Facebook and contact form

I have removed the contact form due to a persistent spammer. Contact the broker if you are interested in buying Sancerre:  https://www.boatshed.com/achilles_9m-boat-347431.html

Unrelated to the above my Facebook account was one of a number of things that got hacked at the end of May, due to the activities of the BOT the account is suspended and I am having problems getting it back, that means the boat's Facebook page is unavailable.

Sancerre is for Sale

Regretfully, due to illness in the family, I am selling Sancerre somewhat earlier than anticipated. As I am over 200 miles away from her the sale is being handled by a broker. 

The Boatshed advert, contact details etc. can be found here:

 https://www.boatshed.com/achilles_9m-boat-347431.html

Sancerre is an exceptionally well equipped boat, and a great boat for the Jester Challenges - in 2019 I was first into Baltimore from Plymouth and Duncan was first in from Pwllheli  in another Achilles 9m. She is presently in Milford Marina (a berth is probably available) prepared for a 3 - 4 month trip that should have started in March. 

For a detailed inventory and key data see: https://www.sv-sancerre.net/p/sancerre-inventory.html, 

A selection of Pictures and videos

And general details of the type with specific reference to Sancerre here.

Boatshed overview video here: https://youtu.be/U-yp6EsJKQA

Trip Cancelled

Unfortunately due to a family medical problem I have had to cancel this trip. At least this time, unlike the last three years, it happened the day before departure not when I was away sailing.

Next Week???

Models are suddenly starting to look better with winds in the right direction but light and some models vary on temperature from cold to chilly overnight.

From Predictwind (The UK model is not shown this far out).

PredictWind have two proprietary physical models and one AI model in Beta:

• PGW - Uses the Australian CCAM model with the same start conditions as the GFS.
• PWE - As PGW but using the ECMWF initial conditions.
• PWAi - An AI model combing the ECMWF Hi-res, ECMWF  AI (AIFS) and others.

Surprisingly good agreement between the ECMWF and GFS
for the 21st but a big change from yesterdays.

AI forecasting has been in development for some time, as I understand it from research last year most are developments from the traditional "analogue" method that looks for weather patterns in the past that mirror recent history and projects from there, the "manual" analogue method has generally been used for medium and long term forecasting.

The ECMWF AI model shows the favourable but light winds
lasting for over a week, this for Thursday 26th March. Calm
seas😊, temps with overcast skys look reasonable for the time
 of year at 40 - 50F 😊, but probably a lot of motoring 😒.

Time will tell, and I am sure the forecasts will change daily, probably significantly until early next week.

From the Met Offices 10 day trend on Wednesday 11th before
the latest model runs. https://youtu.be/CGs2tZE6EoI 

Thursday 19th is looking particularly good at the moment but
loading the boat on Tuesday would be a pain if the forecast for Rain
and wind are correct.

The ECMWF AI model agrees.

Friday 13th

Looking good for Thursday! Brisker winds but perfectly sailable,
especially on a nice reach.

With that much east in the wind it looks like the start will be from Sandy Haven Bay rather than Dale. Then a quick sail on a reach across St Georges Channel. It will be an early start, with an easterly almost the last thing I want is wind against a near spring tide past The Smalls, another good reason to move out of Milford on Wednesday, free flow does not start until 04:22 and there will be a strong adverse tide until St Anne's head. Fingers crossed.

Friday evening

Good agreement between the 6 models for 6 days out and air
temps could reach 60F on Wednesday and Thursday.

Decision time is Sunday to load the car, 2 days to deliver and load cloths, stores etc. an early train to Milford on Wednesday to leave for the anchorage during free flow around 17:00 that evening. 

Saturday morning

PredictWind's PGW coming into line, The GFS, as is not uncommon
a bit adrift from the others, especially on gusts but not at this stage a worry.
if the ECMWF is correct it looks like the cruising chute will be needed.

All looking good, it is rare to see 10 models so consistent this far out, and it is not just the wind speed, the synoptic charts also agree over a wide area. The Met Éireann, forecast for the next month and the extended predictions for April through June are both encouraging.

UKMO global model and the ECMWF. The rest of the models except
the PWE are in close agreement.

 I better start packing!

Sunday

Still looking good 😊

A big advantage of computerised navigation programs that take account of tides is that it is easy to do some planning in advance. As mentioned in my piece on passage making up the west coast there are few useful tidal diamonds from Milford to The Smalls so I have a way point on the NE corner of the "Off Smalls" TSS and have the software do some calculations with different start times and speeds, in a few minutes I build up this table for the Course to Steer to the Coningbeg buoy (see chart below); much easier at home than bobbing around in a choppy sea with shipping bearing down on you as they exit or enter the TSS.

A day before an extreme spring tides.

