For anyone reading this blog and wondering what's happened.
SIRENA IV has wintered in a warm shed belonging to Weilandt in Burgstaaken on the island of Fehmarn on the Baltic coast of Germany.
For the record over the winter she has had her standing rigging replaced, and the two toilet seacocks replaced. She has also had her pulpit divided (gulp) so that it's easier to get off the bow - because in the Baltic you moor bows-to. Oh and Tinley in Southampton repaired the B&G masthead cups, and the depth meter.
Thursday 26 April 2018
Tuesday 6 June 2017
Huge catch-up 2017
We-ell here we are again - silent for the whole winter, which pretty much reflects our amount of activity. Funny how each autumn we are full of enthusiasm for the tasks we'll get done on 'fine days' before Christmas ... and then other responsibilities (family, social, even a bit of work) and the weather intervene. Then Jan & Feb are impossible of course, and somehow March went by too, and then April (largely due to work). Hugh Pemble did make us some gorgeous new cockpit locker lids, and he also repainted the engine to protect against salt corrosion - a wonderful job.
We needed some work done by trusted professional friends, and that is not practical at Gillingham because they protect their own workshop. So on 1 May, Bank Hol Monday, we tootled the few miles up-river to Chatham Marina who have no such restrictions. On 2 May we were lifted into the yard with a pressure wash. On 3 May the professionals started work.
The main works were replacing shaft seal (once every 7 years job), removing defunct original NECO autopilot to hopefully lighten the steering, replacing the throttle controls that needed a hammer after not being used for a month, replacing the bilge pump pipe that had been weeping back into the bilge, replace the huge pear anodes. We are simply not experienced, strong and/or supple enough to do these things, but Andy of Cam Marine Services and Hugh Pemble are all those things.
Then of course we did our stuff, cleaning & polishing the hull (which stays obstinately off-white), anti-fouling (didn't even sandpaper it this year, makes no difference) including the prop, shaft and p-bracket, replaced all the smaller anodes, serviced seacocks. We had another professional friend, Paul Ledsham, re-stitch our wheel cover and make new hatch and winch covers - he's a man with a sewing machine. Nic went up the mast 3 times (three!) in order to get the B&G wind instrument (the speed cups) refurbished by the lovely, helpful people at Tinley Electronics - it is years if not decades out of production but still they keep it going.
We needed some work done by trusted professional friends, and that is not practical at Gillingham because they protect their own workshop. So on 1 May, Bank Hol Monday, we tootled the few miles up-river to Chatham Marina who have no such restrictions. On 2 May we were lifted into the yard with a pressure wash. On 3 May the professionals started work.
The main works were replacing shaft seal (once every 7 years job), removing defunct original NECO autopilot to hopefully lighten the steering, replacing the throttle controls that needed a hammer after not being used for a month, replacing the bilge pump pipe that had been weeping back into the bilge, replace the huge pear anodes. We are simply not experienced, strong and/or supple enough to do these things, but Andy of Cam Marine Services and Hugh Pemble are all those things.
Then of course we did our stuff, cleaning & polishing the hull (which stays obstinately off-white), anti-fouling (didn't even sandpaper it this year, makes no difference) including the prop, shaft and p-bracket, replaced all the smaller anodes, serviced seacocks. We had another professional friend, Paul Ledsham, re-stitch our wheel cover and make new hatch and winch covers - he's a man with a sewing machine. Nic went up the mast 3 times (three!) in order to get the B&G wind instrument (the speed cups) refurbished by the lovely, helpful people at Tinley Electronics - it is years if not decades out of production but still they keep it going.
Thursday 28 July 2016
Huge catch-up
Oh dear, oh dear ... we've not been keeping this up, now have we?!
Spring 2015, from a memory that is increasingly faulty, was the usual month in the yard with scrapey, scrapey and a bit of polish - nothing too exciting.
We didn't get back from a summer based in the Solent until Oct ... and then she sat quietly all winter in her berth. We didn't even change the engine oil - oops - due to family priorities.
