....and just like that...

..it's all over for another season..  wasn't for the want of looking but I just couldn't get another sail in, sunny days and no wind, sunny days with wind but no tide, and increasing numbers of "blechhh" days where the wind and tide was good but the weather was the aforesaid... Sparrow's out on the 12th, and a number of things have to happen before then... but yet again I've gotten ahead of myself, because of course there's always more than one boat involved in the life of a Jolly Boy™

We'd also been trying to get a trip out on the Jolly Boy flagship, AmiLy, and were hoping that a two day'er was on the cards when, firstly the weather gods intervened and one of the two days was cancelled, and then on the surviving day, with tides not optimal (so meaning not enough time to get to Cowes or anywhere else for lunch 😁) we were met by a F5 gusting 6! With the best will in the world, just 2 or 3 hours sailing and all the faff that entails, in boisterous conditions (as we had to be back by a certain time because of tide) were not 'floating the boat' so in the end it was sausage baps, tea, talking 'bolleaux', and then we took the opportunity to get all the sails off her ready for her lift next week.. oh, and there may have been omelettes involved too..

Going to miss that view over the next 6 months..

Which was pretty much what I had to do as well (albeit absent the sausage baps and omelettes regrettably), and so it was that with another big Spring tide (is it me or are they always big Spring tides!) I found myself on Sparrow for the annual end of season tear down..

Beautiful day but again it was blowing old boots - not optimal for taking sails off, but I'm running out of time so needs must...

First order of the day was the main which on Sparrow comes home still attached to the boom - mainsheet, topping lift and kicker detached, remove the clip from the mast track to allow the slides to come out at the gate, then it's simply a matter of undoing the nut that holds the boom to the gooseneck and wrapping the sail cover round the front before dropping the whole lot into the dinghy ready for the pull home.

All looked in pretty good condition but I noticed the topping lift was looking a bit frayed - I'd guess it had been rubbing against the triangle on the back stay.. 

..did that whipping/rope replacement back in May '23 [clicky] so it's not done too badly,
but either way, a new job for the list... 😏

Next was the genoa.. the furler has never failed to absolutely delight this season, a complete game changer and one of those things (like the tiller pilot) that make you wonder why you hadn't done it years earlier, and so it was with the removal of the genoa - detached the sheets while it was still rolled and then it was just a simple matter of rolling it out from the foredeck by hand while controlling how quickly it unrolled with the furler line... it slid out of the track much more easily than it went in! 😏

Bundled it up (there's no way you can fold it on a 20 foot boat, in a F5, and on your own 😁) and that joined the boom/main in the tender ready for proper folding at home..

Much quicker than I expected so I decided I might do that topping lift there and then - it was sunny, warm, and good to be on the water, so checked the battery charge as ususal - all good with the battery showing just over 15v (which is pretty typical given it hadn't been switched on for a while, and was getting charge from the solar panel) but when I turned the VHF on (just for something to listen to while I was repairing the topping lift), about 10 minutes later I was getting a low battery alarm on the VHF display, and the battery monitor was showing it down to < 10v..  buggeration..  switched everything off and the voltage climbed, only for it to drop like a stone when something was turned on..  battery's knackered...   not holding a charge. 

So I swapped the battery last time in May '22, which means that little lump of lead and acid has been doing it's job for four and a half years, bless it..  👍 Not bad at all, very happy with that and better still, when I checked, they still sell them, and it's still the same price! Bargain - will order one next week and add the job to the winter maintenance list..

Oh, and the topping lift? Done..  chopped off to just after worn, with a new thimble as well - sewed and wrapped..  proper job..

Pausing only to leave my phone in the cockpit I wended my way home... 😬

...and yes, an hour later, and on the last legs of the tide I was back to collect the phone.. 😏

More jobs done - and the mast is raised for the first time..

..with the new rigging that is..  and not without some issues...  but that's for later. 😏

With the first sunny day in some time I managed to get a quorum of the Jolly Boys to pursue my plan to raise the mast with the new rigging..

