Last jobs, and splashed..

...and not so much with a bang but a triumphant shout..  we're in..  but not before a whole of other nonsense was/had to be done first..

On the Thursday of last week we had been aiming to go for a little jaunt on "Hanoly" - Smithy's GP14 - but when we got down there, one the wind was non-existent, and two, the boys had started to lift boats in early - they're nothing if not a little claustrophobic after a long winter, so I subpoenaed Smithy into giving me a hand on a task I had been wanting to complete for an age..  last year (it may have been the year before) I did a GPS survey of the club mooring buoys on my side of the bridge, and was then approached by one of the committee guys to confirm it was very useful and would I do the same for the Langstone side of the bridge..  so a couple of hours, and 2.5 miles, later it was done...

😂😂😂

Back on land it was then time to start thinking about getting ready for my lift in which was a mere few days away..  first order of the day was getting the top tackle on to the mooring ready to tie up to. The next day we borrowed the workboat and Jolly Boy Dave, mate Simon, and I killed multiple birds with a single stone by doing five moorings in one go..

...this turned out to be not as simple as we had envisaged, as the mooring team had been round the buoys over the winter putting new shackles on, and removing anything extraneous, which included Simon's swivel...  then Dave noticed he was missing additional shackles, so we had to hot foot it back to the pontoon to go rooting around the maintenance shed for replacements - all eventually done, and it was good to be out on the water..

...and so it was finally the day before lift - I decided to bite the bullet this year, and rather than get up at oh crack sparrow fart on launch day to put the engine on before it got busy, I would do it the evening before. Since the last but one got nicked I've been a bit wary of taking any risk, but with the outboard lock, and taking the cowl home, I figured it was as safe in the yard as it was on the mooring - probably safer, as a number of the guys are sleeping down there in their camper vans at the moment getting the last bits done on their boats..

Engine on it was then time to put the cockpit hatches back on - pleased to say the temporary one's did a good job, then re-attached the wind vane, and finally give her a damn good wash to get rid of a winters worth of green slime and dirt..  she looks a million dollars OK.. 😏

So nice and early next day (clocks changed to, so it was even earlier..  really...😬) it was time for the traditional final job of the lay over..

...before making my presence known to the moorings team to let them know I and the boat were ready for lift in when they were...

Usually the boats going round the island (Hayling Bridge sits between our two mooring area's) get priority and so it was today, but they'd made such good progress over the previous couple of days there were only nine boats to go in today, so I got a quick lift, and they dropped me so far down the slipway that even four hours before the HT was due I was already seeing water round the keels

So many expectations at the start of .. etcetcetc.😏

Time then to get on board sharp'ish... enjoy the view..

...and wait for the tide to do the job.. first the boat started rocking, time to get the engine going.. fuel was already attached, choke on, gear in neutral check, pulled her over and she started first time..  left her in tick over and put her in reverse..

...and bugger me if less than five mutes later we weren't off and moving (according to the club webcam at about 10:26)

10 minutes later I was on the mooring having transited under the bridge..

Super easy, non-stressful launch - my thanks as usual to the guys in the club who sorted this for me and the others as they do every year..  was also a glorious day..

Next jobs - get the tender ready, then arrange a mast raising party..

First sail of the season and more jobs done..

The Jolly Boys have had their first sail of the new season, but before I get to that, first off news of further work completed..

It wasn't on the list but at the end of last season I had noticed that the boom/sail cover needed a little attention - I bought this in 2019, and compared with the one it replaced (which died after 6 years) it's in far better condition. This one is 6 years old this year, albeit we had a year of Covid where it didn't get a lot of UV - the material is OK'ish - just a little fragile on the fold lines, so I took the opportunity to reinforce the back of those with some sail repair tape. She's good for another year..

Which brings me to the Jolly Boys first sail of the year - which was.... utterly Baltic..! 🥶

Head gear de rigeur for the day.. 😏

Lovely sail over to Cowes though, including flying the asymmetric, but we were a boat on a mission for this first sail as tide times meant we couldn't hang around coming back.. we sailed almost all the way there, but then cracked and put the engine on for the last dash into Cowes where we got a fantastic berth in East Cowes (and only a tenner for a lunch stop as they're still on winter rates!)