In Spring 2016 we went to start the engine to do that oil change and the alternator had seized - almost certainly due to the salt water ingress from the raw water pipe back in 2013. So that was a hefty chunk of money to Beta Marine, and then as it was beyond our rudimentary engineering skills another heft chunk to Andy of Cam Marine who did a fantastic job.
Finally in July we bent our minds to servicing everything, including a masthead visit by Nic to check fittings, lubricate pulleys and give the wind cups a sever talking-to as they had stuck over winter. They are running again now, wonderful stuff that silicon lube, but the lovely people at Tinley Electronics .
It is pleasing how much simpler all these jobs seem when you are doing them for the third or fourth time. We made long lists for each day, and by golly we got it all done.
On 24 July we sallied forth into the Medway for a few hours to check that everything is working as it should, including taking in a reef in the main as the wind topped 20kn. Remarkably everything does seem to be working. Which means of course that the things about to break have not broken yet. The return into the marina was free-flow at the top of a spring tide - what a joy to simply glide straight through. We saluted Harry, Phil, Tony & Cindy who were in deckchairs on the foredeck of the larger of Tony's two motor cruisers.
So now we're ready for the off.
Spring 2015, from a memory that is increasingly faulty, was the usual month in the yard with scrapey, scrapey and a bit of polish - nothing too exciting.
We didn't get back from a summer based in the Solent until Oct ... and then she sat quietly all winter in her berth. We didn't even change the engine oil - oops - due to family priorities.
In Spring 2016 we went to start the engine to do that oil change and the alternator had seized - almost certainly due to the salt water ingress from the raw water pipe back in 2013. So that was a hefty chunk of money to Beta Marine, and then as it was beyond our rudimentary engineering skills another heft chunk to Andy of Cam Marine who did a fantastic job.
Finally in July we bent our minds to servicing everything, including a masthead visit by Nic to check fittings, lubricate pulleys and give the wind cups a sever talking-to as they had stuck over winter. They are running again now, wonderful stuff that silicon lube, but the lovely people at Tinley Electronics .
It is pleasing how much simpler all these jobs seem when you are doing them for the third or fourth time. We made long lists for each day, and by golly we got it all done.
On 24 July we sallied forth into the Medway for a few hours to check that everything is working as it should, including taking in a reef in the main as the wind topped 20kn. Remarkably everything does seem to be working. Which means of course that the things about to break have not broken yet. The return into the marina was free-flow at the top of a spring tide - what a joy to simply glide straight through. We saluted Harry, Phil, Tony & Cindy who were in deckchairs on the foredeck of the larger of Tony's two motor cruisers.
So now we're ready for the off.
Monday 5 May 2014
Yard work summary
It's tempting to give you the context and detailed results for every drop of sweat ... but we don't have time to write it and you don't have time to read it. So instead here's a summary, and if you want more info or to discuss anything then drop us a comment.
Lifted out 04 Mar, lifted in 8 weeks later on 30 Apr - both wonderful weather days, howlucky were we. Positioned btw two large motor cruisers, with less than foot of space at the gunwales - they pack 'em in at Gillingham. At least we were not too near the trees with their dreaded sticky droppings. The pigeons are a nuisance, wherever you are - spreaders are obviously a great place to sit and sh*t.
With reference to the winter sailing and good performance, she didn't have a huge amount of weed and barnacle, and the yard guys got it off easily with the pressure washer.
The focus of the yard work was those things that cannot be done in the water:
- serviced seacocks (original Blakes, a bit pitted on the cone, still work fine)
- serviced winches (because if we dropped something it was a yard hunt rather than an underwater hunt) - turned out our Lewmar 44s were hybrids, the base being the original which has to be removed from the boat to full service the gears & pawls - good advice from Amber at Aquafax was that if they are not back-winding then do maintenance in situ by cleaning and regreasing the gears whilst winding the handle. Our Lewmar 30s are rarely used and seem fine, so simple maint for them too. Of the three Lewmar 8s on the mast, 2 worked fine and 1 was seized - eventually freed the latter after taking out the key and putting WD40 in for a few days - all three serviced.
- replaced main hatch (big leaks last year) with a Lewmar Ocean 60 (ow that's expensive, but we aspire to blue water one day, so let's get the best) - work done by Jean-Pierre of Hadlow Marine to an excellent standard and a good price, ably assisted by Paul Ledsham.
