Marker to Emsworth..

Another 'hard work' one...

13:37 HT and wall to wall sunshine so despite the fact it was a Sunday (mistake #1) I decided to go for a sail..  forecast was for both ends of a F4 and as it turned out that was upper half of a 4 to top 4, so some reefs were the first order of the day when I got on board. Having made a dogs dinner of that (she was lying to tide rather than wind so it was awkward indeed) I dropped the mooring and made off down the ditch..

Forecast was also for a SE'ly (mistake #2) and coupled with a big tide (4.7 mtrs) it was always going to be hard work...

Needs must though so engine refuelled, we cast off for an adventure - I ended up motor sailing all the way to Marker - with the wind and tide dead on the nose most of the way - when just before Marker I hit a solid wall of Opi's coming up harbour on a dead run - very exciting playing dodge the Opi for a while

Optimists...!  'fasands of them...! (said in your best Colour Sergeant Bourne/Nigel Green voice)

Once past Marker though, I could see that the bottom of the harbour was wall to wall dinghy's and a long motor sail away - so "sod it" quoth I, turned, gybed, and for a change headed off up the Emsworth Channel to Emsworth...

Fairly rare sight at the top of the harbour - wing foiler..

Lots and lots of boats about, moving and on moorings, and with a couple of boats up my chuff waiting to go through (probably to the marina) I exercised a little due caution, turned, tacked and headed back for home..

It was good to be out on the water, but I crave something with a little less 'south' in the next wind, please... 😁

Notes:

• 3.5 litres fuel added

Log:

Distance: 7.94 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):  Mid to top F4 ; SSE
Sail Plan: Reefed main and 75% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots):  4.6 / 2.8

Laying in Lymington...

The Jolly Boys have been on their first overnighter this season...  and very definitely the best sail we've had this season..

Destination was Lymington which is the far end of the Solent from us, though having said that it's still only 25 miles'ish pontoon to pontoon..  in order to do trips like this, and Rod's (Captain my captain) passage plan reckoned on 6 hours, we really do need to do an overnight.

The team convened at Rod's gaff at 07:30 as the plan was to be on the boat and motoring by half 8 in order to take advantage of that near mythically good Solent travelator (tide) which was west bound from about then and good for 5 or more hours of extra oomph..

As it turns out my plot says we left at exactly that time - amazing.. 😏

Forecast was for F3 gusting 5 (really!)  and NE'ly, and all of us had looked at that, remembered all the previous crappy forecasts, made a mental note of "oh, yeah", but bugger me if it didn't deliver it exactly as described!

Hooning...  Pompey in the distance..

What a sail...  four and a half hours to Lymington blew the passage plan out of the water - we shot past Gilkicker within an hour, and were off Southampton only a short while after - we were absolutely flying! Wind wide on the beam (so the genoa was getting good exposure) and a couple of knots or more of tide with us, and we were regularly seeing 7.5 plus SOG

Just after lunch saw us tied up in Lymington Yacht Haven - booked purely because in the personal opinion of the Jolly Boys they are the nicest showers in perhaps the entire Solent - if not the world.. 😁

(On one of our previous trips, by the way, we had been stormbound in Lymington for a couple of days, and as it howled with rain, and blew like fury, most of us ended up having a half dozen or so showers over the two days just because they were so nice and we were bored.. 😂)

Dinner that evening was Indian and tasty, and trust me, we slept well..

Over breakfast the next morning we discussed the plans for the return trip...  forecast was for F3 gusting 5 again, but if we were to believe it, this time SW'ly..  if that came off it would mean we'd had a decent breeze on the quarter in both directions so despite the fact it had been right the day before, there was still a healthy amount of scepticism - the forecasts showed the wind going round 180' from NE within an hour.. 

There's some serious sausage action going on in that picture...

...and bugger me if it didn't!

In order to make the travellator though we'd have to wait, and it really is a hard hard slog going that far in the Solent with an adverse tide...

We eventually left at about half 2 in the afternoon, and even that was a little early as the tide wasn't due to turn until half 3'ish, but the berth in the Marina was needed, and we'd already moved once, so it was time to go...

