Is that spring coming ? Its time to check the lifejackets

Is that spring in the air ?

Well, the days are getting longer even if the weather isn't any warmer.

This time of year - every year - we do an inflation test on the lifejackets to make sure they're in good order.

A pile of four inflated life jackets 

So every year - about this time - we inflate the bladders, and leave them overnight, just to check no holes or weakness or leaks, and the good news is - they're all still at full pressure after 48 hours.

Wait till you see what surprise we had though ! See the next post!

What to do on long winter evenings #7

Well, the workshop could be tidied up abit!

Well, I've been quite busy.

What to do on long winter evening #6

Well, whilst the snow came down outdoors, snug in the workshop, you could polish your dividers.
 (not a metaphor, by the way)

This pair have come up lovely!
And for fans of Derek and Clive, I got Brasso all over my hands.

What to do on long winter evenings #5

Part of my recent peregrinations have involved an extended walk around central London on a particularly cold and un-pleasant Sunday afternoon. So I was pleased to discover Arthur Beale's chandlery were still open.

For those who don't know, Arthur Beales operate a rather traditional chandlery from rather restricted premises on Shaftesbury Avenue. If not actually able to go sailing, a visit will lighten the soul and warm the heart.

Choose your bottle screws from this magngificent display 

It is my contention that they always have something for me, and this time it turned out to be a pair of small stand up blocks for the main sheet traveller. I do also have my eye on their lovely spirit lanterns though. Long may they continue to thrive. Just to note also, they didn't ask me to do this, but the link to their web site is https://www.arthurbeale.co.uk/ .  

What to do on long winter evenings #3

Well I'm stuck well inland and the weather is miserable.

I've been walking about town for the last few days, which is cold and hard under foot, but my mood has been lifted by listening to Carolyn Sherlock's super pod cast from her blog at https://theboatgalley.com/ .

You may remember that she had previously helped (via the medium of her blog) sort out linking the AIS output from our Standard Horizon Gx2200e to our Garmin chart plotter at the binnacle, for which I hold her in high regard, so I highly recommend it. If nothing else, a catchy theme tune and the reminder of summer days with warm zephyrs wafting us along...

What to do on long winter evenings #2.

Well you could add a new dish to your boat cook book, such as this lovely Tart Tatin.

Best done in temperate latitudes though, too far south and the butter will melt...

Out of the oven, and then















...turned out, ready to eat. Yum!

De-gloving Incident !

I heard alarming news when I ran into one of my sailing buddies the other day!

Their partner had had a nasty de-gloving accident on their boat at the end of last season, when load suddenly came onto a rope wound around their hand. A painful accident that resulted in a lot of subsequent medical treatment, not a small amount of which was surgical.

Unfortunate and distressing - I don't know the details, but in any case would be hard to be judgemental, but two things jump out :

Firstly - wear gloves at any opportunity, but absolutely always when dealing with mooring or anchoring. We try to do this on Annabella, but  it's always when the action starts to hot up that one is tempted to take short cut and give the gloves a miss. We have tried to overcome this by having a lot of rigger style work gloves in the cockpit pockets and lockers. At less than £2 each its not expensive. So far so good.

What if we had that accident at sea ? If there was any luck in the original incident it was that it happened on the pontoon, so medical attention was very prompt.However, you wouldn't have to be very far out to sea for attention to be two, three or four hours away. And off shore !

We will find out what the first aid would be + update the post as soon as we can !

What to do on those long winter evenings...

Can't seem to stop doing boat stuff...

New canvas cover for the wheel

...that should keep the birds off !

.That's what I call a Christmas stocking

Look what Santa brought!

Some books here to get into

The weather in Holyhead

Well, hurricane Ophelia passed through yesterday - it was a tense time for all of us, and perhaps especially for those who couldn't be nearby, not that we could have done anything for the boats on the moorings if we had been.

Overnight the wind speeds were apparently recorded upto 76 knots.

Friend and sometime crew Michael visited the harbour this (Tuesday) morning, luckily he was able to catch a lift on the launch and make good the only problem on our boat, which was the mizzen halyard which had blown loose. When we talked he told me could see 7 headsails plucked out of their roller reefers and blown out. I'm sorry for the damage and the distress caused to other boat owners.

*

Over ten years ago, when I bought my first boat, I asked Jon Crisp, my erstwhile sailing mentor, to look over her. As he left, he said one last thing, "...put a sail tie around the roller reefer, you never know when the wind will pluck it out whilst you're away and things will be bad." I wish I remember as well everything else he'd said and we'd learned, but mostly that he was still with us, to have the opportunity to retail our own tales of sailing and the sea...