- rebuilt one cockpit locker lid because the ply on the underside was badly rotted, whereas the teak was still very serviceable and matched the rest of the cockpit
- stripped all varnish off the boat: cockpit, coamings, washboards, handrails, and 80' of toerail - used hot-air stripper with the triangular tool to great effect. Bloody hard work.
- used oxalic acid on external wood and gelcoat to great effect. This is the main component in all those expensive hull and wood cleaner products in the chandlery, but you can buy oxalic acid crystals in tubs on the internet and make up a much more powerful solution yourself (with gloves and mask) - it really does get the grey out of exposed wood (where the varnish had failed), and cleans up the GRP better than anything we've tried.
- teak oiled all external wood, three coats, and it looks as good as when varnished, and in future all we have to do is wipe on more teak oil.
- cleaned and polished the hull using Autoglym with a hand applicator and hand polishing - might get a palm sander next year and polish with that, see if we get a better finish, but pretty happy with it now.
- anti-fouled with Cruiser Uno, Navy colour which looks very good (yes, I know, you can only see 2" of it when she's in the water).
- replaced the shaft anode which was fairly shot and could come loose (new last year), left the 4 disk anodes and 2 pear anodes as all wearing very slowly (inherited with boat) - maybe next year for those.
There was probably more but that is the gist of it. We didn't touch the engine or the sails.
Launching is always a bit of a trauma, however Kevin & Clive at Gillingham always do a great job and take immense care ... and nothing leaked, and the engine started. So that's all good.
Lifted out 04 Mar, lifted in 8 weeks later on 30 Apr - both wonderful weather days, howlucky were we. Positioned btw two large motor cruisers, with less than foot of space at the gunwales - they pack 'em in at Gillingham. At least we were not too near the trees with their dreaded sticky droppings. The pigeons are a nuisance, wherever you are - spreaders are obviously a great place to sit and sh*t.With reference to the winter sailing and good performance, she didn't have a huge amount of weed and barnacle, and the yard guys got it off easily with the pressure washer.
The focus of the yard work was those things that cannot be done in the water:
- serviced seacocks (original Blakes, a bit pitted on the cone, still work fine)- serviced winches (because if we dropped something it was a yard hunt rather than an underwater hunt) - turned out our Lewmar 44s were hybrids, the base being the original which has to be removed from the boat to full service the gears & pawls - good advice from Amber at Aquafax was that if they are not back-winding then do maintenance in situ by cleaning and regreasing the gears whilst winding the handle. Our Lewmar 30s are rarely used and seem fine, so simple maint for them too. Of the three Lewmar 8s on the mast, 2 worked fine and 1 was seized - eventually freed the latter after taking out the key and putting WD40 in for a few days - all three serviced.
- replaced main hatch (big leaks last year) with a Lewmar Ocean 60 (ow that's expensive, but we aspire to blue water one day, so let's get the best) - work done by Jean-Pierre of Hadlow Marine to an excellent standard and a good price, ably assisted by Paul Ledsham.
- rebuilt one cockpit locker lid because the ply on the underside was badly rotted, whereas the teak was still very serviceable and matched the rest of the cockpit
 |
| they pack 'em in |
- stripped all varnish off the boat: cockpit, coamings, washboards, handrails, and 80' of toerail - used hot-air stripper with the triangular tool to great effect. Bloody hard work.- used oxalic acid on external wood and gelcoat to great effect. This is the main component in all those expensive hull and wood cleaner products in the chandlery, but you can buy oxalic acid crystals in tubs on the internet and make up a much more powerful solution yourself (with gloves and mask) - it really does get the grey out of exposed wood (where the varnish had failed), and cleans up the GRP better than anything we've tried.
- teak oiled all external wood, three coats, and it looks as good as when varnished, and in future all we have to do is wipe on more teak oil.
- cleaned and polished the hull using Autoglym with a hand applicator and hand polishing - might get a palm sander next year and polish with that, see if we get a better finish, but pretty happy with it now.
