We're now Pagans!


Erbas has now been sold and we've moved onwards and upwards to a Westerly 33 ketch we've renamed "Pagan"

Come and visit our new blog at svpagan.blogspot.co.uk

Friday 29 August 2014

Covering up

The replacement tiller pilot has arrived and here it is resplendent in its very own set of foulies courtesy of Ian, the skipper of our sister boat Apogee



I just need to waterproof the stitching around the window and hopefully this natty, and beautifully made, cover will keep the elements at bay

It's astonishing that a piece of equipment specifically designed and manufactured to be used in the open cockpits of relatively small sailing boats should be so vulnerable to water ingress but there's innumerable examples of tiller pilots failing when they get wet

I'm hoping to resurrect the failed unit as a spare although I'd not trust it fully every again.

Meanwhile, with another week aboard fast approaching, the weather is being a bit of a tease. If the building high pressure holds we could be looking at near perfect conditions with sunshine, warmth and ten to fifteen knots of breeze

I'll believe it when I see it!

Sunday 24 August 2014

Ouch

Well that's the budget well and truly stuffed!

It had to be done, ordering a replacement tiller pilot, but that's £450 we could really have done without spending at the moment.

It didn't make much difference to the pain factor to add a tin of Epifanes varnish, a small bottle of 2 stroke oil and a laundry bag to the order

I can pick up a replacement PCB for the faulty unit for around £200 which would be a big saving ... assuming it solved the problem of course. A better option might be to see if I can repair the existing board over the winter. If we can get the existing unit working as well that will give us a spare unit

It's going to be an impoverished impecunios Erbas crew setting out for a week aboard in ten days time! We shall have to avoid marinas and eat on board to save some pennies. At least we can get on with some varnishing!

Saturday 23 August 2014

Not the London Cruise - conclusion

I've generally stopped bothering with a blog post on the final morning that invariably reads "got up, put boat on buoy, drove home" but we did have a little frisson of excitement when we picked up a lump of weed and an entire discarded crabbing line around the outboard prop several yards short of the pontoon

No great problem as the tide was ebbing and carried the dinghy to the spot I wanted to be anyway but in the conditions, had the tide been on the flood, it could have a been a bit of a nuisance to say the least.

We weren't exactly up and about early and we didn't exactly rush and thus we were slightly surprised to find it was gone eleven in the morning before we were on our way

And now to some thoughts and conclusions ...

The failure of the tiller pilot is a major annoyance. We're rather stuck without it (ideally we'd carry a spare, perhaps the faulty unit can be resurrected to perform that service) and we are agreed that there's little option but to spend the money on replacing it however that's going to mean putting several other projects on hold as money isn't exactly flowing freely right now

The grounding on the Foulness Sands was careless and bad seamanship on my part. Knowing the chain of events that led up to it doesn't make me feel any better about it. We got away with it and the chances are that even if we hadn't got off there and then we'd have just had an uncomfortable and embarrassing wait for the tide to return. The only concern would have been how rough the returning water would have been with wind over tide but I'd expect to have laid an anchor ready to kedge off into deeper water as soon as she lifted (if, indeed, we didn't have a tow on standby by that point)

Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course but several lessons have been learnt from that particular piece of stupidity - we could, for example, have hove to, I shoud have re-assessed the situation after having problems with the zip on my salopettes, and the depth alarm is set too shallow to be of much use (a symptom of my growing willingness, and probably over-confidence, to flirt with the shallows)

On the positive side, Jane is just beginning to feel a little more at home on deck. Helming isn't coming easily for her, she has problems seeing over the cabin (it's hopeless with the spray hood up and she can't sit and helm even with it down) and finds it hard to steer without a reference mark to aim at but it's coming together. It's just a question of practice, practice and more practice.

Despite the less than clement weather we had a fabulous ten days. Not least because of the wonderful company of the crew of Laurin. Cruising in company was something new to us and very much to our liking. I'm even getting used to eating pasta (only kidding Karen!).

It was a shame that we had to part company slighty abruptly at Tollesbury but the wise sailor accepts the dicats of the weather gods and goes when the going is good. It was definitely a wise decision too as sailing round to the Crouch from the Blackwater on Sunday would have been very rough indeed

Entertaining the crews of two other boats in our cockpit tent on Saturday night and the crew of Tomahawk in the cabin for a nightcap on Sunday night proved that Erbas has the space to be a sociable boat (indeed, even a party boat) which is one of the areas where we felt Brigantia was very restrictive. It's lovely to enjoy the hospitality extended by so many friends and even strangers, but it's nice to get the chance to return the compliment once in a while!

As for London, well we'll do it some day for sure. Travelling by train just wasn't the same and as somebody put it "there's nothing quite like arriving in a capital city in your own boat"

Monday 18 August 2014

Not the London Cruise Day 10

It was a morning of pottering around and not really doing a lot. The tide was on the ebb and whilst we can fight it there was no need

After a late breakfast and a wander up to the hardware store fur a small bucket and a look around the chandlery at some new foulies, it was time to get ready to go

Jane organised the cabin whilst I put away the cockpit tent and cushions. Conversation had been ongoing about the possibility of Sirenia and Alchemist coming up to Fambridge for the night but the weather wasn't very promising

It was blowing the wrong side of 30 knots from the west and in those conditions life aboard a boat on the outside of the yacht station pontoon can be miserable. With no certainty of an inside berth they elected to stay put

We, however, had no option and off we went. The river was as rough as we've ever seen it but the engine punched us through the chop nicely.

