Toys!

Well no actually, very serious and important bits of equipment thankyou!

Whatever (as the young people are wont to say I believe) ...

That nice chap from UK Mail called again this afternoon (he's getting used to visiting us!) and delivered a box of goodies from Seamark Nunn in which was the bits from the backorder

As well as some odds and sods of boat bits I wanted (a soft shackle for the genoe sheets which I think I might have slightly over-specified, some fender socks so I don't have to keep re-touching the paintwork and so on) the main items are the electronics for the grab bag

So we now have an Odeo Mk.3 Laser Flare and I shall be disposing of the out of date pyrotechnic flares on our next visit to the boat

Oh and that article I promised about flares is still in the pipeline!

As well as the flare, the McMurdo PLB is also now in my hot and sweaty hands (ugh!).

And that means an admin task - it needs to be registered with the MCA (Maritime & Coastguard Agency) so they'll know who has pressed the panic button if we ever have to use it in anger

No great hassle, soon done

The PLB will definitely be going in the grab bag by default but may at times be transferred onto my belt if I feel that would be more appropriate at the time - in due course I plan to add more locator beacons but I hear rumours of the imminent arrival on the market of a dual function PLB / AIS beacon which would be ideal so I'm not rushing to spend money I haven't got anyway!

Training Weekend - Day 4 & Conclusions

The wind, a stiff easterly breeze in the evening, died down to leave us rocking gently and quite comfortably.

I, however, was not so comfortable and it took me ages to get to sleep (ongoing health problems which I won't go into). Having finally settled, I was then awoken by halyards tapping against the mast.

I wasn't keen on getting out of bed at half two in the morning but it was that or no sleep so up I got. I found that upon being asked to frap the halyards, the 2nd Mate had only frapped the burgee halyard (I later learned that as this was the only one tapping at the time he saw no need to do the others!)

I duly removed and stowed the main halyard on the trail and frapped the spinnaker halyard and pole topping lift and figured that should be me for the night.

It was not to be however as I now became aware of the main bilge pump going off every half an hour or so. Clearly, the cap on the log impeller housing wasn't tight enough and clearly it wasn't going to wait until morning.

Finally, to sleep!

The 2nd Mate redeemed himself by waking us at the surprising hour of nine with coffee made and ready on the table.

Jane made delicious scrambled egg for breakfast and then I set off on foot to fetch the car from the marina and find out which buoy we're on this year. Turned out nobody knows and Toby is off this week so I didn't quibble with the suggestion that we go back on the marina berth for now (even though it meant walking all the way back to the yacht station)

Starting the engine, we maneuvered neatly off the river pontoon and sidled into Stow Creek on the last of the flood tide. We made a proper job of entering the berth and tying up, the first maneuver that I'd been totally happy with all weekend.

Then it was simply a case of offloading gear, tidying up and shuting down before hitting the road for home.

As far as training goes, well to be honest we didn't do a lot. It was a bit too breezy for mucking about on Saturday, fatigue got in the way in Sunday and the need to get home fairly early today scuppered any plans we had for practicing!

On the other hand, some ropework jobs were progressed, we learnt more about Erbas and how to handle her and enjoyed ourselves so it certainly wasn't a wasted weekend

Training Weekend - Day 3

It's been an up and down sort of day. First we got up, then we had breakfast. Then I lay down!

I'm perhaps not as back to nearly normal as I thought and I really needed more rest so I thought "why not? ". And back to my berth I went for an hour or three!

Eventually, I arose feeling somewhat better and we set about sorting out a few things such as rigging the bow fender, replacing some of the fender lines and making up a genoa securing line in preparation for changing over to the No. 2 jib.

In the course of using my hot knife I managed to scorch the paint on the starboard cockpit seat, the first of several frustrations the day was to bring

A trip to the chandlers,.inevitably, made light with the contents of my wallet. The main purchase was a new life jacket for Jane though. I've been on at her for a while that she too should have a jacket with integral spray hood and light and the realisation that we were short of a life jacket after one of the cheaper ones went off accidentally back in the autumn tipped the balance of the argument

Finally, we set out early in the afternoon on our intrepid adventure five miles back up the river! Waving to Karen, Patrick and the kids as we left, we headed out to find much what the forecast had predicted to wit 15 to 20 knots of stiff breeze from the East.

