First trip of the year ..

.. had to be Cowes didn't it..   😁

Turned out to be a day of two halves weather'wise..  the morning wind was very light, so motoring was the order of the day. To be fair we didn't mind - it was good to be on the water and although a little chilly, the sun shone - apart from when it started to rain! We'd been watching the clouds in the distance dumping loads of rain - it was so bright elsewhere you could see the clouds joined to the sea so it was only to be expected that we got a bit as well - first time I've worn foulies in I don't know how long.. 😏

That said it was a massive tide and the 'Solent travellator' dropped us off in Cowes in quite possibly the one of quickest transit times we've had..  

Always know it's Cowes when I see that crane..

..so quick in fact that at a little over two hours door to door, we was too early, and the pub wasn't open! 😏 

Having grabbed a lunchtime berth in East Cowes we went for a walk out along East Cowes sea front until it was open.. which was then followed by an absolutely cracking lunch in The Lifeboat - absolutely stuffed, we lounged on the boat until the travellator was due to turn at about 3'ish..

Where we then had one of those classic sails back to Portsmouth - it was just south enough to bring the wind over the quarter and allow both sails to do the pulling, and once it settled down, we had a lovely F4 all the way home..

Cracking days sail rounded off by an international show of might in the dockyard..

Ukrainian minesweepers here on training I believe, a Portuguese frigate (NRP Dom Francisco de Almeida - F334), the UK Type 45 Destroyer HMS Daring (and unidentified partner), and the German frigate Saschen (lead ship of her class)

Log:

(NB. My Strava was playing up so I had to rely on Smithy's Smart watch for the following 😁)

Distance: (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top) 22.21 miles

Wind (Speed; Direction): F2 (AM) F4 (PM); S (AM) SWxS (PM)
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa on the way back - motor out
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.8 / 7.6

...and more ticks...

More work is being done/has been done..

• Companionway hatches have been sanded, filled, sanded again, and had a first coat of paint - they need another but look OK, some further remedial work is required on the upper one..

• An addition steel keel plate has been added to the bottom of the tender to help protect against dragging when I come ashore..  it and the rest of the bottom of the tender where it was scratched over last summer have been painted.

• The tiller pilot rest, and the tiller pilot support have both been sanded and painted - calling them done

• I also went round the waterline with a detail sander and removed as much as I could of the ingrained green staining she's picked up over the years - she looks a ton better

• Yesterday I went to pick up the foresail from the sailmakers where they have been fitting a smaller luff bead/tape to allow it to fit the new furler - here's hoping! 😏

Launch day in a week...  better get cracking with the last bits, first though the Jolly Boys are going on their first trip on Monday!

More ticks than a mangy dog...

..yep, one of those posts... again..  funny how they always pop up a fortnight before launch every year... 😏

Couple of days of intensive effort have seen a fair few items ticked off the list not the least of which were two off that priority list on the last post..

First though, some much needed restorative work on the cockpit hatches - I take these off every winter (as mentioned) but even with that, a season in the summer sun and weather still causes issues - the ply is not the best (i'll be honest), and invariably needs a bit of ongoing maintenance but the recent purchase of a random orbital sander gave me the excuse to start on it...

First off a good sanding all over preparatory to any repairs and a couple of coats of paint revealed some issues.. a couple of more serious failures were repaired with plastic wood..

This one was over the locking catch - probably caused by the screws for the catch itself, but it resulted in a loss of a layer of the ply..

One had a split on a corner - filled the layers with glue and clamped it..

Other than the corner this one was largely ok..

..this is the one with the plastic wood repairs over the catch... took three applications of the filler, with a sand and smooth between each..

...and with a coat of primer you can now hardly see the repair...  jobs good..  next it'll be time for some white paint..

Meanwhile - down at the boat - a slightly larger paint job has taken place..  first the obligatory 'before' shots..

..note the over paint on the rubbing strip - fairly convinced I was either drunk, or I painted it in the dark.. 😏The other side was the same, if not worse..

...and after...

..note the lack of overpaint on the rubbing strip... same the other side (which definitely was worse) - dead chuffed with that..

...very very pleased that's done - it's a hideous job..

I also took the opportunity having cleaned up the overpaint to rub down the rubbing strips on both sides, the cockpit board, and the outboard pad, and gave them all a coat of wood treatment..

Boats look the dogs nadgers with dark blue antifoul.. 👌😁