That was oddly odd!

Just by sheer chance happened to glance at the Fambridge Yacht Station web cam and there sat our pride and joy in all her slightly faded glory upon the pontoon where we left her yesterday

No sooner had I glanced at the image, it refreshed and into the shot hove the marina dory which in short order came alongside Brigantia, there was a flurry of activity and then dory and Brigantia departed out of shot! (Upper left corner of picture ...)

Doubtless she is now sitting bobbing about on her mooring once again where she belongs

Commissioning Weekend - Day 3

The day dawned, once again, clear and bright if a little chilly. Bacon butties were the the order of breakfast after which, given the light airs from the West, we hoisted the main and unfurled the genoa

Not a great photo I'm afraid but the sun was from the wrong direction plus I couldn't really see what I was aiming at on the screen! Sails look nice though!

Commissioning Weekend - Day 2

We awoke after a very sound sleep to a bright and sunny if a little chilly morning.

We idled around until just shy of nine and headed off up to the Roundbush for a full English thence to Wickes for some hinges and Morrisons for supplies.

It has been a day of mixed blessings with spells of reasonable weather interspersed with rain squalls which drove us down below to take shelter

Two big jobs have been successfully tackled though - the new cockpit floor has been covered with vinyl and is now in place although still in need of some hardware and the turning block for the cruising chute tack line has been fitted to the foredeck

That latter job was bigger than anticipated and may yet prove to be problematic. The standing block is squeezed between a reinforcing iron on one side below the deck and the run of the anchor chain on the other side above deck. Plus it needs to be as far forward as possible without, however, fouling the furled genoa.
Add to that the sheer awkwardness of trying to reach past the Sampson post to get the nuts on the screws and then a spanner on the nuts ...

Surprisingly, only one M6 nut found its way to the bottom of the chain locker. Annoyingly. We hadn't any spares. Happily, the very very nice folks on Penny Black did! That saved us a trip to the chandlers.
I investigated mounting the new kedge anchor on the taffrail but it's not going to work so it is stowed ready to hand in the port cockpit locker. I haven't sorted out the stowage of the chain and warp yet, still working on that one

By this stage, what with one thing and another, it was time for me to head up to the showers, change out of working rig and head off to the East Coast Forum fitting up supper at Bradwell sailing club.
A most pleasant evening ensued with excellent company, excellent food, a modest pint or two of excellent beer and a coffee. Although a berth for the night was offered on Apogee, as is so often the case these days I ran out of enthusiasm for the booze after just a couple and by the time the party broke up I was stone cold sober

With plenty to be done on the morrow I avoided the temptation to join the inevitable continuation back in the marina and headed back to Fambridge

Commissioning Weekend - Day 1

Mark and I drove straight down after work stopping for breakfast halfway and coffee at every opportunity!
Despite the number of stops, we were on board by half nine and, as planned. I got my head down for a couple of hours.

We were surprised, but not displeased, to be woken by Toby at half eleven as I'd expected it to be mid afternoon before we launched.

You get what you pay for ...

The latest box of stuff from the swindlers ... sorry, chandlers ... arrived yesterday afternoon. No problem with the charts and stuff but I'm a little bit disappointed with the anchor kit

OK, the warp and chain is fine but the anchor is fairly rubbish - the flukes don't match, the galvanisation isn't terribly clever and it just looks really really cheap. Added to which the nice grey moulded plastic container to stow the rode depicted in the catalogue has mysteriously turned into a large white plastic tub with a seal type lid (of the sort used to contain paint etc.) - albeit sans seal - which has had a hole cut in it to take the warp - badly - with a sharp knife

The problem with this is ... the kit WAS really cheap! It was, by some margin, cheaper than buying the cheapest warp, chain, shackle and Danforth style anchor and assembling it all myself

So whilst I'm minded to have a winge, the truth is I suspect I've got what I paid for!

Cruising chute contemplations ...

I was going to post this to the private crew blog but then I thought I'd share it with a wider audience. It is primarily aimed at the regular crew members so if you find it boring, my apologies!

The cruising chute is an entirely new beast we haven't encountered before and I've been putting much thought into how, and when, we are going to use it. Not least, I've been musing on how the hell we are going to handle around 180 square feet of 1oz rip stop nylon (the stuff kites are made of) in the space available!

And another thing ...

... or several from the chandlers

The first three items on the order are the three Imray C-Series charts to cover the Thames Estuary, North Foreland to Beachy Head and Beachy Head to the Isle of Wight. At £18 a pop they aren't cheap but I just don't feel comfortable about relying totally on the electronic charting on the laptop. phone and tablet

On the other hand, I'm not prepared to spend a fortune on the OS or Imray large scale chart folios so the C-Series charts, which cover a large area but have decent harbour plans around the margin, are a good backup.