Setting the genoa, we stopped the engine and made steady if unspectacular progress against the ebb up river. Once clear of the moorings and buoys, we headed into the wind to hoist the main and made a right hash of it

Everything that could jam, tangle or otherwise go wrong did. And to my disgust I managed, whilst hauling on the main halyard, to put my knee against the speed instrument and push the glass in

Eventually, we sorted ourselves out and got on with some sailing. With a stiff easterly breeze we made excellent progress up river gybing occasionally and sometimes running wing on wing. Even with a foul tide our speed over the ground was three to four knots.

Arriving back at the moorings we discovered, as you do, just how stiff the breeze had become when we turned upwind to drop the main. That wasn't the clean and tidy operation it should be either!

We had a look for some space on the more sheltered inside of the pontoon but no joy so we tucked up behind the stern of a large motor yacht to benefit from the lee they'd give us. No sooner had we sorted out our lines and fenders, they fired up the engines and set off down downstream!

Never mind, the rocking from the wind driven waves was well within tolerable limits and the overnight forecast suggested the wind would die down.

I now set about repairing the speed instrument as the glass would now leak water into the guts of it and the needle was sticking too

It proved easy enough to remove and dismantle...



... it wasn't quite so easy to clean up the old glue and get the glass to bed down properly. A lot of scraping with a Stanley knife blade got it done in the end and it was secured back in place with epoxy glue.

Refitting it was no problem until I dropped one of the two knurled nuts and it neatly fell into a totally inaccessible void. There it will remain for the rest of time I suspect so I need to acquire a new one although it's secure enough for now with one fixing

Pulling the impeller out of the hull fitting, Mark span it by hand achieving a speed of nearly five and a half knots which was good given that it had been sticking at four.

Then it was off to the pub for food and drink and chat.

Training Weekend - Day 2,

Not much training, not much of a day really weather wise!

It had been soggy most of the night so we weren't in a rush to get going this morning. By the time we'd had breakfast on board, copious mugs of coffee and sorted out gear twixt boat, store and car it was well nigh lunchtime

Finally, we started the engine in earnest, cast off the dock lines (not without some difficulty given that it's been months since we moved!) and set off down river

Despite the rather stiff breeze, we had a bit of a practice run at picking up a mooring and it went without a hitch. Trying to control her in astern however was another matter entirely. More work to do on that one methinks

Pointing the pointy bit back downriver, and with a good two knots of ebb tide pushing us along, we hoisted the main with a reef in and stopped the engine.

After a while I got bored with doing five knots over the ground and have it some genoa too and soon we were doing nearly seven knots!

We were, however,.also well heeled and it was getting gusty too which led to some murmurings of discontent especially from the catering crew who were trying to brew up and knock out some sandwiches!

So after a bit of hooning, we put the front flappy thing away and steadied the ship and to further placate the distaff side of the crew headed into Burnham Yacht Harbour and an early finish to the day or on the water.

Jane, Heather and Mark went off for a wander into Burnham whilst I sorted out one or two ropework jobs (fender strings and things)

On the return of the crew, we had a sort out below decks and then, having decided not to eat out and that the cupboard, whilst not exactly bare, wasn't offering anything to suit, sent out a foraging party to acquire some fish and chips

After dinner, Jane and I went for a drink, the youngsters just haven't got the stamina and declined the delights of the marina bar in favour of an early night

Mind, we weren't so late ourselves as there was a function on in the Swallowtail and we'd have had to pay a tenner each to stay past nine. We managed a bit of overtime before departing and a chat with a couple of other crews

The weather looks to be a little less vigorous tomorrow so hopefully we'll get to do some of the stuff of good to do today

Training Weekend - Day 1

Not really a day, hardly even an evening

Due to landing some work, the 2nd Mate was tied up until eight of the evening so it was a very late start on the road

Still, we had a good run down, two hours flat is rarely bettered and on the spur of the moment popped into the Club House for a swift drink.