- anti-fouled with Cruiser Uno, Navy colour which looks very good (yes, I know, you can only see 2" of it when she's in the water).
- replaced the shaft anode which was fairly shot and could come loose (new last year), left the 4 disk anodes and 2 pear anodes as all wearing very slowly (inherited with boat) - maybe next year for those.
There was probably more but that is the gist of it. We didn't touch the engine or the sails.Launching is always a bit of a trauma, however Kevin & Clive at Gillingham always do a great job and take immense care ... and nothing leaked, and the engine started. So that's all good.
Two more Medway day sails
Bit slack with the blog - here's a rather late catch-up for the record.
02 Feb: F3-5 SW, warm & sunny downwind, foresail only, Geoff & Ness on board. The Log does not record how far we got. Beat back with tide, reefed main & foresail, 25Kn gusts. Entry to the lock (Nic) was rather sideways due to tide, and assisted by rubber on lock side - shameful, but everyone's done it.
01 Mar: F3 WNW, cloudy sun, big HW. A few boats out. Got as far as the gas jetty. GPS distance log reads 1,361 nm (in a shade under 2 years - we bought her on 04/04/12). Entry to the lock (Lesley) in a cross tide was perfect.
02 Feb: F3-5 SW, warm & sunny downwind, foresail only, Geoff & Ness on board. The Log does not record how far we got. Beat back with tide, reefed main & foresail, 25Kn gusts. Entry to the lock (Nic) was rather sideways due to tide, and assisted by rubber on lock side - shameful, but everyone's done it.
01 Mar: F3 WNW, cloudy sun, big HW. A few boats out. Got as far as the gas jetty. GPS distance log reads 1,361 nm (in a shade under 2 years - we bought her on 04/04/12). Entry to the lock (Lesley) in a cross tide was perfect.
Tuesday 21 January 2014
Catching up on Medway day-sails
We-ell, was there really nothing notable since last August? Yes and no. We've only been day sailing down the Medway and back, so not much on the way of passage plans and navigation. Not adventuring as such. Yet every trip out has its moments, and every sail is a joy. So let's catch up a little bit with quite a long blog of log extracts followed by some general notes on river sailing.
30 Aug: F3-4 NW, sunny, warm, many boats, lovely calm sail down river with foresail only, turned at Stangate Creek and beat back. Had Kevin our decorator on board, many years ago he worked at the Isle of Grain docks, interested to see it from the water for the first time.
01 Sep: F3 W, hazy sun, foresail only to Stangate, saw Orca (Geoff & Ness) on their way back, tacked back into F4 with full main & 1 reef in foresail (makes winching on short tacks less onerous)
08 Sep: F2-3 SW, motored down into early flood, wind built at Darnett Fort so foresail only in F3-5 to Stangate buoy, tacked back with the main flood into SW 5-6 gusting 7 with full main and 2/3 foresail
18 Sep: F3 NW, full sails, ~3kn against the flood, last of the flood down to the bottom of Stangate Creek, tacked around S of Slaughterhouse Pt., motor-sailed back in F4-5 NW
12 Oct: F3-4 E, cool & sunny, tacked all the way out past Sheerness. Colin & Jo on board from Trutz - the lovely people who gave us a sail in their Nicholson 35 out of Chichester harbour on a blowy day before we bought ours, so we could see how it handled. (Obviously we liked it :-). Wind died on the return, motored back, saw a seal close by in Kethole Reach.
15 Oct: F3-4 W, cold & sunny, went out to fill fuel tank for the winter (fuel pontoon is outside our locked marina) - as we were out, we motored up to Rochester bridge, the upriver limit for masts, and sailed back under foresail only.
17 Oct: F4-6 W, both sails - the Log just says 'down and back' ! I think that's when we started leaving lockers open and running the dehumidifier - clever machine that, very effective
05 Dec: ran engine on pontoon, doubled up the warps
25 Dec: drank a toast to sailing in general and SIRENA IV in particular, dehumidifier being too clever, thinks there's blockage in outlet pipe to sink, fills it's own tank and stops
18 Jan: F5 SSE, beat up to cranes with one reef in main and foresail and roared back on a beam/broad reach - cold but not bitter, lucky to miss large swathes of black cloud. Saw a seal again (see 12 Oct). Lock-keeper said "thank god someone is going out". We had to force ourselves a bit to go out, and once out were extremely pleased that we did - it's the way with winter sailing. Despite sporting a nice skirt of weed, and probably plenty of barnacles underneath, she sailed very well reaching 6kn through the water.
