On the fourth day of Christmas (2013) ...

We came home :(

I was more than somewhat surprised to find it was getting light and nearly half past seven in the morning when I awoke. An undisturbed eight hour plus sleep is such a rarity for me these days.

After a coffee and a nurdle on the smartphone, I made fresh coffee and disturbed the better half. I'd have left her to sleep longer but as she is due in work tonight we needed to crack on.

Bacon buttys for breakfast soon ensued followed by offloading the bags, opening all the things that should be open, closing all the things that should be closed, turning off, on, up or down all the things that needed turing off, on, up or down and other such complex activities. And people say "oh, yachting, must be nice to do something simple and old fashioned like that". Yeah right!

A final job was to fire up the engine briefly whilst pouring antifreeze down the intake filter to protect the heat exchanger through the depths of winter (I hope!) and then we locked up and hit the road home.

A sub-2hr journey was good and we spent much of it in discussion about plans for the short, medium and long terms. The work/life balance isn't perfect at the moment but we need a good few years of reasonably high income yet to sort out our long term financial security. One or two ideas occurred to us that might move things forward a bit quicker than would otherwise be the case which we're going to look into

Now it's back to normal ... or what passes for normal hereabouts anyway!

On The Third Day of Christmas (2013) ...

We didn't do a lot!

It had been quite a wild night with F9/10 gales offshore and gusts of up to 50+ knots blowing through the moorings. I'd had to don my lifejacket, being Mr. Sensible Skipper, and wake Jane up to keep watch whilst I went and sorted out a loose halyard on the boat next door but other than that nothing untoward occurred although we were bouncing around somewhat.

Once it was light I took a turn around the haven and popped over to the yacht station to make sure several friends boats were OK, all was well. Mind, I wouldn't have wanted to be aboard a boat on the river, glad we decided to go for the marina berth over winter

Breakfast was so late it became officially brunch after which we stirred our stumps and gave Erbas a tidy up below decks. We both had a bit of a doze for a while and then it was time to get the lamb casserole on the hob after which we retired to the pub for a beer or three.

In bed by eleven, asleep soon after. Bliss!

Boxing Day 2013

We started the day by trying the new frying pan to produce a sausage and egg butty for me whilst Jane breakfasted lightly on jam and toast. The frying pan is excellent!

Then it was off by car on a shopping expedition aimed at improving the heating arrangements. We both dislike the fan heater, it's noisy and gives me a headache whilst Jane feels it causes her to get the sniffles.

We found a 1.5kw two tube halogen heater for just £25 in B&Q which looked ideal. Whilst we were at it we picked up a cheap dehumidifier too although we suspected it was cheap for a reason!

A visit to Poundstretcher generated a large carrier bag full of bits and bobs we needed for not a lot if money and then we bimbled back to Fambridge via the back roads.

That was a goodly chunk of the day gone and by the time we'd sorted ourselves out it was well into the evening. We headed of to the pub, taking great care on the slippery pontoons, only to find no sign of life.

Oh well, back on board and with time getting on it was tinned curry and rice for dinner followed by episode two of "The White Queen" and then bed

Christmas Day 2013

We slept quite well apart from the midnight rainstorm and awoke to our first ever Christmas alone as a couple - and we've been married for over thirty years!

We've always spent Christmas with my family and our children at my parents, apart from one year when we hosted the gathering of the clan!

After a light breakfast, toast being the order of the day, I braved the chill outdoors to fetch Jane's present from the car. Yes, honestly, some nautical cookbooks and a rectangular frying pan really was to her liking! (The cook books had been requested, the frying pan was a surprise)

Pressys!

My present is insulated trainers, because I'm always suffering from cold feet! Unfortunately the supplier failed to deliver them in time so they are currently a virtual present!

With breakfast and presents out of the way, I got down to the business of dressing the ship with flags having bought a signal flag set as the boats Christmas present! After some faffing about it looked pretty good in the winter sunshine

Dressed Overall, although there were no takers on the offer indicated by the hoist to starboard

Ingredients and pans at the ready

And now it was time to cook the dinner. This would be a challenge on a two burner spirit stove but I'd come up with a cunning plan!

At the heart of the meal would be a spatchcock, or in French a poussin. An immature chicken with the sternum removed in other words. With a single wrap of foil to prevent it from burning, this went into our double skillet for thirty minutes being turned over half way through.

Two burners are all you need!

Now I added the first of three cheats on the form of some mixed ready to roast vegetables which we'd bought frozen in a large bag. I'd decanted sufficient for our needs into a container along with two more containers containing two helpings of steaming vegetables and four frozen Yorkshire puddings!

After another half an hour or so the steamed veg went on and the Yorkshires were added to the roast. Thirty minutes later and voila! A pretty decent roast dinner for two!

The bird was cooked to perfection (roughly 90 minutes and turned several times over a fairly low heat for double skillet owners). The roast veg and Yorkshire puds were tasty if perhaps a little soggy. 

Dinner was accompanied by a decent red wine and followed by watching the first episode of "The White Queen" on DVD, our youngest and his girlfriend having bought us it after we missed episode two when it was broadcast

A phone call home to my parents and brother fulfilled family duties - the kids mostly seem to be working today, it's a sign of the times I guess

.

We skipped tea, and spent the evening playing monopoly on the laptop before retiring fairly early after a very nice day.

Christmas Eve 2013

After grabbing a few hours sleep following work, we were both up and about shortly after midday so after throwing an astonishing amount of gear into the car we set off along the A14

The roads weren't as bad as I'd feared, the traffic was quite light and the weather much improved after high winds and heavy rain overnight.

We made excellent time and were soon on board and sorting ourselves out. I don't do Christmas decorations so after deciding that our mast isn't quite tall enough to signal "BAH HUMBUG" with flags I settled on "NE14W" instead. Bearing in mind that "W" is "Whiskey" in the phonetic alphabet you should be able to work that one out!

By the time I'd sorted that out and raised the ensign too it was getting rather chilly outside so enough was enough. As dark descended we lit all the oil lamps and settled down to chicken casserole from the tin. A drop of bubbly stuff for Jane and a wee dram for myself ensued but a wild party night was not to be and by eight we were both sound asleep!

The peace and tranquility was disturbed, as indeed was my sleep, around midnight by heavy rain which lasted an hour or so, once it blew through I was away with the fairies again.

Never mind, it'll soon be Christmas!

December Weekend 2013 - Day 2

Today was never going to be wildly exciting! A leisurely start over a generous round of bacon butties and gallons of coffee was followed by some plumbing investigations.

