Slipways of the world

No 3 - Porthmadog Snowden wharf

Anchor Watch Apps for Iphone - which are best ?

On our forthcoming crusie to Ireland we are planning to steal about 3 hours of daylight by anchoring overnight before hand somewhere around St Tudwells or Porth Ceiriad.
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It would be good to have the confidence that the anchor wasn;t dragging, but there are so many iphone apps its hard to know which one to go for!
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Can anyone make a recommendation ?
Have you tried them and found good live savers or bad heart breakers - please get in touch and use the comment box below let us know !
Many thanks

Waiting for the tide in Porthmadog

It's as simply splendid morning here  in Porthmadog,

 We,re  waiting for enough tide to leave.

In the meantime the crew relax,

Some new friends

Despite very light airs at times on Sunday, we had a smashing day of sailing

with our new crew Alan and Sam, who proved to be a natural on the helm.
 

The moon over Partingtons

New (to me) navtex

Just finished installing my new ( to me) Furono navtex and interface to gps. 

Brilliant, so this is what it does / should do!

Smashing morning in Pwllheli

No wind though

useful mooring tip no 1

Working with the mooring this week I was reminded of a really good tip from a chap with whom we did some training at the end of last year...

...which is that keeping a bottle of hand sanitiser next to the companion way let's you keep your hands reasonably hygienic, after you've been handling mooring rodes in murky harbour waters.
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Hadn't struck me before, but what a good idea.

Unmaintainable Winching Object

But it's not unidentified though...

 ...it's a Gibb 28STA single speed self tailer, in need of some love.
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I suspect that these are the original sheet winches and they still work very well. Starboard side has a little problem which might well be cured by a bit of maintenance, but when you strip it down...

...this is as far as one gets.  Usually there is a socket or a machine screw or something at the bottom of the socket, the removal of which allows the whole thing to be carefully dismantled.

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If you know the secret to a Gibb 28STA, please, post comment and let us know ?

Awaiting Flaking

On Monday I took off our large genoa - also known as the "Trireme Sail", on account of its ability to propel us forward at close to ramming speed whilst almost totally obscuring any poor unfortunate water users who happen to be in its lee. As I had thoughtfully prepared the slot in the foil with silicon spray when the sail was bent on, it whistled down and ended up in large heap around my feet.  I was only a small way successful in flaking it into the sail bag, which then filled the back seat of the car. Luckily a kindly friend allowed me some early morning access to one of the community rooms at nearby St Mary's to sort it out properly.

The 'Trireme' sail laid out flat, awaiting proper packing

Its much bigger on the ground than even I had expected and I've been sailing the darned thing for 3 years ! Comforting though it is to have a sail which can perform so well - and it is jolly well cut - it has an impressive ability to get us into trouble also.

Before I left the boat, I replaced the sail with our number one jib. I was equally surprised by how small this now seemed. The idea was that it would be easier to handle shorthanded but am now a bit concerned that it will be too small - I wonder if I sold the wrong sail when I had a clear out...