We haven't tried it out since West Wick Yacht Club took it over and it was OK. Sensibly, the beer was bottled (better that than stale draught stuff) and I'd use the bar again but it lacks the atmosphere of the Ferry Boat

On board at last we had a frantic sorting out session before finally settling down in our respective berths for the night

And is not raining!

How do you put a price on safety?

Much debate over several weeks has been ongoing primarily twixt the Skipper and the Purser but also involving other crew members at times and the heart of the matter has been what we should be carrying aboard in the way of emergency equipment

I very quickly ran up a shopping list that totalled to a significant four figure sum! Even with a few big and arguably unnecessary (at least for now) removed it still came to getting on for two grand and that just isn't on the cards at the moment

And that, of course, led to a debate about what to leave out - after all, if you CAN leave it out did you actually need it in the first place? The other side of the coin being that if you need it, how can you leave it out? We are, after all, talking about equipment for use in a dire emergency here, not luxury items or performance enhancements/upgrades

So in the end, after much cogitation, I ended up spending just a few hundred quid on some very carefully chosen items and I shall now bore ... I mean entertain ... you with the details and justifications for the decisions (partly in the hope that I can deflect the ire of the Purser when she finds out how much money I've spent on the boat ... again)

So here we go ...

Item number one on the "setting up a grab bag list" is, of course, a grab bag!

There are big fancy ones but we haven't got anywhere to keep one of them, this neat small size bag will fit neatly in the small locker at the base of the engine box / companionway steps where it will be easy to grab in an emergency.

It comes with a shoulder strap and it's waterproof and buoyant.

I've just realised that I have assumed my entire readership (that's BOTH of you!) are familiar with the concept of a grab bag on a boat - it is, of course, a bag containing all the essentials for survival in the event of an emergency up to and including having to abandon ship

Now the very first item into the bag is a bit controversial. After fully discussing it with all the regular crew members Erbas will no longer be carrying conventional pyrotechnic flares.

I may get around to discussing this decision in more detail in a follow up post but suffice it to say for now that rather than spend about £100.00 on replacing the out of date pyros, I've ordered an Odeo Mk.III Laser flare for just £13 more

The next item on the list was one of the biggest areas of debate and again I'll look at discussing this too in more detail in a seperate post.

For now, into the grab bag will go a 406mhz satellite PLB. Although described as a "Personal Locator Beacon" there is no difference in function between a PLB and an EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon). Both work exactly the same way, the smaller PLB simply has a shorter battery life (24 hours as opposed to 48) and requires manual intervention rather than being set off automatically.

A PLB will suffice for our needs in coastal waters

 It looks tacky and cheap and it is cheap so I ordered two! You can't beat a whistle for attracting attention - sound carries an astonishingly long way over water and the sound of repeated whistle blasts is sure to be noticed if there's anyone within hearing distance.

Next up? A decent first aid kit.

I've been muttering about this for some time - I'm not talking about the kit with some sticking plasters and a bit of savlon in it for the "ouch, I've cut my finger" moment, I'm taking about the real deal "oh ****, he's ripped his finger off", or worse, serious situation.

So I decided not to muck around and ordered a Cat.C first aid kit in a soft pouch (the better for fitting in the grab bag) - this is the kit required by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for small commercial vessels and if it's good enough for them ...


Then came several items which cost just a quid of two but wouldn't half be a comfort to have available in a crisis ...

Emergency water rations (four 0.5 litre pouches) because water is life. Actually, in reality I'm working on the basis of we'd be rescued or dead within 24 hours (this is the North Sea we're talking about!) but water makes the taking of tablets easier (there are painkillers, sea sickness tablets etc.) in the first aid kit plus rinsing sea water or sickness residue from the mouth would be a comfort. And of course you can drink it!

And with something to drink, what could be better than a sweet to suck on?
So in goes a tin of barley sugar sweets.

Comfort and energy all in a handy package (I might get some Kendal Mint Cake too - that IS a sugar rush!)

Let there be light. And there was light. And it was good!


