing of songs in the marina bar that evening.

In amongst all this much discussion and thought had been going on about "Erbas", the Sabre 27 that Jane had fallen in love with and that I had to admit to quite liking too! By now we'd made up our minds to push the (ahem) boat out and try and buy her come what may.

So given our schedule and the need to do a deal, Sunday saw a mad dash all the way back from the upper reaches of the Orwell at Ipswich to Fambridge. It started off with no wind at all and ended up with far too much of it and for only the second time on board Brigantia there was a period when I really wished I was somewhere else. Never mind, the job was done.

Monday saw us back at Tollesbury by car to negotiate the purchase of "Erbas" before heading home on Tuesday

After weeks of paperwork, organising surveys, sorting out insurance, kicking the bank up the bottom over delays on the loan and so on, finally in early September Jane and I drove down to Essex and after a night on board Brigantia drove up to Tollesbury to sign the paperwork and pick up the keys to Erbas. A visit to the now former owner Nic up in the village filled the boot of the car with lots of extra gear and bits belonging to the boat and then it was back to Fambridge and the pub!

Two weeks later and Glen and I were at Tollesbury for a short weekend patching the antifoul where it had been scraped off for the survey, sorting out lockers and generally making sure everything was OK for the launch.

Now my focus was all about trying to sell Brigantia. I'd advertised her on Apolloduck and what have you but there hadn't been so much as a sniff of interest. So onto Ebay she went with a low reserve. After an initial flurry of interest things went quiet and she was well short of the reserve with barely a day to go when I had a cash offer for her from somebody based in Tollesbury

The offer wasn't great but it was just enough and the deal was duly done. I guessed from the outset that the buyer was intending to make a profit by selling her on but that wasn't any concern of mine - some money in the bank and getting shot of what could rapidly become an expensive liability suited me just fine!

At the begining of October, we moved Erbas from Tollesbury to Bradwell to escape the tidal clutches of Woodrolfe Creek and the following day Rik and I embarked on the final cruise of the good ship Brigantia taking her from Fambridge to Tollesbury to hand her over to her new owner.

Conclusions ...

Well to be honest I can't be bothered to properly crunch the numbers! Over the three years we covered all told maybe 800 or 900 miles or so and spent the equivalent of nearly five months on board (or at least I did, Jane rather less). I might get around to working out more detailed stats at some point but don't hold your breath!

We visited a lot of new places and found out what we like and what we don't like (and thus can plan better in future). From Lowestoft in the North to Chichester in the South wasn't bad going although I'd have liked to have made the trip to Norfolk that we so narrowly missed out on in 2012

We spent too much money on Brigantia, especially at the beginning of 2013 but overall the costs spread over three years have not been ridiculous. Had we spent the roughly £3k a year on luxury package holidays abroad nobody would have batted an eyelid.

Small boats are all very well and good, and there are many things to be said in their favour, but the reality is that as it turned out a boat the size of Brigantia offered very few advantages for us (and I emphasis for us) over a boat the size of Erbas. Even costs don't rise significantly (although they would rise rapidly if we went much bigger again)

Brigantia turned us into sailors and taught us what we needed to know to make the right decision on our next boat. The latest news is that she's off to inland pastures on Rutland Water and we wish her and her new owner all the best for the future

Brigantia

Come on over ...

... to sverbas.blogspot.co.uk if you want to continue following our adventures aboard our new boat

The final voyage

Glen dropped Rik and I off at Fambridge bright and early. Well it wasn't that bright and in hindsight it wasn't that early either!

We launched the tender, scrambled aboard and loaded up our kit for the day. With the last of the ebb under us it was an easy paddle down to Brigantia.

On board, we checked fuel and water. Plenty of the former, not enough of the latter. Tying the tender to our buoy, we nipped onto the pontoon for five minutes to top up the water.

Off we went under power. Not so much as a breath of wind. So much for the F4 that was supposed to greet the day. We made good time down towards Burnham and started to get a bit of a breeze from the North West which filed the genoa and gave us a bit of extra get up and go.

However, the somewhat late start was now choosing us dear with the tide flooding hard nigh on halving our speed over the ground. Sausage butties went down very well at this point!

Out towards the Ray Sand buoy we crawled eventually turning North towards the Blackwater. With the main now up and a working breeze we were able to get her close hauled on the Port tack and just lay a course up the edge of the flats outside the old beacons.

Off with the engine for an hour. Ah, blessed silence! It wasn't to last however as our E.T.A. at Tollesbury was well adrift of what it needed to be.

Back on with the noise machine and a phone call to the chap whose bought her for some local advice about getting in well after high water. He was out and about in his dinghy so came out to pilot us in. I'd never have followed the line up the creek he showed us without his guidance but it definitely kept us in the slacker water

After a slight bit of confusion over which side of the pontoon we needed to be, we docked Brigantia and set about removing all our kit. We'd brought every kit bag we've got with us and on the sail up we'd taken turns to go through every locker. Despite having thought we'd removed most of the stuff already, we found loads more!

The deal was now done. Paperwork signed, payment confirmed. Brigantia is under new ownership and good luck and good sailing.

If you've enjoyed reading about our adventures on board Brigantia, come and join us aboard S.V. Erbas at www.sverbas.blogspot.co.uk

The End (which is just a new beginning!)

It's not looking any better! Provisional plan emerging ...

For once, all the different forecast sources are singing the same tune - it's going to be flippin' windy Thursday and Friday

At the moment, Saturday and Sunday look to be the only two days during our time in Essex when moving Brigantia to her new home is feasible. And unless we want to embark upon an early test of the sea-keeping abilities of Erbas, the weekend is the best bet for the move from the Blackwater to the Crouch

At the moment, it looks like a buggers muddle whichever way I try and organise it in my head

Whether we go for the Brigantia move on Saturday or Sunday, it looks like we've have a Westerly or Sou-Westerly F4 so it's a run down to the Spitway and a beat all the way back to Tollesbury. Yeah right, top up the tanks and hit the throttle once we're heading West methinks! A "slight" sea state is a misnomer really as we're talking about 0.5m to 1.0m waves and being in the estuary they'll be short and steep.

