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With the boat locked in the Marina until the end of March 2008; I've been focusing on some of my electrical jobs over the last month or two. I've installed a NASA AIS receiver with a integrated input GPS signal to give a combined feed to the laptop. For cruising I will upgrade my Seapro lite to the AIS version for tracking the AIS/DSC data. Also got the Target SSB receiver repaired and setup with the active antennae and and laptop running SeaTTY receiver and JVComm32 at home. Fairly difficult to pick up much from the middle of Manchester but I did managed to decode some NAVTAX from home so happy to set-up on the boat. Following the reviews and reports on the the Ouzo yacht tragedy ..... "all but invisible to the Pride of Bilbao and the resulting tragedy has rightly opened a vigorous debate about the effectiveness of radar reflectors" ....I've invested in a Sea-Me Active Radar Reflector which is no installed on the rear stanchion. I know this will not give me as much detection from the top of the mast.
It's been quite a busy season so apologies for the lack of updates to the website. It's been a good season for shaking down all the previous winter upgrades. The rigging upgrade and new Sanders 125% Genoa are excellent, the new NASA Wind speed held up at 28K, the ST-2000 auto-tack function is fantastic and GPS Chart plotter take a lot of stress out of single-handing. The storm sail was fully tested and nothing really broke which is good news. The worst thing to happen was on the trip back to Liverpool when I lost the Highfield lever for the inner storm forestay, and they are not cheap ! Ploughboy is now back in Liverpool ready for another winter of jobs (in priority order) :
So please come back back for regular updates The winter of 2006/07 was spent completely upgrading the rigging, installing the Navik wind vane, the ST2000 Tiller pilot and further works; a full record of all the upgrades can be found here. The season kicked off with a single-handed sail down to the Menai Straits and Holyhead at Easter in the most glorious weather. Two weeks later, I completed the trip with a voyage from Holyhead round to Caenarfon and up the Menai Straits to my mooring. Over the next two months I completed more solo sailing around Anglesey then as part of my preparations for the Jester 2010 challenge I took time off work to complete a 2 week sailing trip from the Hamble to Northern Spain across the Bay of Biscay in a Sigma 38 with the British Offshore Sailing (BOSS) school. Great experience, seas and dolphins as shown in my video.
After Biscay I completed another weekend solo navigation of Anglesey which was particularly testing. I was too far off, and mis-timed the passage around the Stacks and ended up hitting bad overfalls in getting past South Stack. The boat held up a lot better than I did ! In September, I set off with two friends for another Autumn trip to Ireland only this time we would have to turn back half-way across and reach back to Holyhead in SW F6-7; the resulting circumnavigation of Anglesey in strong winds proved to be some of the most testing sailing for both boat and crew, as recorded here. Finally during the last weekend in September I sailed the boat back to Liverpool, single-handed from the Menai Straits (55nm, 15 hours) in a NE 3-5. Setting off from Beaumaris at 9:30 just off the highest springs of the autumn under a beautiful, still cloudless night I had little warning as to the bashing as I was in store for. Everything was relatively OK as far as Liverpool apart from 'loosing' the highfield lever off my inner forestay which is going to be an expensive replacement, and a charging problem on the alternator which meant the domestic battery was running down very low. Then a few miles west of Q1 turning towards the entry of the Liverpool channel the sea starting getting choppier, and choppier with short sharp waves as the strong incoming tide pushed against the NE wind. It was not a particularly comfortable few hours with the boat bashing headlong into wave after wave; especially when I noticed water on the sole floor and thought I was sinking. This turned out to be water coming through deck fittings from the sheer volume of water on the deck which was not draining away quickly enough, there was up to 2" of water in the gunnels and read deck after hitting some of the waves. Things went from bad to worse in the main channel when the main halyard slipped and the mainsail and boom slipped down on the deck. Approaching the dog leg in the channel, in a roller coaster chop was not the best time to take a stroll up to the mast. However once approaching