First hour was indeed hard work, the wind was doing it's thing but the direction was a little more west than we would have liked, so the genoa was making hard work of it behind the main - a pole would have helped..

Tide turned just as we were coming up to Gurnard, and then we began to fly with a steady succession of 7+'s as we rocketed past Cowes..  we were on home waters now - the Spinnaker Tower clear to see

...the first of two...

More champagne sailing as the sun shone, the sea glinted, and we dodged the liners coming out of Southampton water. We rolled the genoa away and went with just the full main..

Took us an hour longer than the day before but we were still on the home pontoon by half 7'ish to end two days of the best sailing we've had in an age!

Now..  can we get another in before the end of the season???🤔

Log:

Blue out, yellow back, and either side of the Bramble Bank.. 😁

Distance: 47.04 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)

Wind (Speed; Direction): Almost perfect 😏 

• Day:1 F3 gusting F5 / NE'ly
• Day 2: F3 occasional gust of F4/F5 / WSW

Sail Plan: Full main and full genoa (on the way back, just main most of the time)
Speed (Max/average in knots):  7.7 / 4.2 (averaged over both days - actuals above..)

Hello old friend..

..been close, but it's the first time actually going round it this year.. but I jump ahead of myself..

Second trip on the boat in as many days - what's the world coming to..  either way the tides are beginning to get later now (13:58HT) but no smaller (a 4.73 Mtr tide!)

Winds forecast was F2's or 3's, with the wind was due to go SE'ly'ish, so I think it fair to say that the biggest pull for me was to get out on to the water where it was considerably cooler than ashore where we were having one of the hottest days of the year..

On the boat by just under 3.5 hours before HT, and got everything ready to go - engine warmed - we dropped the mooring just shy of 11:00.

Wind direction was poor, and I eventually pulled the main up just past Northney at around the same time I caught this little fellow - juvenile/adolescent bass

Wind was indeed on the light side and I was seeing 2 or 3 knots of adverse tide so the decision was taken to motor sail to the bottom of the harbour - the genoa wasn't working so I rolled that back again after a short experiment...

...and that was largely it for the whole of the trip down the harbour until I ducked away from a HUGE dinghy fleet at about Verner to cross the Pilsey Sands towards East Head..  where I then met another huge fleet...  I hadn't realised that its Fed Cup week in the harbour - they'll be racing every day in their hundreds...

..until I finally made the Itchenor channel and turned the engine off for a quick sail towards Camber and Bosham and then turning back to round Snowhill ("old friend") and a glorious goose wing run back up the harbour on the tail ends of the incoming tide...

...dinghy central... 

..brilliant day out, but at the same time hard work with all that engine duty.. 

Log:

Distance: 11.04 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F2 gusting F3 ; SSE
Sail Plan: Full main and 95% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.8 / 2.8

Slosh..

First sail in over three weeks! The summer went south for a few weeks, doing what it did last summer, with a solid succession of grey and windy days not conducive to sailing in (for me) anyway - we even had our first named storm (Floris) which, even though the main effects were further north, had enough sting in the tail to provide some windy conditions down here in the south..

So it was that with a Saturday clear of other interruptions, a decent tide time, a decent forecast, and the promise of a bit of warm weather I grabbed the chance...

HT was 12:47 and a massive 4.43 Spring tide, and I was on the boat by half 9, covers off, engine warmed, and dropped the mooring a full 3 hours before HT, but not before I'd also given her another quick scrub along the waterline where the weed had already started to regrow following an intermediate barnacle and weed clean just a few weeks ago...  all the indications are that this is going to be a high growth summer both for marine and vegetable life..  crappy anitfoul does nothing...

Pulled the main up in the pool, and then bore away on a nice solid westerly breeze down the dtich before deploying the rod for the first time..

Fingers crossed..

Never caught a thing except weed all day.. 😏

Mahoosive spring tide and a lot of water was sloshing about, but the westerly helped us along. and even with a couple of knots of adverse tide we were turning in 2's and 2.5's SOG - single tack to the bottom of the harbour was another bonus

Passed the seal colony..