OK, so that's do-able if not ideal, no problem. But the trouble is how to get the right boats in the right place with the right people at the right time! It is giving me brain ache!!

Starting on the assumption that Plan A (moving Brigantia first) has gone out of the window, we have the whole crew and two cars at Tollesbury aboard Erbas by Thursday afternoon with Brigantia home alone at Fambridge.

Friday brings us Sou-Westerly F4 gusting F6 with a slight sea state, by Saturday that's settled down to F3/F4 and veering into the West although the sea state remains pretty much unchanged. Sunday it backs a bit to WSW and cranks up the gusts a notch and then apart from swinging around between WNW and WSW it stays pretty much with the F4 gusting F5 or occasionally F6 throughout the early part of next week.

On the basis of that, we really need to be getting the two boats on the right rivers over the weekend. Saturday looks by far and away the best day weather wise for the Brigantia move which means Erbas either moves out of Tollesbury on Friday or Sunday

If we get the hell out of Dodge on Friday, we should be able to thrash our way out of Tollesbury a good hour before HW (two would be even better) and provided we keep the hammer down we can make it to Fambridge sometime between sunset and dusk - and I wouldn't be too worried if it was after dark anyway

That puts Erbas where she needs to be and the whole crew at Fambridge - we'll have to do a car shuffle on Thursday anyway.

We'll then have to make a pre-dawn start on Saturday morning leaving Fambridge on Brigantia no later than 05:00. That should see us at Tollesbury an hour before HW, in other words with an hour in hand. Due to the quirks of the tides, leaving Fambridge an hour later costs us dearly flogging the proverbial dead donkey and we'd be nigh on three hours longer on the trip. Actually, an 04:00 or 04:30 start would be even better.

Sunday would be a slightly better day from the timings point of view as we could leave three quarters of an hour later but then Monday onwards starts to look iffy again. Given the massive inconvenience, not to mention potential costs, of ending up with one or both of the boats in the wrong place at the end of the exercise, I'd prefer to keep Sunday in my back pocket as a fall back if things go awry.

One thing I will not do, under any circumstances, is push the envelope and take risks. We established some considerable time ago that a Strong Wind Warning from either the Met Office or whichever flavour of GFS based forecasting service is flavour of the month is a no go for Brigantia.

That's F6 - F7, a Gale Warning kicks in at F8. This position might change with Erbas as she's bigger, faster, heavier and kitted up for severe weather although whether the crew would weather the storm is another matter!

It's not looking too clever ...

The plan is that our last ever excursion aboard Brigantia should be to drop downriver on Wednesday afternoon, drop the hook for the night in the Brankfleet and then leave at stupid-o-clock o Thursday morning to make it into Tollesbury by midday

However, it looks like the weather gods might have other ideas ...

For starters, a South Easterly 5 gusting 6 isn't an attractive proposition overnight in an anchorage that is aligned North - South

As if that wasn't bad enough, the morning brings us SE 6 gusting 7 and that really is "no go" territory.

Life would be distinctly unpleasant if not downright dangerous once the Maplin Sands covered and even worse as we approached the Spitway and exposure to the full fetch across the Middle Deep

Nope, if that forecast doesn't moderate in the next 48 hours we'll have to contemplate a plan 'B'

Brigantia is sold!

By private treaty as they say in the property world.

She's going to a chap up Tollesbury way for a knock down bargain basement price but hey ho, at least she's going. And the knock down bargain basement price doesn't seem quite so low when you add what brokerage fees, lift out charges, yard storage charges etc. would have come to if we hadn't sold her by Wednesday next!

The reality is that the current market is awash (aha, a nautical pun ... almost) with small yachts and the advantage is all with the buyer. There's Leisure 23's and Westerly Pageants and the like with full standing headroom to be had for the sort of money I'd ideally like to have sold Brigantia for (which is also half what they were fetching two or three years ago). OK, Brigantia will sail rings around them but that's not a major selling point at this, or really any other, end of the market.

If I were stupid enough to actually add up everything we've spent over the three years we've owned Brigantia and then divide that total by 3, the resulting cost per annum would be less than the cost of a two week flotilla holiday in the Med and substantially less than a fortnights charter in the Caribbean

Whilst the weather might be slightly better (!), basically for as much or more, perhaps a lot more money, we could have had a mere 14 days sailing per annum on a charter yacht. Instead, we've had anything up to 60 plus days aboard our own little boat.

In effect, the money with which my palm is about to be crossed is a bonus which will go straight into the Erbas improvement fund (yes, even on Erbas we can find room for improvement! It's not easy finding things to do but there are some)

No regrets

Brigantia is on Ebay!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm//321214851477

Low starting price, low reserve!

It's not that we're trying to get rid of her in a hurry or anything ...  but we'd like to get rid of her in a hurry!

Seriously, owning two boats is not good for the budget! And boats that aren't used don't get better all by themselves, quite the opposite. The sooner Brigantia finds new owners who'll enjoy her and look after her the better

Erbas prep weekend - day 2

I really must find the time to move the blog over to the new version for the new boat but sufficient unto the day thereof ..

I forgot to mention one job we did yesterday which was fixing the mainsheet traveller. In a nutshell, it didn't travel very well. After much head scratching we concluded that the string was too short resulting in too much tension. An unusually cheap visit to the on site chandlery for a new bit of string and hey presto

On to today ...

The most urgent task was tackled first - a generous coat of anti-foul on the patches scraped back for the survey.

