Adrift !

About a year ago, when I was planning a longer trip which we have not yet made, I started to research parachute sea-anchors, as the route I had in mind would take us quite far off shore into some potentially stormy waters. Having established a preference I asked the manufacturer for a reference, which I thought was quite reasonable as I could be staking my life - and those of the crew - on the damn thing. They sent me a short paragraph about the device written Steve Callahan.  For those of you who don't know, Steve Callahan has a distinguished sailing CV which encompassed sailing a boat he designed and built himself across the Atlantic, and then making an epic 76 day trip back in the life raft following the loss of the yacht. I am by nature a bit sceptical, and was eager to make sure that the review wasn't just the edited highlights.  So I emailed him on the basis of cat look at king. He sent a very gracious and a very helpful reply, which gave me confidence to go ahead an buy the sea anchor - which is a whole other forth coming attraction.... 

So when I came across his book 'Adrift' I snapped it up.

As far as I  know this is no longer in print, but is to my mind one of the keystones of the modern sailing canon; it combines a gripping tale with a wealth of detail which long distance sailors would be wise to commit to memory. Refreshingly for a sailing book, the style it both literate and flowing, and it is clear that his most important asset was fortitude. 

My special sail batten tool

This

This is my new sail batten tool. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
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Many thanks to Jonathan at JKA Sailmakers for not only making this for me but also providing an ad-hoc short course on how to properly insert (and remove) sail batten to pocket and fix with velcro.

Torches on Annabella - Wolf Safety Lamps

We've been using these right angle torches manufactured by Wolf Safety Lamps for about 5 years now, both on Annabella and her predecessor (Papillon) They have a robust body which is self coloured yellow so easy to find, belt / pocket clip and an attachment ring at the top end and a wrist loop at the base. They are water resistant and are ATEX compliant, so they are safe to use in Cat 2 explosive environments. Overall, very good kit which is very well designed.
We used to carry two for general use, but have just upgraded to 2 new LED white light and have changed the lens to the previous incandescent torches to red, hence two red torches for use at night.
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I suppose its a testament to the product that we originally had three, but one of our visitors found it hard to let go of the one they were using.

Can you guess where we've been ?

This is one of those fascinating  places where you could loose yourself for hours. Where else could you find a choice of propellers ?
Do you know where it is ? Why not take a guess!

Talking about squalking !

The publisher of the web site Sailingonline, Dawn Smith, is both an accomplished sailor and raconteur, with whom it's always a pleasure to spend time, especially at sea.
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Over the last few months she has been building content for the website and kindly asked me if there was anything I would like to contribute. It so happened I had recently upgraded my VHF radio installation, so the outcome was my article on modern VHF radio.
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Go on, follow the link !
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Dawn has now schooled me more fully on the meaning of 'max 1500 words', so future contributions will come in a single installment. I hope it's of use ot you, or a least food for thought.

Comments please !

Wow we're getting more and more hits and their coming from all around the world. 
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 We'd love to hear from you - so from today any one with a Google account can post a comment - and we promise to moderate it within the day (unless we're at sea...)

Arthur Beale

Its very hard to pass through central London without spending some time at Arthur Beale's yacht chandlers on  Shaftsbury Avenue.

I was introduced to AB''s over 20 years ago when I worked nearby, and its refreshing to still find an independent shop in Covent Garden that hasn't been forced out by global trainer outlet or coffee chain.
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(Quite) a few years ago I innocently asked the chap behind the counter how they managed to find enough trade, being so far from the coast. He gave me a kind of look and pointed out that they may be quite far from the coast, but they were right in the middle of about 5 million people, some of whom must have boats.
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 You can usually rely on AB's having top quality gear and as usual I spent more than I meant-to, but it's balm for the soul as well as good for the boat. Long may they prosper
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You don't usually look in chandlerys for metaphors, but the significance of the life belt in the window just dawned on me !

Its the end of the season!

Just one more sailable weekend before Annabella comes out of the water !

Thorpeness - in Suffolk.

This last week or so saw the weather turn really wintery - and I woke up in the forepeak last Sunday morning  really quite cold.  We had a few days off in Suffolk (without the boat). Look at those cloud formations - brrrgh.
It has been a long summer and a good season. In some ways not all our objectives have been met - but we're reacxhing the end better sailors and with a better boat, and we've had some good times, so well satisfied.
We've reached some conclusions about how to improve the boat - so watch out for our posts over the winter!

Dolphin Encounter

Brilliant dolphin encounter on Sunday 21st - a pod of around half a dozen grown ups on passage from Barmotuth top Pwllheli. Clearly something more interesting than Annabella to diving for !
It's always good to see dolphins and great to have a late season encounter.

Clearly something more interesting than Annabella to go diving for !
It's always good to see dolphins and great to have a late season encounter.

Apologeis for for low definition + shakey video, but wer'e only just getting the hang of this!
** more apologies - video not working on ios !**

Freiberger Drum Sextant:

Excited joy on Friday as the new split horizon mirror and shades arrived from Frieberger.