Although I'd made ready to set sail if necessary, the day was one for getting there as quickly as possible. Beating up river is very satisfying in good conditions, in a gale it would have been purgatory

We got rained on for good measure and it turned out that we left at almost exactly the wrong moment! I should have looked at the weather radar and delayed leaving until the front that was blowing through had passed over

Arriving at Fambridge, we found plenty of space on the inside. Between our sister ship Pelagos moored on the end of the pontoon and our friends Full Circle at the other end we could take our pick

The wind had by now dropped to 15 or 16 knots and the flood tide was running well so I should have turned and come alongside starboard side to. However, I wanted to be bows into wind so I elected for a fast and hairy port side to approach

Jim off Full Circle and Chris off Tomahawk were on hand to take our lines and it should have been tidier than it was but with a bump we landed and any arrival that doesn't involve injury or damage will do when you get right down to it!



Jim had a quick look around Erbas, this being the first chance he's had to see her, before they departed back to their home downriver at Bridgemarsh

We put Erbas to bed and I blagged a ride out to our mooring from Geoff on the trot boat to fetch our dinghy. I wanted to have it on hand in case the weather was bad in the morning and it was too rough to put Erbas back on her mooring (some forecasts were suggesting gusts of up to F9 whilst others were suggesting it would only be moderately breezy)

Jane had a nap, I had a shower and then it was off to the Ferry Boat with Chris and Roni for good food, good drinks and food conversation.

Replete and happy, we returned to Erbas for hot drinks, more conversation and a demonstration of my travel guitar before saying our goodbyes and waving our guests off to their boat (all of thirty feet away down the pontoon!)

Time for bed

Sunday 17 August 2014

Not the London Cruise Days 8 & 9

Two for the price of one today!

We had all intended to head down to Heybridge basin for a couple of days but when Karen rang them she discovered that due to two party bookings the basin was full so we had a rethink

A quick glance at the tide tables confirmed my hunch that it would go and I therefore suggested Tollesbury. Turns out the Laurins have never been there before and after some discussion about the pilotage and tide times the plan meet with approval all round

Jane and the crew of Laurin caught the water taxi for a run ashore whilst I attempted to get the tiller pilot working. It's dead. Might be repairable but we'll have to manage without for now

Upon the return of the shore party , we made ready for departure and set off, hoisting the sails as soon as we cleared the harbour

After a while, we dropped the spray hood and Jane took over the helm. The Blackwater is an ideal stretch of water to learn to helm on, wide open spaces and lots of landmarks, navigation marks and racing buoys to use as steering marks

The training exercise went really well and bodes well for the future. It would be useful if we could sort out the means by which Jane could helm with the spray hood up (she can't see over it or under it, it's just the wrong height for her. It's the perfect height for me though!) as although dropping it isn't a major task, we prefer it up if there's any weather or spray about

As we tacked just off the Nass beacon, Laurin came up astern of us



After passing within hailing distance, we started the engine and took the lead into Tollesbury Fleet. The buoys are quite easy to follow once you know the way although I'm not sure I'd fancy it in the dark even though most of them are lit

We had some hanging about whilst a fleet of motor boats that were ahead of us got sorted out but in the virtually windless conditions it caused no problems and we were soon tied up in the berths I'd arranged by phone earlier in the day

Upon booking in I bumped into David, the broker who handled the sale of Erbas and learnt, not exactly to my surprise, the Brigantia is back up for sale. I took a walk down to see how she's looking...



And she's not looking bad at all. I'm not totally convinced about the grey blue colour of the fresh coat of paint on the topsides but it's an improvement on the shabby state the paint was in a year ago

A splash of paint on the cabin, a sand and varnish session on the woodwork and she'd be looking ship shape again. She has, of course, all of the new kit we added (engine, sails, rigging, electronics etc). The asking price is £1950 but I hear the owner will take a much lower offer

Enough of the sales pitch already!

It was a glorious evening, a precursor perhaps of the forecast horrible weather due in another twenty four hours or so, and the Laurins decided to have a barbecue on the "beach" by the Woodrup Pool (a swimming and boating lake that's replenished by the tide each day)

We elected to have a meal in the Cruising Club which was very enjoyable. Afterwards, we popped down to Laurin to day our goodbyes and have a nightcap.

They planned to stay in Tollesbury, which they'd found very much to their liking, for another day or two. The weather forecast over the weekend dictated an immediate run fur home waters for Erbas

So the eighth day of our Cruise had gone well. The ninth would bring be a little more dramatic...

We were up at half five in the morning to catch the tide. There is a cill at the entrance to the marina to hold back enough water for the moored boats to float in, the creek beyond it dries out completely at low water.



It was a glorious morning and we were under way before six. Once clear of the creeks and shoals in the vicinity of the Nass we hoisted the main but there was precious little wind so we kept the engine on

As we passed Sales Point the wind picked up and we soon had the engine off. Sailing pretty much downwind under mainsail alone and with a fair tide as well we were hitting over 7 knots over the ground and the Spitway

Coming around hard onto the wind and with the genoa now set as well as the main we stormed across the Spitway and I decided we'd gain a big advantage by holding the tack and sailing across the outer end of the Swallowtail Bank into the main Whitaker Channel

We did indeed save at least two boards on which we'd lose ground but it was a bit shallower than I expected and I won't be trying that again in a hurry!