That done, we attempted to obtain breakfast but there was no sign of life at the cafe even though it was the advertised opening time. Never mind, we'd have a pint and a sarnie later

Next job involved plastering the prop with PropGuard, a wax based anti-foul that has to be melted in boiling water then brushed on quick before it sets. Messy job!

We moved on to the rather less messy but a good deal more puzzling task of investigating some oddities on the electrics. For some reason, the NMEA output from the Seatalk - NMEA interface had been disconnected from the chart plotter.

(For those who don't know the technology, the instrumentation, depth, speed, wind and compass, is connected to the sensors and to the interface with a proprietary bus called Seatalk. The plotter, however, uses the industry standard NMEA connections. The interface connects one to the other)

Without this connection, the chart plotter cannot display the data from the instrument sensors. We wired it back up and bingo, it ask worked properly.

We then investigated the sink waste plumbing which is a bit odd. Having to go to the v-berth to press a button to operate the pump which empties the gallery sink at the other end of the boat seems a bit awkward to say the least. In its favour, it works but it's begging for improvement!

It being lunch time we headed to the club, ordered a pint and enquired about the prospects of a sandwich or two. We were, as you can imagine, delighted to learn that we'd have to wait an hour and a half and then we could have a carvery sandwich. We settled for a packet of crisps each!

Back aboard, we chucked our kit plus some stuff too go into storage into the car ready for the off. Then we checked the sea cocks were definitely all closed before locking up and leaving.

Stuck my head round the door of the office to say tara, which in hindsight might have been a mistake. The harbor master seems awfully keen to get us in the water as soon as and, of course, start charging us visitor berthing rates. As we've paid until the 6th of October for yard storage I'm not happy about that. Shall have to ring the boss man tomorrow and clarify matters.

We hit the road good and early and headed up to Fox's in Ipswich to pay a flying visit to Ocean Lady and pick up the anchor that Jim off Fullcircle left with Lisa for us. That done, we did some window shopping and tyre kicking in Fox's chandlery before heading for home

All in all, a very successful weekend. Can't wait to actually go sailing though!

Erbas prep weekend - day 1

The bosun and I departed that fine but annoyingly landlocked county of Northamptonshire at the crack of dawn. Well ok, about half six in the morning actually

A very swift and stress free drive down put us at Tollesbury well before either the cafe out the marina opened their doors. We went over the exterior of the boat identifying the whereabouts of the scraped patches from the survey and the location of inlets and outlets etc

Soon enough it was time to wander up the road to the cafe for a full English then we could finally grab the keys from the marina office and get on board. I should have kept one key when we completed the paperwork (they need a key to check for leaks etc when she's launched). I've done that now!

It being a rather overcast, chilly and slightly damp feeling day, we elected to defer patching the anti-foul until the morrow and set to emptying each and every locker to sort out the contents

The cockpit tent came out of the port aft v-berth locker and into the port cockpit locker (although I'd like to get a bag for it as its currently stowed in the mainsail bag. That move allowed the storm trysail and storm jib the be stowed along with the No.2 jib in the v-berth locker.

The spinnaker takes up all the space in the equivalent starboard locker.

Talking off the No.2 jib, whilst we had out out we removed it from the bag to check the fittings and add I'd hoped it has brass piston hanks confirming that it hoists on the removable inner forestay. That makes it a sail that I reckon might get some use.

The difficult to access aft locker under the quarter berth we declared a black hole into which we “lost" all the stuff that we couldn't figure out a purpose for but which we suspect we might need some day! The forward locker under the berth I'm keeping empty for the time being (I have designs upon it off which more anon)

We retrieved half a dozen good sized fenders from under the cockpit floor three off which, plus a big fat fender acquired by the bosun at the Cutweb canal rally the other weekend, are now stowed in the starboard cockpit locker.

Also in that locker we have the 7.5kg Bruce anchor which has been demoted from Best Bower to Kedge. It's on the chain and warp also retrieved from under the cockpit. The grapnel that was the kedge is now ballast!

A sort out of paint tins on the shelves in the port cockpit locker and a general re-organisation of the contents thereof finished off the jobs for the day.

A bit of a wander passed the time until the club bar opened then we indulged in beer and a very good meal. I was nodding off by nine so we made it an early night. Back aboard I was awake again so we l lit the oil lamps and put the kettle on for coffee with rum in it

We also have the cabin heater a blast. It works very well and soon got turned off again as it was a bit too warm! We will have to be a teeny bit wary of the dreaded CO though with two or three oil lamps, a paraffin heater and a spirit stove all burning away merrily. Oxygen depletion might be an issue too! Plenty of ventilation though

To bed at last. The v-berth is most comfortable for one, we'll see how it goes for two.

Catching up ...

I never did get around to posting anything about last Sunday. In truth, that's because there wasn't a lot to post. Neither Jane nor I felt much like do anything much, the weather was a bit pants and in the end we had a late breakfast round at the Ferry Boat Tender, idly sorted out our gear and put Brigantia on her buoy in good time to make use of the trot boat and save faffing about with the tender before hitting the road home.

This past week has mostly been about paperwork and sleep - a lot of the former and not enough of the latter.

I'm working my way through the reams of documents, files and folders deciding what's important, what's interesting and what's neither. I've also been sent a panoply of CAD drawings, spreadsheets and word processor docs by the previous owner which are definitely important and interesting!

The goal is to sort it all out and put together a slightly less bulky set of ships papers and operating instructions and archive the rest. 

And then there's the shopping. Jim off Full Circle has offered us a couple of dry powder fire extinguishers which saves me buying any. He's also got a nice big Delta anchor copy which he's letting us have on approval sort of thing. That's another few quid saved.

We've placed the inevitable, and doubtless only initial, swindlers ... sorry, chandlers ... order. 