Brazil buoy, with the sunshine streaming over the Liverpool horizon everything was forgiven and I managed to hit the opening of the lock gate just right and avoided a battle against a 4.5K spring tide. “Ploughboy Dreamer” Anglesey Autumn Cruise 2007 Friday 14th September 2007 With 3 days booked off work the following week; Tim, Lynda and I headed down to Anglesey on Friday evening with the objective of making Ireland for a second year running. After loading and preparing the boat we slipped the mooring just after midnight and motored up the Menai Strait to Puffin Island in a windless clear night and the tide gradually ebbing. With a resident high over Ireland there was forecast to be a complex series of lows sweeping in from the North over the next couple of days but we hoped to dodge before the first of them and make Ireland in the forecast SW F5. Saturday 15th September Heading for the NE tip of the TSS off Holyhead we made excellent progress in the fine weather with the tide pushing us to 7.2K SOG but by noon we were left motor sailing towards Howth at a slow 2.5K pushing against the tide. As we progressed to within 37nm of Ireland, the weather forecasts were becoming progressively worse with a strong wind warning predicting SW F6-7 and rough seas. Faced with the prospect of sailing into the deteriorating weather and arriving at Howth at night we decided to turn head he 23nm to shelter at Holyhead. On tacking we reefed the boat for the approaching conditions and our speed steadily increased as headed south.. By 4pm I fully understood why the Contessa 26 is described by some as a wet boat ! Waves were regularly slapping against the side of the boat and soaking us in the cockpit. I was grateful we have a raised floor and self draining cockpit even so a nice sprayhood and dodgers quickly moved up my wish list of enhancements. With the 125% genoa well furled and the main roller reefed, PB Dreamer handled beautifully and relished in getting the gunwale sweeping through the water. As the conditions worsened we heard three separate Mayday services with the Beaumaris, Holyhead and Liverpool coastguards being called into action. It sounded like one boat had run aground at Abermenai near the Caenarfon Bar, and while we couldn’t follow the others the fully understood the conditions they were facing. Within 8nm to Holyhead, in 24-28 knots of wind and the GPS recording a maximum speed of 9K as we surfed down the waves we began to suffer a voltage loss on the instruments, so we decided to start the engine but found we could not get the starter motor turning over. Somehow the starter battery had also become critically drained. We felt confident we could sail into Holyhead and anchor or pick up a mooring but as a precaution we called up the coastguard on the handheld VHF and let them know our situation. Our handheld GPS allowed us to confirm our position and bearing. With the offer of a tow within the inner harbour, we were to keep the coastguard informed of our situation. Sitting below, I attempted reading the Yanmar 2GM engine manual to find out how to crankstart the engine ! Thankfully however we discovered that Rutland 503 wind generator which was going like the clappers had charged the batteries enough to get the engine going in our final approach. Tired and exhilarated we tied up within Holyhead Marina around 6:30 pm and after showering headed off to the Holyhead SC bar and restaurant. Monday 17th September With a another low due to come in we only had a short window to leave Holyhead and having abandoned ideas of reaching Ireland or the IoM we decided to circumnavigate Anglesey via Caenarfon, aiming to get into the Menai Strait before the wind turned to N F6-7. So with a new starter battery, the alternator belt tightened and the loose battery connections tightened we cast off just after midnight for the Stacks in a W 4-5 heading for Llanddyn Island to anchor and wait for the raising tide to enter the Caenarfon Bar at noon the following day. Depending upon the conditions we agreed to make a go/no-go decision once we got out into the bay. Once past the backwash off the breakwater we were happy to go for it so we turned and headed for the North Stack which we needed to approach no less than 50 mins before HW slack to avoid pitching overfalls in the resulting wind over tide. Having been caught out once before in daylight in much better conditions I was nervous of getting it wrong at night. Faced with the dilemma of either sailing too close to a rocky lee shore or being too far off where the overfalls create pyramidal seas we took a tight inshore route and passed the South Stacks 10mins early without incident.