As can be seen they are a slightly different shade of grey (!!)
The careful removal of the old and installation of the new took about 20 minutes and was very striaght forward, possibly because of the construction of the Freiberger itself.
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I acquired the sextant nearly two years ago, as I wanted one with big mirrors to use on a small yacht in motion. It came with a full horizon glass, with which I never felt completley happy, but it took me about 6 months to extract the parts for a split horizon from the manufacturer. They insisted on a new set of shades also, but these looked to be the same size and shape as the originals, but heh-ho!
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So first thing this morning, I drove up to some high ground with a good, distant horizon to adjust the new mirror. I couldn't resist taking a quick sight of the sun and pulling it down to the horizon - brilliantly easy!

Drying out against a wall:

There's an art to drying out a fin keel yacht against a wall.
The wall just by the old harbour masters office is quite a popular location, and you often see it used for this purpose. 
This chap was trying his hand at it over the weekend.

Although the ground is quite solid, it is more level a bit further along...
However a timely reminder before we get too full of ourselves: check out the ground before trying drying!

New fridge kit

What's more, a new isotherm fridge kit installed in cool box, tested and working.

A cool beer anyone....

Celebration

I am pleased to note that the replacement sanitary pump has been successfully installed and tested. A short opening ceremony will be held shortly.

A mercifully easy job for once.

Lunar Perigee

This was low water springs on Sunday 13 July in the outer harbour:

I think that this was just about as low as I can remember it being. High pressure coinciding with the lunar perigee - or so called 'super moon' - when the moon is closest to the earth.

Sailing on line

Spent Saturday sailing with Dawn Smith of  www.sailingonline.co We tried to make it over to Porth Madog but, although there was a great F4 from the south, visibility was very poor. This would have made buoy hopping a chore and - more importantly - ruined the approach to PM, which is visually spectacular in even moderate conditions, so we went back to Pwllheli.

Sailing with Dawn is always a pleasure, and there is always something useful to learn and - visitors please note - she brough cakes to the boat.

How to run a chandlery #101

Isn't it interesting how different people take to working in a chandlery ? Even when I'm not sailing, given the opportunity I'll have a good nose around whenever I see a chandlery that's new to me. Mostly people are friendly and helfpul. It woudl be nice to think that this is because they're just super cool, but I expect that they have already worked out that anybody who owns a boat will need to buy expensive boat stuff at fairly regular intervals.

Not so everywhere though. Yesterday, I was passing through one of those small towns on the south coast which likes to think of itself as the 'home of sailing', and called in to one of those chandleries that makes a big thing of advertising on the internet. After a while, no-one helped me.

Some time passed, and then they didn't help me again

At last I was appraached by a chinless wonder who I can only assume was head of public relations:

CW  "Can I help you ?"
Me "Yes, I need three things"
CW "Okay"
Me - working from the cheapest up - "Firstly, I need a pair of stainless hasp and staples"
CW - pulls a face and makes a sort of grunt, so I expect that means they don't have any.
Me "Okay 2nd, I need a rigging gauge"
CW "Do you know what kind of rigging gauge you need - they're all different ..."
This is partially true - 2 different size upto 4mm or 5mm and up 
CW "What kind of boat is it?"
Not - what type of lovely craft are you accustomed to waft around on, Sir ?
Me " a Renown"  
CW "Never heard of it"
Maybe because they stopped making them literally before you were born, sonny.
Me -  now feeling picked upon - "Okay, maybe I won't  bother then"

Pity - item 3 would have been five hundred quid's worth of refrigeration kit, but I guess he'll never know that now...

Force 3 in Pwllheli

It's a fantastic morning in Pwllheli, where Annabella is having a bit of care and attention. 

Spent yesterday afternoon having lunch and boat talk with Dawn Smith of Sailing On Line (www.sonl.co) which is always very rewarding. As always, Dawn was a valuable source of experience and good advice.

Howth

The third leg of our cruise to Ireland.

Howth welcomes Annabella with a bit of an awkward landing but a hilarious welcome from marina control. A lovely town and we are looking forward to sampling the Guiness later, just for comparison of course. This Martello tower overlooks the harbour. 

Greystones - Stage 2 of our cruise to Ireland

Greystones marina. With Tim, Justin, Brian and Brian. 

After Tim helped sort out a problem with their roller reeling they promised to buy us each a Guinness. 

It would have been rude to say no! 

A great evening with some great sailors. Good sailing and we look forward to crossing paths again!

Arklow - landfall in Ireland

Arklow - entrance to the commercial harbour

The first stage of our cruise to Ireland. A very early arrival (0130) on the town pontoon. A great start with a genuinely helpful marina and some great and seriously witty people. Celebrated with Guiness at the bridge inn later.

A small courtesy

Just before we set of for Ireland, I popped in the (other) chandlery and bought ourselves a courtesy flag...

As you can see, its the right flag, has a toggle on the top and a loop on the bottom and is made of nice quality fabric. The more observant of you will have guessed that we do not specialise in over large pencils on Annabella. They say civilised life is made up of small courtesies, but I did feel rather embarassed...