Winter work starting a bit early in September.

9th - 10th September

This was mainly a run to collect gear from the last cruise but I did a small amount of work and bought home a few items, mainly the tops of the the sink unit and storage bin, to varnish, plus most of the running rigging, dodgers, etc. for washing and over winter storage.

Bringing parts home for varnishing results in a better finish, is
usually a lot easier and may save a lot of masking up to protect
 the surrounding or both if the rest is to be painted. It also
saves days on the boat, much of which would be unproductive
waiting for it to dry. Only a small batch to start due to lack of
time and space in the car.

17th - 21st September

A lot of work done over 4 very full days, plus a 9 hour round trip, with a very full car on the way back with most of the remaining items to be stored at home including the headsails and all cordage.

Work done:

• Additional fuses added to the electrical panel to replace in-line fuses behind the panel for easy replacement or isolation.
• Added another fuse block behind the panel for navigation lights - previously protection was by 20 Amp CB's integrated with the switching but 20 amps was very marginal for the wiring, now 2 amp each which is plenty for the LED bulbs. 
  
  

  

  The panel now with easily accessible fuses for the low power
  switched and low power non switched bus bars and the Gas alarm,
  that previously relied on the low power bus fuse, now it can easily
  be isolated if it goes off and I am sure it is a false alarm, such as
  when using aerosols below deck. One is spare - I have not yet
  decided which other in line fuse to replace. Switches on the three
  panels each have an integral 15A circuit breaker. Shown with
  blanking piece to the left removed.
  
  

  

  Click image to view. The 200 amp fuse is to support staring
  from the domestic batteries, the starter motor takes over 100A.
  Diagram from my boats documentation.

  
  

  

  The back of the panel, not as tidy as I would like but it has been
  reorganised several times when upgrading and there is not much
  space. The new fuse block for the Nav lights mounted on the
  acrylic shield over the solar power blocking diodes (pic is missing
  the fuse block covers and before the default fuses were replaced).

  
  
• Removed redundant cables ex the electric toilet pump, tidied up and better secured cables in the hanging locker.
• Locker behind the cooker partially disassembled, the loose base secured, varnished components taken home for re-varnishing, inside painted with Damboline.
• Varnished sections of floor: 
• All eased for better fit,
• Forward sections taken home for re-varnishing. 
• Aft section: redundant water pipe removed from under, hull under painted with Damboline; the section will be taken home for re-varnishing when the boat is ashore.
• Facias under bunks removed & taken home for re-varnishing, probably for the first time in 48 years, and to make repainting the inside of the hull between there and the carpeted floor easier - a bigger job than anticipated at almost 3 hours grovelling in the small spaces each side of the table, I spent a lot of time in awkward places over these days.
• Damaged section of headlining aft of the fore hatch replace with timber - easier than trying to match headlining and it is neater and gives a tiny bit more headroom, being painted with the heads and hanging locker.
• Water system flushed, cleaned and sterilised.
• Damaged water filter replaced and relocated so it hopefully does not get damaged again.
• Lots of varnished components removed and taken home to be re-varnished and to facilitate painting.
• Chart table removed for the base to be repainting at home and a wobbly corner to be re-fixed.

Varnished: Navigation area, starboard side of main cabin including bulkheads, 1st coat on port side. 

Batch 2 of vanishing at home, the hanging locker door
elsewhere. Lots more to do!

Batch 3

 Batch 4a, ex the chart table base also newly painted.

Batch 4b.

Batch 5

Batch 6 - Bunk facias, 1st coat.

Batch 6 - Heads door, 1st coat.

Painted in white: 

• Hanging locker ex floor; that is a glass moulding and will be Ivory to match other mouldings I will be doing and the floor to which it leads.
• Heads: bulkheads and deck head.

The next visit will be on or about October 1st before the boat gets lifted out on the 4th and I can start on the antifoul and topside.

2024 September 6th Days 23 - 24, To Milford Haven

Thursday was, as expected, very wet and the wind stronger than forecast the day before at up to F7. I spent most of the day hunkered down, some of it advising a fellow solo sailor on passage planning on  the part of his round GB trip onto the Solent a stretch he had not done before. He left early on Friday to get around the Lizard before the tide turned probably heading for St Mawes. I left a few minutes ahead of schedule at 09:50 and was sailing as soon as I had the fenders and dock lines in and stowed.

This was not the plan of the day before as the weather did not match the forecast which was no wind and rain until the evening, but was welcome and I sailed until almost at the Longships when the engine went on as the wind was almost on the nose.

The Runnel Stone East Cardinal buoy. The Long ships just to
the right of it, Gwennap Head extreme right. DO NOT go inside
this buoy! A week or so after this pic was taken a yacht did and
went aground on the Runnel stone - expensive!.