The next item I've been meaning to add to an order for ages - a gas canister signal horn and spare canister. We've got the sort of thing you blow through yourself but it sounds like a strangled frog and certainly wouldn't be audible on board another boat anywhere near as noisy as ours is when we're motoring!

And I've ordered myself a book on rig tuning and sail trim. Got these new sails, want to get the best from them!

To the above I added a waterproof baseball cap from Musto to replace the one I bought last year which has now gone missing. No doubt the absentee will now turn up. And I also ordered a left handed sail makers palm for Mum and two Crewsaver holdalls like Jane and I bought last year, one for Mate Rik and one for Bosun Glen

And finally ...

The expensive purchase (relatively speaking) which I've um'd and ah'd about for days. To wit, a second anchor. The trouble is it's more weight on board and odds are we'll never use the bloomin' thing. But what if ...

What if we lose the main anchor?
What if we need to shift anchorage in a hurry and can't retrieve the main anchor?
What if we need to drop the hook RIGHT NOW ...

The answer to all these questions is a cheap (aha ha ha) light-ish Danforth anchor and warp stowed at the stern ready to be instantly deployed from the cockpit in an emergency or to kedge off the mud and which could be moved to the bow in lieu of the main bower anchor if needs be.

£120 buys the anchor, chain and warp ready made up in a handy plastic container but the real pain was the whopping £37.95 for a flippin' chain pipe to lead the warp under the aft deck - I thought about doing without it but that would break the "ready to drop instantly" criteria

In the end, after changing my mind more times than I've had cups of coffee this past week, I decided that it's a key safety requirement to have a spare anchor so onto the order it went

Coming soon ...

to a blog near you ...

By the makers of "Ice Cold in Essex"

Produced by "Over the Top Productions"

Directed by whoever has the biggest tantrum ...

starring 

Skipper Bru as "The fairly Ancient Mariner"

and

Mate Rik as "The not quite so Ancient Mariner"

with

Able Seaman Mark as "The not Ancient at all Mariner"

A Stirring Tale of Derring Do on the not very High Seas ...

Three blokes, one boat, some beer ...

the biggest thing to not quite go as planned this season will be ...

Small Boat to Chichester

Warning: May contain nuts

On release 18th May 2013 (weather permitting)

Fitting Up Weekend - launch arranged

Most important bit of news is that I've just called the yard and booked our re-launch for a week on Friday (the 26th). I'll drive down that morning straight from work (virtually) and then grab what sleep I can / need and take it from there.

Once she's in the water, I can get the new sails bent on and the reefing gear set up. Well, I'll be able to do that as long as it isn't blowing a gale anyway! I'm praying that they fit properly and don't need to come off again because it not we'll have to undertake our main cruise of the year with the old sails which will be a bit of a blow to say the least

Saturday night that weekend is the East Coast Forum Fitting Up Supper round at Bradwell Sailing Club and it's tempting to contemplate rushing to get there by boat but with big spring tides and High Water mid-afternoon it'd almost certainly mean flogging a stiff foul tide most of the way there (although the return on the Sunday would be a better proposition)

In any case, there's lots to do over that weekend and I can ill afford to lose most of both days

After that, it's just a fortnight before we set sail for the South Coast for two weeks!

Not a sailing weekend - part two

After food and beer last night, we retired early and for once I got off to sleep quite quickly. A couple of visits to the heads did nothing for my ongoing sleep deficit and by around three I was wide awake anyway.

It being dark, it seemed an ideal time to check the navigation lights. I was chuffed to find that everything is working as it should.

I had a coffee to celebrate and then dozed until the Bosun awoke and breakfast followed shortly thereafter.

With the sin breaking through and the forecast early rain nowhere to be seen, conditions were perfect to slap on a second coat of antifoul.

Then it was the turn of the outboard leg which meant lifting the outboard out of the well. Whilst it was out, Glen gave the inside of the well a good slosh of a/f too.

Glen then cracked on with fitting the stanchion blocks and fairleads for the chute tack line whilst I ran a bead of sealant around each of the windows to try and cure, or at least  minimise the leaks.

A general sorting out of car and boat ensued which took a while but ended with things a whole lot tidier and starting to look nearly ready for sea.

With the engine back where it belongs, the blanking cap installed on the log impeller housing and our personal gear offloaded, I was happy to call it a day quite early with Brigantia treaty to go back in the water and most of the remaining jobs needing the sails to be bent on

My friend Lisa had stopped by, having given us a very useful carrier bag full of fenders, and we hoofed out down onto the pontoon to give her new boat Artemis the once over. Bit of a bargain she's got there I reckon and its going to be fun to have somebody in our social circle with a similar sized boat to us.

After coffee and "while you're here" job avoidance (!), we hit the road wanting to make an early start homewards as we were both somewhat fatigued.

