Feeling tender, or "love me tender"...

Love me tender, love me sweet

Never let me go

You have made my life complete

And I love you so

"Love Me Tender" Elvis Presley

Cutting to the chase, Sparrow's in, but not before a whole load of other stuff first happened..

Job #5 - previous GRP damage to nose needed a rebuild - done after 10 years... epoxy putty (Milliput) is my new wonder tool..

From this..

To this...

To this...

Not the best colour natch despite having it made up especially at the local hardware emporium.. 

 

..but I am nonetheless chuffed to nuts with that.. and as I also had some left over from the nose job I also made a start on ....

Job #8 "The gel coat is original but is getting thin to non-existent in places - I will not paint her (that way lies madness) but I do need to stop further UV damage to places where it is thin"

I've got about a half dozen spots where the gel coat is so thin that the underneath is beginning to show as a brown layer..  I masked off three or four of these, and with the paint from the nose, lightened it up a bit more, so the difference wasn't quite so marked, and put a couple of layers on...  it's not perfect, but it is better than it was, and I am going to call it more of a success than Elon Musk's recent effort...

I'll finish off the rest over the course of the summer, but would really like to colour match the paint a bit better..

The rubbing strakes, outboard pad and cockpit board got a rub down and a coat of wood treatment, I also did the the block that holds the camcleats on the cabin roof and also the handrails. I then gave all the hatch covers refresh of the masonry paint I use to provide a non-slip surface. At this point maintenance was confirmed completed, and this years harbour sticker attached..  😀👍

On the Tuesday of this week I went out in the tender in a a "sprightly" F5 gusting 6 (😏) to attach the top chain and pickup buoy to the mooring - tide was running like a bastard, the wind was from the east (so on the nose) and I got well and truly soaked but job completed despite losing the pin from the new mooring shackle (oh my God, how I cursed) - stupid, stupid schoolboy error, but I paid for it as I had to row back and get a spare shackle, and then battle out again - so serve me right..

On the Wednesday I worked on lift in, and then it was Sparrow's turn to launch on Thursday, but not before having to fix the tractor, that had just had a major fubar when for reasons we still can't quite work out, while turning, it caught and then ripped out all 6 hydraulic hoses on one side of the lift..  no idea how it happened but happen it did..  so with new hoses attached, and hydraulic fluid topped up, launch recommenced..

Launch was 'largely' OK..  because of the delay caused by the hoses I had a wet launch (direct from the slings on the hoist), but despite having had the outboard serviced over the winter, when I started her, although she fired up sweet as a nut, she was really racing and I couldn't drop the revs at all... prognosis is probably blocked idle jets in the carb...   😒 

Good news however, is that she's on the water..  and I'll fix the engine, and 'all will be well'

Friday I was back on the lift in crew, but also got my induction/sign off to use the clubs 16' work boat "Mylor" - it only took 5 minutes as they were short of people, but I had the best day throwing this little thing around, and it means that I can now use her whenever I have a need and she's not being used elsewhere - it will make getting the Jolly Boys out to the boat for the mast lifts/drops easier for a start - I can also use her to bring the engine back to shore for the inevitable fix..so definitely a thumbs up..

Then last of all for this update - I have a new tender (which may explain the post title 😏). I'm even more chuffed with this, than I am with the signoff for "Mylor". I have been, on the whole, fairly happy with "Fledgling" - the current tender - but she has a low freeboard, is surprisingly heavy, and is also small - any more than one adult and it all becomes a little trepidous (as we found out last autumn [clicky]) so I have had an idle eye open all winter for a possible replacement. 

One got washed up on the slip at the club over the winter, no owner has come forward, no identifying marks, so I was giving her an eye over as a possible replacement when one of the club guys mentioned that there was another one in the yard available for free as the owner had swallowed the anchor and given up sailing completely..  so meet new tender.. she's solid, lighter than the current one, strong, has a better freeboard, and I'll start working on her tomorrow or Monday..  loose paint off (wire brush in a drill), wash out, new rowlock sockets and swap over locking chain from old tender, and she'll be good to try - brilliant...  

First Jolly Boys trip and a change of plan..

Launch day has been and gone, but while I was on the lift crew I heard word of a delayed launch date for those who weren't quite ready to go in as a result of that concentrated bout of "Atlantic hate" we had during the earlier part of launch week.. 

Now Sparrow was OK to launch, but what swung me was that there was more "hate" forecast for the week(s) after that earlier launch, and as I didn't have any (sailing) plans for Easter I decided to take up the offer, so Sparrow will now launch between 19th-21st this month.

It gives me an opportunity to do a little more painting and prepping, and two or three weeks missed at this time of the year is neither here nor there given weather and temperatures we're currently experiencing...  as it happened the second set of storms rolled through and I was happier she was in the car park than bouncing on her mooring.

So it was, that after that endless series of storms, heavy weather, cold, and what seemed like ENDLESS rain, the opportunity to get out on Rod's boat for what would be the first Jolly Boys Cruise of the year was definitely too good to miss for Smithy and I (the others were busy). Add in the fact that the forecast looked good (wall to wall sunshine and a moderate breeze) and the three of us were more than a little cheerful when we conjoined at Rod the Mods gaff at 0830 yesterday (4th)

Destination for the day Cowes (as the wind direction was perfect) - track and log below, but suffice to say it was an almost* perfect day, but for me the trip back (after a lovely lunch in the Island Sailing Club) against a changeable SE'ly (SSE and SEE at times) with a good F4 made for some truly awesome loooonnnnng beats up the Solent and home.

The sun never stopped shining..  glorious doesn't even begin to describe it.. 

* Almost... well it was a shakedown cruise.. 😂

• Turned the engine on off of Cowes and an engine alarm came on - low oil pressure...  ah...   not good, but Rod investigates and advises oil levels good, sump clear..  so we "dick about" (an old and slightly archaic sailing term from the time of the Egyptians 😀) outside Cowes waiting for car ferries to pass with the intent of sailing into the river and onto an outside berth at the Yacht Haven...  no joy of course...   race track tide across the entrance east to west, and with the wind direction it was getting funnelled directly down the river, so we think "sod it" and turn the engine on - no alarm - interesting...  turn it off - head to wind, drop the sails, turn the engine on, and alarms again - at which point Rod notices it's a DSC alarm from the radio, not the engine..  doh... we were convinced there was a red oil pressure light on earlier but it may well have been sun reflection on the panel..  either way, we had no trouble with the engine, but there is a curious electrical thing going on in that turning the engine on triggers the DSC receive alarm!
• Coming into moor at Cowes and I got one foot caught in the genoa furling line, which made my jump a more "athletic" arrival on the pontoon than I might have wanted...  pffft..  no harm done except to pride... 😏

Log:

Distance: 33.46 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4, mainly F3; ExS through SxE
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots):  9.3 / 3