General observations: short tacking above F3 for us older ones is a lot easier with a reefed foresail (ours is a 140% genoa) and does not seem to reduce performance; short tacking up (or down) the river with the tide is ok - doing it against the tide is soul-destroying and we choose to motor-sail with just the main when against the tide; with the wind behind and no particular hurry, sailing under foresail only is easy and pleasant - the bends in the river would mean multiple gybing and anyway the main masks the genoa (when we buy a whisker pole, we might use the main more, with a preventer of course).
30 Aug: F3-4 NW, sunny, warm, many boats, lovely calm sail down river with foresail only, turned at Stangate Creek and beat back. Had Kevin our decorator on board, many years ago he worked at the Isle of Grain docks, interested to see it from the water for the first time.
01 Sep: F3 W, hazy sun, foresail only to Stangate, saw Orca (Geoff & Ness) on their way back, tacked back into F4 with full main & 1 reef in foresail (makes winching on short tacks less onerous)
08 Sep: F2-3 SW, motored down into early flood, wind built at Darnett Fort so foresail only in F3-5 to Stangate buoy, tacked back with the main flood into SW 5-6 gusting 7 with full main and 2/3 foresail
18 Sep: F3 NW, full sails, ~3kn against the flood, last of the flood down to the bottom of Stangate Creek, tacked around S of Slaughterhouse Pt., motor-sailed back in F4-5 NW
12 Oct: F3-4 E, cool & sunny, tacked all the way out past Sheerness. Colin & Jo on board from Trutz - the lovely people who gave us a sail in their Nicholson 35 out of Chichester harbour on a blowy day before we bought ours, so we could see how it handled. (Obviously we liked it :-). Wind died on the return, motored back, saw a seal close by in Kethole Reach.
15 Oct: F3-4 W, cold & sunny, went out to fill fuel tank for the winter (fuel pontoon is outside our locked marina) - as we were out, we motored up to Rochester bridge, the upriver limit for masts, and sailed back under foresail only.
17 Oct: F4-6 W, both sails - the Log just says 'down and back' ! I think that's when we started leaving lockers open and running the dehumidifier - clever machine that, very effective
05 Dec: ran engine on pontoon, doubled up the warps
25 Dec: drank a toast to sailing in general and SIRENA IV in particular, dehumidifier being too clever, thinks there's blockage in outlet pipe to sink, fills it's own tank and stops
18 Jan: F5 SSE, beat up to cranes with one reef in main and foresail and roared back on a beam/broad reach - cold but not bitter, lucky to miss large swathes of black cloud. Saw a seal again (see 12 Oct). Lock-keeper said "thank god someone is going out". We had to force ourselves a bit to go out, and once out were extremely pleased that we did - it's the way with winter sailing. Despite sporting a nice skirt of weed, and probably plenty of barnacles underneath, she sailed very well reaching 6kn through the water.
General observations: short tacking above F3 for us older ones is a lot easier with a reefed foresail (ours is a 140% genoa) and does not seem to reduce performance; short tacking up (or down) the river with the tide is ok - doing it against the tide is soul-destroying and we choose to motor-sail with just the main when against the tide; with the wind behind and no particular hurry, sailing under foresail only is easy and pleasant - the bends in the river would mean multiple gybing and anyway the main masks the genoa (when we buy a whisker pole, we might use the main more, with a preventer of course).
Friday 9 August 2013
Back on the nose
This blog relates to Wed 31 Jul. The forecast is SSW 4-5 occasionally 6 - that's fine for us to return to Gillingham, might even be able to sail most of the way. The tide times are such that we leave at 1230, push against the last of the ebb up to N Foreland, then take the flood into the Thames Estuary - that's the Reeds Almanac advice anyway.