First day in an age with some decent warm weather saw Dave, Rodders and I clambering all over Sparrow while we started to put it all together..  I'm not going into detail on the what and how of the mechanics of this, as it is all documented here (clicky). I usually have a read of that step by step the night before as a refresher!

All the new rigging was now back on the mast, and the only addition to the checklist was to jettison the old Goiot roller furler so that it was no longer in the way - I'd already disconnected it at mast head when I I connected the new Furlex furler, so it was just a matter of handing it down and storing it under the boat for the time being..

All went fairly well getting ready - a problem with the split back stay cable run was fixed before we raised the mast, but when we went for the mast raise somehow the burgee halyard had got caught on something, wasn't spotted, and before the line snapped it bent the spreader on the starboard side causing some of the pop rivets to fail in the spreader base..  now idea how it happened but it did... 😏

Once the mast was up, all the side stays on port and starboard were good - lowers and uppers - right length and room for adjustment - but the backstay/forestay combo was definitely half and inch too short even with the minimum adjustment on the backstay bottle screw. We resolved the problem in the end by refitting the original shackles used on the old rig and that provided the necessary extra length to connect everything up correctly...   my guess is that the rigging will stretch slightly over time and we may be able to get rid of them eventually, but for now the job's a good'un with the shackles..

While the rig was up, I took the opportunity to try the genoa - the riggers had warned me that it might need some adjustment and they were right. The bead in the luff of the genoa was too thick for the slot on the Furlex..  not surprised really as the old Goiot furler came off a far bigger boat originally so was oversized. Happily the luff length is fine, and the sail is now with my local sailmaker to have a new bead fitted to the luff..

While we were putting up the mast one of the old temporary cockpit locker lids also gave up the ghost...

..think Rodders may have been balancing on one foot on it.. 😁

So next day down to start doing some repairs...  first the cockpit lid...  I put these temporary one's on over the winter purely to save the actual one's from weather damage over the 6 months on the hard..  the temporary ones are in two layers of heavy duty bin bag sealed on all edges to (try) and stop water ingress but they're not 100% and this one had basically rotted after three years doing service..

I launch in 3 weeks so the replacement was a quick and dirty from something I had laying round in the garage..

Before.. 

..and after... 

..then it was time to focus on the spreader plate...   I'd done the other side back in 2013 [clicky] so was happy with what needed done. but first I needed to do some panel beating on the plate to flatten her out. 

Ideally I would have like to take the whole thing off and flattened it out in a vice, but there are 8 to 10 pop rivets and also a through mast bolt, and that bolt was not going to come undone even with application of the largest socket, and Plus Gas penetrator, so I decided to fix in situ using G clamps and hammer with wood to protect the metal..

Just that one at the top to do which needs a little help with a drill to straighten the hole to get the rivet in..  job's a good'un..

Next - and in order of importance:

• antifoul needs doing
• companionway hatches need paint
• cockpit board (where the solar and the VHF aerial sit) and the outboard pad needs a coat of wood protector
• then I need to do a few small jobs on the tender...  
• I want to put another length of steel pate on the bottom to protect the keel from rubbing, and 
• I fancy putting another coat of floor paint on the floor - it takes days to dry so I can paint it and then just turn it upside down to dry over the next 3 weeks.. and finally
• touch up the black paint on the topsides/bottom

Catch up - and the first boat goes in...

...the life jacket service is complete - no issues, and the jackets remained firm after a 24 hour inflation - all good for another season, though they really are beginning to get old... 😏

One job done..

Another job is also nearing completion - super excited to take delivery at the tail end of last week of the new standing rigging..

...and even more excitingly the new roller furler - shiny'ness in the extreme...

..new and old side by side...

At this point in time I have re-fitted the port and starboard lowers, I'm just waiting on a break in the almost constant deluge we've had in the UK since seemingly last November to finish off the other bits - attach the new furler, then uppers, and also backstay - it'll be done sometime this week if the forecast is to be believed...

