So chronologically...
-
2nd October - after that slightly abrupt and bad tempered (the wind -
not me😀) sail on the Saturday I was down on the boat the next morning
in conditions that can only be described as 180' the opposite of the day
before...! It was scorching hot and almost windless... genoa off
first before any wind turned up, and deposited in the dinghy for more
careful folding away when on shore, I then moved to the boom and as
usual just remove the whole lot, boom, sail, kicker with claw and the
sail cover to wrap the whole lot together I left the reef in, so I will
need to take that out sometime this winter when I have more time to
unroll it and flake the sail more tidily.. That done there was
only one thing to be done on a day like this ==>
Days like this will feature long in the memory over the next cold damp miserable months
-
3rd October - chatting to Rodders the next day while sorting out dates
for the mast drop, he mentioned he was off down to Ami-Ly (his boat -
the scene and host of this years Jolly Boys Riot) to do the same as I
had done on Sparrow the day before - with nothing else on the horizon
that day I casually asked, 'do you want a hand to do it?' After I
managed to get my arm back with only light bite marks, I found myself
down on the Whale Island pontoons. Bigger boat of course but pretty much
the same rigmarole as Sparrow the day before, except Rod leaves the boom
on.
Glorious day watching the various comings and goings... two mahoosive cruise liners were in on the opposite side of the creek, and then the car ferry from France arrived and reversed parked between the two - fantastic bit of seamanship...
Not small!
-
6th October - the day of the mast drop, and after a truly atrocious day
weatherwise the day before yet another 180' turn - not a breath of wind
when I first arrived, clear open skies with more than a hint of warmth -
SO lucky...
No Dave this year (he was on holiday) so we drafted in the "young" apprentice and thus it was me Rodders and Smiffy in the crew this year... I arrived early, shot out to the boat and started to get stuff ready. Crutch roped into place, forward and rear lower stays undone, A frame locked into the forward lower chain plates, genoa halyard to the top of the frame with this year the main halyard as a secondary safety line, main sheet to provide the grunt and we were ready to go once the boys arrived. There then ensured the comedy that only the Jolly Boys together seem able to produce.
I think it safe to say that I had suffered sleep issues on two counts this year - one was the mast drop itself, which despite having done it numerous times still causes a slight frisson of concern (all joking aside it's a big mast, things can go wrong, damage can be done, and worst-case, injury can ensue) but the other was how the hell I was going to get these two to the boat given that normally we rely on Dave, who has access to another (bigger) dinghy?!
Anyhoo... we had to rely on my tender which is small, and has a low freeboard - I will only say that it was a good job there was no swell or wind as I reckon we had no more than 2 or 3 inches of freeboard at times and that was with only two of us at a time in it... 😂 ==>
The young apprentice gets a good work out, and an occasional grope, giving Rodders a lift back to shore after the main event...
The drop itself was perfection, Smiffy in the cockpit, Rod on the roof, both to guide and keep the mast straight as it came down, me on the foredeck to play out the main sheet so as to allow a controlled drop - perfection, and a cup of tea and a biccie later and we were ready to disconnect the back stay and the uppers, the A frame was removed, halyards tidied away and we were ready to slide the mast forward so as to rest on the pulpit and crutch before finally tying it all down...
I'd made some modifications to the mast crutch for this drop and have to say I think they worked 100% - one of the issues we always had before was that the arms of the crutch extended to the point where lifting the spreaders up and over them when moving the mast forward after the drop was a major PITA. This year I sawed them off shorter, but to allow for the crutch still to act as a crutch ie. for the arms of the crutch still to guide the mast, had put on new swivelling/swinging arms held in place by a bolt at the swivel end and a peg at the other end. Once the mast was dropped and the arms had done their job, you could then just slip the pegs out and swivel the arms down allowing for a much smaller arm to lift the spreaders over - and it worked exactly as designed, SO chuffed - in fact it prompted another idea (cheers, Rod!) to lock the mast in the crutch which I'll investigate further - either way, job done and off to the pub for beer and smuggled in pork pies! Big thanks to the Jolly Boys once again...
-
9th October - time to start moving boats for their respective lift outs,
first on the list was to move Ami-Ly round from her home mooring on
Whale Island to Port Solent where she was due to have a lift out first
thing Monday morning - just over 6 miles - all under motor (as we'd
taken the sails off already as above) and after a little sightseeing
down harbour (Rodders had his son and grandson with him for this one, in
addition to Smithy and I) we were up to Port Solent, locked through,
moored up, and in the pub within a couple of hours - lovely afternoon
out
-
17th October - not only Rod's lift out but mine as well - and as trouble
free a lift as I think I've had. Got there early, cadged a lift to the
boat on the club's workboat (to save getting the tender out and having
to recover it later) and once on board got the tools out to see if I could get the top
gear (ie. shackle/swivel/pick up chain and buoy) off my mooring - don't like leaving it on, as all that happens is
that it gets trashed in the winter storms; it may as well live in my
garage under a coat of oil for the winter as sit on the mooring
rusting... once again, the spray of white grease on the threads
for the pin for the shackle holding it all together did the trick and
one grunt and it loosened off (bloody brilliant - hacksawing them off is
a major pain). Fired up the donk, and for one last time this year
motored over the pool and then under the bridge before putting her on
the clubs waiting pontoon ready for my turn.
😍
Sat in the cockpit in the sun, chatting with the other club members doing the boat moves, Rod joined me for a chat and to pick up a bag he'd left in my car the day before - most pleasant. Then after the big one's had gone in, it was my turn, three crew on board with me, motored over to the hoist, didn't cock up the entry, secured, engine off, lifted and 15 minutes later I was ashore and, on my blocks, the 2022 season is over... 😏
Jobs:
- Centre mast support needs trimming - slightly too long for the current configuration
- Pressure wash her bottom - no weed video this year as I started clearing the barnacles before I thought to do the video - but she is covered in a fine growth of sea weed, and the barnacles (I thought) were far more prevalent this year - the insides of the keels were covered with them, plus the forward part of the hull where she sits in the mud. Just need to wait for lift out to finish so I can get down there and give her a good going over.. this weekend hopefully.
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