It was getting quite exciting now with up to 20 knots of breeze. We put in a couple of tacks but with the tide foul it was slow going. We were making progress though and I needed the heads so after we tacked and with a few minutes in hand I asked Jane to take the tiller and keep her going as she was whilst I nipped below

They say it's never a single isolated event that leads to disaster and the near calamity I shall shortly relate starts with the failure of the tiller pilot.

It was then compounded by the zip sticking on my foul weather (foulies as us sailors call them) high waist trousers.

By the time I finally broke the zip (more expense) we were well over to the south side of the channel and at this point I made a very silly mistake and went below to the heads as I'd intended.

What I SHOULD have done was re-evaluate the situation given that the plan had gone awry. A moments thought and I'd have realised that we now needed to tack before I went to the heads

Jane did exactly what I told her to do and the blame for our coming to a bumpy landing on the Foulness Sands is entirely mine

Panic did not ensue, I'm pleased to say. Apart from an entirely justified squeak from the helm and one or two swear words from the skipper as I struggled to get my trousers belted up and get on deck we remained calm and focused on extracting ourselves from the situation

It was not a great situation to be in. We'd gone aground close by the Whitaker No.4 buoy in an area where I know the channel is quite steep sided. The tide was on the ebb and if we didn't get off pronto we'd be there for several hours in potentially rising winds.

To make matters more interesting still we were right on the edge of the Shoeburyness Range exclusion zone and we'd heard on the VHF that the range was active.

With the sheets let fly and the engine on I tried everything. Full ahead, full astern, helm hard over to port, then starboard. Pinned the sails in to try and heel her over... well you name it, I tried it and after several minutes it seemed clear we were well and truly stuck

Our only hope of not having to wait out the tide was a tow off from something shallow enough and powerful enough to get close to pick up a line and pull is off

A big RIB would be favourite and if it had to be a big red one with RNLI on the side so be it.

We were in no immediate danger of life or limb so I made a Pan Pan urgency call requesting assistance from any nearby vessels. If the Coastguard chose to request the lifeboat to launch so be it

I will reiterate and emphasise that in benign conditions, on a flat or flat-ish mud or sand bank and / or nearer the bottom of the tide I'd have just sat it out and waited for the water to come back

Aground, to all intents and purposes, over six miles out to sea (6.54 miles offshore if you want to be pedantic!) probably within a firing range safety zone, in rising winds, worsening sea conditions, a potentially steep to bottom and around two hours before low water, well suffice it to say that if there was a quick way out I was going to take it

However, there was no response to my radio transmission. Nothing, zilch, nada. Not so much as a squeak out of any of the dozen or more yachts, fishing vessels, motor boats and what have you within visual range and even more surprisingly no response from Thames Coastguard

In desperation, I had one last try and the gods decided to let one get away as she suddenly pivoted round on one keel and came off.

Making a beeline for the deep water, we breathed a very deep sigh of relief and got on with sorting ourselves and the boat out. No more messing about, away went the genoa, the main was centered and it was full speed ahead for safe harbour

I got back on the radio to try and contact the Coastguard and once again got no response. I was less than pleased to discover that the hand held VHF batteries were flat (I checked it at the start of the trip and they were fully charged. Did I leave it on? From now on it gets plugged in and stays plugged in)

A nearby yacht, "Pilgrim", called us up to say he could hear us loud and clear but if we weren't getting a response from the Coastguard he'd relay a message for us. This he did, for which we were grateful

Clearly we'd got a problem with our VHF. I wanted to know ASAP whether it's the set or the antenna so I plonked Jane back on the tiller with the Buxey No.1 buoy to aim at (just don't actually hit it and we'll be fine) whilst I dived below to disconnect the stern rail antenna from the AIS engine and connect it to the VHF

This done (and the antenna on the rail is intended to serve as an emergency replacement for the masthead unit) I called up Thames and asked for a radio check. Now they could hear me loud and clear! I reiterated the message Pilgrim had relayed for us and signed off

Fellow forumites and consumers of copious liquid refreshment Sirenia called us up and switching to a working channel we exchanged positions and planned a meet up in Burnham Yacht Harbour

I also got a text from another forumite Tomahawk to say they'd be around Burnham later too

Soon enough we were nailed to a nice solid pontoon in a nice sheltered marina. Making our number with the harbour master and in the course of the conversation I mentioned Sirenia's imminent arrival and arrangements were made for her to berth next to us which I relayed to Clive, her skipper, by VHF on my return to Erbas

They duly arrived, greetings were exchanged and bottle stores broken open

Then a message popped up on Facebook from Peter on Alchemist that he had also arrived in BYH! Party on :)

Beer, food, more beer, scotch, whisky and lots of yarns ensued. Unfortunately, the Tomahawks couldn't make it to the party on board Erbas (Tomahawk is a big catamaran that isn't marina friendly and the walk to and from the marina from the CYC pontoon on Burnham Quay was a bit far they felt)

A most enjoyable end to a slightly too exciting day!

Friday 15 August 2014

Not the London Cruise Day 7

Finally the weather has moderated and we get to go sailing!

