Has he sunk?

...no..  still here...  bowed but unbroken.. 

...so what the hell has been going on?? Very little sailing for sure*, but enough activity in other directions to offset it...

First, the search for a replacement for the stolen outboard is now complete with the purchase from a fellow club member of the beast above..  it's a Suzuki 6HP long shaft 4-stroke, somewhat spookily it is a 2007 model as per the Tohatsu it is replacing. It was kept in an outboard well for a number of it's years so is not in as good a condition as the old one..  the leg in particular needs a rub back and paint, but all in all it is a good engine, it runs, it's quieter than the old Tohatsu, and had a good cooling water stream.

The only concern is the size of it compared with the outboard scoop..  the Suzuki is unusual in that the steering arm/throttle is central to the front of the engine rather than hinged on one side..  it's on a wishbone type arrangement and my concern is that I won't be able to fully tilt the leg due to the wishbone getting in the way - we shall see once the boat is out of the water... if it doesn't fit, then I may well move it on and continue the search...  what would be perfect is a 4HP 2-stroke in good condition..  much lighter/smaller power head..  easier to move about..  it also has a charging coil and I thought one of my winter projects may be to plumb in a permanent socket to attach the output to - the following is what's on there, I suspect this is Suzuki proprietary as I can't find anything similar anywhere on Google so I will probably just hack it off and replace with something else...

 ..thoughts then turn to security - but I'll face that issue once I know it fits the scoop - I really don't want to be fitting an outboard pad just to keep the engine...

The other thing occupying minds is lift out - yup - that's it - no more opportunities to sail this year*...  went out to Sparrow last Saturday (which I worked out was the first time in 5 weeks!) and took off the boom, mainsail, and genoa, and fitted the mast crutch...

Going...

....going...

..going...

...ready for Monday when the jolly boys once again convened for alcohol and pork pie fueled fun dropping the mast and getting her ready to fit under the bridge...

...gone!

Superb drop - we had the mast down and everything put away, with the mast tied down and secured insde of 45 minutes...  where we then showed our true colours and legged it nto the cabin to drink tea and eat biscuits rather than quaff foaming bumpers of ale..  we're getting old.. 

Stay tuned - she come's out Sunday, and it'll be time for the annual most boring video award contender...

*without a shadow of a doubt I would say that this has been my worst sailing season probably since I bought Pap all those years ago...   my little'un reckons it is a simple ying and yang thing - last summer was so brilliant that it really is no surprise that this one would be so rubbish..  multiple reasons..  having my engine stolen certainly kicked me in the mental nuts, but in addition it was just one long succession of poor weather windows (gale after gale, rain after rain), poor tide times, and other priorities on those weekends where a sail was an option..  so it is that the 15th of last month was the last time I sailed..