With a south going quartering tide from about 11:00 the CTS is not that sensitive to speed through the water, the start time has more impact but only by about 10 degrees over a 2 hour spread and with the tide even that could be corrected fairly late without going far out of my way. 283 degrees is likely to be on the money. With the autohelm on a compass course I'll average close to that, if I decide to use the wind vane steering or the autohelm set to wind direction I would be lucky to be within 5 or 10 degrees so I may need to replan around midday and in both cases I'll need to keep an eye on the cross track error, the Taskar TSS will be good for that as well as a potential obstacle to be avoided.

The likely track from the TSS passing there at 07:00 making 4.5 knots.
I'll need to watch out for the Tuskar TSS.

Ready to go!

Well, apart from loading supplies, the dinghy, securing for sea etc. I had planned to do this later in the month but with dry and relatively warm weather forecast (that proved optimistic, it was darn cold at times) it was too good an opportunity to miss, and next week is out due to both cars going into the shop and a new washing machine to install.

This last winter has been hard on canvas, fortunately I took all

of the rest off of the boat for cleaning and reproofing before she

came out of the water in October.

After a mornings work cleaning and a lot more rigging etc..

The saloon tidier than it has been for a long time. The starboard

bunk back is in dry store as I don't need it sailing single handed

and this gives me a bit more room for convenient storage, with

the lea cloth in place.

More work on and off the boat.

 A short but productive visit to the boat last week, I was lucky with the weather which was much better than forecast and despite a brisk wind it was warm enough on both days to work outside without cold weather clothing, that was not going to last and I only stayed one night rather than the two I had planned but I only skipped a couple of jobs and did a couple of extra ones.

First on the agenda after arriving on Wednesday in the early afternoon, was getting the mainsail and stack pack rigged before the weather had a chance to intervene, that proved a lot easier now than when I last had the stack pack off with the canvas more flexible.

Next was sorting out the kedge anchors and the rest of the anchoring and mooring gear, probably not a good idea as my back is still suffering, the newly demoted Lewmar Delta kedge is now in it's new home and the 10m of 8mm chain I would have used with a kedge is off the boat now being too heavy for me to move around comfortably, it has been replaced by a 5m length with new shackles.

Then I patched the sprayhood back drop that had suffered from chafe during the winter storms and refitted the revarnished tiller with its new cover.

In the evening, whilst the rain came down, I had a go at tidying up the electrics, not a lot of work as I wasn't going to take it all to pieces, not super tidy but an improvement.

Refurbished bolt croppers.

Thursday morning, and I planned to sew some pre-prepared patches onto the front of the spray hood where my grab ropes rub, but easing the hood to do it I found a 2" tear in the canvas where it bears on the aft tube and a thin patch further out, so one prepared patch went on the first and a new, awkwardly shaped one went on the other. By now it was lunch time, my back was really bad so after checking the moisture traps I made a dash for home avoiding some nasty weather on Friday and the heavy traffic usual on a Friday afternoon.

As usual when I am on the boat I find more jobs to do, this time as well as the spray hood issue, when checking the tools in the heavy items locker I found the emergency bolt croppers rusted up, probably because, being too big for the tool bag, they were stored next to the kedge anchors that I have used occasionally to back up the bower and were probably wet when stowed. 

A new pair would only be about £12 but I don't like throwing away tools so I had it home, with difficulty got it to pieces, cleaned up and painted. A good 3 hours work but in retrospect I think it would be best to paint unpainted parts of a new one as a preventative measure so perhaps only a couple of hours net. I suspect Sir Robin would approve:

"Maybe I am getting dated but, when I first started sailing more than 50 years ago, if something broke we fixed it if it was at all possible. Buying new was a last resort as money was always scarce, but in any case we had been taught to take care of our tools, and it stood us in good stead. When you get halfway across an ocean and need to do an urgent repair, it is not the time to discover that the tools are rusted up and probably some are missing because they have not been put away properly. Try finding a chandlery in mid-ocean!"

Knox-Johnston, Robin. Knox-Johnston on Seamanship & Seafaring: Lessons & experiences from the 50 years since the start of his record breaking voyage (pp. 119-120). Fernhurst Books  

As an aside, the bolt croppers are a back up emergency tool in case of dismasting or similar, the primary tool is a battery powered angle grinder with cutting disks which would go through rigging, and spars, like butter. But it could be dangerous to use in a rough sea and it might not work after a ducking so I carry the croppers as well.

Only one long, perhaps three night, visit to the boat is now required before I go sailing, an hours work to secure the newly installed water tank, a couple more to clean and reproof the spray hood and then a lot of work to get all of the rigging re-rove and maintenance gear off the boat. Then I will be ready for Ireland, when the weather permits.