Once that's done my plan is to get a quorate of the Jolly Boys to put the mast up while I'm still on the hard - one to make sure the stays are all the right length and everything fits, and two to ensure I don't need to make any changes to the foresail as a result of the new furler (either luff length, or luff bolt rope)... much easier to know of any issues while she's ashore rather than when she's on the water.

Then finally - the first of the Jolly Boy boats has been launched - AmiLy was launched at the tail end of last week..

She's always the first as Rodders gets a winter contract from Premier and they don't give away anything free... either way, after the quick tighten of a raw water inlet bowl (😏) all was well on board, and once again we got that smell of "boat" - a mix of plastic, fuel, and sea...

We bought her round to Whale Island on Friday - no plot as I forgot so last years will do as the route, speed and distance would be exactly the same. Overjoyed to be sat on the cabin roof with a forward mooring line in hand chatting to Smithy who has the stern line, as yet again we come in for a safe along side...  😀

Brilliant - thought this winter would never end... 

Next jobs - finish the standing rigging, and then we bend on the sails on AmiLy, hopefully this week..

Log:

Distance: 4.0 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F4 ; SWxS
Sail Plan: n/a
Speed (Max/average in knots): 6 / 3.3 

Job # 9 - Standing rigging - under way!

Progress - and not a little exciting - on this years job # 9, replacing the standing rigging..

It was last done in July 2013, and although she's not been raced, or had what I consider to be heavy usage in the interim (in fact for one year - COVID - she wasn't even in use), it has been 13 years since it was last done. Having suffered a rigging failure and dismast in the past, I am perhaps more risk averse than most, but hey, the insurance companies like us to do it every 10 years, and the forestay in particular gets a hammering from the roller furler, and was showing signs of wear - if I'm doing that, then I may as well do the lot..

So - time to start getting the new stuff done - I'd already decided I was going to Holman Rigging to get it done, as it's probably not an exaggeration to say that they saved my boat after the last dismasting as a result of some innovative thinking. Problem is, they are based in Chichester Marina, and Sparrow is on land at  the opposite end of the harbour. Easiest way to do it then was to strip the rigging myself, and then take it over in the car...

Two hours later, we had the following..

"SU" - starboard upper etc..😏

...fairly painless - the caps for the spreaders were a little stiff to get out, but other than that, it was just seven clevis pins secured by split pins through each of the swage eyes and the uppers, lowers and back stay were free - labelled each as I went along...

Ready for the riggers - note the spreader caps on the uppers - interesting that they make the rigging with them already on as you can't slide them over the fittings at either end..

...what very definitely wasn't easy was the forestay though. What I found was that the furler was constructed round the forestay - so to get the forestay itself out would require a full disassemble of the furler. 

The swage eyes at each end could fit down inside each of the foil tubes, but the forestay wire was fed through a slot in the internal metal plate/butt that fits inside the end of each tube to hold them all together. Bottom line, you'd have to undo each/every tube completely to get the wire out..  more thought was required on that, so I put it off until I'd had a chance to have a chat with the rigger.

I'll be quite honest, even before this point, I'd been considering the possibility of actually replacing the furler for a number of reasons..

1. it's very old and therefore spares are almost impossible to get hold of
2. it was not the right size for the boat - it originally came off a far bigger boat and was just cut down (hence the 6mm forestay required - the clevis pin at the lower connection of the roller furling needed a swaged eye with a diameter of 12mm 😐 which is only available to fit 6mm wire)
3. it was stiff and hard work to roll out and in the foresail

...so I was hoping that in addition to the new forestay, I might be able to get it serviced so at least it would be smoother to operate.