..no they aren't logs.. them's seals...

...and headed towards the blue sky...

I was very hopeful we might even get or nose out into the Solent but with a wind of this direction and a tide this strong, by the time I got to HISC the breakwater was sheltering us from breeze, and speed dropped to less than half a knot SOG, so I baled out just shy of West Winner and rode the tide home seeing 5.8's and 5.7's over the ground..

Fantastic day out - now need to find another trip before this tide disappears!

Log:

Distance: 9.59 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): Both ends of a F4; W x S
Sail Plan: Full main and 50% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.4 / 2.6

Planes, trains and automobiles..

Well maybe not planes, but there was a Fastcat... 😏

Rodders, the erstwhile captain of the Jolly Boys, was booked to go on his holidays with his good lady wife to the isle of Wight for three nights on AmiLy, and being the kind caring and considerate crew we are, Smithy and I volunteered our services for the docking at each end - he didn't need it, but it was one less faff to worry about, so our offer was taken up. Then at some point in the interim, the skipper also came up with the idea of our taking our wives along as well, "as they never, ever, come sailing with us so they might fancy it"..  and call me gob smacked, but both of them leapt at the chance..

So it was that at 08:00 Rods trusty Land Rover arrived outside my place to pick up me and Smithy (who had already arrived) and our better halves, and take us to Whale Island for the start of the adventure. First time I've travelled in the boot of a car since my youth, and I can tell you I now know why...

HT was 14:19 and a pretty healthy 4.61m (Springs) so we were expecting a lot of water to be flowing which surprisingly wasn't as we exited the harbour four hours before high, very strange.. but with the lack of water, we took the outer Swashway, and in a fitful norther westerly breeze of roughly F3 had a lovely sail to Cowes under full main and genoa

"Follow that bugger.."

...before a leisurely motor up the Medina to show the ladies where we usually hang out, pointing out the Folly and the Lifeboat (which was the venue for todays lunch)..

East Cowes

Rod's three days were going to be in west Cowes at Shepherd's Marina so we called them up and, unlike Thursday, they told us we could moor up anywhere we wanted as they had plenty of space - yes the Fastnet boats* had all departed the day after our previous trip..  he got a lovely spot just inside the entrance but on one of the outer pontoons - so easy to get out, but sheltered from the wash from the river. We also ended up, by the by, moored behind one of the Fastnet race boats which was back far earlier than they wanted as a result of a forestay failure just off Hurst Castle..  rigger was up the mast as we arrived.. such a shame, but they said they'd be back..

Admin completed, a walk down to the Ferry saw us in East Cowes, and a walk to the Lifeboat for lunch, before we then got the bus to Ryde, and the Fastcat back to Portsmouth, and a train home..  so all in all boot, boat, ferry, bus, ferry, train... 😁

Lunch spot..

Cracking day..

* Post edit: Black Jack, who we saw leaving the harbour to practice last Thursday took line honours in the monohulls in the Fastnet race, completing in just over 2 days and 12 hours - the first multihull did it in 1 day 17 hours!

Log:

Blue = boat, yellow = bus, red = Fastcat.. 😁

Distance: 15.42 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)

Wind (Speed; Direction):  F2 gusting F3; NW
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 7.0 / 3.5

What folly.. err.. Folly..

Been a while since the Jolly Boys took to the seas one way or another, so an opportunity for the full complement to go sailing on AmiLy was grabbed with open arms..  and what a day it turned out to be..

HT Portsmouth 11:58 which meant we had fair tides all morning for a trip westwards (and where else were we going to go? 😏), forecast northerly winds starting light going stronger and then going light again, which potentially gave us a beam reach both ways, so it's fair to say expectations were high - but we've been there before, and usually been disappointed..

Either way - the team convened at Rod's place at 0900, casting looks to the sky (bit grey and gloomy) and tree tops (which showed little movement) but we had biscuits to eat and tea to drink, so bugger it..