The purpose of the excercise being to decide where to locate a sump pump to automatically empty the sink drains 'cos faffing about with a push button under the v-berth in order to empty the galley sink is a total pain in ... well everything really

After some scratching of the collective bonces, we decided that the best spot is under the cabin sole in the saloon and even better that much of the existing plumbing can be used in situ so it's going to be a pretty easy and straightforward job

Whilst we had the relevant section of floor up anyway I pulled the log impeller and whipped the blanking plug in it's place. The impeller was pretty clean anyway but no doubt benefited from a scrub and wash in hot water to remove any klingons. In the process, I deliberately let the water pour in until the auto switch on the main bilge pump kicked in to test it. It works. 

Although it had started out bright and quite pleasant, the day was turning increasingly foul weather wise so we took advantage of a lull in the wind and showers to chuck our kit into the car and after shutting down, switching off, switching on, switching over and various such like excercises we made an early-ish dash for the road home.

There may be a photo or two eventually if and when the bosun gets around to sending them to me (hint hint)

December Weekend 2013 - Day 1

After picking up the workers from the big shed, I loaded up the car and headed over to his abode to load up the bosun.

We had a decent drive down in the lighter Saturday morning traffic and arrived to a sunny, quiet and bitterly cold welcome at the marina.

With the kettle in regular use all day we set about reorganising the packing of the new inflatable dinghy and the contents of the port cockpit locker so that the one would go into the other. It didn't look good at first and nor did the plan B option of stowing the dinghy down the quarter berth. However, with the floor slats removed I found we could roll the dinghy up into a narrower package which would fit in the locker. Result!

As expected though getting the dinghy in was at the expense of taking the liferaft out. There's really nowhere else to stow the valise liferaft other than on deck and it's several years overdue for a service in any case. I'll take it home and shed it for now pending a decision on what to do about it - probably the best option long term being to change it out for a canister version and find somewhere on deck to mount it.

Having worked out how to put the dinghy away, we now got it out again and set about a trial inflation in the cockpit. It can be done without too much difficulty although I found, for the first time but not the last today, that I was struggling physically by the time I'd got it pulled up with the stirrup pump.

With it blown up there was only one thing to do - go play with it! Attaching the outboard was a doddle, I'd already put fresh petroil in the tank and I was soon zooming up and down the creek on a solo test flight.

Glen then clambered aboard for a two up test which went equally well although with two fat gits on board a third person would have to be a midget! Feeling very pleased with my purchase, we tied up and had a coffee and some lunch before I made a third run to practice approaching the stern to board.

Then we hauled the dinghy out off the water and inverted it on the foredeck to dry out a bit. I'd hoped it might stow there inflated for short runs and pottering about but whilst it will squeeze between the mast, stays and pulpit rail, just, it leaves no space spare at all making access to mooring lines, anchor, etc impossible.

After some idling below decks, and figuring it wasn't going to get any drier before dark anyway, I deflated and re-packed the dinghy on the foredeck (which worked better than doing it in the cockpit) and stowed it away.

Glen did take some photos but they're on his digital camera so will have to wait until we get home.

After a bit of a breather, we headed for the pub, a meal and some beer. It wasn't a late night though especially as I was still struggling for energy and any sort of effort was leaving me out of breath and out of sorts. Ok, I'm not the fittest of people but this was ridiculous!

Hopefully an early night would sort me out assuming sleep was forthcoming. That was by no means certain as it was a fairly wild night with winds gusting over 40 knots and much squeaking of fenders and groaning of mooring lines.

Never the less, within minutes of climbing into the v-berth and once the initial shivering had stopped I was away with the fairies!

Buying boats is habit forming ...

Just got back from a short road trip to visit an old friend from our canal boating days. Apart from the pleasure of catching up on old times, the primary purpose of the excercise was to view and hopefully purchase an outboard and inflatable dinghy

The outboard was everything I hoped for - a nice, small and above all light weight Tohatsu 2.5 2 stroke. No gears, no clutch, no twist grip throttle, all of which means less weight and less to go wrong. Despite old fuel and not having been touched for a couple of years it started and ran happily in the water butt. Result!

The dinghy is a Plastimo 3 man job and too good to turn down at the price offered. I suspect it's not going to be willing to go in the available locker though, at least not packed as standard and possibly not at all. No matter, we'll tow it or stow it on deck or something. If it won't go in the locker space that may make it a temporary rather than a permanent solution. I can live with that given the cost saving over buying a new small inflatable

November Weekend 2013 - Day 4

Coffee and bacon butties were the order of the day for breakfast then I set too refilling all the oil lamps and the cabin heater with paraffin as leaving them empty would result in dry wicks which would need to be left to soak before being used.

Then we set about packing up our gear and putting the boat to bed. How much easier life is when what we need to take home can be carried to the car over your shoulder or in your hand in one trip!

With the tube heater in the engine bay and the convection heater in the cabin both on their lowest settings, she should survive any frosts between now and our next visit in a couple of weeks time

A final check from stem to stern and as far as we can figure nothing has been forgotten on this occasion. Then it was simply a case of lock up and head home.

A very relaxing weekend which we both felt has vindicated the decision to spend the extra money on over-wintering in the marina.

The only slight niggle is heating. The 500W convection heater, even aided by the paraffin heater, isn't enough for comfort although it will take the chill off. That meant running the fan heater and there was a certain amount of domestic disagreement over what constituted a comfortable temperature! I find that if the fan heater is run for too long it makes me feel a bit dry and "headachy". It's not a huge issue but it would be nice to have a better source of primary heating. Even better if it didn't rely on shore power!

PS. I clean forgot to post a day 4 update so this is several days late! I've also amended the posting dates for the earlier updates over the weekend so the dates are correct for the days concerned

November Weekend 2013 - Day 3

The day got off to a slow start over a leisurely cooked breakfast on board.

That done with, I set to trying to remove the panel behind the steps upon which is mounted the shore power consumer unit and the Sterling battery charger.

This proved anything but simple! To remove that panel meant removing all the panels around it and some of those would only come out if glued on trim pieces magically came unglued.

Since removing those trim pieces would inevitably leave damage that would have to be refinished, a temporary plan B was enacted. The new 240v socket and switch panel was mounted on the face of the panel between the aforementioned units and the spur linking it to the consumer unit simply looped underneath the units and secured with a couple of cable clips.

That achieved the primary objective of the exercise which was to put a socket somewhere close enough to the galley worktop for the 240v kettle which up until now had been sitting on the cabin sole by the steps.

The switch side of the panel (a domestic cooker panel) is intended to be permanently wired to a permanently installed 55w tube heater in the engine bay

However, on investigation I could find nowhere suitable to mount the heater that wasn't already occupied by wiring, pipework and so on. I shall see if I can wedge the heater in temporarily in the morning, we'll have to look again another day for a permanent solution.

