C for Charlie...

Unfortunately the bad weather had prevented us from visiting Annabella for a few weeks, but it had given us chance to get hold of code flag Charlie. The first workable weekend of the year has give us chance to fly it from the messenger pennant, in solidarity with the action of members of the French sailing community - see the previous post below.
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Unfortunately it became sadly appropriate as events unfolded and the lunacy continued...

... Then the stupid

Two and a half years ago we sold our previous boat P******n to fund in part the acquisition of Annabella. She was very comprehensively kitted out for coastal cruising and I reckon the chap that bought her got her for a song. One of the assets was a GPS EPIRB manufactured by Ocean Signal. Now read on:

1145 Zulu Time - somewhere in northern england: A mobile call is received from an undisclosed number:

"Hello, who's that?"

"This is the coastguard."

"The coastguard you say - I wonder why you are calling me ?"

"We've received an EPIRB alert registered to you for a boat called P******n. We're wondering if you're alright"

"On no, not again! I'm so sorry - I sold that boat about 2 years ago with the express instructions to re-register the EPIRB. Do you think the new owner is in any danger ?"

"Not as it's from G*****t marina, do you have his contact details"

I provide the contact details

"I'm so sorry you have been inconvenienced like this - I suppose it squats on the frequency as well..."

"He only needed to make one short phone call.to sort it out..."

The whole event is a bit embarrassing, because the first place the alert goes is Falmouth SRC centre, but it also seems rather selfish, because of all the resources taken up to respond to a false alarm all because this chap didn't have the wit to store the EPIRB in a dry location. All one can hope is that whilst the coastguard were busy sorting out this cockup no one who was in real danger ended up dead.

 Names have been changed / omitted to protect the stupid.

First the sad post Signal pennant C

Following the recent sad events in France, Herve Hillard  suggests sailors everywhere hoist signal pennant C

for Charlie, in solidarity. Link to his facebook post.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153493891143912&set=a.170375603911.120677.533238911&type=1&theater

Sadly I am rather far away from Annabella at the moment to accomplish this, so this is the first substitute.

Sea Survival - A Manual

The first mate also read 'Adrift' (see previous post) with an interest which I find slightly uncomfortable, as there is an unhealthy interest in disaster and deprivation at sea. Steve Callahan refers a number of times to Dougal Robertson's
book 'Sea Survival'. This was unavailable for many years, and certainly out of print, but was a welcome Christmas present from the first mate.
Robertson - now dead - had been the skipper of the sailing boat 'Lucette' with whcih he was attempting a circumnavigation with his familly, when it was lost in the western part of the pacific in 1972. They spent 38 days in primative survival craft and much of the manual is informed by this gri first hand experience. 
Although some (much) of the content has now been superseded by more modern information, taken overall it's themes are still very valid  and would be valuable addition to the grab bag.
Regrettably the two 'survival charts' have become disconnected, but the hunt goes on!

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...)