Lands End

The Longships Light

Unfortunately the engine was to stay on for much of the trip from the Longships to get in before forecast bad weather and because the wind stayed on the nose at 8 - 11 knots until it died to almost nothing at 21:00. At 22:00 I started to see flashes of lightning to the north, not good, I always feel very vulnerable at sea in lightning with a 40ft lightning conductor the highest thing around for miles. For the moment it stayed distant and from 01:00 I sailed for a couple of hours when the wind came in from the WSW, again not in the latest forecast models. 

Light to moderate rain started at 02:00 lasting till about 5:30 and the lightning drew nearer, fortunately it did not get within about five miles and most was not going to ground or rather sea. From the radar the heavy rain was also about 5 miles away by which time all of the portable electronics was inside the cooker to protect it. I learned later that the storm had kept people awake around Milford for much of the night.

Short range monitoring when below by Radar on the
iPad replicated from the plotter, longer range by AIS
on the lap top but I spent most of the time on deck
as to move back and forth would have brought a
lot of water down below.

Unusually there were very few fishing boats around but there was a fair bit of shipping and the timing was such that quite a few boats that had come out of the "Off Lands End" TSS and heading for Bristol, Milford and particularly Avonmouth were coming close, particularly three all over 250 metres long that passed within 1.5 miles on a course only 10 - 15 degrees different to mine. 

With AIS and radar I was perfectly safe, but it gets your attention when you see them 20+ miles away at which point, even when making a reasonably steady speed through the water under engine, the predicted closest point of approach varies from a few metres to a mile or so. In the event all passed ahead of me but with our courses so similar it took a long time for all three (1 leading and 2 very close together an hour behind) to clear.

With so much use of the engine and making about 5.5 knots, at a relaxed cruise in fairly calm water despite the fouled hull, I was well ahead of schedule and at daybreak I was past Turbot Bank, that did make it harder to see the channel buoys but it let me get to Milford Marina when the lock was in free flow, saving me from working through, and I was on my berth just before eight.

I had planned to start laying up on Sunday to return home by train on Monday to get the car, but with the early arrival it seemed pointless to waste the time and if I slept too much I would not sleep that night so, apart from a nap of an hour or so in the afternoon, I worked all day getting the running rigging, dodgers etc. off the boat ready to go. 

Sunday's trip home was rather frustrating, the train to Swansea was delayed because a low branch took the windscreen wiper off the front of the train, so they turned the train round and went backwards into the terminus although it was not raining and the buffers are under cover. It then went on to Newport and if they followed the same procedure would have had to turn the train around again.

As the train was being turned round, the train I was meant to be on passed. Some quick searching on the network rail journey planner found the quickest way back, instead of changing at Reading and Oxford, I would have to change at Swindon, Didcot and Oxford. The change at Didcot was very tight and the train was very crowded, I was one of the last off and did not make it, not wanting to try running, including down and up the stairs of the underpass, with a heavy bag and arthritis. 

Having left the boat at 08:45 I finally got home just before 17:00. In theory I should have had my fare refunded for the long delay but GWR refused to cough up because the delay was on the Welsh service even though I had booked through them as the main carrier.

Update: GWR having refused to pay referred the claim to Transport Wales without telling me, it took a while but in November they approved the claim 👍 

120 miles in 22 hours and 10 minutes berth to berth/

Click here for a post on the start of winter maintenance work

2024 September 3rd Days 20 - 22, Turnaware to St Mawes and Newlyn.

To St Mawes

I left after a breakfast coffee to get off the pontoon at fairly slack water and then to carry the ebb down Carrick roads with sufficient water to be able to safety go direct, once round Turnaware Bar (following the channel) I was able to sail to the Lugo Rock south cardinal buoy and it was then half a mile to the St Mawes anchorage. With light winds I rowed ashore for a small shop and a lunch time pasty from the Bakery - much better than the one I had at Cawsand, you could see proper chunks of meat rather than a few bits of mince and it was properly seasoned.

It was quite warm in the afternoon and I had an overall wash and washed my hair in the cockpit, getting a few odd looks from passing passengers on tripper boats.

To Newlyn

A very varied trip to Newlyn, I left at 06:45 to hopefully reach The Lizard at slack water, or as slack as it gets a day before the spring tide. a gentle breeze set in as I passed St Anthony Head and the engine went off as I sailed under headsail only as it was close to a run and the mainsail would get in the way. The wind increased close to the Manacles and I put in a reef to reduce the roll and it increased further as I passed and headed up to a reach for some quick sailing..

Sailing south from the Manacles in 15 Knts.

After an hour, half way to the Lizard, the wind had dropped and I was about 45 minutes behind plan but sailing in pleasant conditions.