It took a while to reassemble everything and whilst doing so I replaced the out of date dry powder automatic extinguisher with a new FE36 halon replacement one.

All finished, I relaxed with a coffee and an e-book whilst Jane prepared a tasty beef casserole. A romantic dinner for two by the soft light of the cabin oil lamps warned by the glow of the paraffin heater ... the romance was slightly tarnished by the necessity of washing up once dinner had been dispatched.

A quiet evening of reading and/or watching telly on the tablet ensued to taste until the near simultaneous death of the main cabin lamp and the heater for want of paraffin hinted that it may be time for bed.

November Weekend 2013 - Day 2

Today was to be mostly about shopping and what we were mostly shopping for was bits for the boat

The necessities to install a mains socket in the vicinity of the galley were obtained from Wickes in Maldon. A 55w tube heater to keep frost at bay on the engine bay came from Marinestore in Burnham

While we were in Maldon we took advantage of the tide being put to scry the propsect of the visitor pontoon on Hythe Quay.

Useful to note that the mud into which we'd settle if we got onto it is flat and also handy to know that there's a bank of mud between the pontoon and the margin river channel.

It looks like it would be a good mooring assuming the Dutch barges currently in residence aren't clogging it up next year (of the several photos off seen of the pontoon, such barges, possibly even the same ones, are almost invariably taking up ask the space. We shall see what the situation is when the time comes)

Anyway, shopping compete we headed to the Old Granary at Battlebridge for lunch (not as hot as they could have been baked potatoes) and then back on board for a relax, wash, change and head for the pub

We dined out on some rather tasty pork loin steaks and enjoyed the live music over sufficient falling down water before hastening back through the village in the chill night air to our nice warm cabin

A very pleasant way to spend a chilly day

November Weekend 2013 - Day 1

We copped for an unusual amount of Friday afternoon traffic so our journey down took nearly two and a half hours.

By the time we arrived at the marina it was dark and getting chilly but fortunately Erbas was easily located just a few berths away from where we left her.

She'd been moved because the berths on the inside of the pontoon are being dredged. Fair enough however I was somewhat annoyed to find that the shore power hadn't been reconnected.

There wasn't a lot of point in buying a metered lead in order to leave her plugged in if she's not plugged in! Apart from maintaining the batteries on trickle charge, the frost heater is critically important. The purpose of the exercise is to avoid having to fully winterise the boat when all is said and done.

Oh well, plugged back in again we got the kettle and heaters on. It took a while to take the chill off but there was no damp which is good.

A simple dinner of bread and soup was followed by watching a film on the laptop then an early night.

Scramble! Scramble!

The eggs that is!

With work looming over the horizon, a breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast was followed by a visit to the marina office to purchase a metered hook up lead (necessary evil if we want to leave the batteries trickle charging and a frost heater running)

Jane tidied up below whilst I made a better fist of the mooring, hauling the stern clear of the dock and the gel coat munching potential of the pile adjacent to our winter mooring

Then it was time to put the boat to bed, make up the travel mugs of coffee and carry our bags to the car, dumping the rubbish en passant.

Of course, we forgot to do something as always. This time it was the burner pads on the cooker that stop the spirit from evaporating gradually. Not a big issue as the burners are virtually empty anyway.

Erbas having been given strict instructions to behave herself in our absence this time, we headed for home.

With coffee made before departing, it was a non-stop run. We didn't bother with the flask too as we had on the way down. Making coffee at home, or on board, before departure has saved at least £20 this one weekend alone. Not that we drink THAT much coffee but once you're in the shop you never just buy coffee. It's snacks and chocolate and what have you that inflate the bill

All in all, a very relaxing weekend. Not a lot done but then there was never any intention to do a lot. Erbas having already proved herself an excellent boat for cruising with three or four crew, she now proved herself an even more comfortable weekend retreat for the two of us.

It's tempting to head back down next weekend but there are things that need doing on the home front so it'll be three weeks before our next trip

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Essex mud, marvelous stuff. Well, amazing anyway. It's soft, it's sticky, it's friendly and forgiving when you hit it.

It also gets everywhere! Yesterday, I quickly hosed the worst of it off the cockpit, after breakfast today it was time for a more serious scrub and hose down from stem to stern

Some hard work later and pretty well all the evidence of Erbas's adventures last week was gone. Even the scrapes on the hull mostly turned out to be good old sticky Essex mud

After those labours I needed a lie down! No seriously, I've got a bug, the old sore throat, chesty cough sort of thing, which is leaving me with even less energy than usual.

Bit of a nap later and it was back to work this time with the bucket and sponge removing the last gallon or so of water from the bilges that the pumps can't lift.

Meanwhile, we entertained visitors, well one visitor anyway, when Chris of Tomahawk stopped by for coffee. How much nicer to be able to invite guests on board and sit and chat on comfort!

Late afternoon, we hoped in the car and drove around to the yacht station. After checking that our tender is ok (it is) we walked down the riverbank and took some photos of "our" mooring in its new mud berth location! (Photos below)

She got frighteningly close to the rocks and hard stuff along the edge of the sea wall! No doubt the buoy, chain and sinker will be retrieved and reset in due course but I doubt if Erbas will be back on it.

After nipping into the yard to stare in dismay at the damage done to our friend Lisa's boat when it fell over, we repaired back on board in the rising wind and falling temperature - it's been blowing a yachtsmans' gale all day. Didn't stop the racing boys going out around lunchtime though.

Dinner was home made beef stew and dumplings after which I dozed of again cunningly leaving Jane to do the washing up. No doubt I'll pay for that later! It started raining so we abandoned any thoughts of walking down to the pub for a drink and did some damage to the rum supply instead

Tomorrow, it's pack up and go home after breakfast as work rears its ugly head again

No (life)jacket required

An early start to the day saw me up by five in the morning making up two insulated mugs of coffee and a back up supply in a flask.

Then it was off to the big shed to pick up the ship's Purser from her labours and off we set in the dark along the A14.

After a pit stop for diesel, we arrived at Fambridge and even remembered to go straight on to the marina rather than turn right to the river moorings.

Having never been on the pontoons at the marina, I hadn't considered the fact that they have coded gates on the entry ramps! Fortunately, it wasn't but ten minutes wait before a couple of the staff appeared on scene and we were soon armed with the necessary codes.

Oh how nice it was to walk straight up to the boat without having to don a lifejacket and paddle out to her on the dinghy. One could get used to this (were it not for the bill for a year round marina berth). Actually, according to the notice above the gate, we should have been wearing lifejackets on the pontoon but we chose to be daring and rebellious!