First item on the list being a 500W electric heater which will be left on over the winter on "frost". It's not been a worry with Brigantia since her plumbing was about as simple as you can get unless you don't have any plumbing at all but Erbas is a very different matter. 

Last thing we need is anything freezing up - I'm mindful that we made that mistake many moons ago when Glen first bought Badger and had to get the gas water heater repaired. No gas water heater on Erbas of course but there's complex fresh and hot water systems plus the engine cooling circuit all of which are vulnerable to frost damage if not protected.

The next item on the shopping list caused some significant debate it must be admitted. Partly because it wasn't cheap and mostly because it wasn't strictly necessary. We've got a significant collection of assorted plates, bowls, cups and cutlery on board Brigantia and there's a further collection of such items been left aboard Erbas. 

The problem? None of it matches and it's all higgledy piggledy and my view was that nothing would stamp our personality on the domestic arrangements more emphatically (apart from totally changing the colour scheme for example) than choosing and purchasing a full set of matching tableware

We priced up what we wanted, albeit not with a nautical theme pattern, at the local caravan shop and it wasn't going to work out a hell of a lot cheaper so we went with the one what we wanted in the first place ...

A set of six each of dinner plate, side plate, bowl, mug, tumbler, wine glass, cutlery plus a serving bowl and three serving dishes should do the job!

The serving dishes are possibly a bit pointless but as the set is cheaper than the individual items ordered separately ...

They're melamine, unbreakable (virtually anyway), and dishwasher and microwave proof. Not that we've got a dishwasher or microwave of course!

Hang the expense I say, hang it!

That wasn't quite everything ordered, the remainder of the order being made up of some odds and ends for the engineering department - fuel treatment to combat diesel bug, water system purification stuff and some antifouling grease for the prop (which annoyingly I've got three quarters of a pot of on Brigantia which I meant to put in the car - still, it'll get used up soon enough)

Next mission is next weekend - getting Erbas ready for launch. Can't wait!

Autumn Weekend #1 2013 Day 2

Today was all about Erbas

After breakfast on board, we set off by car to Tollesbury grabbing coffee to go before sitting down in the brokers office to sort out the paperwork.

Apart from the formal bill of sale, we also received a folder full of paperwork going back through several previous owners with bills of sale, the paperwork relating to her transfer from the Part I to the Part III register of shipping, that rare and almost mythical beast a certified C88 VAT form and so on

With the formalities complete, Erbas was officially ours and we took possession of the keys (albeit temporarily as the yard needs them in case we're not around when she's launched)

On board, we did a bit of locker diving and discussed things we need and don't need until we were hailed by the former owner Nic who came aboard with some info and more useful tips about the systems. We arranged to call by his house a little later to pick up some gear from his shed too.

After lunch in the club, we headed up into the village to Nic and Linda's where we collected the gear for lowering and stowing the mast, various tins of paint and a box of what can best be described as useful odds and sods

Over coffee, we perused the various spreadsheets and drawing files on Nic's laptop and decided what would be useful to us before taking our leave and heading back to the boat - the new boat that is!

Back aboard, I gathered together all the files and paperwork to take home to be copied and sorted. We'll need to carry originals of most things on the off chance we're asked to produce them when we venture into continental waters but I want hard and electronic copies of the whole lot safe ashore

As the chandlery and office shuts at four on a Saturday, that curtailed our time aboard on this occasion. We could happily have dozed off in the saloon and stayed the night!

Back we drove to Fambridge via Tesco Maldon for a not very good dinner of tinned stew (shan't buy that brand again) before heading to the pub for beers.

Autumn Weekend #1 2013 Day 1

Originally, this weekend was planned as a sailing weekend with Mark and Heather but the best laid plans and all that!

Firstly, we went and bought another boat! Then Mark and Heather took a rain check so in the end just Jane and I headed down the A14.

The Friday traffic was busier than usual but moving well apart from a bit of a hold up around Chelmsford so we made reasonable time. Kev was chatting to Toby on the pontoon when we arrived and ran me down to the mooring in his dory which saved the effort of digging our tender out

We've travelled light for once so one trolley load was all it took to get our gear aboard. Then it was up to the pub for a meal and some inevitable beer

Got chatting about narrowboats and canals, ships and boats and things. Ended up rather later back on board than we probably intended!

Tomorrow, well today now actually, we drive up to Tollesbury to sign the paperwork and pick up the keys to the new boat.

It's all done bar the paperwork

Finally got the insurance sorted out earlier today after a bit of a fuss over the survey - administrative rather than technical. All sorted after several phone calls happily

That was the penultimate step sorted and made it possible to phone the brokers and transfer the funds to pay for Erbas into their client account

Jane and I are heading down to old Brigantia anyway this weekend so the timing is perfect to pop up to Tollesbury on Saturday and complete the paperwork and get the keys

The spending had started already though! The Bosun has ordered up an FE-36 halon replacement automatic extinguisher for the engine bay from one of his suppliers. It's brand new but has scratches on the casing so it's half price

There will be more to spend for sure!

The antepenultimate step has been taken

Aha! I have a copy of the survey report

All is good ... well ish

The first item of some concern is that Toby found very high moisture levels over the whole of the bottom. This is a bit of a puzzler. There are no signs of any structural problems or delamination though which is good.

I've been giving this some thought and doing some research and I've concluded that it's almost certainly a false indication (to some extent at least) due to the unusually thick layer of epoxy on the hull. "Erbas" was professionally peeled (had the gelcoat removed in other words) and dried out for 18 months before having a whopping eleven, yes eleven, coats of epoxy applied below the waterline in 2000 / 2002

It seems unlikely that she'd have been totally dry even after 18 months so doubtless that process sealed some moisture permanently into the hull where it'll do no harm at all if it hasn't done so already but given that even a coat of antifoul can mess up a moisture meters readings, what is eleven layers of epoxy going to do to it?!