In the westerly wind we made quick time down to Llanddyn Island, where we anchored at Pilots Cove in 5m just as dawn was approaching. With excellent shelter as the wind turned to NW we got some sleep before going over the Caenarfon Bar at noon at around 2 hours before HW. Once within the southern end of the Menai Strait, with the wind forecasted to raise to N F7 we set the storm sail on the new removable inner forestay I had rigged up over the winter and we settled down to a fast beat all the way up the Port Dinoric where we raised more sail to fight the tide and in the lighter winds. Along the way we sailed through hail stones, double rainbows and bright sunshine and enjoyed munching on my favourite snack of malt bread and stilton cheese. We finally picked up a swinging mooring just south of Britannia Bridge and prepared dinner while we waited to pass through the Swellies at LW Slack (2 hours before HW Dover) and then tie up at Menai Bridge pier rafting alongside the Menai sailing school boats from Plas Menai. Tuesday 18th September With more incoming bad weather we drank plenty of Guinness at the Liverpool Arms before going to bed and had a short lie we slowly motored up to our mooring opposite Bangor Bridge for a nice fried breakfast to end our Autumn cruise. While short it was extremely challenging in respect to the conditions and navigation; great practice for next year ! Holyhead – Llanddwyn Island 16th Feb - Penny under the mast and re-launching Today was the day when I when re-rigged and upgraded mast back on and the boat re-launched. For once it was just raining and not blowing a hooley to I managed to avoid hitting anything this year ! I will post full pictures of all the rigging upgrades and Navik installation over the next few days which some of you maybe interested in. I worked and stayed on the boat over the weekend wiring in the new cabling for the lights, VHF aerial and the new NASA Clipper Wind instrumentation. Lovely to be tucked up in the boat again after a few pints of Guiness and Gammon Steak but I had underestimated how cold it was going to get and just managed to make it through the night.
My new berth is great as it gets the sun all day and I also catch the sunset over the Mersey The Navik windvane has now been installed due to some helpful welding from Tom, full pictures and description here Full rigging replacement and upgrade The original rigging has gone through a complete upgrade and replacement including new deck fittings .... replaced original rotostay with Furlex 200s RR on 7mm forestay (up from 5), 6mm backstays (up from 5), new terminals throughout, Inner storm forestay added with highfield lever; new upgraded SS forestay and storm deck fittings, new masthead SS fittings to take larger forestay and backstays, new NASA wind, new VHF aerial, new mast winch, electrics rewired, mast shortened 30mm to remove corrosion, new kicker and running rigging)....... full pictures and description here 22nd Dec - Cutlass Bearing replaced As recommended in the original survey, I've had the cutlass bearing replaced this winter. This was also an opportunity to get the propeller off and check the sizing and it's revealed to be a 12x10" RH 1" which is quite different to the 13 or 15x10 recommended at http://www.sailcdi.com/propByMotor.htm Given the very limited clearance of the prop to the hull, any recommendations ....11X13", folding ???
15th Dec - Starboard Knee anti-fouled ! Went in for key-hole surgery on my knee on Friday so I've been 'laid up' all weekend, hobbling around the house. I had to unwrap my Dad's Christmas present as I needed his walking stick more than he did at the moment !.... Anyway it's given me a chance to learn all about RSS Creation, RSS Feeders, Email Subscriptions and Blog XML and incorporate it into the site. If there's one thing skipper likes more than his boat it's technical or internet gadgetry :-) Met with Stephen Roberts, the rigger last week and agreed all the works to be done: All standing rigging to be replaced, new bottlescrews, new removal inner storm forestay to be added with Highfield lever. Also taking the rudder off so we can inspect the pins. Also met with Geoff Dixon, the marine engineer who did my engine work last winter and arranged for the cutlass bearing to be replaced. This will also be an opportunity to see if there is anything we can do to resize the propeller and reduce the cavitation. I hope to collect a nearly new Furlex RR for the mast after Christmas which comes with a 7mm forestay. Will need cutting down to size a bit but it;s an excellent bit of kit and comes with a twin groove foil.
Had the boat pulled out on the 24th November and power washed and then the mast un-stepped. Really impressed with the antifouling - very little slime and barnacles left after the washing. The mast was taken down as I wanted all the standing rigging fully checked over and also the mast evaluated. It looks like the forestay definitely needs replacing as there is some 'uncoiling' of the outer wires at the top of the forestay, apart from that the rigging looks OK. I'm in two minds about the mast foot however, not sure how severe the pitting and corrosion is at the base, what do you think ? close-up pictures here Passed my first Single-handed Test October 2006 ! Time to finally bite the bullet and sail the boat single-handed on the 50nm trip from the Menai Straits back to Liverpool. There was slim 24 hour weather window and the boat had to be moved at the weekend so there was no alternatives but to slip the lines before dawn on Sunday and sail into the night up the Strait. Full details here
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