An exterior inspection of Erbas found no evidence of serious injury. She's picked up a year or twos worth of scratches and scrapes to the upper works all in one go but nothing to get excited about. There was mud all over the decks of course and splattered up some of the canvas work but that's hardly surprising!

Down below, apart from a couple of books lying on the cabin sole, all was as tidy as we left it. Both the bilges, which were bone dry, had an inch or so of brackish water in them though.

With signs of damp underneath the vents in the heads and forward cabin, it seems likely that the driving rain and spray got in under them and made its way into the cabin and thus into the main bilge. I'm guessing that the cockpit floor hatch leaked a little of the same salty brew into the engine bilge.

A few seconds on the pumps and it was all gone bar the inevitable puddle the pump can't pick up. Item one on the things we haven't got list is a sponge!

Jane went to bed up forward whilst I dozed and did very little for the day other than hose the mud out of the cockpit and off the decks.

Come the evening, we walked down to the pub for a meal and a beer or two before staggering back in the strong breeze for an early-ish night.

We'd made up the v-berth with a king size sheet, quilt and decent pillows rather than the sleeping bags. Oh what a luxurious difference! That is definitely a permanent arrangement! Well, except when we have to tidy it away to go sailing of course.

OK, so who can't work his oh so smart phone then?

That'll be me

Specifically, mis-read the diary and thought Jane was off tonight when in fact she's working

So we're still off to Fambridge ... but at half past five in the morning not this evening!

Technology, ya gotta love it!

On the move again ...

... but it's all right this time it's planned!

Well the weather forecast for the weekend and into next week is frankly pants. More gales, albeit not of quite the same severity as last weekend

Normally, I'd look at that forecast and call off a weekend trip to the boat on the grounds that it just wouldn't be worth it but we won't be entirely happy until we've been and checked her over for ourselves.

The key worry was getting down to Fambridge tomorrow afternoon and finding the river too rough to safely paddle out to Erbas in our not terribly clever little dinghy. So I thought to myself "if you don't ask, you don't get" and after a couple of attempts to ring the yard (I hate answerphones!) I dropped them an email asking if there was any chance somebody could move her onto the pontoon for us

Back came a prompt response in the affirmative - no problem, it would be done this afternoon

I thought to myself "well, in for a penny and all that" so fired back an enquiry as to when we might, perchance, be able to move to a marina berth ...

Yep, it worked! Back came the reply that they'd run out of time this afternoon and hadn't got around to putting Erbas on the river pontoon so they'd move her into the marina and onto her winter berth in the morning!

Result!

The sigh of relief was probably heard in Outer Mongolia!

I've spoken to Adam at the marina this morning and it turns out Erbas took the mooring sinker for a wander. It wasn't the strops that went which is a big relief as there was nothing I could have done to prevent it happening

As far as the marina staff could tell there's no damage although I have let our insurers know that we've had an incident in case we find a problem at the weekend

The marina staff have been wonderful, our forum friends have been marvellous and my social circles have been fantastic!

I'm feeling very very happy so I'm going to bed :D

Send me smoke signals ...

... next time there's a problem!

Although I sincerely hope there isn't a next time.

Isn't it typical that on the one day you really don't want your comms to fail, that's precisely what they do. Crucially, although it was showing a signal and apparently working my mobile had locked out from the network and was neither receiving nor making calls

I only discovered this when I tried to call an internet friend who had kindly offered assistance in finding out whether Erbas was OK or not. As it turned out, she wasn't but she was sort of thing

To cut a long story to a not quite so long story, it turns out it was Erbas that was the boat reported as having gone ashore. I can't thank everyone who offered help enough but I must mention in particular Nathan Whitlock, who I've never actually met, who set out on foot from the marina in the dark, walked all the way down to the swinging moorings and searched as best he could for Erbas

Finding no sign of her where she should be, he then stopped by the Ferry Boat (I'm sure entirely in the interests of further investigation!) and the landlord Mark then got on the case and by phoning around found out that the marina staff had recovered Erbas intact and apparently undamaged and put her on a different trot mooring for safety

Meanwhile, Jim Dew had offered to go out in the dark on Full Circle and search the river, thankfully this wasn't necessary. I did take up his offer to stop by the moorings this morning and check on Erbas although that would prove unnecessary too.

Shortly after I got to work, wishing only that I could just get in the car and drive down to Fambridge (not that I could achieve anything by doing so), Adam from the marina left a comment on this blog with confirmation of the situation and reassurance that all is well with the boat. Outstanding service to be blogging and willing to take calls from customers so late in the evening!

I didn't see the comment until the early hours of the morning due to yet another comms hiccup (my mobile didn't download my emails properly and had to be kicked up the backside yet again and then hey presto suddenly there was this important message now several hours old) so I've yet to speak to the guys at the marina but I'm feeling reasonably cheerful and at least now I'm sick with relief rather than sick with worry! (I suspect only other boat owners will understand just how emotionally attached you become to your boat ... even after only a few weeks ownership. It's more like a pet or  child than a car or a caravan. Strange but true).

The only remaining question is ... what happened? I'm really hoping that the answer is that the mooring dragged or the riser failed or something of that nature. Not, I hasten to add, because I want to blame the marina (she's insured against such eventualities and, as they say, sh sh sh stuff happens) but because I'm desperately hoping I haven't been a bit of a clot

When we put Erbas onto the buoy for the first time a couple of weeks ago, we discovered that the mooring strop and line were chafing on the anchor flukes. Removing the anchor would have been a right royal pain in the proverbial so I came up with what I thought was a cunning wheeze and lashed the anchor up to the pulpit rail to raise it clear of the strops

I fear that in the rough conditions on the river yesterday morning she was pitching enough to bring the strops into contact with the anchor flukes and if that happened they wouldn't have lasted long at all. I debated travelling down over the weekend to sort it out properly and decided she'd be alright.

I shall find out whether I am indeed a clot or not later ... actually I do feel that in hindsight I should have made the trip to Essex regardless. If we have got away with no damage at all we're extremely lucky. Several friends haven't been so fortunate

The Great Storm of October 2013

Well it fairly lived up to expectations judging from the weather station readouts - gusts of up to 70 knots plus in the Thames Estuary area. The live webcam at the yacht station doesn't give a great view of the river but what could be seen looked rough as hell

A friends yacht ashore in the yard was blown over along with two others and, most worryingly, there are vague reports of a blue hulled yacht ashore against the sea wall

We've not heard anything from the marina so we're praying it isn't Erbas ...

Shake Down Cruise - Conclusions

Well the first and most important conclusion is ... Erbas is a brilliant boat!

She truly is everything we hoped she would be.