On the boat by 0930'ish - warps singled up, covers off, engine warmed and we cast off at 10 - destination Cowes and anywhere that had space for us, as we're heading towards Cowes Week, but more specifically for the first time since 2003 the Admirals Cup is back, culminating this coming weekend with the Fastnet Race, so not only were there some glorious boats about, but there were also a very large number of them!

First boats spotted as we came out of the harbour - couldn't miss this one - the mast towered over everything else in Haslar marina - Thomas Coville's 'Sodebo' Ultim 3 trimaran - a Jules Verne round the world challenger, and here for his 3rd attempt at the Fastnet

Then the tour de force (for me) came past - this is Black Jack - one of two yachts that the pundits are putting their money on to win line honours for the mono hulls..

..and this one I'd already heard of - this is "Pyewacket" (which funnily enough was "Black Jack" in a previous incarnation) - she's owned by a grand nephew of Walt Disney (honestly) and started her life back in 2011 as the Volvo Ocean Race boat "Telefonica"..

Simply stunning - 'Black Jack' in particular disappeared off to the horizon at a rate of knots making us look like we were going backwards..

Anyway, sails all up on the trusty AmiLy, engine on tick over, a northerly breeze is always fickle when your on the north side of the Solent up against the shore, but as we came out into the central Solent , the engine went off and we had a very nice sail practically all the way to Cowes - tidal assistance is always a boon ..

Early signs were that Cowes was rammed - East Cowes Marina was full when we called even for a short stay lunchtime stopover - there were Rolex Fastnet race flags on every other boat as we went up the Medina, so a decision was taken to make for the Folly Inn - somewhere we haven't been in a couple of years. There was space on the moorings, but 26 quid for a lunch stop is rich indeed - and is mostly due to four of us needing the ferry across to the pub where the food was definitely a step up on last time, but the beer choice even poorer..  6/10

Tide was due to turn eastwards at about 15:30 / 1600'ish, and as dead low water was 17:15 in Portsmouth and we'd need at least a couple of hours to get enough water to get back on to the pontoon at home, we finally dropped the warps and headed for the Solent at about half 3..

Still a bit grey, and the wind was clearly kicking up, so we put in a couple of reefs, before deciding that they weren't actually needed, and taking them out. Solid 5.5's and 6's SOG all the way home - a cracking sail where the wind got stronger the nearer we got home, and it kept heading us, a typical offshore breeze.. we were seeing 30 knots on occasion, but I would say most of the time it was top 4 or 5 gusting a force stronger..

As suspected it was a quick passage, and not enough water on the inner pontoons so pulled in on one of the outers for a cup of tea and another biscuit before gingerly feeling our way in half an hour later - top result and one of the best sails this year, only improved by finding a top notch quality fender on the shoreline (finders keepers) as we were making our way back to the car at 8..  result!! 😁

Thinking ahead now - first overnight already booked for Lymington in August.. 👍

Log:

Distance: 28.51 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F3 ending F6; NxE going NNE
Sail Plan: Full and reefed main / full and reefed genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 7.1 / 4.1

Sublime to the ridiculous..

...but ain't that sailing?! 😏  Second time out in three days and the weather and wind looked like almost a carbon copy of Fridays awesome jaunt. Suffice to say expectations were high... idiot boy..

HT 14:27 and a bigger tide as they continue to get Spring'ish - an extra quarter of a metre of water sloshing around than had been the case on Friday. The wind was also clearly stronger, but I decided to go with the forecast and leave the reefs out. Either way on the boat by 11, fresh fuel added to the tank, covers off engine warmed up and we dropped the mooring just after half past.

Mainsail up in the pool by the bridge, and then bore away for the ditch and Northney/Sweare Deep, motor sailing as per Friday - much much windier though, and while I was motoring head to wind I took the opportunity to put some reefs in on the main.

Motor sailed through a lot of weekend traffic to Marker and then engine off and started tacking - but it just wasn't happening - tide was so strong it was pushing me back half of every metre made, and the wind direction was going more southerly/adverse with every minute. Ten tacks and 200 or 300 yards later I gave up, bore off and lit the afterburners for some fun back and forth in Sweare Deep before heading back to the moorings..

From the sublime to the ridiculous indeed, and a valuable lesson not to assume anything when you go sailing!