So after due consideration, unless the insurers take fright at it, we're going to take note and do nothing!

We've got a couple of items to sort out - slightly surprised to be advised that there appears to be no split pin or securing grub screw on the propeller nut. Surprised because it's a new propeller fitted this year and the current owner over-engineers everything to the highest standards with nothing left to chance (I guess on submarines you don't get to call out the RNLI for a tow home when it goes pear shaped!). So we'll have to have a look at that and do something about it - shouldn't be too much of a problem to drill a hole and fit a split pin.

We knew the fire extinguishers on board were a bit dated so that came as no surprise. I'm also no fan of dry powder and the automatic in the engine bay will get swapped for a halon substitute automatic. The engine and ancillary gear will still be serviceable after that goes off whereas the dry powder jobby might (if we're lucky) put the fire out but it will also ruin anything hot it comes into contact with

The two big AFFF foam extinguishers will be transferred off old Brigantia and they'd be my weapon of choice for most shipboard fires especially involving petrol for example (although that will be less of an issue now of course but we'll still be carrying some for the tender outboard). They're not ideal for alcohol fires though as the alcohol prevents the foam film from forming properly. However, an alcohol fire is very susceptible to simple action with a fire blanket or, if necessary, a bucket of water so I'm not overly concerned.

The one area where I do have a concern is an electrical fire inside equipment such as the Sterling battery management unit or the inverter (acquired from the Bosuns Stores last weekend and to be fitted in due course!). This is the one area where the otherwise utterly useless CO2 extinguisher comes into its own. Or better yet a small Halon but we're not allowed those because so many of them were set off it buggered up the ozone layer. Trouble is, you can't get the little aerosol gas extinguishers any more and the smallest CO2 job is still a pretty big beast. Dry powder is an absolute no-no as far as I'm concerned in this application because it will mullah every piece of hot electrical equipment, faulty or otherwise, it comes into contact with. Worse, it's not that good at dealing with fires inside enclosures because, unlike a gas based extinguisher, the powder isn't great at penetrating through vents and apertures and then flooding the inside of the casing. We're thinking on that one.

The one bone of contention is over the glassing in of plastic skin fittings. It's been recommended as standard practice but I'm not in favour of it at all! In theory, it protects the fitting in the event of something hitting it. In practice, what is going to hit a skin fitting underneath the cabin sole? (It does nothing to protect the fitting from external damage but as the fitting is all but flush with the hull that's unlikely to happen anyway)

What is more, glassing in the fitting renders any inspection or maintenance of the nut and seal all but impossible without totally removing the fitting and replacing it with a new one. I prefer to be able to examine the nut and check it is secure and the fitting is undamaged and, if necessary, to be able to dismantle, re-bed and refit the fitting in the event of any leakage

And the final killer blow is that I strongly suspect that any attempt to glass in a skin fitting in an older hull is doomed to failure anyway. In the unlikely event of the fitting being struck with sufficient force by a heavy enough object to shear it off, I would put a not inconsiderable sum of money on the same circumstance simply removing the fitting AND the lump of mat and resin which for a certainty won't bond well to the existing hull interior surface

Other than that, nothing much to write home about. Need to check and replace if necessary the anode bolts although I suspect they'll be up to snuff given how well maintained she is.

So now I am waiting on the insurers acceptance of the survey and my additonal comments thereon and if all is well we move on to the penultimate step - paying for her!!!

A half step closer

No sooner had I posted that we were awaiting the survey did I get a text from Toby that the survey was done! Just needs to be written up in a report and away we go :-)

There's "a couple of things" apparently, but nothing desperate is my impression (there's bound to be something!). We'll see when the report arrives.

Got an email from Danyal at the marina too today, it's no problem to upgrade our mooring package and the additional cost is pro-rata for the remainder of the mooring agreement which is a bonus. So I think we'll definitely go for it and enjoy the benefits of a marina berth over the winter

All we need now to ice the cake is a buyer for the old boat!

Patience is a virtue

or so they say

Never been one of my strengths though!

We're now just three steps away from completing the purchase of "Erbas" though thanks to the kind computers at Halifax depositing a large sum of money into our bank account (it's a shame we have to pay it back eventually but hey ho!)

The anti-penultimate step is the insurance condition survey which is arranged but yet to happen

That will be followed, all being well, by the penultimate step of arranging insurance

And then the ultimate step of paying over the money and becoming the owners!

At that point, of course, the bills start mounting up - yard storage fees until we get her back in the water, crane in costs, then visitor mooring fees until we depart Tollesbury ... good job I've allowed a "little" extra in the budget to cover it all :)

And of course there is "Anne" still to be sold. Loads of hits on the Apolloduck advert, not a sniff of interest yet though! Interesting to discover another Islander 23 for sale for £3700 with nowhere near the spec of "Anne" for which we're asking just £3995. Either we're under-valuing or they're guilty of wishful thinking - I think the latter

Patience dear boy, patience

The deed, indeed the deeds, is/are done

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!

Finally, the loan agreement forms arrived in the post and we have written confirmation that we have the money to buy "Erbas". It's only taken seven days to reach us and it's a bitter irony that they enclose a first class reply paid envelope to speed the signed agreement back to them!

Never mind, the money should be in the bank by the end of the week

That settled, we could finally sign the purchase agreement and put it in the post committing us formally (as if we weren't already committed!) to purchase "Erbas" subject to survey within 14 days

Toby will hopefully get the survey done this week (we're not anticipating any surprises there) and "Erbas" should be ours for definite by the beginning of September

After careful consideration, Mark and Heather have (probably wisely) decided not to buy Brigantia and therefore ...

Brigantia is for sale!