She's a joy to steer, light and responsive on the helm, and the engine has power by the bucket load and a prop that has serious bite on the water. This is a boat with brakes! She is very maneuverable under power although we haven't quite yet got the hang of it.

Under sail she is a much better sailing boat than I secretly expected. OK, in light airs she isn't what you'd call quick but with two keels, a fair sized rudder and a 13" prop to drag through the water she was never going to be. She ghosts along passably well though.

Given a decent working breeze, she picks up her skirts and gets a move on nicely and with 16 knots on the wind instrument (more of which anon) and a reef in the main she was having no trouble at all maintaining in excess of 5 knots close reaching and if I'm honest I don't think we were quite getting the best out of the sail trim so there's probably a bit more to be got.

Hard on the wind she's surprisingly good. Even pinching up in a stiff breeze, admittedly near ideal conditions for the purpose, she was making around 4 knots through the water.

The cockpit is ample in size for three or four crew to be on deck at the same time when sailing although you do have to make sure everybody is in the right place! It took us a tack or two to realise that whereas on Brigantia the helm was aft and the crew forward, on Erbas you helm from in front of your crew, Furthermore, any "off watch" crew lounging around in the cockpit need to sit right at the aft end out of the way. Happily, it's all very comfortable wherever you may be (and with some backrests and cushions will be even more so).

With the cockpit tent up, the cockpit seat cushions excavated from the quarter berth and the table quarried out of a locker, the cockpit becomes a super place to sit in port, It also offers a sheltered workspace when maintaining the boat, sorting lockers and so on. Whether we leave the tent up over the winter is debatable - it would have it's advantages to do so but it does mean it'll get more wear and tear. One option might be a tarp to go over the tent and sprayhood when we're not on board to protect them

There are just a couple of "niggles" on deck ...

The borrowed Delta pattern anchor is, unfortunately, a bit too big. We'll have to consider something smaller as the shank length is all but identical to the distance between the roller and the capstan gypsy so it doesn't stow very well.

The anchor stowed on the bow roller also presents a problem when mooring to the buoy on the swinging moorings. Going to have to think about that one and come up with a solution because as things stand the anchor could rapidly chaff through one of the two mooring lines and prevents mooring on a single strop at all.

When broad reaching or running, the mainsheet fouls the back edge of the sprayhood. Not by much but over time it is bound to wear the material and shorten the life of the nearly new hood. I guess this wasn't a problem for the previous owner as I gather he always sailed with the hood down. However, I prefer to sail with the hood up most of the time. A simple solution seems to be a second set of tie down clips forward of the existing ones. That will allow the lower back corner of the hood to be folded back on itself and secured when necessary. Not, perhaps, ideal but a workable solution never the less.

The reefing setup is simply begging to be converted to single line reefing. It's got to be worth a try. If it doesn't work, it's easily put back the way it is and it won't cost a fortune to do either.

No doubt we'll find other things in time! ..

Now to below decks ...

During the day and evening in harbour it's simply fantastic. The space works brilliantly even with four on board.

The galley is just big enough and being tucked out of the way the cook can cook in comfort without being constantly disrupted by the crew moving about. Storage space is adequate and the fridge works very well indeed (and doesn't eat the batteries either).

The nav area is OK but the mounting arrangement for the chart plotter has definitely got to be improved! It's functional but it's ugly and it doesn't half get in the way!

The saloon will be luxurious for two, is comfortable for four but it'd be cosy with more on board! Four people is the realistic limit for cruising anyway. The main cabin sleeping arrangements are not quite as ideal as they could be. Both Rik and Glen found the saloon settees a bit narrow and the cupboards above the settees a bit too deep. Rik transferred his affections to the quarter berth and found it more to his liking although it meant a bit more faffing about morning and evening . Not that it was a problem and on the upside it left space on the Port settee for me to sit whilst supping my first coffee of the day!

The heads, once we realised we hadn't opened the flushing water cock (we'd opened the inlet but hadn't realised there was a further stop cock on the pipe to the heads), work as one would expect them to do. The air vent on the inlet pipe seems a little enthusiastic - putting a finger over it initially seems to help get a better flush.

The v-berth is very comfortable indeed, especially with the inset in place. I had my doubts about using the inset as without it getting into and out of the berths is somewhat easier but it cures a similar problem to the main settees in that without it the berths are a bit narrow

Storage is, overall, very good. However it is compromised in a number of places by tanks and plumbing. I'm not at all sure why it was felt necessary to add a third water tank aft under the starboard settee when there's two big stainless ones forward occupying most of the useful space under the v-berth. The previous owner seemed to be suggesting the stainless tanks were not fit for drinking but we flushed them and filled them and without even treating the water it's perfectly potable.

Elsewhere, it does become a little frustrating after a while to find every locker space compromised by plumbing, The space under the Port settee aft of the battery box is the worst example. The additional seawater intake for use on a mud berth really didn't need to be located slap bang in the middle of the space! It effectively, for the moment, renders an entire useful storage space all but useless. I have a cunning plan :)

In contrast, it is remarkably hard to find any trace of the electrics other than behind the switch panel access over the nav table! Glen spotted some trunking up under the Starboard gunnel and the occasional glimpse of a wire has been seen elsewhere but that's about it. Apart from some long term thoughts about rationalising the switching I've no plans to do much to the wiring for the foreseeable future.

The same can't be said for the pumps. The minor problem is that water pump which is exceptionally noisy but otherwise works OK. It is, however, located in the Port settee aft locker space making its contribution to buggering up the stowage plan. Just the other side of the bulkhead its mounted on is a fairly useless space into which the pump would fit a treat. It shall be moved in due course! The noise we'll have to live with.

The major problem is the (with all due respect to whoever installed it who, I'm sure, thought it was a good idea at the time) crazy waste water arrangements. The galley and heads sinks drain to a pipe which runs more than half the length of the boat to a pump installed right beneath the head of whoever is sleeping in the starboard v-berth (Jane in other words!). To make matters worse, the only way to operate this pump is to reach into the v-berth compartment and hold in a push button on the berth front!

Imagine how much fun that is when you've just done the washing up ... at the other end of the boat. Even more enjoyable is the crew firtling about under your berth when you've gone to bed and they've used the heads later in the evening.

Oh and because someone deemed it a good idea, since they were pumping out the grey water rather than relying on gravity, to install the outlet at a high level virtually under the gunnel the pump merrily spits dirty water over the pontoon when you're starboard side to in a marina!

It simply has to go and it has to go sooner rather than later. Annoyingly, the pump isn't very old but hey ho. The debate is what to replace it with but I'll come to that in a later post.