A handful of light snap sticks is barely the price of a pint each for me and the Bosun so in they went. Never know when they might come in handy!

And for the price of a round of drinks for the whole crew I chucked in four emergency foil blankets too - these really do save lives and they cost pennies

And finally, there is one item not on the list that no sailor should ever be out of reach of ...

and that's a good knife. This one floats, glows in the dark and can be opened one handed. I just need to add a lanyard to it and it'll be perfect for the job

And the price of safety? £449.95 of which virtually half was the cost of the PLB and a further quarter was the cost of the laser flare

PS. While Jane isn't looking I also ordered a few other bits and bobs like a filtered funnel for filling the diesel tank, some fender socks to stop them rubbing the paint off the hull, some glue to repair the teak laminate that's coming away in the saloon, shackles for the jacklines (actually that probably counts as a safety item!) and a dyneema soft shackle for attacking the sheets to the genoa so they can be quickly switched to the No.1 jib if we change down the sails. Wasn't much cost wise, honest darling (oh hell, I'm gonna be in trouble again)

All of the above came from my first choice online chandler Seamark Nunn

"What's in your grab bag" from the RYA

PPS. If either of you have been paying really close attention, by the way, you'll recall that we also bought the life raft that was aboard Erbas when we bought her last autumn. We've still got it - it's been offloaded into the bosun's store to make space for the inflatable dinghy - but it needs servicing.

I'd certainly consider offloading the dinghy and reloading the life raft if we were setting out to go offshore (e.g. across the North Sea) but in inshore waters where we normally sail the drawbacks of carrying it are too great.

Drowning

One of the blogs I read fairly regularly is Salty John (http://saltyjohn.blogspot.co.uk) and last year John highlighted a very informative article on Instinctive Drowning Response

He's just reminded his readership of the salient points and I make no bones about nicking the information and posting it here - the more people know about the facts the better

John covers it so much better than I can in his article at http://saltyjohn.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/drowning-deadly-calmness.html

In a nutshell, if someone in the water is quiet, upright and not shouting, yelling, waving their arms etc, THAT'S a drowning person not the fella splashing about and making a big fuss like you see in films and on TV

Read up on it and you may be surprised, as I was, on how different the reality of drowning is from the popular misconceptions

It may just save a life one day

Fitting Out Weekend 2014 - Day 5

Yet again it was too breezy to tune the rig or play with the sail wardrobe so it was more fixing, fettling and fiddling below decks.

The first order of business, after breakfast, was to repair the broken connection on the engine bay fire alarm circuit.

Arguably, the fire alarm is a slight overkill but having had an electrical fire on a narrowboat years ago is a comfort to have it. It's slightly less cu omforting to discover that the circuit doesn't fall safe (a broken connection should ideally sound the alarm)


With that sorted, we set about another me detailed look at the perplexing failure of the NMEA multiplexer to transfer AIS data. Eventually, after Rik got his oscilloscope out and had a good look at what was actually going on, we found that the output from the NASA AIS receiver is not compliant with RS232 / 423 specs.

Not much we can do about that really (well we could with some custom buffer circuitry but it's not worth the bother as I plan to replace the receiver with a transceiver in the not too distant future)

That had wasted a good part of the day so we set about offloading our gear and tidying up. Lastly we chucked some more stuff in the store and parted company to head home

It's only a fortnight until I'm back aboard with the family and just over a month to our annual epic cruise so we've not long to wait until the fun starts. Can't wait!

Fitting Out Weekend 2014 - Day 4

We slept extremely well and it was nearly nine before I arose and got the kettle on. Suitably fortified by tea and coffee we set about the days tasks.

The first job was to empty the cleaning solution from the main water tanks and give them a thorough flushing. This job is made easier on Erbas because the previous owner fitted a hose connector on the pipework beneath the cabin sole



This means we can fill and flush the tanks from the bottom as well as from the deck fillers. It does mean taking the marina hose off the tap and substituting our own which has Hozelock connectors.