However, Patrick had suddenly remembered that this week is West Mersea Regatta week and it'd be busy with all the visiting racing crews

The Laurins went of to do some shopping and wear out the kids whilst Jane and I set about turning Erbas back into a sailing boat instead of a floating cottage

When the Laurins returned AJ passed the message to give them five minutes then pop down to Laurin for coffee and planning

On arrival I was surprised and touched to find a birthday cake complete with candles (not quite 52 of them thankfully cos my poor old pickled lungs would never have coped), a card and a present.

It was a lovely thing to do and very much appreciated.

Our options were fairly limited by time and tide and we chose Brightlingsea as our destination.

We got going pronto as we expected to be somewhat slower than Laurin (with her greater waterline length and single keel she cruises at least a knot faster)

Out of the marina we found a reasonable Sou'westerly of 10 to 12 knots so up went the main straight away. The hoist went better this time with the reefing lines overhauled first but there's still a lot of friction in the setup which needs looking at.

Turning downriver it was out with the genoa and off with the engine. The breeze was a bit flukey though and our speed varied between 5 knots and just barely stemming the tide and then it died altogether so it was back on with the engine.

We spotted that Laurin had emerged on Boatbeacon which Karen had just downloaded before departing but she vanished again a couple of hours later (probably needs the keep awake option switching on)

With plenty of water we took the short cut close in around Holliwell Point. By now we were sailing again with a fairly stiff breeze from astern. There was quite a swell running and it was uncomfortably rolly.

However, we were absolutely cracking along hitting well over 6 knots for long periods. The only problem being that the genoa kept having to be swapped from side to side as wind shifts led to a succession of gybes and it kept losing the wind and filling with a wince inducing crash.

A shower got me nice and soggy which I could have done without and then the double socket / USB extension lead packed up and to cap my misery the tiller pilot threw another wobbly and decided to go round in circles.

It's done this before and I'm harbouring a suspicion that the problem might be with the signal from the fluxgate compass so I'm gong to disconnect the Seatalk feed to the tiller pilot and run it as a standalone unit for a while.

That's assuming it will run at all since for the second time this week it's now decided not to come online when plugged in. We could do without the expense of replacing it right now but if we must, we must as it's a vital piece of equipment

Anyway, back to the sailing, hand steering now without the help of George ...

By the time we were abeam of St. Peters, I'd had enough of the constant problems of keeping the genoa filled and drawing and rolled it away. It cut our speed by a knot or so but it made life a lot less trying so it was a trade off I could happily live with.

As we cleared Sales Point and shaped up to cross the mouth of the Blackwater I decided I really didn't like the look of the weather bearing down on us. A line of ugly black clouds with heavy rain below, thunder and lightening above, and a rising wind all added up to trouble and it was coming our way.

I urgently skinned up despite being slightly soggy and got the main down and loosely lashed to the boom any old how. Twas done in the nick of time too as what the Coastguard described as a line squall (which having looked the term up indeed it was) hit.

The wind wasn't biblical, little more than F6 for the most part with one or two gusts of 7 plus but it was blowing straight down the Blackwater estuary and it was decidedly lumpy.

Worse though was the heavy rain. For a spell, I couldn't see very much at all and pretty much went around in circles until it eased off a bit. I felt it was probably unwise to try and get into the Colne in what was effectively zero visibility

By now Jane, having tolerated the rolling OK earlier, was feeling sick with the pitching and rolling. I don't know whether it made her feel better about it to learn later that Karen had felt queasy too.

We finally made it into harbour just ahead of Laurin who'd caught us up in the approaches. I'd been pretty sure I had them in sight all the way up the Ray'sn and now it was certain.

The harbour launches came out in response to our radio calls and led us to a spot on the smack pontoon with Laurin on the inside and Erbas rafted outside her

Such was my relief at getting in that I totally failed to consider the effects of the tide, which was now ebbing quite vigorously, and very nearly made a total hash of coming alongside. Yells and gestures from the harbour staff woke me up to reality in the nick of time though and I was slightly mollified to learn that Karen had done much the same thing!

The harbour master mentioned that my radio call sounded muffled and hard to read. I'm hoping it was water in the mic (a fair bit got blown in through the hatch) and not another expensive equipment failure

We were invited to dine aboard Laurin (again!) and nobody felt much inclined to bother about going ashore. We set about putting things to rights both above and below decks.

Actually, I think we're getting the hang of this lark as not a lot of stuff went flying around the cabin, which makes a change!
On deck was a different story though. First of all I got the cockpit tent up and rigged a drying line for our wet gear. Then I unfurled the genoa and wound it back up again as it had managed to end up looking like a blue and white barbers pole!

I left the mainsail loose for a while to dry off a bit whilst I re-rove the third reefing line which had somehow escaped the clutches of the clutches

With all the strings tidied away where they should be, I tidied up the mainsail and got the cover on and apart from the wet foulies there wasn't a sign left of the earlier excitement

Aboard Laurin then for a most welcome bowl or two (there was seconds!) of sausage casserole, chocolate gateau, beer and fine whisky

Oh and there might have been some oik playing the guitar and singing accompanied by some fine bashing of the tambourine and maracas (although AJ has yet to learn the art of subtlety when it comes to percussion but then again I've met many a drummer who never did!)

It's good to be out and about at last but to be honest if we'd known what the weather would chuck at us I think we'd still be in Burnham!

Looks like a reasonable couple of days to come now but Sunday isn't looking too clever which may curtail the cruise a day early.