The full spec is on Apolloduck at the above link and we're asking £3995 for her in sail away condition. We're very open to sensible offers as we'd rather move her on to new owners than have her hanging around needing to be maintained when we have the new boat to work on

However, she'll be reverting to her former name of "Anne" (or more fully if the new owner wishes "Anne of Arne") prior to sale as we shall be retaining the name Brigantia and transferring the name to "Erbas" before she is re-launched

It's all go innit?!

Summer Cruise 2013 - Summary

It doth suddenly occur to me that I've omitted to "pen" my usual summary. I think I must have been overly excited about something, wonder what it was? :)

Anyway ...

We had made a very definite and conscious decision to keep this cruise relaxed and pressure free and so it proved to be once we arrived on board.

The first step in the chilling out strategy was not to rush to get away from home. Driving down on the Friday afternoon after finishing work at 6:00am is always tiring plus we then have to sort out the tender when we arrive at Fambridge so an unhurried departure on Saturday morning was planned.

The drive down was pants! Oh well, never mind because the trot boat was running so we didn't have to faff about with the tender and soon had Brigantia alongside and making ourselves comfortable. In kicked stage two of our cunning plan to take it easy - we took it so easy we didn't bother going anywhere until Sunday!

When we did get moving a short hop downriver to Burnham Yacht Harbour saw us take up residence there for two nights which allowed for a good explore around the town and the purchase of some bits for the boat toolkit which I've been after for a while, mainly a hand drill which are surprisingly rare items in DIY shops these days

Now it got, briefly, exciting as we voyaged over vast distances and wild seas ... oh all right, we popped around the corner into the Blackwater estuary and fetched up in Tollesbury Marina for another two night stop over! It got mildly choppy around the Spitway though!

The visit to Tollesbury would prove an expensive exercise but it was also once again a very nice place to be although we didn't tick all the planned boxes in that we failed to visit the Sailing Club. Nor did we go for a swim having forgotten our bathers (again). Oh well!

This stressful and manic period of inactivity was followed by one of the best days sailing Jane and I have enjoyed since we bought the boat. It was a very satisfying run from Tollesbury up to Shotley Marina from a technical perspective with the boat going extremely well. It was also very pleasant and enjoyable as we could relax in the cockpit in the warm summers sun in an all too rare spell of T-shirt weather

Worn out by this endeavour, we then spent two nights in Shotley! Very social nights they were too as we met up on both evenings with friends from the East Coast Forum. A visit aboard Ian and Jo's Sabre 27 "Apogee" and some lengthy chats with them helped greatly in making the decision to purchase "Erbas"

A gentle run upriver to Fox's marina on the outskirts of Ipswich led to a further meet with fellow forumites. A good look at their new boat was followed by a meal in the Yacht Club and a rare outing for me in musician mode joining in a session in the bar. As Jane said, we used to greatly enjoy the sessions that were a regular feature of canalside pubs "back in the day" and it was fun to get involved again without too many fluffs

If you're ploughing through this waiting for it to get epic, here it comes ...

Sunday was one of those grin and bear it days. Actually, by the end there wasn't much of a grin even on my face. The forecast was grim, griM I said, not grin and, ironically, we got what was forecast in spades for once. Bashing down the Wallet with a solid F5 on the nose and wind over tide generated chop to boot is never going to be nice and by the time we finally slogged our way into the Crouch I really was wishing there was an "off" button! It had to be done as Monday looked, if anything, worse and we needed to get back as quickly as possible (thus breaking the "no pressure this holiday" rule but for good reason)

And then we went and bought a bigger boat!!!

I won't put words into Janes mouth (she'll kill me if I do!) but my feeling is that this cruise finally hit a pattern that suited us both. From my point of view, it was relaxed, it was enjoyable and we spent a lot of time doing things together as a couple. I also enjoyed seeing Jane start to become more comfortable and familiar with tasks around the deck - I don't have to tell her which fenders to put where now, only which side we're coming in on (although "Port" and "Starboard" are about as much use as "Left" and "Right" it has to be said!) for example.

I also felt that both our own growing experience and conversations with other yachting couples have combined to convince Jane that it's all right to leave me to it when the conditions at sea aren't to her liking. I really don't mind! It perhaps limits the duration of trips we can undertake and the conditions we can take on but planning around those and all the other limitations is part of the challenge of skippering and navigating a small boat. And the challenge is part of the fun!

Domestically, we experimented very successfully with cooking proper meals with fresh ingredients purchased locally. We'd discussed this before we set out and thoroughly enjoyed both the preparation and the eating of the meals in question! Even with the limited facilities aboard "Brigantia" we turned out a couple of delicious meals and reckon much more could be done especially with the addition of the cool box to keep stuff fresh

All in all, a very successful cruise which achieved all its objectives and then some.

A skippers work is never done

Today I have paid the deposit on "Erbas"

Before I did so however, I phoned the bank to query why I'd yet to see any paperwork vis a vis the loan. "It takes 3 to 5 working days". Really? In the 21st century? Ridiculous! The nice young lady (whose name I took note of I might add!) did kindly verbally confirm that the loan is definitely approved and only requires our signatures on the paperwork

That was my point really - I was nervous about paying the deposit, and still am, with nothing whatsoever in writing about the loan definitely being OK. Still, given the missed call from the brokers chasing the deposit and purchase agreement needs must!

We've got to sign the purchase agreement and have it witnessed by a non-relative. Seems a bit much for a £12K purchase but never mind! I suppose it's the standard form.

The Bosun and I have been bandying ideas about options for heating backwards and forwards. Well mostly forwards as I'm still mulling over his research report. For one reason or another I'm not wildly enthusiastic about any of the viable alternatives but we need a user friendly, reliable, effective and reasonably economic solution to heating the boat because we want to make the maximum use out of her by extending the "season" as much as possible. There will be more on this subject I'm sure!