With that job sorted, Rik set about several electrical tasks whilst I looked at a couple of alterations to things around the cabin

In no particular order, Rik changed the choc block connectors on the new sump pump over to crimp and heat shrink connectors. I had to bodge it when I installed it but it wasn't very satisfactory given that it would only have taken a modest influx of water to short out the wiring thus killing the very pumps that should be dealing with the leak!

With that done, Rik then set about fitting the new solid state level switch to the engine bay bilge pump. This replaced the typical Whale / Rule of (the latter in this case) standard ubiquitous float switch that never, ever, works properly or even at all for very long.

I, meanwhile, decided that the Gypsy Moth wick lamp on the bulkhead at the forward end of the port settee had to go



People are forever clanging their heads on it so I decided to move it onto the end of the bookcase and see if that worked



Not only does it look better, the light will be in a more useful place and happily it turns out not to get caught when moving between the saloon and the heads. The only snag is that if we were significantly heeled to port the glass chimney could bash the bookcase end so if we're out on rough conditions we'll have to remove it and stow it safely.

Flushed with that success, I turned my eye to the mounting of the chart plotter.



The swivel arm, made from a modified swivel bench clamp, was a practical solution if not a particularly elegant one. I could live with that but the plotter, however you stowed it, always seemed to be in the way of access to the chart table and quarter berth.

As Rik seems to have settled on the quarter berth as his preferred place to sleep (awkward to get in and out of it may be but it's longer and cosier than the saloon berths) this had gone from being a nuisance to being an annoyance.

Removing the swivel bracket and moving the wooden arm to pivot off the bottom of the radio housing with the plotter bracket attached to it made for a much neater setup



The only drawback we can see so far is that the display can't quite be tilted far enough back for the optimum viewing angle when standing at the helm. Whether this will be an issue remains to be seen, if it is we'll work out a solution.

A final task for the day was to untangle the sounding lead line and wind it onto the hand reel of the crabbing line I bought the other day and (the crabbing line itself being discarded).

Before...



After...



At least there's a fighting chance of it actually being usable if it's ever needed in a hurry.

Then we realised that there was one more job to knock off before knocking off. Rik had positioned the cardboard template for the new cockpit bag on Saturday but rain had stopped play. Now, finally, the rain had stopped briefly so we quickly set about drilling the holes and screwing in the four hooks the bag attaches to.



Should be very useful for the helmsman to keep his or her bits and bobs in. Of course, nothing is ever quite as simple as it could be and we're going to have to make small cutouts in the timber of the cockpit duckboard so that it can be removed for cleaning from time to time.

At last it was time to tidy up and think about food. There wasn't a very long debate before we decided to eat at the pub. We'd earned it!

A pleasant evening of good food and good beer and good conversation ensued before first Rik and then a while later I wandered back to the marina and then to bed.

Fitting Out Weekend 2014 - Day 3

After yesterday's successes, the first order of business today was breakfast at the new Club House in the marina.

There were no complaints from the Erbas crew, a decent full English and plenty of tea and coffee for a fiver each.

Back at the boat, I made up a solution of tank cleaner which we poured into the main water tanks before filling them with water. They'll be left to fester for the rest of the day.

Then Rik set off to attend a wedding whilst the rest of us, having measured up what was needed, headed to the chandlers to buy more bits.

Annoyingly, they hadn't got the one size of shackle we needed so it turned out to be a wasted trip. I decided not to buy the string for the new halyards either given that I can buy it for two thirds of the cost from my regular suppliers.

Back on board, we swapped the on loan Delta copy anchor for the original Bruce pending a further swap later for a smaller Delta. The over large anchor causes issues on the swinging mooring which we'll be back on at the end of the month.

With that done, and given that the time had flown by and it was now early afternoon, Glen and Mark departed for home leaving me all by myself.

It being a bit breezy for comfort on deck, and given that it involves dismantling the companionway steps, I decided now would be a good time to service the engine.

It having been a while since I did any work on engines, there was a certain amount of head scratching along the way and I wasn't rushing the exercise so it took me all afternoon to pump out the old oil, change all the filters and swap out the impeller on the water pump and the anode from the heat exchanger.

The impeller could probably have been left but they aren't expensive and I've got another spare so I thought better to swap it now than regret not doing so later.