East of Lizard Point in fairly benign conditions.

Then things changed big time, my Facebook post on the rounding says it all: 

"Well, the Lizard gave me a right kicking, a pleasant sail down the east side of the peninsula in 15 - 20 knots of northerly wind, by the time I was east of the point the wind was down to 12 knots so rather than stay 3-4 miles out as planned I cut in to a bit over 2 miles on the eastern edge of the charted over falls - with the tide just turned to the west the over falls normally move somewhat west.

BIG MISTAKE, the wind almost immediately increased to 25 knots and with the Atlantic swell against a near spring tide and I was in an extremely rough, short sea; with the double reefed headsail and no main I was making up to 9 knots over the ground straight into the waves.

A 55 foot yacht [almost certainly in rougher water] half a mile inside me gave up and turned round, that had not occurred to me as turning in a small boat was not something I was going to do in that sea and at 8 - 9 knots it should not take too long to get out of the rough water so I bore off 10 or 15 degrees to reduce the impact of waves head on and to avoid the possibility of an accidental tack. Not long after I was out of the dangerous water."

A couple of short videos before it became to rough to do more:

Somewhat shaken up, literally,  I continued west under sail before putting on the engine to motor directly into wind to Newlyn where I had a choice of berths. Coincidentally the 3 boats on the end of the pontoon were all single handed, me heading for Milford Haven, the other two having just arrived from there, one direct and one after multiple stops around the Bristol Channel and Celtic Sea. 

The weather next day (Thursday) did not look promising with strong wind and a lot of rain and it was to get worse than forecast but Friday was looking very good providing I got to Milford during the afternoon on Saturday, that was unlikely to be a problem as the wind was forecast to be light and variable with a lot of rain until evening.

35 miles in seven and a quarter hours.

To Milford Marina

2024 September 2nd. Excitement at Turnaware and I get to use my long line.

I happened to be on deck and saw a boat coming down stream making quite a lot of smoke, as they passed the end of the pontoon the engine cut out, was restarted but cut out again not far from the end of the pontoon and apparently dead up tide (see 2nd pic). I quickly changed the flip flops for proper shoes and prepared to fend off, which would not be easy as I was close to the end of the pontoon and have vulnerable self steering on the stern.

The skipper who was using a borrowed boat got the anchor out as the tide took her a couple of boat lengths from me, but there was not much chain, only a couple times the depth of water (more chain may have been in the locker but would not come out and there was no quick access) so we didn't know if it would hold (4 times the depth is “standard”, and much more in extreme conditions) against the strong tide at its peak on a spring tide. Neither did we know how long it would take to get a tow.

They did not think there was long enough lines on board so I grabbed my 100 metre "long rope" intended for the kedge, taking a line ashore in a tight anchorage or emergencies like this one, slung it in the dinghy and ran the line from their stern to the pontoon, up to a second cleat on the pontoon then out to her stem.

As the tide eased she swung in closer.

With these lines attached we could warp her onto a long space on the pontoon behind me. By now Mylor had agreed to send a work boat to haul her back so we did not attempt that but waited half an hour or so for them to arrive.

The orange buoy is about 5m from the end of the pontoon.
Off back to Mylor, this is about where the engine failed the
second time. When I was watching as she passed there was
definitely water coming out of the exhaust, when they tried
to start it later there wasn't any so almost certainly the impeller
Or water pump belt failed and the engine stopped shortly after.

T

100 metres of 12mm nylon (breaking strain over 3 tonnes)
drying out before I repack it. I also have 80 metres of 14mm
platted line for the drogue or other uses.

To St Mawes and Newlyn.

My review of anchorages and marinas around UK has been updated to August 2024.

Anchorages and Marinas covered as at July 2024

Sancerre in the anchorage at The Holy Island of
Lindisfarne, 2021, the Farne Islands and Bamburgh
Castle in the distance.  A trip line is required in
this anchorage, to see why click here.

My review of anchorages and marinas around UK has been updated with those visited through August 2024, at that point I had been to 155 different ones since getting Sancerre, almost all have at least some comments. The pages were getting over long so there are now 11 of them. 

I now include:

• Harbours and Marinas.
• Some info on fuel & gas availability but I would not have checked at many locations. 
• Cell coverage, Vodafone and O2, for those I have visited recently.

Be sure to check out Reeds and / or the appropriate pilots for more detailed information and alternates, this is just an overview of likely candidates, but I have been to all of them over the last few years. Some notes on passage making using some of these can be found here:  "Planning a round GB trip" , a list of charts and Pilots I have used round GB can be found here: "Charts and Guides for a round GB trip"

Further updated during a boring winter 2023/4 to include some information on access to and from marinas. Done from notes but largely from memory but fortunately that is good for this sort of thing, I just wish that I always knew why I went into a room or opened a browser page 😕. See my page Marina & mooring notes (opens in a new window) for some general tips, definitions and the context (handling of my boat) in which I comment.