A very successful weekend and for once we got more done than I'd hoped rather than less. Hopefully, we'll go back in a week on Friday and be sailing by the end of that weekend

Not a sailing weekend ... Part one

After picking the Bosun up about five-ish, we battered our way through the traffic with just a couple of minor delays and a detour to try and find a Chippie to arrive at Fambridge just shy of eight-o-clock

A pub meal and a few beers ensued as you would expect. Back on board, the usual coffee and rum nightcap preceded pour settling down for the night

Glen slept well but I didn't. Not unusual on a Friday night but a nuisance never the less.

This morning dawned bright and clear so after bacon butties for breakfast we set to slapping on a coat of antifoul after which I retouched the boottop.

The Bosun applied a coat of varnish to the new cockpit for after which we popped to the Chandlers for some GRP filler to repair a hole in the engine well

With the hole plugged, I cut a ply patch and glued and screwed it over the repair to prevent the problem happening again - the hole was probably caused by the outboard leg chafing against the GRP and although it was above the waterline it wasn't enough above the waterline to ignore!

Then we heaved the outboard into place, took it out again, put it back, took it out and put it back! In the process we sorted out the positioning a bit (although major modifications may be in the pipeline) and resolved the issue we had with the engine kicking back when in reverse (OK, it has been resolved with a bodge but it'll do for now)

Tomorrow  the outboard will need to come out yet again to antifoul the leg. Needs must.

With the rain now setting on for the day as forecast, we repaired below decks to fit the new battery charger, refit the depth/log display head and pay around with some ropework until the clock advanced to the point where we felt justified in declaring pub-o-clock

Yet more expense and plans ...

Much as I'd hoped to avoid more spending this spring (ha! Spring. Yeh, right), a further order to the chandlers proved unavoidable

First and most expensive outlay is a new battery charger. The ancient and decrepit piece of tat that I dug out of the bottom of the shed (and which I have a feeling I'd acquired from the Bosun many years earlier) has finally succumbed to the marine environment and now refuses to emit so much as a feeble spark of life.

That led to some head scratching because the choice of replacement wasn't straightforward. The cheap option would be to nip down to Halfords and buy a cheapy automotive charger. But they aren't that much cheaper and won't last long.

So that left me choosing between a clever charger that can revive faulty batteries  automatically de-sulphate the cells and other clever tricks and a unit without such fancy tricks up its sleeve but which is guaranteed to be safe for the on-board electronics.

The drawback of the first choice is having to disconnect the battery to be charged from the boat wiring system because if it goes into battery repair mode it could potentially damage the VHF, masthead LED tricolour and anchor light, depth sounder and so on. In other words, it could blow several hundred quids worth of kit and, worse still, render us unsafe to navigate

So I chose the somewhat more expensive IP65 rated and therefore fairly waterproof CTEK XS7000 7A electronics safe option at a cost of £99.95. If and when one or both of the batteries exhibits any problems, we might acquire the further option of disconnecting it from the electrics and hooking up an auto-repair type charger

The recent tragic deaths of a mother and daughter aboard a boat on Windermere sparked the next purchase (and in truth it's something we should have had all along) to wit a battery powered long life CO2 detector. £22 is a cost worth paying even though, normally, our only source of CO2 is the cooker. When we use the gas radiant heather below decks though ...

A further £25 went out of the window replacing the deck brush set I broke when I chucked it out of the cockpit last time we were down on the boat. For an additional fiver I added the matching mooring hook which may come in handy for Jane when it comes to picking up a mooring. Worth a try anyway

Next up, a 52mm snap shackle which guarantees that the one I bought on the last order and now can't find will turn up any moment now. Oh well, it won't hurt to have one in the spares box. Then a pair of Nab shackles, lightweight plastic shackles for the cruising chute sheets, that I forgot to order last time

Not cheap at £19.95 but a further (and overdue) addition to the safety kit is a Truplug emergency safety plug. This is a foam conical plug that can be rammed, jammed, cut and twisted and generally used to plug unwanted orifices below the waterline. Such as, for example, a broken skin fitting or a hole in the hole created by a sharp object.

Finally, a mere £3.18 purchased what I hope will be a suitable in-board end fitting for the "whisker pole from a washing line pole" project of which more anon if and when it works!

Of course, I clean forgot to order a sailmakers palm for Mum as requested just the other day and I also forgot to order a lifting ring for the new cockpit floor. Oh well, I'm bound to be buying more stuff before long.

Moving on to plans ...

Weather permitting, this coming weekend Glen and I will be slapping a couple of coats of antifoul on the hull and, hopefully, retouching the bootop. The repainting of the topsides isn't going to happen now this year, we haven't got the time to do it properly and it's not worth wasting the paint by slapping a rough coat on (and actually we probably haven't even got time to do that)

If everything goes to plan (aha ha ha), I hope we'll be launching a fortnight on Friday and, probably on my own, making ready for sea over that weekend. Then, somehow, I need to squeeze in at least one sea trials weekend before the big two week cruise at the end of May

I just hope the weather doesn't put the mockers on the plans ... again