The anode was well eaten so needed replacing. I decided not to dismantle and clean the heat exchanger tubes as I'm not convinced that it's really an annual job (there are two schools of thought and I favour servicing it at longer intervals unless overheating problems indicate otherwise).

I then flushed and cleaned the intake water strainer and checked the gearbox oil level (it'll be another 300 odd hours before that needs replacing.



With the engine filled with nice new oil or was time to fire it up and check for leaks. The only problem being that it wouldn't start. I bled the fuel lift pump, which I'd forgotten to do but couldn't get any fuel out of the bleed nipple.

I'd got diesel to the CAV filter and there's only a few inches of pipe from there to the pump but it simply wouldn't prime and get going. In the end I had to resort to pulling the pipe off the pump and sucking the fuel through.

Diesel tastes pretty foul but it got the job done and soon enough she was running sweetly and, to my delight, not a leak in sight.

It being gone six now, all I had time to do was tidy up the boat, dump the rubbish, have a wash and head for the pub for some grub. I debated eating on board, and probably should have done, but I really didn't feel like cooking for myself so pub grub was the order of the day.

Whether Rik will get back in time for a pint is looking dubious but we shall see!

Fitting Out Weekend 2014 - Day 2

The day dawned, as days habitually do. Eventually, the crew of Erbas also dawned, or at least surfaced anyway.

Bacon butties and copious mugs of tea and coffee put us on the right side of the consciousness curve and with the arrival of the bosun we set about the main task of the day.

With all caution and care, we organised the gear to hoist Mark up the mast. I had a brief try of the setup myself and decided I'm way too fat and heavy!

The first job was at the spreaders and involved removing the old damaged boot on the port side (I'd earlier removed the wheel from the starboard cap shroud) and fitting new boots secured with self amalgamating tape.

With that job complete, Mark paid a brief visit to the masthead to measure up the fitting for a spinnaker halyard block.

Then it was off to the chandlers to purchase a suitable block and clevis pin. Once back aboard it was up the mast for the monkey one more time to fit the block and reeve leader lines through it and the burgee halyard block.

Annoyingly, not one single piece of the string mountain lurking under the cockpit was suitable for either task so it'll be back to Burnham on the morrow to buy some rope.

During the course of the day Rik investigated the non - appearance of AIS on the laptop and confirmed my suspicion that the the multiplexer isn't processing the output from the AIS engine. It's not the end of the world but it's an irritation because it should work and doesn't.

It was now too late in the day and too windy too to play with the sails as I'd hoped to do so we tidied up and made the boat ready for the night before repairing to the pub for food and drink.

Falling into conversation with the couple at the next table we were delighted to discover that they are the crew of our sister ship Pelagos whose owner I've touched base with on the Sabre Owners Association forum about the yet to be confirmed possibility of holding a Sabre rally at Fambridge later in the year.

We chatted until closing time and a very pleasant evening it was too.

The nightly nightcap was a brief affair and soon we all settled down to sleep. Even one of the lines thumping the mast couldn't keep me awake tonight!

Fitting Out Weekend 2014 - Day 1

After a fantastic night at the Quo gig, we broke our fast at a civilised hour before heading for the Wolverhampton branch of Go Outdoors.

Typically, of course, they didn't have what I wanted and I didn't want what they had so we left without spending any money.

Arriving back at the humble abode, we loaded up the car and got on the road to Essex. The journey down was the usual frustrating affair but with a pit stop for coffee and essential supplies was over in not too much over a couple of hours

A stop for a chat with Toby and Paul delayed our getting on board the and their work no doubt. After getting the kettle on, we left Mark scrubbing the bird droppings off the decks while Rik and I headed round to offload gear into the bosuns store.

Soon enough it was pub-o-clock and a very welcome pint or two of IPA, all the more welcome after the rigours of the Wolverhampton Beer Desert (not a decent pint to be had once the limited supply of bottled beer ran out at the venue)

Back to the boat at a sensible time and soon to bed. Given the forecast stiff breezes from Sunday on, looks like tomorrow is the best day for hauling Mark up the mast.