Thursday 14 August 2014

Not the London Cruise Day 6

A make and mend day today

We could, in fact, have escaped the attractions of Burnham, the weather having moderated, but with no pressing reason to do so and a few jobs to tackle on board a further day in port suited

My first job was to sponge out the gallon or so of water that has accumulated in the keel roots. These don't drain to the bilge when Erbas is sitting level and over time condensation trickles down and sits there. It's not a problem, it just needs removing from time to time



This is the aft end of the port settee berth and you can see the recess where the water gathers. I've already sponged it out. You can also see the fresh water pump and pipework and the mud berth seawater intake.

The fresh water systems in this locker need moving to a less useful space, the mud berth intake is giving me pause for thought. Whilst we have no current use for it, it's entirely possible that Erbas could find herself back in a mud berth in the future.

It's also potentially useful to have a secondary seawater intake in case the primary intake becomes blocked.

I need to put a base in this locker and some form of protection from damage around the seacock (we currently store wellies in this space)



On the starboard side, the aft end of the settee locker is occupied by the third of our three water tanks. The plan is to convert this into a black / grey waste tank. We don't realistically need the extra 11 gallons of water capacity and we do need the holding tank facility.

I can't get an off the shelf tank to fit any of the available spaces and all that's needed to convert the existing tank is the necessary fittings, valves and some rearrangement of the plumbing. It'll be quite a big job even so

My next mission was an unsuccessful attempt to repair the sink drain sump pump. You may recall this stopped pumping due to a faulty float switch a while back. The plan was to install a solid state switch in place of the faulty switch and in so far as it went it worked

However, in such a confined space, the sensor kept getting false triggers and worse the slightly weepy sump lid had now become a very leaky sump lid

That's the result of trying to do something on the cheap I'm afraid. There's nothing wrong with the modifications we made in principle (accepting the downsides of a sump system such as periodic filter cleaning), we just bought a piece of rubbish. And in the rubbish is where it's now gone.

I'm now contemplating two possible solutions. One is simple and cheap, move the pump switch from the v-berth into the heads, and perhaps even add a second switch at the galley. The other is expensive but more sophisticated which is to fit a top quality pump and sensor setup. Undecided on that one

After putting the cabin back together, it was up on deck to fit the new heaving line holder



Up until now, the heaving line has lived in a cockpit locker. I wanted it right to hand without delay because that's the best chance of quickly retrieving a man overboard.

I then made a little modification suggested by Chris of Tomahawk which was to drill a small hole in the Dan Buoy flag cover and fit a lanyard between it and the backstay.



This ensures that the cover comes off and the flag is deployed when the Dan Buoy is launched. It also, usefully, turns out to be a handy additional securing point.

Finally, I took a good hard look and lots of measurements of the hatch and sprayhood fittings. Ian wants to make a similar arrangement for Apogee and I'd promised to send him some photos (which I'll do when I get home!) and this is where I want to mount as large a solar panel as possible

I'm going to have to make either a complete hatch garage or a frame that sits over the hatch, I haven't made up my mind which yet, but either way we should be able to fit at least 40w of solar panel which is not bad

We need to wean Erbas, and her crew, off the current addiction to shore power as future plans will involve a lot less time in marinas and a lot of nights at anchor. More of that another time though

With the afternoon wearing on, it was time to tidy up the boat, shower and tidy up ourselves before heading out for a meal. To our annoyance, the Swallowtail had now acquired a "closed for private function" sign which hadn't been out an hour or so earlier.

Undaunted, we set off down the river bank and fetched up in Ye Olde White Harte where the beer was good and the food, in the restaurant was excellent. Not cheap, although they do very good and much cheaper bar meals too, but worth every penny.

After a final drink in the bar we staggered back to the marina and soon after that we were tucked up snug in the v-berth

We're on the move, at last, tomorrow!

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Not the London Cruise Day 5

(Tuesday)

There really isn't a lot to write about today. I went for an early morning walk, Jane slept late, we had breakfast, Jane went off shopping, I dozed.

Then I went aboard Laurin and modified the faulty bilge pump switch so that it worked although in the process, and to my considerable annoyance, I slightly melted the plastic housing with the heat of the gas soldering iron.

Given that a few weeks ago I managed to melt a hole in the Treadmaster anti-slip matting in our cockpit with an identical tool whilst doing some rope work, I'm going to have to be a lot more careful in future (some plumbers heat mats would be handy). You don't get the same problem with an electric iron either, it's the very hot jet of heat from the catalyst vent that does the damage.

Anyway, no great harm done. The switch unit is in an out of the way location and hasn't cost a penny (a full refund having been proffered because it was faulty). Oh and I managed to drip hot solder onto Karen's hand for good measure but five minutes in cold water sorted that out.

I do like the system with the switch setup. Two float switches, one higher than the other, with the higher one both triggering the pump and sounding an alarm. I might incorporate something like it in our setup

Anyway, that'd whiled away an hour or three. Then it was off to the Parlour Cafe at Creeksea by Landrover. The intention had been to walk there along the river bank but some pretty vigorous showers were blowing through. The kids had fun in the garden, we all had delicious ice cream and the grown ups had coffee.

Back to Burnham and a tidy up on board was swiflty followed by the hop, skip and jump down the pontoon to dine aboard Laurin again! The planned pizza night was cancelled in favour of pasta night due to the stiff breeze defeating Patrick's best endeavours at lighting the Cobb oven!