From 2024 I am adding videos of anchorages when weather, daylight and time permit.

Village Bay Anchorage, St Kilda 2023.

Hunda Sound anchorage looking towards Scapa Flow, Orkney at 03:30.

Note that these "Pages" do not show up under "Post Labels" (right). There will normally be more photos of each anchorage on the linked post and sometimes subsequent ones (I normally only "tag" the first post in a sequence) the associated slide show, or by clicking on the Post Label right:

Note: In other places Rame Head to Lands End may be labelled Fowey to Lands End, that will be corrected in time and is due to adding Looe Bay between the two.

• The Solent.
• The Needles to Rame Hd (Plymouth).
• Rame Head to Lands End.
• Lands End north to Anglesey
• The Isles of Scilly and SE Ireland from Baltimore to Carnsore Point 
• The East Coast of Ireland from Carnsore Pt to Red Bay.
• Mull of Galloway to Ardnamurchan Point.
• Ardnamurchan Point to Rubha Reidh.
• The Western Isles.
• Loch Ewe to Orkney.
• Duncansby Head to The Solent.

The anchorage at Canna, the Small Isles, on route from
Tobermory to S. Uist, 2022. The Isle of Rum in the distance.

2024 August 31st Days 18 - ?, weather bound again this time at St Mawes and Turnaware

The forecasts are still all over the place with  forecasts not agreeing, hardly surprising with part of a system going overhead.

UK Met Office model on Tuesday morning.

Again met Roeland in his  A24 "Hotfoot", this time not racing
with his wife aboard.

Sunday was quite a nice day and I got a small bit of topside varnishing done, it looked as though I would be OK to stay in St Mawes which is sheltered from the forecast NW wind, however on Tuesday morning I woke and checked the just issued inshore forecast:

Lyme Regis to Lands End including the Isles of Scilly - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Cyclonic 2 to 4, increasing 4 to 6, becoming northwest 4 or 5 later. Slight or moderate, occasionally smooth in sheltered north and rough in far west. Occasional rain or showers. Moderate or good, occasionally poor.

Outlook for the following 24 hours: Northwest 3 to 5. Smooth or slight, but moderate west of the Lizard. Showers. Good.

At first this did not overly concern me but I checked out the domestic forecast, often a good idea, it's a "post code" automated forecast but the UKMO model is updated more frequently than any other, this showed

The domestic forecast for St Mawes @ 09:00, at 07:00
the wind was easterly 6 knots.

The wind strength was much lower but that is not unusual as the system allows for the wind to slow over land but it shows the wind veering from the East to the North-west rather than backing. That would make the anchorage exposed to the south-westerly, during the day a F6 should not be dangerous in St Mawes but it would certainly be uncomfortable so, although it was raining a little and misty I decided to head north for some shelter and I was away 10 minutes later.

There was a minor drama as I left, a fishing boat reporting a yacht probably aground in Bream Cove just north of the Helford river. The fishing boat could not get close enough to see what was going on or if there was any one aboard, and although I probably draw more water than his boat and am single handed, I had the dinghy in tow so could anchor and go in to investigate, as it was only 20 minutes away I started off in that direction but the coastguard, having checked their records (it took a while, probably because the name of the boat was unknown; one reason to have the boats name on the dodgers), came back on to say that the owner was aware and arranging recovery so we both went about our business.

Turnaware from the pontoon.

Fortunately there was space on the Turnaware pontoon and the tide, a couple of hours after HW on a near spring tide was not at full strength so I stopped there rather than go up to the Truro river with the tide getting stronger. If the wind does reach F6 from the SW it will be a bit exposed but not excessively so and I should have a quite night with a north-westerly and I will go back to St Mawes on Tuesday and hopefully head west on Wednesday or Thursday but its not worth thinking about where to go at the moment as the forecasts are rather different:

UK Met Office forecast for mid day Friday.

And the ECMWF for mid day Friday.

Update: Typical, 21:00 and the wind has not gone above 8 knots and hidden here it is mainly calm, now the mist has cleared it is warm and humid, what wind there is from here to Scilly is already NW so I could probably have stayed where I was. Hopefully strong winds will not be delayed too long or they could cause problems tomorrow. I have another paid for nigh here if I need it but I’ll probably go back to St Mawes tomorrow. And now the jet stream is making the forecast for the weekend, not so good and difficult to predict. 🤬🤬

Excitement at Turnaware and I get to use my long line.