Notes:

• 3 litres fresh fuel added

Log:

Distance: 9.26 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): SSE going S; F3 going F4
Sail Plan: Full and reefed main/90% and 75% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.8 / 2.7

Go East young man..

The heatwave in the UK continues - low to mid 30's - and 'any fule no' the best place to be in temperatures like that are on a boat in a sea breeze...

Problem is of course that temperatures like that tend to be accompanied by a massive high which means low/fluky winds and so it was that yesterday (the day I went) was the first day that week where there'd be a forecast of a reasonable breeze, even if it was from a most bizarre direction..

Anyway - 13:06HT and a 4.2mtr tide (Spring'ish) and I was on the boat by 10, got ready while I waited for the water to fill in a bit (only 0.1mtrs on the depth instruments), warmed up the engine, and was off just before half past..

Raised the main in the the pool by the bridge, as where I was moored it was blowing a SW'ly which was a little strange given the forecast, motor sailed down the ditch, and then carried on as the wind moved round on to the nose as I turned for Sweare Deep..  rolled out some genoa but soon rolled it back as it was doing nothing.

Turned for Marker and at last there was some usable wind, so the genoa came out again, and I motor sailed for Marker as the wind was very slightly east of south which meant for some fairly nice long tacks that were only really doable with the motor assist and the apparent wind it created..

East Head ahead - short cut across the sands - never less than half a metre under the keel.. but it was a rising tide.. 😏

Steamed past Marker and as the harbour opens up there, and the racket was getting tiresome, turned the engine off and started tacking against a still fairly fierce incoming tide..

Guess where I switched the engine off and stopped motor sailing.. 😁

My plan was to cross the sands but the first two attempts I abandoned - water was a bit thin - third one was a charm though and crossed the sands aiming at East Head and my old mate 'Snowhill'. Half a metre under the keel all the way - just the occasional jump as we crossed an underwater lake or ditch, but the tide pushing us slightly to the east even over the sands..

Exited into the Itchenor Channel just west of the end of Thorney Island so as to miss the bank that runs west from the end of the island and shot across to the other side of the channel (it was damn busy..) easing sheets as I went and riding the incoming tide before turning out a new one for me - don't even have it in the GPS...  meet the splendidly named Rookwood ==>

Looking north - entrance to the Thorney Channel opposite

...before turning just after, hardening up, and then a single long tack back towards the sailing club on Hayling, cutting the corner of the Sands to head north, letting all the sheets out and goose winged all the way to the top of the harbour..  

The fishing rod was out (I caught nothing but weed all day, though I did almost catch a Hawk 20 that tacked close round my stern, line snapped unfortunately so it got away.. 😁)

Joy of a Friday when every other bugger is at work 😏

Gybed at Sweare Deep, rolled in the Genoa, fitted a new hook and lure to the rod, and then eventually dropped the main just before the ditch before motoring back to the mooring.

Fantastic days sailing - best this year so far I reckon..

Notes:

• fuel top up required
• tiller bolts loose and now tightened

Log:

Distance: 13.49 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): Both ends of a F3; SxE going SSW
Sail Plan: Full main and Genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.8 / 2.8

Opportunity is a Winner

An opportunistic sail grabbed from the end of a mahoosive heatwave..  but I'm jumping ahead of myself..

First off a bit more make do and mend with two coats of paint applied to the tops of all three of the locker lids - fore, companion way hatch and rear.. I'd hoped for the opportunity of a sail but there was no wind so the paint brush was applied instead.. oh.. and coffees drunk, and the chair and sun shade deployed.. oh, and the fishing rod came out.. all bases covered!

Vote of approval for the 2in1 by the way..  coffee's always a hassle on a small boat as the coffee in tins hardens within weeks the moment you open them, and the only milk option is UHT..  this stuff comes in sachets... both powdered in one..  and it tastes OK..

..but painting having been done, we then went into the aforesaid massive heatwave..  Britain's been seeing 30'C plus on a regular basis over the last week, but with the forecasts saying the weather was about to break, and with the tide times swiftly going east as the week progresses, a window of opportunity presented itself..

