Laying Up - Rope and Canvas work.

WIP to be updated as I progress (once the canvas arrives) 

Wednesday 1st October.

A new topping lift for the spinnaker pole. It took a while for a
suitable reel end to turn up and it is not my prefer colour but at a
40% discount I'll live with it, 17 metres x 8mm, of my favoured
 premium Lyros Hercules braid on braid £20.40.

I reused the shackle and it took c 45 minutes work to put a nice
mousing loop on one end (there is no core in the loop so it will
go through the mast sheeves) and the snap shackle on the other. It
would have been quicker but I forgot the snap shackle, realised
before it was too late, and had to back track.

I don't understand why more people don't do their own splicing.

Age is beginning to show on some of the canvas work with a few damaged areas due to chafe, also the bags containing the man overboard ladders are falling to pieces due to UV exposure although the ladders are fine and I could do with replacing a couple of halyard bags. Time to try my hand at canvas work!

8 years old, and until last winter on the boat most of the year - with
the boat on the mooring in a fast flowing estuary this was essential
as transferring between dinghy and boat is a prime cause of going
overboard. I had thought to put a large canvas patch over the
damage but having looked at the construction and the extent
 of the damage I decided that it would be best to make new bags.

The ladder cleaned up reasonably well although I'll probably
give it one last clean before fitting the new bag now that some
stronger cleaner has arrived.

But before starting a fairly complicated job for a novice, some patch work for one of the dodgers and to cover two small slits in the stack pack.

The two aft lines have both chafed the canvas, the forward lines,
two a side, have a better lead and are undamaged. View from the
inside; a full length batten does through the white pocket and the
webbing loop to which the lazy jack is attached on the other side.

I lashed out £25 on what appears to be a brilliant tool, a
"Speedy Stitcher", advertised as a manual sewing machine
 which is not a big exaggeration, it was slow going on my
test piece but produces a good looking locked stich.

It turns out I could have saved some of the dosh, the needles
fit this very old equivalent that I inherited.

Patches ready to go, folds glued with PVA and left overnight.

OK, not pro standard but not too bad for a first attempt with
hand stitching, and they will certainly do the job.

Saturday 4th

One bag finished for the emergency ladders, I made them a little thicker and considerably longer to help with packing and to reduce the pressure on the longer strip of velcro closure but they are a tad shallower so hopefully will  not be bashed about quite as much by the waves. A lot of work to save c £85 (allowing for materials), the next one should not take quite as long now I am getting more adept at the stitching and I have a design.

Outside.

Hull side.

Inside.

Monday 6th

Two patches made ready for the spray hood and three patches completed on Blue Performance halyard bags, I don't recommend these - various small bits (one shown top right, the shock cord was originally covered)  fell to bits after a couple of years due to not being UV resistant, the two I have left are not in direct sunlight. but still suffered. The bag on the mast was more exposed and had more susceptible bits (I notice that F4 have stopped selling those) and was thrown away after just two seasons. They also fade quickly, not good on bags costing £60 and above.

Laying up - Bilge paint and engine service.

My last visit to the boat before Sancerre gets lifted out on Oct 22nd and two busy days.

After cleaning the bilge in late August  It was still rather smelly, partly down to not using the engine very much during my trip to Padstow and back so that there was very little water in the bilge and partly due to some oil and grease on the metal parts that, knowing they had to be cleaned immediately before painting, I skimped on last time. 

This time cleaning did not take long and to be on the safe side after rubbing down I painted all of it including the keel nuts, the three spreader bars and what is essentially a jack between the iron keel and the  mast support.

The forward bilge, painted last year, and the bilge under the engine still need cleaning and the latter possibly painting but hopefully it will now stop smelling. To reduce the labour required in the future and hopefully any smell, I have added a trap to reduce / stop spills from the engine and water & grease from the stern gland reaching the bilge. This largely worked in the first few years that I had Sancerre but for some reason I stopped doing it when my supply of pads was finished.

Oil Absorbent (Hydrophobic) pads in the aft part of the bilge
 in the saloon and under the forward part of the engine catch
hydrocarbons but lets water go forward into the bilge, when
dirty they are hoyed out and replaced hopefully reducing or
eliminating bilge smells and keeping the bilge reasonably clean.

The other significant job was the first part of the engine service. Now that the boat is coming out for an extended period after the season, I do the oil and fuel part as early as possible to get rid of the grotty oil but delay the water side until she is back on the berth after lift out, I can then leave the engine drained down during the winter months and put the new impeller in just before the first cruise.

