Sunny Day English Channel
Memories of summer somewhere between France and England
Something’s Cooking
Pan holders start to line up for a chance to board Some careful bending to ensure sufficient contact with pots whilst maintaining the aesthetics and eventually construction ceases
Out with the Grey and in with a hint of Blue
An initial clearance of grey water, dark skies and constant rain Out with a bit more grey A slow transition toward dove grey A mild blue tint creeping in and a deeper shade of blue on the horizon
Jamming, just jamming
We’re jammin To think that jammin was a thing of the past, We’re jamming, jammin And I hope this jam is gonna last As Bob said and he knew a few things about jamming – the ‘not keen to jam under any circumstances’ port spinnaker rope clutch is reconditioned with a replacement dome plug made of Nylon 66
Month T-8
This month is set aside for welding and grinding with the making of the antenna tree, gybe preventer stowage hooks and pan holders for the cooker. Also on the list is a guard to stop stuff in the forward locker (the garage) from either sliding onto the grease around the retractable bow thruster or getting crushed at the base when the thruster is down. Other hits this month include bypassing the shore power Isolation Unit so we can extract it and remove the cooling fan to hopefully replace the worn bearings. When starting this blog we thought it would
Chained
The existing 12mm chain of 60m in length has gone to a specialist welder to extend it to 100m. Managed to miss putting the anchor through the window as it was lowered before we roped the hook to control the swing – just. On the way down it cleared the roof and guttering by about 3mm as it arced through the anchor roller link by link. The chain has now returned but there are concerns about locker capacity as a straight onshore lift leads to a full locker at 85m as chain piles up under the hawser but this isn’t
Getting zinced
Most of our zincs have turned passive having obtained a thick layer of white zinc oxide on them possibly through being in brackish estuary or river water. Looking back they were fairly oxidised a 14 months ago so the bow thruster and prop anodes have been doing most of the work. Having spent eons of time searching for an alternative to replacing 13 zincs, and having discussed the matter with many in the industry, the great face-off began to recover what are otherwise very good anodes by weight. Having tickled them with a wire brush, a bigger wire brush, a
Signed up – ARC 2013
So it was a bit of a surprise yesterday when the WCC tweeted that the 2013 registration was open. We signed up to book our place so the Transatlantic train is rolling. We now have the key dates, the rules, the crew requirements. New sails are almost on order. Some measuring to produce a final spec still to go. Not replacement white sails but a storm jib and a heavy weight assymetric which should get us through to the other side of the Pacific. The bow thruster reveals itself… and the bow has come up clean again
T-10 and ARC 2013 entry round the corner
Our final lift-out is complete and winterisation has begun. It’s exciting to think that the next time in the water launches us into our adventure. The ARC 2013 rally entry is open next month and we are looking forward to putting our name on the list. In the meantime we are keeping a close watch on the 2012 rally with great tips being published by participants. Our winter shopping list is shaping up: Several litres of white vinegar, hydraulic oil, diesel oil, enviromentally friendly anti-freeze and a few kilos of grease, polish, oils, Boracol 10RH, Arborsil 101, and numerous bits
Brest
What a great place to sail – the Rade de Brest is very Solent-like and with many nearby towns to visit such as Camaret, Morgat, Douarnenez and numerous anchorages there is plenty to keep a crew occupied. Exiting the Gulet de Brest is another thing altogether – wind if straight on accelerates through the gulley and as we hit the open water we hit 20-25 knots and kept burying the bow before being thrown skywards wave by wave. About a mile later, probably less, we were on a calm blue sea with a steady 8 knots over the deck and