After a morning of engine checks and various jobs around the boat we set off with a pretty brisk wind already. With just 2/3 of the genoa up we roared along in 24-28kn of wind - F6+. Our genoa looks awful because when we furled it in the gale coming in 2 days ago, the UV protection strip shredded into tatters - it had done it's job, over unknown years, and now gave up the ghost.
Once again we eschewed the coastal or 'overground' route via Copperas because we'd be there at low tide and with this much wind it's too risky to do a narrow shallow channel for the first time - we'll keep it for a calmer day.
So it was further north and then a port turn, back down the Queens Channel, and we have learned about how deceptive the wind strength is when running before compared to beating into it; we furled the foresail and hoisted a 2-reefed main, and then set off down Queens in a WSW direction. Guess what, the wind is not SSW, but more like SW to WSW - yep, on the nose.
We didn't fancy short-tacking all the way back, so it was more motor-sailing - just like old times (see May & Jun). The wind and seas gradually calmed down a little as we closed with the land along the Isle of Sheppey and into the Medway, where the foul tide against us started an hour earlier than the predicted HW. We arrived home into Gillingham Marina at 2130 - a 9 hour trip back, compared to the 7 hour trip out.
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| beach huts at Broadstairs |
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| North Foreland |
Once again we eschewed the coastal or 'overground' route via Copperas because we'd be there at low tide and with this much wind it's too risky to do a narrow shallow channel for the first time - we'll keep it for a calmer day.
So it was further north and then a port turn, back down the Queens Channel, and we have learned about how deceptive the wind strength is when running before compared to beating into it; we furled the foresail and hoisted a 2-reefed main, and then set off down Queens in a WSW direction. Guess what, the wind is not SSW, but more like SW to WSW - yep, on the nose.
We didn't fancy short-tacking all the way back, so it was more motor-sailing - just like old times (see May & Jun). The wind and seas gradually calmed down a little as we closed with the land along the Isle of Sheppey and into the Medway, where the foul tide against us started an hour earlier than the predicted HW. We arrived home into Gillingham Marina at 2130 - a 9 hour trip back, compared to the 7 hour trip out.
A day in Ramsgate
This blog relates to Tue 30 Jul. It was always our plan to spend a lazy day in Ramsgate - "that's lucky" said the man in the marina office "because there's a gale coming through this afternoon". And it did, with lowering skies and driving rain before it. A veritable fleet of Dutch yachts were pinned in the marina around us.
We visited the Maritime Museum on the quayside which was excellent for the history of Ramsgate and especially the boats involved in Dunkirk. We lunched at the cafe in the Information building (town council upstairs), which was ok but of course we found more interesting places afterwards; next time check out the Belgian cafe at the end of Harbour Parade. Further south on the same road is the Pelosi ice-cream parlour, which is magnificent - style, awards, family history, and of course the ice-cream.
After the obligatory sweep of charity shops, we spent a fascinating 20 minutes in 'Arch 15' on the quayside, a piled-high cornucopia of quintessentially English junk ... with prices set for the foreign tourist/yachtie we reckon. As always, it's just fun looking. Ramsgate is a mix of great regency buildings and modern developments.
We dined out at 'Age & Sons', a restaurant hidden away in Charlotte Court, off York St, and it was a superb experience. They have a Bib Gourmand from Michelin, and the food was excellent and no more expensive than a lot of pubs. The building used to be a wine warehouse run by Page & Sons, and when the Leigh family took it over a few years ago the 'P' had fallen off - hence the name. We like that!
We visited the Maritime Museum on the quayside which was excellent for the history of Ramsgate and especially the boats involved in Dunkirk. We lunched at the cafe in the Information building (town council upstairs), which was ok but of course we found more interesting places afterwards; next time check out the Belgian cafe at the end of Harbour Parade. Further south on the same road is the Pelosi ice-cream parlour, which is magnificent - style, awards, family history, and of course the ice-cream.
After the obligatory sweep of charity shops, we spent a fascinating 20 minutes in 'Arch 15' on the quayside, a piled-high cornucopia of quintessentially English junk ... with prices set for the foreign tourist/yachtie we reckon. As always, it's just fun looking. Ramsgate is a mix of great regency buildings and modern developments.