The table is a nuisance and needs to be replaced with something more practical but we knew that already

The saloon is a lovely place to sit and chat over drinks with the oil lamps gently flickering on the oiled teak woodwork and cream headlining. We only put the heater on once as well!

Overall, a most satisfactory and pleasing beginning to our hopefully long association with Erbas

Shake Down Cruise - The Log

Unfortunately, despite my having archived the waypoint, route and (critically) track data from the Raymarine A50 plotter to the spare compact flash card, it appears there is no way (that I've managed to make work at any rate) to access the saved track data

In any case, on perusing the manuel and various web sites, it appears that the Raymarine kit doesn't log the date/time, speed or any other info within the track. It's just a series of points which is a lot less useful than the track files produced by even a fairly cheap hand-held GPS such as a Garmin GPS72!

I'll look at options to solve that problem over the winter as, whilst it's hardly mission critical, I do like my track archive that I've built up over the last three years on Brigantia

Anyway, that aside the log (such as it is) ...

02/10/2013 Assemble on board at Tollesbury

03/10/2013 In port, Tollesbury :- Storing ship etc.

04/10/2013 Friday Tollesbury - Bradwell :- approx. 1hr (no detailed log kept)

05/10/2013 last cruise on board Brigantia, see The Final Voyage

06/10/2013 In port, Bradwell :- Organising stowage etc.

07/10/2013 Bradwell - Pyefleet
 - 10:37 UTC Engine Start
 - 10:46 UTC Under Way
 - engine was stopped and under sail for some time before motoring for last couple of hours
 - 18:10 UTC Anchored, Pyefleet 20m scope

08/10/2013 Pyefleet - Burnham Yacht Harbour
 - 09:28 UTC Engine Start 449.4hrs
 - 09:33 UTC Under Way
 - 09:46 UTC Engine Stop
 - 13:36 UTC Engine Start
 - 14:06 UTC Engine Stop 450.2 hrs

09/10/2013 Burnham Yacht Harbour - Fambridge Yacht Station
 - 09:07 UTC Engine Start 450.3hrs
 - 10:25 UTC Engine Stop 451.5hrs

We were somewhat cavalier about the upkeep of the log, especially on Monday. Then again, it was our first time sailing the new boat! It is not a matter of any import but if we're going to keep a log it might as well be an accurate one

Shake Down Cruise - Day 8

Definite signs of a change to more seasonal weather this morning. Cooler, windier and cloudier.

A chandlery raid procured a bow fender and clips to attach it to the pulpit rail when required. Although Erbas has a stainless steel protection strip on the stem I still want some protection up there when coming into marina berths.

Once back aboard, we soon got under way. With the breeze blowing downriver there'd be no sailing today, too much to do to muck about taking hours to tack upriver when it can be done in an hour under motor.

Arriving at Fambridge we tucked Erbas into the one remaining spot inside the pontoon (looks like the usual scenario, the inside is going to be permanently occupied by big boats for the winter).

Glen and Rik headed off to execute the car shuffle whilst Jane sorted out below decks and I set to tidying up up top and scrubbing the decks.

With all our kit offloaded, Rik and I motored the few yards to our mooring. We tried using the cunning mooring line device left on board by the previous owner but it didn't work too well - it would work with a solid ring but the buoys we're on have a soft strop which is too bulky for the device.

No matter, after a bit of a faff we were tied onto the buoy and we set about sorting out the mooring lines. I'd already been head scratching about this. Brigantia was moored to the buoy (by the yard) with a single strop over the bow roller. However, her anchor stowed on deck out of the way. The anchor on Erbas stows on the bow roller and removing and refitting it at the ends of each outing would be a serious hassle.

The obvious solution seemed to be two strops led to the fairleads either side of the bow (which is how Brigantia used to be moored until last year) however a second strop was nowhere to be found and nobody was about so we used the one strop and a mooring line as a temporary measure.

However, we found that the starboard line (the anchor stows on the starboard side of the stem) fouled the anchor and rubbed against the edge of the blade. Chaff city! In the end, we lifted the anchor clear of the roller with a line to the pin rail on the pulpit which improved matters although its only just satisfactory and will be a nagging worry until I inspect the lines for wear next time we're down

All that remained was to shut down, switch off and close up. Then it was a short dinghy excursion to the shore and our first cruise aboard Erbas was over

Shake Down Cruise - Day 7

After a quiet night at anchor, disturbed only by the God awful racket I made whilst trying to quietly check the depth and anchor rode in the middle of the night (the crew have requested that in future I should endeavor to make as much noise as possible since this will almost certainly by quieter) we were in no rush this morning.

It sounds lazy but in fact all we'd achieve by rushing would be to be too early for the tide to cross the Ray Sand so we'd have to go the long way round and beat all the way back up the Whitaker

Much the more cunning plan was to have a relaxed breakfast and then catch the flood down the Rays'n so that's what we did!

Whilst setting up the route on the chart plotter I discovered its date and time were wrong. It ought to be picking it up off the GPS and wasn't. After much fiddling, found that a system reset fixed it but that put all the settings and page layouts back to the defaults. Hmmm

Time to set off so we hoisted the anchor only to discover that the voltage drop caused plotter to turn itself off. Once turned back on, well of course the date and time was wrong so we had to reset it again.

Putting that problem to one side for now we motored out past the moored sailing barges and got the sails up. It was fairly breezy and I'd contemplated putting a reef in so applying the golden rule (don't think about reefing, reef) we kept the first reef in the main.

We had a cracking sail close reaching just off the mud flats down to the Raysand North buoy. I'm convinced she's got more to give - the rig tension is floppy, sail trim wasn't perfect etc - but I didn't care as we were romping along in fine style

We slipped across the sands into the outer Crouch and came hard on the wind. A lack of attention put us just the wrong side of the imaginary line that marks the edge of the Shoeburyness Firing Range and we got scared off by the guard boat Sentinel sounding a klaxon at us and then very politely asking us if we could please stay north of the buoy line on the VHF.

That meant shorter tacks but never mind. We need the practice! Erbas is very quick in stays, she spins around on a sixpence in no time at all. The downside is that this leaves the crew with much grinding of winches to sheet in the genoa and this, in turn, leads to much gnashing of teeth

We made good progress into the river disturbed only by the constant dangerous vessel alarms from the AIS. With three of the Hav spoil ships in the river, all within the default danger range and all transmitting an AIS signal every few seconds it got a bit wearing.

Never mind, we got past them without a collision (!) and as we approached the moorings of Burnham started the engine and dropped the sails. A quick call on the radio arranged a berth for the night in the yacht harbour into which we parked very neatly.

Jane and I walked up to the Co-op for some bits and pieces and then nipped into the chandlery to pick up a nice big bow fender.