This year I will also be replacing the water thermostat, looking though the workshop manual I found that this has a 2,000 hour life, but that is not reflected in the service schedule! Not a big deal as it is not far over, but I could have had problems if I had relied on the operations manual rather than buying the workshop manual.

Other jobs completed include getting the genoa off and back home and this year for the first time in a while also the mainsail and stack pack, the latter needing some work to patch a couple of small holes due to chafe.

Planning for Ireland 2026. Part 2 Baltimore to Lough Foyle

WIP

Lots of potential places to visit depending on the weather.
A few potential routes shown (from planning some years ago, to
be reviewed).

1st October.

It took well over a day but I now have a good selection of anchorages where, in the right conditions, I would be happy to stop over night. 139 of them from Carnsore clockwise to Lough Foyle, plus those on the east coast and the ones I have already used between Carnsore and Baltimore. Now as I sail round I don't have to plough through the pilot when at sea or at anchor, a glance at this chart on my iPads, phone or PC, then if there is more than one a more detailed review of the likely candidates.

I originally planned this as a route to St Kilda for 2022 but decided to prioritise going direct and later to Shetland, that took more years than expected to achieve. Hopefully in 2026 I can take a more leisurely approach, the original plan was intended as a passage rather than a cruise but it is a good starting point and so far I have just added days to allow for diversions on route although the mileages shown are direct. 

                                  NM  Days

To Baltimore                 220   7

Baltimore - Bantry Bay     36   3

Bantry - Ballycrovane         33   2

Ballycrovane - Valentia       33   2

Valentia - Dingle /Smerwick   24   2

Smerwick -Fenit               30   2 

Fenit - Carrigahold           27   2

Carrigahold -Doonbeg          33   1

Doonbeg - Inishmore           26   2

Inishmore - Clifden           42   2

Clifden - Inishbofin           9   1

Inishbofin - Blacksod         35   1

Blacksod - Broad Haven        31   1

Broad Haven - Kilcummin       33   1

Kilcummin - Teelin            30   3

Teelin - Inishkeel            29   1

Inishkeel - Arranmore         18   2

Arranmore - Sheep Haven       32   1

Sheep Haven - Lough Swilly    21   2

Lough Swilly - Culdaff Bay    21   1

Culdaff Bay - Islay           41   1

               Total direct  795  40

The distances don't account for stop offs / diversions from the direct routes so it will likely be over 1,000 NM and with weather delays probably 7 - 9 weeks.

Planning for Ireland 2026. Part 1 Milford to Baltimore.

Tides are generally not helpful when heading south west along the Irish coast - a spring tide is good to get a push west from Milford Haven starting around 05:00 but south from Carnsore Point the favourable tide would not then start until lunchtime. Streams are charted as weaker than further north but they get stronger round head lands and as many learn every other year during the Jester Baltamore Challenge, beating to the Fastnet Rock or Baltimore against the tide is not to be recommended. 

Starting on a neap tide means leaving Milford at lunchtime and arriving in Ireland in the small hours, not a major problem is some anchorages but could be in others, especially with lots of pot buoys around as I found during my trip around the Celtic Sea in 2022.

My preference would be a start close to springs, leaving Dale before dawn to hopefully arrive somewhere to get some sleep that night, but the weather will be the deciding factor. Southwesterlies would be a pain and I might well wait for better weather, north-westerlies would be ideal and easterlies would be good for a quick passage but would limit the number of available anchorages. 

10 year average winds during March at Clear Island
at the extreme south of Ireland.

10 year average winds during April at Clear Island.

Statistically the end of March or April should bring plenty of opportunities as it has in the majority of the last few years, strong N - NW winds have been a problem to me rounding Land's End and could make for poor conditions in St Georges Channel but once in Ireland a reasonably brisk north westerly should not be a problem as far as Baltimore.

St Margate's Bay, Carnsore Point is the closest anchorage to Milford but a beat in a west or north west wind and then I would have to go round or inside of the Coningbeg rocks to move further west. A destination further west is likely better, somewhere between Kilmore and Waterford (46 NM), Youghal (pronounced Yawl) is just over 100 NM so a overnight trip and an extra 20 miles would get me to Crosshaven and 30 to Kinsale.

There are a good number of places to stop in offshore winds, somewhat fewer in easterlies. Baltimore will be the first target, preferably via new anchorages, but a visit into Crosshaven or even up to Waterford would not be unwelcome.

Places to stop between Carnsore Point and Cork. Green Anchorages
not previously visited, Red anchorages visited, Purple Marinas not
visited, Blue manias visited.