Whilst dinner cooked I restrung AJ's guitar with the strings I picked up in London. Being nylon of course it's the very devil to get the strings to hold their tuning as they tend to slip and stretch when first fitted. We'll see whether it's been a success on the morrow, it's quite common to have to redo a string or two

We made severe inroads into the Erbas red wine lake, in fact there's now only one and a bit bottles left, accompanied by pleasant conversation about sailing, life, plans for the weekend etc.

The Laurins are off to London again tomorrow so Jane and I took our leave before we'd totally outstayed our welcome (I think we got away with it anyway!). We're going to get some chores done and then see about going out for a meal

For a day when we didn't do a lot, there turned out to be quite a lot to write about!

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Not the London Cruise Day 4

Let the train take the strain...

A train and tube ride put us and the Laurins in Exhibition Road where we parted company. We didn't fancy the queue for the Natural History Museum so walked on by to spend a coupe of hours in the Science Museum.

I was pleased to see that it's still at heart a proper museum with artefacts in cases and not just an "interactive experience" although the low light levels in some areas made it hard to read the information panels.

Museumed out for the day, we walked to Harrods to see how the other half shop. Jane declared herself unimpressed and we headed for Oxford Street by tube

A visit to Hobgoblin Music resulted in my deciding not to buy a cheap concertina. I didn't get a feel for the thing somehow so I'll stick to guitar for the time being

After a walk along Oxford Street and some window shopping, we set off by tube again to Tower Hill.



The ceramic poppy installation on the tower moat is quite impressive. The day was marching on though and we didn't have time to do the tower justice so we left that for another day



A short walk took us to St Katherine Dock where we should have been moored. It's a lovely haven of tranquillity. Looking out over the river from the lock entrance was less appealing to the sailor - the river was definitely not in a playful mood with a distinctly unpleasant looking swell on it

We partook of posh coffee at just that right moment to avoid a brief rain shower and thunderstorm before catching the Docklands Light Railway to Limehouse Basin where we caught up with the Laurins aboard our friends Lisa and Marc's boat Ocean Lady

Coffee and chat aboard was followed by a really nice meal in a nearby Italian restaurant. It wasn't cheap but the food was worth every penny

It was time to head for home as the evening drew in so saying our goodbyes to Lisa we negotiated our way via several train links back to Burnham

Six very tired people were soon aboard their respective boats and a lovely day out was over

We're undecided about whether to spend a second day in London or whether to leave the sights for some other time. We definitely want to have another go at the trip up the Thames, maybe next year

Plans are being hatched for a trip to West Mersea later in the week if the breeze abates as forecast. We're undecided what to do in the meantime, we'll play it by ear

Monday 11 August 2014

Not the London Cruise Day 3

They thought it was all over, it is now. I'd been harbouring some hopes that we might still make the trip up the Thames albeit a day late but the forecast does not look promising

If we had to make the trip we'd go for it but two days of motoring into the teeth of F5 plus from the South West is not my idea of fun. Then we'd get two days in London before motoring all the way back again

So today we've had a really lazy day of doing nothing at all apart from cooking breakfast at lunch time, popping up to the co-op and eating and drinking the Laurins out of house and boat!

Tomorrow we'll catch the train into London for the day and take it from there

Sunday 10 August 2014

London Cruise Day 2

The best laid plans...

To make the passage to Chatham with a fair tide we needed to be underway by half three in the morning so I'd set my alarm for three.

However, heavy rain and rather wild gusts of wind had me up and about by just after two and I didn't much like what I could see.

I fired up the instruments to check the wind speed, in the process turning on the VHF without consciously intending too, and just caught a Mayday relay regarding a 25 yacht off Harwich needing assistance due to being over pressed by the the weather.

The Mayday traffic went on for some time as the Harwich lifeboat tried to find the casualty, eventually picking them up on the direction finder and the last I heard they were under tow. All's well that ends well.

Meanwhile, I was searching the various weather websites looking for a forecast that wasn't crap! Whichever way I crumbled the cookie, it looked like being a pretty lively day out in the estuary.

My gut feeling, looking at the synoptic charts, was that the worst had passed and moved away to the north but we'd still be looking at F5 or 6 and probably on the nose for good measure once we cleared the Whitaker and headed down the Swin

A further concern that bothered me, looking at the forecast for the week ahead, was the very real possibility of being stuck in Chatham and not being able to make it to London

By now, Karen on Laurin and I were exchanging texts about whether to go or abort and when the Coastguard issued an imminent gale warning of F8 in the Thames area that made our minds up.

The prudent thing to do seemed to be to head for shelter in Burnham Yacht Harbour. Laurin had come out and picked up a buoy for the night ready for the intended early start and didn't have far to go to get back on her berth.

I woke Jane and put her in the picture and then we got under way and motored back to Burnham. It was not without its excitement though.

First of all, the tiller pilot wouldn't fire up. Continuous beep and no display. Not a major problem as it was but it'd have been a nuisance had we been sticking to the passage plan

We very nearly hit the stupid and utterly pointless unlit buoy that's been placed half way between the Branklet and Crow navigation marks (which are lit) to mark the "Quay Reach Anchorage“. There's one of these buoys in the Yokesfleet too (or as it calls it the "Potton Island Anchorage"

I can't imagine why anybody needs a watery signpost for two of the most well known anchorages in the area and the buoys are both in the way and in my opinion a hazard to navigation but that's a rant for another day.