HT at 17:24, I managed to get on the boat by just after 14:00 - interesting to see I wasn't the only one with the same idea, as two or three tenders were on their way to various boats on the pool. Quick strip down of various covers while the engine was on warming up and I dropped the mooring just shy of  25 past..  a full three hours before HT so something of a record..

Forecasts were for a F4 all afternoon, and it looked like they were overestimating, but as it turned out they were spot on as the wind continued to build as I came out of the shelter of the bund and ditch, and passing Northney..

Yet again it was a 'funny' direction - west of the purportedly 'prevalent SW' - anyway - head to wind off Northney, main up, bore away and rolled out 90% of the foresail (thinking I'd be tacking a lot).

The a broad reach to Sweare, bore up - tightened everything in and down... and apart from a couple of small tacks to get a little west'ing made it to Mid Winner on almost a single tack..  amazing...  yet again I was expecting it to go around at any time as I approached Marker but this time we did it in just two tacks (rather than the usual 30)

Mid Winner

Fancied a beer, so gybed and headed for home on the last hour of flow.. 5.5's as we flew home...  couple that with the best mooring buoy pickup we've had this year and it was a brilliant, and totally unexpected, day on the water.. 

Log:

Distance: 9.02 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)

Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 going F3; WSW going SW
Sail Plan: Full main/90% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 5.0 / 3.0

Lunch on the verandah..

A reduced contingent of the Jolly Boys (Smithy was elsewhere occupied) convened at Rod's gaff at 0800 on Thursday for a much anticipated trip on the water..  the day before had been breezy to say the least (4's and 5's powered by the heatwave we're currently experiencing) but the day in question was light and almost non existent when we arrived at the pontoon (and true to form the day after was 4's and 5's as well..😏)..

Undaunted, and fortified with cups of coffee and pain au raisins, the Jolly Boys went for it and had a quite surprisingly good sail to Cowes..  wind was on the nose, F2'ish, but good enough for a long tack towards Cowes before turning on the motor for the last bit (we were hungry 😁)

Isle of Wight Festival this weekend so we anticipated problems getting a lunch time berth and had a back up plan to shoot up the Hamble and have something to eat there if it didn't all work out, and sure enough East Cowes advised they were full - even for a short stay..

As we went past the Island Sailing Club though, we noticed their pontoon (members only) was empty..  I wonder...  cheeky phone call later asking if we could moor there to have lunch and they advised we would be OK to do that! Fantastic..

One of the best views in the Solent I think from their verandah, and even better with one of their home cooked fish and chips in front of you! Lunch and two pints later, it was back to the boat for a snooze, before the return trip..

Which was largely a repeat of the morning since the wind had gone round 180'ish degrees and was back on the nose again! Top end F3 to start with though which saw Dave doing a cracking job on helm - four tacks saw us approaching Gilkicker, but with the wind dropping, it was time for the motor again..  

Fantastic days sailing on a super warm day..  

Log:

Distance: 27.06 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F2 occasional F3; E going W going SE
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 6.3 / 2.5

Spicy..

A slightly quicker trip out than I expected for this one..

Third day on the boat in as many days! After two days maintenance though I was way overdue some R'nR and as the forecast was showing considerably less breeze than we have had over the previous few days (and the day before it was blowing so hard it was actually blowing paint off the end of the brush!) I thought I'd go for it..

HT 15:29, but I was on the boat by one. Once onboard I took the reefs out I had put in for the previous trip as the wind was still showing fairly light and as per forecast, warmed up the donk as I was prepping the boat, and then dropped the mooring to raise the main in the pool head to wind/bridge, as yes, it was another one of those westerly's...

Tacked and headed off down wind on main only, down the ditch and occasionally gybing as the wind was twitchy, nice run, high 2's and 3's against a biggish tide..

By the time I got to Sweare Deep I was bearing up to wind and the genoa was out of the shadow of the main so I rolled out 90% of the genoa and we were tracking nicely towards Marker, but with the wind consistently getting stronger, and twitchier, and bugger me if 50 yards before Marker it didn't go round a bit more southerly. Three tacks and I was through and carried on towards the bottom of the harbour..