Places to stop, Oyster Haven to Baltimore.

I'll think about likely start dates when Imray have sorted out their "Tides" app which is currently showing all tides as spring tides, or I get the 2026 Reeds. Unfortunately Euronav in the past have not issued the tide data for the new year until late December which is a pain and must be difficult for those those on long voyages or in the southern hemisphere during their high season.

Update: the 3rd of  April is a spring tide so if the weather serves a start somewhere around then, earlier rather than later, looks good, around the 21st March or the 19th April would also work..

Click here for Baltimore to Lough Foyle.

2025 Review and Stats.

 A very disappointing second half of the season, for the third year on the trot I had to cut short a cruise and this time rotten weather in September prevented a second cruise of any length so that despite an early start my distance sailed and days sailing were the lowest since the Covid abbreviated 2020 season. 

On the plus side I did spend a slightly higher proportion of my time at anchor and I avoided days stuck in horrendously expensive marinas that cost me so much in 2024. Also I had no breakages or breakdowns apart from the darn heater and diesel bug discovered when I got back to Milford Haven, but apart from labour and a few litres of fuel that didn't cost anything or delay me.

Statistics through September 2025 from my summary log kept in Excel:

Click to view,

2025 1st cruise: 84 days. 337.5 hours at sea, 27 night hours (minimal as many of the longer legs were in what counted for summer in Scotland), 1,602 nautical miles, 1,844 statute miles, 44 days at sea, 28 weather bound. 47 nights at anchor.

Second cruise just Milford to Padstow and back, 161 NM, 185 SM, 4 days sailing if you include the two short hops between Port Quin Bay and Padstow, 2 nights at anchor and 2 nights in Padstow. Very little diesel used on this trip 😀.

There was some excellent sailing around Scotland, Orkney and Shetland and the cruising chute and particulalry the spinnaker got a lot more use than normal. On the other hand there was still too much motoring for my liking, too many days weather bound (although well shy of the record in 2023) and I really needed the heater that broke down (again) shortly after leaving, I was using thermals almost every day until the middle of June - there was no heat wave up north! Thankfully there was little rain until I reached Stornoway on the way back. 

48 port / anchorage calls was well down on previous years but 29 of those where visited for the first time which was good.

Now a very long wait until next years cruise, starting in late March or April and probably around Ireland with an excursion to the Hebrides. Then after several aborted attempts hopefully the Channel Islands with a stop off in the Scillies one way or the other - or both.

Laying up - Running rigging.

It amazes me how many people leave running rigging and headsails on their boat all winter when they are not going to use the boat, even when it is in the yard!

Simply taking it all home for the winter is going to at least double it's working life through avoidance of UV light, the elements, microbes and birds. Giving it a good wash will help even more and ropes will be easier to handle next year and you will avoid smelly ropes.

A mousing loop at the tail of a halyard makes reaving a doddle.
A 100m of mousing line will knock you back £20 and leave
plenty for odd jobs such as securing the dodgers.

Tips:

• Don't forget:
• The halyards, halyards banging against the mast or rigging will, apart from being very annoying to others, wear them out and will increase windage - more motion when in the water and a greater risk of blowing over when on land. The investment in some mousing line and putting some good loops on the tail, will be well worth it.
• Webbing jack stays etc.
• Dodgers and other canvas.
• Spare cordage that has been squirrelled away on board - it tends to get damp and smelly which is not going to do it any favours. And they will help keep the boat damp.
• The washing machine speeds things up for those items without fittings attached but don't try it with fittings, even wrapped in cloth.
• Lines that are easily removed, such as spinnaker sheets, guys and headsail sheets are best removed between sailing sessions and stored below - a few sail ties are in any case better than securing a furling headsail with the sheets.
• Consider end-for-ending halyards after a few years to extend their life, the part inside the mast and the tail if stored in a bag will have been protected from UV and bird droppings. Splicing old rope that has been under load can be difficult but the very tail of a halyard won't have been. The same may work for spinnaker sheets and guys if most has been in a storage bag when not in use.
• Keep old running rigging to use during the winter when mousing is not appropriate such as a temporary mainsheet when you want to keep the boom in place.

Invest in one of these rope scrubbers to speed up hand cleaning.
this spinnaker sheet is 8 years old but looks and feels nearly new.

The first two batches through the washing machine drying ready
for storage until next season. Most of these are 7 or 8 years old
and have done almost 18k nautical miles. The D shackle on the main
halyard (white + yellow) was removed for washing!