Back on board, Rik and Glen had discovered that the chart plotter would pick up the date and time off its internal GPS provided the instruments weren't turned on. Rik proposed a theory that the plotter was sending the date and time out on the NMEA before it had got a fix from the satellite and then reading it back in and assuming something else on the bus was providing the date and not bothering.

Presumably, this is why the NMEA input to the plotter had been disconnected. I had a sudden thought and went digging in the settings and found that I could turn off specific NMEA data strings on the output. Killing the date/time string fixed the problem! It also cured the VHF not getting a position off the plotter.

Much fun was had whilst the Purser cooked dinner with the Skipper, Mate and Bosun all in sad b*st*rd mode perusing manuels with occasional cries of "hey look, it can do xxx".

Dinner put a stop to that and afterwards we strolled down the sea wall into Burnham for a couple of pints before staggering back and hitting the sack.

Shake Down Cruise - Days 4, 5 & 6

I just didn't get around to blogging last night so its two for the price of one tonight. Well three actually but day 4 was on board Brigantia and blogged thereto

After our final epic voyage upon Brigantia, Rik's car was stuffed full of gear and, well, stuff so we spent Sunday locker diving and generally rearranging things. I wouldn't say it's 100% sorted but we're getting there

Glen and Rik did a car shuffle to get one motor to Fambridge ready for the end of the cruise then we repaired to the Green Men having taken the precaution to book so we wouldn't end up in the family room again. Excellent meal!

A good night's sleep led to a leisurely start to the day. There was, in truth, no particular need to rush. We got under way once the channel into the marina looked like it would go and once clear of the shallows set about hoisting the main for the first time.

Memo to self - remove sail ties before trying to set the sail! With that sorted up it went although I think it needs a bit of lubrication on the track as it was a bit stiff.

The genoa set with no difficulty at all and we set about beating up the Blackwater with a fair tide.

Big grins all round! She sails a treat. And I think we can improve on it too.

We made it all the way to the channel to Heybridge lock but locking in wasn't an option as it works mean a much too late start tomorrow. We put about to head downwind but by now the wind had all but died.

It was, though, a glorious and gloriously warm autumn afternoon so it was no hardship to ghost past Osea Island. Eventually, however, the time started to rear it's ugly head and it was on with the iron tops'l.

We motored downriver and round into the Colne to anchor in the Pyefleet in the dying moments of daylight. Dinner on board was followed by a half hearted attempt to do serious damage to the EU Beer mountain that we retrieved off Brigantia

To bed at last, tomorrow will see us back in the Crouch and nearly home

Oh yes. There was one spooky moment when we overhead the new owner of Brigantia calling Thames CG for a radio check. That was weird!

Shake Down Cruise - Day 3

Time and tide, they say, wait for no man. However, man must wait for tide on occasions and today was such a day.

Our first problem was realising that whilst we had the bacon, the sausage and the eggs, the means off frying them, e.g.the frying pan, was on Brigantia. Off we went to the cafe for breakfast!

The First Mate then set about installing the NMEA multiplexer whilst the bosun and I flushed and filled the main water tanks (Erbas has no less than three tanks and the smaller aft tank is the only one that's been used for a while). The tanks were happily clean and the water perfectly potable.

By now, the tide was well up the gauge so we made ready for the short trip across the estuary. Although I had no intention of sailing today, the mainsail cover came off and the halyard was rigged - we'd look pretty stupid if we were unable to hoist the sail in the event of engine failure.

We motored out into the Fleet and, as expected, once clear of the shelter of the salt marshes we had 20 to 24 knots of breeze on the wind readout and moderately lumpy waves on the beam.

Once sufficiently clear of the Nass spit, we made directly for Bradwell which coincidentally put the wind and the waves right on our nose.

We experimented with the engine revs and found that she'll do 6.5 knots at about 3000 RPM but if you try and push it any harder she just digs her stem in and let's you know you're being a pillock by soaking your boots with water coming up the cockpit drain!

We settled down to a more comfortable 5 knots at 2300 RPM although as the wind picked up and the waves got steeper it did slow us down some. Still, on Brigantia we'd have been struggling to make headway in those conditions.

The engine, we agreed is very civilised both on deck and in the cabin. The VHF works well too as we demonstrated by calling up the marina and arranging a visitor's berth.

We got into a bit of a pickle when we overshoot the berth and the wind chose that moment to blow us sideways into the boats opposite. Some quick work with the fenders and careful maneuvering got us neatly parked between a pile and a pontoon end just clear of the fortunately reasonably short boats in those berths!

I took a few moments to collect my thoughts and formulate a plan. Glen, who'd arrived by car, went to the end of the finger we were trying to get onto with instructions to grab a bow line if we got close enough or could heave one to him. Rik took a turn off the bow line round the pile whilst a couple of fellow boaters who'd offered to help stood by to fend us off if needs be.

I then went ahead against the bow line to spring the stem out into the channel before giving Rik the nod to slip the line and giving out the beans in astern. By 'eck does she hold back! Taking the view that it was now or never,  I went for it with a hefty lump of forward throttle and the tiller hard over and into the berth we went.

We sorted out fenders and lines and got the kettle on. It looked like rain and we'd be here a day or two so we dug the untried cockpit tent out of the locker. We found it very easy to put up and most excellent once up. With the cockpit cushions hoiked up out of the quarter berth and the table set up its a whole load of extra living space.

I had a firtle with the laptop and the new multiplexer and after some driver issues got it receiving data from the Seatalk instruments and the plotter. The AIS isn't working though which I need to look at further.

Dinner on board was followed by beers at the marina bar then back on board to sort out what Rik and I need for our last outing on Brigantia tomorrow. It's an early start in the morning as we need to make haste to get across the Rays'n and into Tollesbury with enough water to get over the cill

Shake Down Cruise - Day 2

We slept well and woke to a flat calm and a pleasant morning. What we should have woken to, according to every single weather forecast, was a yachtsmans gale!

Oh well, no going back to plan A now. A leisurely start to the day involved coffee and then breakfast at Tollesbury Cafe. This was followed by a raid on Tesco in Maldon to stock up the galley.

By the time we got back to the marina, Rik had arrived and we all repaired on board and put the kettle on. After a stowing session in the galley, activities were somewhat constrained by a band of heavy rain. We spent time going through the systems with Rik instead.

With the rain clearing, I headed out on deck in my wellies and scrubbed all the dust, dirt and bird droppings off the cabin. Ah, a clean boat! I don't suppose it'll last.

We then investigated the inner forestay which led to some head scratching. Put it to one side intending to consult the previous owner add to hire to rig it as nothing seemed to fit. Penny dropped, I think, a little later. We'll try that again!