We've also been mulling over possible names and we have a possibility that we're trying on the tongue for a few days. It also needs to meet with the approval of all parties. And you'll have to wait and see 'cos I'm not telling right now!

Then there's budgets and finances. The loan repayments are not eye watering as we've spread the cost over the longest period (although we don't necessarily plan to take that long over paying it off) but it is never the less a hole in our finances that has to be filled from somewhere.

I just want to go and play with our new toy!!!

More on moorings and so on

Oh how the mind boggles!

There's so much to discuss and plan what with the acquisition of the new boat, the "disposal" (horrible word) of the old boat, what the hell to call the new boat (with apologies and respects to her former owners, we're just not finding "Erbas" to our liking despite trying it out in every conversation for nearly a week now) ...

One decision I think we have managed to make today is on the matter of moorings

As the avoid, I'm sorry I'll type that again ... AVID reader will already know we've been considering a move to Tollesbury Marina or Tollesbury Saltings. Financially, the marina is out of reach of our pocket especially with the additional cost of financing the new boat so it would have been the saltings

The vision of gazing out over the saltings with a cold beer in hand and the steaks sizzling on the BBQ is an enticing one it has to be admitted but I fear the reality might not live up to the dream!

Access on and off the stagings, the almost certain lack of shore power and the tidal limitations all conspire to work against the dream.

But more than anything else, if we move the boat to our favourite spot (that we've found so far anyway) on the East Coast where will we go then when we want to head out?

So, for now at least, Tollesbury will remain our destination of choice for short trips and we'll remain at North Fambridge at least until next year

However, we are very taken with the idea of a "Summer Swing" package which will cost us somewhat more than an Annual swinging mooring (about £360 a year more) and means that from October to April we'll be on a very sheltered pontoon berth in the marina. It's still much cheaper than a permanent marina berth!

We can then choose if and when we come out of the water and we can use the boat as a floating cottage in virtually any weather (life on the river pontoon can be miserable in windy conditions especially if, as is often the case in winter particularly, the inside is occupied and we have to tie up on the outside). If we get a nice spell of pleasant weather we can easily nip off downriver to Burnham or a night at anchor

We might get away with a quick between tides scrub and anti-foul in the spring or a 24 hour lift and hold which would save some or all of the additional cost. Even if we still choose to come out for a while later in the year it'll be worth it if we get some extra weekends on board

Out with the old ...

And in with the new

I'm having a bit of a guilt trip this morning! Brigantia has been a great little boat for us and we've had tremendous fun owning her but I've always claimed, and meant, that she was a tool, a means to an end, and that I had no great emotional attachment to her.

I lied!

I've realised this morning that I've become rather fond of the old girl and I'm going to be a little bit sorry to part company with her. Needs must though and the new boat is bigger and better in every way. She's also much more suitable for the patterns of use that are appealing to Jane

One of the many things Brigantia has taught us is that we both like to go somewhere, to a destination. We're simply not inclined to just "go for a sail" and arrive back where we started out from. Frankly, we can't see the point. Once we're out there, I much prefer to get to where we're going by sail but I've no particular hangup about motoring if needs must - and after a couple of hours tacking to and fro clawing slowly up to windward I am pretty much guaranteed to run out of patience and start the engine!

We've also now come to realise that a lot of our cruising is likely to be the sort of "hop and stop" strategy we've developed this past week. A day at sea, and even then keeping passage lengths down as much as possible, followed by two nights in port. At sea, Jane is happy on deck in benign conditions but soon retires to her bunk when it gets a bit lively - and rightly so as there's no point in being miserable and I'm happy to get on with it calling for help if and when I need it.

With some quite short passages it's been a superbly relaxing holiday. What we lack is comfort on board when in harbour or at anchor. Almost anything is possible aboard Brigantia but everything tends to be a bit of an effort because of the lack of space and particularly headroom.

So what of this new boat then?

She's a very early Sabre 27 Mk.II built in 1969/70 by Marcon. As you'd expect, she's 27 feet long (actually an inch more but who cares?) and she's just over 9 feet in the beam - she's quite beamy which makes for a lot of space down below.

She has an unusual layout for a Sabre having been fitted out by shipwrights, ostensibly for the 1970 boat show as a show boat before Marcon changed their minds and decided to fit Mk.II Sabres with a moulded interior

She is in fantastic condition. Her previous owner was an electrical engineer, her current owner is a marine engineer and it shows.

The systems are comprehensive and comprehensively documented - schematics of fresh water systems, salt water systems and so on, wiring diagrams and so on. She's a lot more complicated than her predecessor!

 The hull is a fairly conventional bilge keel design of the era. Like the Islander 23, the keels are encapsulated (moulded as part of the hull) rather than bolt on which is, in my opinion, a very good thing. You don't get the problems with strained hull/keel joints, corroding keel bolts and leaking seams that you get with bolt on keels

It also makes her suitable for a drying mud berth (something I wouldn't inflict on a Centaur for example)

On deck, she's very well sorted with almost everything brought back to the cockpit. I know it's not everybody's up of tea but I'm not as agile as I'd like to be and Jane isn't a sailor (yet) so I'm effectively single handed a lot of the time. Being able to reef from the safety of the cockpit is therefore very much to my liking! She has all the essential gear and then some. The anchor windlass is powered which is luxury on a boat of this size.

She even has storm sails! Not that we ever plan to use them. Nor do we ever plan to use the four man liferaft not included in the original inventory but which is staying aboard by negotiation. It needs a service but otherwise appears sound. Also included by separate agreement is the spinnaker and brand new suffer and the roller stands and gear for lowering and stowing the mast on deck

Apart from the storm jib, storm trysail and spinnaker already mentioned, she comes with a recent mainsail and genoa, a number two jib and the current owner has offered us free gratis the two previous mainsail and genoas out of his loft which are old but serviceable

There's loads more, I could go on and on just about the deck gear!