...that was where we wuz.. 😁

Absolutely fantastic lunch in the Lifeboat, but with the wind dead on the nose, we motored for home..  we had to be back on the mooring by 5'ish or have to sit round waiting due to tides..  happily we did it, but yee gods it was cold on the way back, an easterly head wind is no fun in March..

Log:

Distance: 28.0 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F3 very occasionally bottom F4 ; SExE going SE
Sail Plan: Full main/genoa; and we flew the blue meany/asymmetric
Speed (Max/average in knots): 7.6 / 4.1

Antifoul, paint sloshing and pontoon bashing..

...the half day of yearly penance that is the antifoul application is done..

Obligatory before shots...

...and the after shots..  

...but what a truly sh*tty and awful job applying this stuff is, especially to a small twenty footer with a bilge keel cave.. but there's no denying it, boats look the dogs nadgers with freshly applied dark blue antifoul paint..  this is the best she'll look all season..  30 minutes after she goes in the water it all goes downhill on the looks front..  😁

..just the one coat this year as an experiment - most of the rest of the guys in the club do the same, and Sparrow's bottom is as rough as the surface of the moon so anything that stops further build up can only be a good thing.. I'm going to have to bite some serious bullets in the next few years on the maintenance front, and a serious scrape of her bottom is one of them.

Elsewhere unguents have been splashed about..

• the cockpit board lasted well after an initial treatment right at the end of last season but it's been a wet and wooly winter, and I noticed a few spots where it needed re-treatment so got the sander out and then applied some more preserver..  calling that one done..
• end of last season I two coats on the rubbing strakes and they're still good - calling that one done to..
• companionway hatches had two coats at the end of last season, are ok, but will get a couple more of which the first one is done - they're one of those serious bullets I mentioned above..  wondering whether to go the perspex route..
• while I had the sander out for the cockpit board, I also did the tiller pilot support and rest..  two coats later calling that one done to..
• after the major renovation of the tender last winter she's been stored all winter in the pen, albeit I turned her upside down to give some weather protection to the inside..  she picked up the usual minor scratches and scuffs on her bottom as a result of launch and recovery from a trolley on a stone surface, so I finished off the remains of one of the tins of black paint I had and repainted them - very happy with the keel reinforcements (nose and stern), by the way, still strong, and clearly doing their job..

This update is almost turning into a "more ticks than a mangy dog" post.. 😏

Either way - still to do - in no order of importance

• finish the cockpit hatches, one or two coats will do it, and then they need to go back on the boat
• a final coat on the companionway hatches
• a surface coat on the companion sliding hatch and forehatch
• an oxalic wash down of the hull after I've given the usual scuffs and scratches a rub down with fine wet and dry
• a damn good wash of the top sides to get a winters worth of green and dirt off her

Lastly, I had a work party at the club the other day - pontoon bashing but not how you normally imagine it.. 😁

The club has five pontoons that we use during the season for occasional cruiser mooring, waiting space during lift out and in, embarking and landing lift out crew, tying dinghy's up to on race days, etcetc. They've been in the water for 10 years and were beginning to show signs of wear and damage so were lifted at the end of last season for some serious love, care and attention..  

This is one of the worst ones - were cutting out the crap metal ready to weld in new replacement stuff..

..and at the end of a hard day this is one of the ones we were working on (following)..  this is 80 or 90% done, each of the floats has been attached with two boards underneath, to galvanised metal right angled shoes, with 4 x 4's to support a through threaded bolt all the way from the 4x4's at the top through to underneath of the shoe, through the 4x4, and also through the end of the board - M16 nuts and washers throughout, all wood work bitumen'd.

Just the fender boards to attach and this one will be done - you can see the new boards in the background of the picture above. Hugely rewarding but hard day..  I ache this morning!