We dined out at 'Age & Sons', a restaurant hidden away in Charlotte Court, off York St, and it was a superb experience. They have a Bib Gourmand from Michelin, and the food was excellent and no more expensive than a lot of pubs. The building used to be a wine warehouse run by Page & Sons, and when the Leigh family took it over a few years ago the 'P' had fallen off - hence the name. We like that!
Wild & Woolly Ramsgate
We had a few days free, so thought we'd 'pop' along to Ramsgate - never been there, heard good reports, would get us away from jobs in the house for 3 days, boat hasn't moved for almost 4 weeks since the completion of the big adventure (see May to early Jul) ... all good excuses.
Much delving into charts, almanacs, tidal stream atlases and the East Coast Pilot showed that Gillingham to Ramsgate could all be done on a fair tide, given a reasonable following wind (literally). It's down to how the tide flows around North Foreland. The return journey requires setting out into a foul tide for an hour or so, or having a foul tide at the end in the Medway, or stopping somewhere on the way - more of that later perhaps.
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| Ramsgate west marina, town in background |
So we stocked up with 4 days food (it's a 3-day exercise and we expect to eat out, but you can't be too careful), and settled in at Gillingham yesterday - delicious that, on a Sunday evening when many around us were leaving no doubt for work the next morning.
The alarm went off at 0530, and because we are out of practice and we messed around getting out of our new berth for the first time, we exited the lock into the Medway at 0700. A fine SW F4 was behind us and we zoomed out of the Medway, across the Cant along Four Fathoms Channel with one reef in the main and half the genoa. Here the wind began to build and speeds of 8.5 kn SOG (speed over ground = speed through water + tide) were achieved. Helming was exciting but also hard work, and the forecast for Ramsgate later was even more wind (18 gusting 25kn), so we prudently put the second reef into the main - we can do this all from the cockpit which is great for safety and communication, especially with extremely lumpy seas ... did I mention that we were sailing for miles, and miles offshore, with just 2-3m under the keel - that's the Thames Estuary.
We then went up Queens Channel before turning starboard down to North Foreland and past to Ramsgate. This is because we didn't fancy the 'overland route' near the N Kent coast (recently re-buoyed) because it has even less depth and we were on a falling tide. The turn to starboard coincided with more than the promised even more wind, and the last bit of the Thames Estuary did it's best lumpy seas (short, steep, breaking). So we furled the foresail (easy to say, hard to do in a 30kn wind) and motor-sail tacked down to Ramsgate (it's pointless motoring straight into the wind and waves, they slow you down too much). By then we were seeing 35kn sustained gusts (F8 gale).
It was too rough to douse the main or deploy fenders and warps, so after seeking permission by VHF to the Port Control we shot into the harbour using the recommended yacht track to minimise encounters with ferries, and did all that prep stuff in the Royal Harbour whilst motoring in circles (to avoid being blown into a corner). We were gently told off by Port Control for entering with a sail up, and we briefly touched bottom because we'd forgotten about the sandbank in the middle of the inviting open space before the pontoons - but we slotted into a berth without too much palaver despite the fierce cross-wind and partly down to helpful neighbours catching our lines and doing the right things with them.
A small exploration of Ramsgate will be followed by a bigger one tomorrow - and there may be a report on that. We did sit on a bench and watch the inshore lifeboat go out to an approaching yacht who presumably had no engine power, and while they helped them into harbour two bigger lifeboats went out and zoomed off somewhere - it was that kind of day.
First maintenance task - toilet pump
It's quite important to have a functioning toilet, and we discovered on the last day of our 49-day trip halfway round the UK that our pump had started leaking.
It was a minor weepage from somewhere around the pump, impossible to see the detail because it's bolted inside the wet locker behind the toilet.
It was a minor weepage from somewhere around the pump, impossible to see the detail because it's bolted inside the wet locker behind the toilet.
Start-up
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| Arrived in Gillingham, the gasometer landmark in the background |
Not every trip of course, just those where something notable happened.
We might also blog about boat maintenance & equipment additions, where we think it might interest or help other people.
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