The essential bits ...

The engine. Yes, I know she's a sailing boat and we'll sail whenever we can but I simply refuse to get hung up about hitting the button and starting the engine when the sailing ceases to be fun and becomes a tiresome chore!

So a Beta Marine 20hp diesel fitted new in 2009 with around 400 hours on it gets a huge massive whopping great thumbs up from me!

(Jane shrugged and said "it's an engine, so what?"!)

On the other hand ...

The galley really floated Jane's boat (see what I did there?)!

It's really very clever and one of the best small(ish) boat galley arrangements I've seen. You tuck yourself into a standing space to port of the engine box where you can wedge yourself in at sea and be out of the way of people coming in and out. You can sit down on the engine box too (and the current owner showed us the trick of stealing a small filler cushion from the starboard L-settee for extra comfort!)

There's a decent sized fridge under the deceptively small lift up panel aft of the taps with a sophisticated control system, hot and cold running water, loads of storage and, which gets my full approval, the current owner ditched the tired gas cooker in favour of a spirit stove

The only downside being the lack of an oven. You can get an Origo with an oven although they're not easy to track down as few chandlers stock them. That's because they are the best part of a grand which is a huge amount of money for some pressed stainless steel and a few fiddly bits. After a minor domestic (!) it was agreed that we would stick with the two burner and purchase a Cobb charcoal oven. Jane did totally agree that avoiding gas was much to be preferred (although the gas pipework from the aft end of the cockpit to the cooker space is in situ and in good condition so the option is there)


Turning to starboard we find my bit! The navigation area.

Now I'll hold my hands up and admit that this is the one aspect of the fit out that is a little disappointing because there's nowhere to sit at the nav table and it's a little awkward to work at standing up too.

I'm also yet to be convinced by the somewhat intrusive swinging clamp arrangement for the chart plotter (just visible in the top right hand corner of the picture)

It's going to take me a while to figure out all the electrics. There's lots of switches! They are all nicely old fashioned which I like but spread about in several different locations which I don't like so much

There's DSC VHF (Icom, might get swapped for the Standard Horizon on Brigantia if I can be bothered with the faff of changing the MMSI numbers over), NASA AIS receiver, Raymarine chart plotter, the full set of Autohelm instruments including a fluxgate compass, two tiller pilots (!), the lot

I have experimented already with removing the cushion and locker lid underneath the chart table and it does provide a usable sized footwell making sitting at the table possible. However, that comes at the loss of a significantly large locker so we'll have to see.

The nav table is removable too to make way for the quarter berth. I doubt we'll use it very often though as it'll surely be easier to use the saloon settee berths and we're not likely to want a fifth berth very often!

Comfort on board ...

Let's start with the cockpit (of which we are lacking slightly in the photo department) - it's spacious, and has lockers all over the place. There's a huge locker to port, a fairly big one to starboard, a simply ginormous on under the floor and some small ones in the coamings! There's a cockpit table, cockpit cushions and, best of all, a proper cockpit tent! It's a whole extra room out there! 

Entering the cabin, we've already looked at the galley to port and the nav station / quarter berth to starboard and ahead of us is the main selling point of the boat ... the saloon!

It deserves a big picture, it's a fabulous space for a 27 footer. There's a single settee to port with lockers behind and under with a trotter box into the aft cupboard in the heads compartment to make a full length berth - we anticipate that with the use of a lee cloth (already on board in a locker somewhere!) this will be the usual "sea berth" than Jane retires to when we're about to cross the Spitway!

To starboard there's an 'L' shaped settee which is longer and therefore makes a single berth without needing a trotter box. There's a substantial freestanding table which can be secured in various positions although we're not totally convinced by it as yet! We're going to live with it for a while and then decide whether to keep it or make a new more suitable table for our needs - it isn't, for example, really large enough to seat four people for dinner but if it was it would be too big the rest of the time. A simple answer might just be to fit a drop leaf extension to one side of the existing table.

There is the shell of a Victory paraffin heater on the forward bulkhead. Unfortunately, it contains a paraffin wick lamp rather than the proper pressurised heater unit. Whilst this will give out some heat it's not as effective. It is, however, a good deal easier to use! Again, we shall see whether it suffices as an occasional heater (we have thoughts on heating anyway which I'll come to later)

The Victory looks nice and appropriate but it's in the way of one of my key improvement ideas so it might yet be removed or possibly mounted on a removable or swing-away back board. This is because I plan (at some point) to make up a filler board and cushion to allow the starboard settee to be turned into an occasional double.

There's fixed and movable oil lamps all over the place, fresh clean upholstery, enough wood to be woody with enough cream on the cabin sides and deckhead to prevent the space being dark. We loved it! Oh and there's plenty of storage too

Moving forward we arrive at the necessarium a.k.a. the heads or to put it another way ... the bog!

There's a couple of cupboard above and below the port berth trotter box with a narrow hanging cupboard forward and a shelf above

To starboard is the necessary item itself with a drop down sink behind - like the galley there is hot and cold running water (sheer luxury!)


She does not have a shower and fitting one would be tricky. However I had an idea on that score but it turns out the current owner has beaten me to it and there's the connectors, hose and fittings for a cockpit shower already installed! That'll do me

The "V" berth is a "V" berth, what more can one say? It is reasonably generous at 7' long and the foot end isn't as narrow as some so it should be quite comfortable for Jane and I. We'll probably spend the money on shaped sheets and duvets in due course but we'll manage with Tescos Value finest for now!

There's much discussion ongoing about moorings and the future of Brigantia. Not to mention the name of the new boat (it's very unlikely she'll be called "Erbas" for much longer). Watch this space!