To add to the fun, I misjudged the entrance into the yacht harbour slightly and very nearly parked us on the mud for a few hours. Twenty horsepower does have it's uses though and we managed to plough our way back into the channel

Coming alongside was an anticlimax after that, especial with Karen and Patrick on hand to take our lines. Jane went straight back to bed whilst I paid a visit to Laurin for a coffee and chat before turning in myself

It was late morning before we awoke but the bacon butties Jane fed me went down a treat whether they were breakfast or lunch!

I checked in with the harbour master and negotiated a berth close to Laurin (we'd dropped on the alongside berth adjacent to the refueling pontoon on arrival).

Dismantling the tiller pilot and fiddling about with it seemed to do the trick. I think the worm gear on the shaft had stuck with the shaft fully retracted. Hopefully it'll be OK now.

With no rush to move and a stiff breeze to play with, I decided to get organised and go out for a play with the storm jib and the third reef in the main



It's not a great picture but it's the best I could do! Anyway, the setup works and she sails quite well making two or three knots in 16 to 18 knots of breeze and demonstrably able to claw her way up to windward even over a foul tide, albeit slowly. Everything was calm and undramatic although I anticipate that rigging the inner forestay and hanking on the jib in rough conditions might be more challenging. Once done though I now know she'll handle it

Back into the marina, we nailed coming into the berth perfectly so, of course, there was no audience. Jane put her head down for a nap whilst I set about sorting out on deck.

Packing away the storm jib and stowing the inner forestay didn't take long and then it was on with the sail cover on the boom and tidy the lines at the mast.

I don't generally hold with turning the fresh water hose onto the decks, preferring normally to use buckets of sea / river water to wash down, but with a lot of mud from the anchor on deck and a temptingly handy hose on the pontoon I made an exception this time

With clean decks my last job was to put up the cockpit tent before we headed down the pontoon to Laurin for dinner, drinks and chat.

It wasn't a late night though as everybody was tired after the days excitement.

On reflection, we could have made Chatham but I think the decision not to go was the right call. It would have been a tough day and if the wind is as strong as forecast through till Thursday or Friday we'll be much better off in Burnham

Friday 8 August 2014

London Cruise Day 1: Fambridge-Brankfleet

No messing about today, drove down to Essex after work, transferred on board by dinghy and then got our heads down for a few hours

Late afternoon, we motored downriver (the wind was due east also known as due wrong) and anchored in the Brankfleet at the mouth of the River Roach

A sort out above and below decks followed by dinner and it's going to be an early night as it's a very early start on the morning

Oh and the weather was rather grey and rain too at times so there's no photo today

Thursday 7 August 2014

London Cruise - Plan B scuppered

Just picked up the news via the excellent East Coast Pilot web site that the Havengore Bridge is broken and will remain closed until further notice

The bridge is the only route onto and off Foulness Island, home to a small village and a very large and top secret military firing and testing range

It lifts for two hours either side of High Water when the range is not operating to permit access to and from Havengore Creek which then links, as can be seen from the chart below, via several drying channels to the River Roach and thence to the River Crouch

Using the Havengore route saves the long haul down the Whitaker Channel past Foulness Sands and then all the way down the Swin along the edge of the Maplin Sands

However, it does involve over three miles of transit over the drying Maplin Sands and can only be attempted, in settled weather, by suitably shoal draft craft

Erbas is suitably shoal draft provided the tides are nearer springs than neaps and I had forseen the possibility that I might be too tired for an 03:30 to 04:00 start on Saturday morning. I had therefore cooked up a plan B which involved leaving via the Havengore at about 11:00 and offsetting the distance, and therefore time, saved against the foul tide we'd then encounter as the tide ebbed from the Thames and Medway

Plan B already looked iffy with F4 gusting 5 from the South West forecast for Saturday afternoon, it's likely it'd be too little tide and too much chop to attempt it being, as it is, a good metre less tide than full Springs on Saturday

However, it's now totally academic 'cos the bridge is broke

That could prove to be an annoyance next weekend as I'd pencilled in using the Havengore to return to the Crouch / Roach on our return trip (again, weather and tide permitting)

On the weather front, Saturday now looks fairly good for the run down to Chatham.

However, Sunday to Thursday doesn't look so hot. It's generally being forecast as West South West or Westerly fives and sixes gusting seven or eight for the whole five days before settling down slightly in time for next weekend

However, the confidence level is still low, there's qutie a range of possibilities being bandied about and a key advantage is that from Chatham we're heading up river in reasonably sheltered waters - although Westerly strong winds could kick up an uncomfortable chop even then with the added drawback of potentially slowing us down drastically.

So at the moment, Chatham is looking good provided the forecast holds and I can get enough rest between dropping the hook on Friday and the essential early start before dawn on Saturday

From there, only the gods know what is going to happen!


Wednesday 6 August 2014

London Cruise - The Cunning Plan


This may only be a one week trip but it's been much anticipated and carries high hopes of a high old time (or to put it another way, Jane is really looking forward to this one!)

However, it's been on, off and then on again in the advance planning stages, we thought we'd have a crew of four however due to domestic upheavals now there'll just be the two of us and to cap it all the weather forecast has not looked at all promising for a few days

The problem is tropical storm / hurricane (it did briefly make it to Category 1 status) Bertha which has been following the tyical track North up the East Coast of the USA and which is expected to become a weaker extra-tropical storm and cross the Atlantic to Europe

The tail end of Bertha will likely bring heavy rain, strong winds and isolated gales to somewhere but the question is where because the various models can't even agree with themselves exactly where ex-Bertha will make landfall ...

