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- Sailed with the NWVYC to Porth Wren at the end of June - sunny but not much wind on the Saturday. Had a lovely BBQ on the beach with all the Venturers who were very welcoming. Sunday proved to be a cracking day's sail, as we swept acroos Red Wharf Bay in the freshening F5+ wind. With all the sail up, the boat was well heeled as we pushed 10K SOG. Unfortunately I'm not sure how windy it was as my NASA egg cups were blown off the mast last winter !

- Finally got the boat down to the Menai Straits at the beginning of May after a fairly uneventful singlehanded trip down from Liverpool. The Garmin GPS Map292 started playing up however and losing the satellites.... which was OK until I got to go through Puffin Sound at night with the wind picking up all the time as I tried to beat the approaching depression. Got through OK and headed down to Menai Bridge, hoping to come alongside the Pier but there was alread 5 boats rafted up so headed back up to the mooring in a very wet wind over tide chop.

Finally at the end of May Bank Holiday we were going to join the NWVYC cruise to the Isle of Man, but with a strong wind warning in force we decided to head over to Amlwch on the North Coast before coming back on the Sunday in glorious sunshine through the Swellies to Victoria Dock in Caernarfon.

- After a few minor jobs and antifouling, it then took until January because of the snowy weather and problems with the Liverpool boat lift before the boat could be put back into the water. A new battery ensured a healthy start to the engine, and PB Dreamer appeared better balanced within the windvane on the motor back to the pontoon berth. The sails were taken away for a bit of minor stiching, and after a good clean-up we are ready to go sailing again !

- With a crew of two, we sailed the boat back to Liverpool at the beginning of October. We had a couple of days for the trip and were planning to take in the IoM, but as we got past Point Lynas, one of the crew (who shall remain nameless !) got quite badly seasick so we decided to divert to the pub at Amlwch instead. We ended up staying just over a day at Amlwch, enjoying the fine weather and a walk around to the Point Lynas lighthouse before heading off direct again to Liverpool which proved fairly uneventful, although there was the usual chop going up the channel. The boat was then taken out the water in November and the bottom was remarkably clean on the 2 years old Micron anti-fouling. Having decided to retire from the Jester Challenge I took the Navik wind vane off and sold it on.

- Took a lazy 5 day cruise around Anglesey Towing the dinghy, which allowed me to get ashore and take some nice pictures at Pilots Cove/Llanddwyn Island, Anglesey, North Wales and Porth Wen, places I've always wanted to get ashore and visit. The best pictures I've added to my Anglesey Flickr set:

1st September 2009

- Withdrew from Jester Challenge 2010 Following my 505nm single-handed cruise to Ireland I've been reconsidering my entry to the JC2010 and have decided to withdraw:

"While my Contessa 26 and all the systems I had implemented worked admirably (with the exception of the Navik !), the AIS/Sea-Me/SSB and SPOT Messenger kept me safe, I was generally able to cope with the pilotage and general seamanship required to keep myself either out of trouble or safely in the middle of it .... the one thing I had not factored for is the is how much being away sailing singlehanded worried my fiancée/family, and the loneliness I felt of being away from them.

So rather than potentially pushing on in Crowhurst fashion I'm bowing out from the JC2010. I still hope to cross the Atlantic, but hopefully it will be in the company of all my family."

I still plan to do a lot more cruising in Ploughboy Dreamer, but ideally this will be more with crew rather than single-handed and I hopefully will be off for another 2 weeks in September.

August 8th 2009

- Red Wharf Bay - Offshore Race Went down to Anglesey to take part in the Red Wharf Bay, offshore race from Beaumaris across to Red Wharf Bay in my friends Javelin dinghy; we came 21st out of around 60+ boats which was not a bad result !

July 2009 - Anglesey to Kinsale, Ireland

Most of July was spent of a 4 week, 508 nm single-handed trip from the Menai Straits to Kinsale, Ireland and back which was designed as a "cruising" preparation trip for the JC2010.

A full log of the progress (from SPOT Messenger) can be found on my twitter site; and the best pictures I've loaded onto Flickr here; for the full log read here.

June 2009

Couple of passages from the Menai Staits to Holyhead and back this month. The last time was probably my most challenging single-handed days sailing.

Leaving Holydead with a forecast Southerly F5-6 I was keen to hit Carmel Head dead on slack which was achieved in the company of dolphins and there followed a cracking sail across the top of Anglesey with the main and genoa reefed. Going across Red Wharf B ay it 'livened' up a bit as the waves got some reach and there was periodic shouts of 'Wave' but with just my self of board it made little difference. Approaching Puffin Sound I realised that I have not made much attention to my arrival ride and after hoving to for a while I realised there would be 2-3K of tide against the wind pushing up the strait.... Being keen to get back I decided to go for it; but should have remembered the wind would kick up a another level which it did to 28K .... suffice to say I got back safely but it was very bumpy, very wet and very nerve jangling - I think I will spend more time on passage planning next time and not just focus on the first tidal gate !

March - May 2009

After servicing the engine, fitting a new electric bilge pump (why do they always seems to die over the winter) we sailed the boat down to Holyhead from Liverpool at the Easter Bank Holiday. The rest of the crew sailed back and I had an enjoyable sail back over to the Menai Straits where the nearly laid mooring tackle was all ready and waiting (the boat was found adrift in the straits last September after the mooring chain broke - the boat was recovered OK but it proved to be a costly timely hassle).

Since then we have another couple of nice days on the straits and sailed over to Holyhead twice; which is a nice marina with great facilities.

To Holyhead and back at SpotAdventures

Map created by SpotAdventures:GPS Geotagging

February 2009

Firstly apologies for not having updated the website for 12 months !! It's been a busy year ..... falling in love and moving house and the terrible summer of 2008 meant I was unable to do as much sailing as planned; but I did manage to fit in sailing the boat from Liverpool to the Menai Straits again single-handed and a few weekends down in Anglesey ... including going aground on The Platters in a falling tide and having to call the coastguard out and then there was the occasion when the boat was found adrift in the Menai Straits when the mooring tackled failed.... but more of those stories later.

I did manage to get a few jobs completed, including replacing the raised cockpit floor which had become too soft and rotten; the old frame and recess is shown below

Using the old frame as a jig, I built a new frame in teak which was epoxy protected and screwed into the cockpit. I then built a new floor of similar design using 22 mm marine grade plywood which was covered with fibreglass cloth, epoxy coated and then covered with a rubber non-slip tread which has the benefit of giving a good seal with the cockpit sides.

Another job completed was replacing the cockpit doors with some 'Atlantic' proof washboards. They were also made from 22 mm Marine plywood, several coats of varnish and then a couple of coats of epoxy. The top washboard is hinged to open out and I plan to have a Perspex inner washboard.