Jane cooked us a superb sweet and sour chicken for dinner and we even had a glass of champagne courtesy of a half bottle of the stuff Glen had won in a raffle.

After refilling the primary water tank, it was off to the bar for some beer then coffee and rum by the light of the oil lamps before bed.

Rik was struggling with the slightly narrow port settee but the cure seemed to be to rig the lee cloth even though we're in port. I'll see if it worked in the morning.

Tomorrow, we're hoping to move Erbas over to Bradwell so that we're out of the tidal clutches of Woodrolfe Creek. The forecast is horrible but I've no faith in that do it'll be a case of walking out to the sea wall and looking.

Shake Down Cruise - Day 1

The Bosun, the Purser and the Skipper hit the road early afternoon after filling the Bosun's car to near bursting point with kit! We had a good drive down and arrived at Tollesbury mid-afternoon to find Erbas afloat, as expected, on F pontoon.

There then ensued a session of marina barrow rallying, I'm not convinced it'll catch on as a mainstream sport though.

Now we had to start working out the stowage. The first snag became evident when we went to make use of the under berth space forward of the water tanks under the v-berth.

The anchor warp was lying on top of the storage net which it didn't ought to be. I hauled it all out to the point where I reached the chain. Then onto deck to haul all the chain out of the locker. This was inevitably a dirty job with dried mud and rust flakes going everywhere!

At this point, we discovered an item for the "to do" list - the octoplait anchor warp is properly spliced to a very short length of chain which is then shackled to the main chain. No, I couldn't believe it either. I doubt the warp has ever been out of the locker because there is no way that shackle is coming out of the pipe (and in the unlikely event that it did it wouldn't go back again anyway)

We stowed the warp nearly in the locker and then ran the chain back in leaving re-splicing the joint to another day when I've retrieved my rope work kit off Brigantia.

Now Jane and I could get on with stowing our gear whilst Glen claimed the starboard saloon settee berth (first come, first served). We hit a snag in that there isn't a space big enough to store our kit bags so Jane emptied the contents into the generous overhead lockers. That works well enough.

The Bosun and I set about trying the new anchor - a 15kg copy of a Lewmar Delta which I've got on a sort of loan / approval basis from Jim (Full Circle). It's on the limit size wise as the end of the shank is as close as it possibly could be to the windlass gypsy when it's stowed but it does stow nicely thanks to the stainless steel plate that protects the bow.

By now it was well past hungry-crew-o-clock so we decanted the stew Glen had made earlier into two pans and got it warming up. I espoused the belief that there was perhaps a little too much stew but it turned out I was entirely incorrect in this assumption because we are a pair of greedy fat brothers (ha, you thought I was going to be rude there!)

Jane volunteered to wash up and sent Glen and I off with her blessing to have a beer or two in the club. The beer was good so we had three or four!

Back aboard, coffee and rum by the light of an oil lamp rounded off the evening nicely.

Oh and the weather. Yes. We changed our plans on the basis of a forecast South-Easterly F5 gusting 6 or 7. What we've got is a Westerly F2. I don't expect miracles from weather forecasts but you'd think they could at least get it in the ball park!

New articles

I've added the first of no doubt several articles to the permanent pages (links to the right)

The main article is all about Erbas

The second article is a discourse on my reasons for rejecting the stated date of the boat (1970) in favour of her being several years younger

PS. In theory, this blog should now be off Googles blogspot and running on sverbas.org.uk under Wordpress. Trouble is, try as I might, I'm not getting on very well with Wordpress! I'll have to put that to one side for now due to lack of time and stick with Blogger until I can spend more time learning my way around the Wordpress software

We Didn't Mean To Buy A Boat

(With due hat doffing to Arthur Ransome whose book title I have wilfully pagarised!)

It was a nice afternoon. We had nothing much to do. It seemed like a good idea at the time to have a look at one or two boats up for sale at Woodrolfe Brokerage just for future reference. Jane struggles to visualise spaces and layouts from photographs and we wanted to develop more of an understanding of what would suit us both when the time came, in a few years, to possibly change boats

Oh well, it didn't quite work out like that!

There were three boats of potential interest and one in particular appeared, from the look of her, to tick the major boxes. So we duly asked for the keys to "Erbas" and clambered aboard. We liked the cockpit. We liked the space on deck. We LOVED the main cabin! We liked the heads, we liked the forward cabin. I liked the toys, Jane liked the galley (yes, terribly conventional and a little bit sexist I know but there you go).

In short, we loved everything about her and suddenly what had started out as a casual look turned into a serious "can we buy this boat" discussion. I can honestly say that in more than 30 years together, I have never seen Jane so instantly enthusiastic about anything! It was very clear that she was smitten and would be very unhappy with any answer other than "yes dear, of course we'll buy it"!

Never the less, it was not a decision to make lightly. Finances are strictly constrained and a bigger boat with an inboard diesel could prove a very expensive proposition. Well aware of just how much we'd spent on Brigantia on a new engine, new sails, new instruments and so on, I was all too conscious of just how costly a mistake a bigger boat could be.

With the full details in hand and after a chat with the broker we sensibly (unusually for us) decided to spend the weekend on the Orwell as planned and think carefully about the decision. So we did that and then headed back to base on Sunday in order to go and talk serious turkey about buying "Erbas" on Monday!

Back at the brokers in Tollesbury on Monday morning, we met up with the owner of "Erbas" for a chat on board. We were duly impressed with the attention to detail - everything had been carefully documented with drawings and lists of all the systems, connections, equipment configurations and so on.

The only remaining questions now were ... can we raise the money and will the owner take our best offer?

The answer to the first question was a qualified yes. It meant taking out a substantial bank loan over a long period of time to keep our outgoings in the same ball park as our joint income! And to our relief and joy the vendor accepted our best offer without quibbling.

Of course, being a larger and more expensive boat the insurers insisted on a condition survey which was duly carried out for us by Toby from the Yacht Station. Apart from some rather high moisture readings on the hull there was nothing to worry about. I took, and take, the view that high moisture is not, of itself, something to worry about on an older boat if there is no evidence of any other structural problems with the hull. After some to-ing and fro-ing over the paperwork, we had insurance and could go ahead with the purchase.

On Saturday the 7th of September 2013, we became the proud new owners of "Erbas"

The adventure continues ...

Welcome to the new Ships Log for SV Erbas

Following our acquisition of "Erbas" we intend to continue blogging our trails, tribulations and adventures as we have done for the last three years on Brigantia.

In due course, it is intended to run this blog on Wordpress on my friend and associate Tony's server but as I'm having a bit of a senior moment trying to get the format right on Wordpress I've copied the old Brigantia blog template to a new Blogger blog for the time being