Should have known really as I could see some of the big boys being laid over at times, and by the time I was just shy of Verner it was gusting a solid F5 and I was well over canvassed. Tacked, eased sheets, and lit the afterburners for home..  last of the tide and a F5 on the quarter and not surprisingly she lit up..  solid stream of 6.3's and 6.5's, but it was uncomfortable so rolled away a chunk more of genoa and then she was good.

Rocketed into the Deep, I had breaking water on the bow from the wind blown chop, engine down and on and sails away as I went up the ditch in a consistent low end F5.

Short and sweet..

Log:

Distance: 7.14 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 gusting F5; WSW occasionally SW
Sail Plan: Full main / 90% then 75% genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 3.1 / 6

Make do and mend...

Bit of maintenance bodge'ry been going on ..

First - as mentioned briefly in the last post I'd noticed that one of the switches on my switch panel wasn't lighting up when clicked on...  I have a simple 6 gang switch panel - for reference this is it - largely vanilla make as multiple manufacturers seem to market it, so I suspect it originates in China somewhere..

I had assumed it might be the respective fuse (each of them has their own fuse in that square holder to the side) but a check of the fuse showed it to be good, and even when I changed it for a new one the switch still wouldn't light up.  

Time to get the voltmeter out then - which showed the individual switch was good and doing what it should do in 'on' and 'off' modes (I compared it to a working one) so the obvious conclusion is that it is nothing more than a failed bulb/LED in the actual switch, which is a pain in the proverbials.

New switches are cheap though, and although it would be nice, the price of these panels seems to have rocketed in the passage of time since I bought the first one - what was twenty quid in 2016 is now thirty five nine years later - besides - I'm not changing the whole panel for one failed bulb in one switch! 😏

So down the chandlers and £2.50 later I had a new switch (in fact two, as I bought an extra as a spare)

Note - three connectors - gold is the common neutral (on this one) - middle is positive, and then negative for the device you are connecting

Looking at the back of it though, it's not a straight forward swap as the switches are actually soldered into a common negative "bus bar" integral to the panel - to get the switch out, heat had to be applied,  and then the contact gently separated - once you do that (and my gas soldering iron decided not to work on the day so I had to use a lighter 😕) the individual switches then are held in place by plastic clips. Push them in and the whole switch can be pushed out..

Note common bus bar in foreground - all the switches in the panel are connected/soldered to that - offending switch has been removed in this picture..

Offending switch removed..

..new one could then be orientated so that it's the same as the other switches (so that all of them are in "on" or "off" in the same direction ...  OCD? me? I think not.. 😏) and then you can wire it in. 

Now in an ideal world, where your gas powered soldering iron was working, that would be easy... but in this case an alternative solution had to be arrived at until I can get to mains power source for another soldering attempt. In my case a small spur cable from the main negative with a spade terminal for the new switch - shame it was red but I didn't have any black cable with me so it was "make do and mend"

...and then with positive attached it was time for a test - and the switch lit up.. job's a good 'un..  

New one a slightly different style but it works...

That done it was time to move on to other things...  you may have heard me mentioning that the washboards will need attention/replacement this coming winter as they are beginning to reach the end of their natural lives - by far the worst is the lower one..

The wet got in last winter and the top surface delaminated - I had dried it out as best I could, and then given it multiple coats of paint but it was clear it was getting worse so a stop gap solution was needed to get me to the end of the season without further deterioration...

I had toyed with multiple ideas - more paint, epoxy/filler, epoxy cloth, plastic wood - but in the end went with a simple solution..

Uggghh...

..a good rub down with sanding paper, and then UPVC stuck down with a thick (gap filling) adhesive - with the washboard in I drew a line down the edge of the beading it sits in, slapped the unguent on  (extra for the pitting area) and then stuck some plastic card I had on top, slid it round a little to ensure all edges were sealed, weighted it down and left it to dry..

..once done  the entire board got a couple of coats of paint..

...and I'm surprised how good it looks - time will tell...