This graphic shows the various predicted tracks of low pressure areas and the low associated with Bertha can clearly be seen following a fairly typical route across the North Atlantic

But will it arrive over the Channel? The Midlands? Or will Ireland and Scotland cop its full fury?

It might even go and give the French a good soaking!

And wherever it ends up, there's a great deal of uncertainty about just how deep the low will be

Taking a look at the jetstream forecast for Saturday morning it does look to me like an Atlantic weather system would be carried South of Ireland and then stomp all over the UK from South to North

And the shape of the forecast jetstream (unsurprisingly) looks much like the shape of the forecast track of the remnants of Bertha

OK, so it looks pretty certain that we'll have a low pressure system tracking through over the weekend. Let's look at specifics ...



Looking at the Surface Level Pressure forecast for Saturday morning, we have a moderate low (1000) centered over the North East coast of England.

As the day wears on, this low moves gradually North and maintains a steady pressure.

We can see the Azores High to the South West (bottom left!) which is trying to push in but the jet stream is keeping it at bay





You can see the low moving away to the North and the high pressure trying to build in over the West coast of France

So what does this mean for the weather?

Well that's the tough one to answer. These predictions are still, just 72 hours or so out, comimg with a low confidence rating (60% or thereabouts) which means the models aren't totally in agreement and the forecasters can't make their minds up!

We can live with rain so all we really care about is the wind ...


So here's the GFS (one of the various weather models) forecast for wind at 09:00UTC on Saturday morning or in other words about the time we'll be bashing our way into the Medway. The 03:00 and 06:00 wind forecasts are roughly similar. This would suggest we're looking at Westerly or South Westerly F4/5 which would be lively but good sailing.

That, compared to the gusts up to F9 that were forecast for Saturday a day or two ago, puts us on a go for the first leg. A quick check on Monday's weather ...


... suggests from the SLP synoptic that things should have calmed down although there's some interesting low and high pressure ridge systems fighting for supremacy over the UK and Europe

That might bring some brisk conditions across the Southern North Sea ...

However, as we'll be heading upriver on Monday it shoud be OK

So enough of the weather, what about the plan?

All things being equal, Jane and I will drive down straight from work on Friday morning and dinghy out to Erbas without bothering to come alongside.

We'll either drop downriver straight away or more likely grab a few hours sleep and do so late afternoon. My inclination would be to drop anchor in the Brankfleet but we'll liase with our friends aboard Laurin on that, I think there was some talk of picking up a buoy for the night to avoid having to exit Burnham Yacht Harbour in the dark.

And it will be pretty dark when we get under way on Saturday morning.


So here's our route from the anchorage in the mouth of the River Roach to Chatham Maritime Marina

As you can see, we have to head East North East for several miles to clear the shallow drying sands of Foulness and sneaking across will not be an option as we'll be rounding the Whitaker Beacon, which marks the end of the sands, at close to low water. Oh and it's also one of the most active and top secret firing ranges in the UK and they tend to get a bit miffed if you stray into the danger area (ahem!)

Once round the Whitaker, we turn South West and head down the Swin along the edge of the Maplin Sands, firing range all the way, before carefully crossing the shipping lane into the Thames in an area known as The Warp. Then we head for the Medway through The Nore, which as readers of nautical books will know is a famous anchorage, and avoiding the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery which failed to anchor properly in The Nore and was wrecked just outside the shipping channel and still contains enough explosives to make a very large bang indeed

Into the Medway then and past various shipping terminals and loading piers we reach Chatham Maritime Marina, in the former naval docks, and lock in for a well earned rest

This is one of those trips where catching the tide is really critical to a good passage. Make the turn around the Whitaker Beacon somewhere close to low water, having used the last of the ebb to get a bit of a lift out of the Crouch and down the Whitaker Channel, and we pick up a fair tide on the flood all the way down the Swin and into the Medway

Leaving at 03:00UTC (four in the morning in body clock time) and we make the passage in under 8 hours at our best economic speed under motor of 4.5knots. Of course, we would hope to be sailing it but that's going to very much depend on whether the wind gives us an angle or not. I doubt I will be minded to spend the whole day tacking backwards and forwards between the Maplin Sands and The Barrow on the back of two bouts of a few hours sleep in the previous 36 hours!

On that basis, we'll be tied up and putting our feet up in Chatham by lunchtime which will suit me just fine. In contrast, delaying our departure by just two hours to an entirely more sociable six in the morning would add three or four hours to the passage time and we'd be lucky to make it to Chatham by six in the evening. Better, then, an early start and an early finish. We'll just have to make sure there's plenty of coffee on board!

We'll be spending Sunday in Chatham and then departing Monday morning for London. That too will need to be an early-ish start as once again carrrying a fair tide up the Thames is essential and we only have two hours either side of High Water at London Bridge to get into St. Katherines Dock

St. Katherines Dock, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London
Weather permitting we'll be staying in St. Kats until Friday morning, then sailing back down the Thames to either Queenborough or to anchor in the lower reaches of the Medway

Saturday will hopefully see us back in our home river and we'll be heading for the bricks and mortar either Sunday or first thing Monday morning