Popped over to the riggers at the beginning of the week, and after a good chat discussing the options, agreed that the only way we could easily get the furler to them, was for me to transport it on a long ladder on the roof of the car. Having said that they were also of the view that on such a small boat, tensioning up a 6mm forestay is difficult, and as I suspected they don't have the parts to service the furler (but they were willing to have a look at it and perhaps cannibalise any old furlers they have laying round). 

So, what are the options for a furler for a 20 foot boat these days I asked.. 😁

Turns out it's one of these..

...and having surprised me at how much cheaper it was than I expected I've signed on the dotted line, and paid the deposit..  👏

Just had to check the diameter of the chain plates for the back stay bridles (5mm as it happens)

... and I came home with the following order..   uppers/lowers are a direct like for like replace, 4mm swaged eye/stud, back stay is almost like for like, Holman advised forks rather than eyes on the bridles...  and then there's the forestay/furler combo.. 

Shakedown sail...

Bit of a big one, but a fairly trouble free shakedown it was..  before we get to that though, a few other bits and pieces happening...

First off, sniping a suitable hole in the abysmal weather we've been having recently, the sails finally went back on three or four days ago. I also took the opportunity to tighten up the rig, and to refresh the fuel in the outboard tank..  I get worried when it's over four weeks old, and it's no problem just to drain the tank of the old, shove that in the car, and then fill up again with fresh the next time I'm on the boat..  so 5 ltrs of Super added..

While putting the tender in however, one of the wheels fell off the launch trolley - so that was a slightly bigger job - took it home and found they had been held on with captive/locking washers..

Tidied up the hub, and rather than get new locking washers I decided to drill and pin it with a nice chunky washer between to protect the pin and wheel from rubbing...

Job done - the other one is OK, so I'll just do the same when it (inevitably) fails - let's go sailing..

Quite possibly one of the loveliest days of the Spring so far this year, with a F3 promised (albeit expected to drop later in the day) and wall to wall warm sunshine was chosen for the first sail..  what a blinder, and so good to be back on the water..

HT was 11:46, and I was on the boat and getting ready by 09:45, funnily enough, and unlike normally happens on the first sail of the year, I actually remembered what to do, and even in the right order (😏) including remembering how to reef - the wind in the moorings was a little feisty, and given it was the first sail of the year, I decided a light reef was in order despite the forecast saying it would drop. That done by half past we dropped the mooring and for the first time this year were motoring down 'the ditch' (it's actually called 'The New Cut' as it was dredged back in the day for the barges that ran between Chichester and Portsmouth) towards Northney...  sails up off the entrance to the marina and the (most unusual) NE'ly was swinging around enough for us to get down Sweare Deep to the Emsworth Channel on a single tack before bearing away against a Spring tide flow to have a glorious beam reach to the bottom of the harbour - making 3's and 3.5 knots against a a 1 or 2 knot tide..  most pleasing - clean bottoms are a help.. 😀

Short cut cross Pilsea Sands, then Stockers Lake (interesting to see the depth jump as we went through, or rather over, it) and over Stockers Sands before tightening up for Snowhill Creek...   remarkably un-busy at East Head for such a lovely day but I guess most people were at work, so a bit of pootling round admiring the boats, and it was round Snowhill buoy and aiming back at the top of the harbour..

Close hauled, and close reach, to the top of the harbour with the wind dying all the time, hove to to take the reefs out just shy of Marker, and then persevered for another half an hour before admitting defeat, dropping the sails and heading back to the mooring on motor.

So "shakedown" issues?

• Standing rigging is good - all taught and little or no slack on opposite sides when beating
• Main halyard run was a bit skewwhiff - it was running behind/around the genoa halyard so friction when raising and dropping the sail - dropped the genoa, restored a clean run for both halyards, and re-raised and tied off the genoa..  job done.
• Dropped the boat hook when I was picking up the mooring - no idea how - but happily I managed to get back to the cockpit, leant over the side, and collected it as it floated past..  another vote for wooden boat hooks..  they float.. but easier not to drop it in the first place! 😏

Log:

** Old fuel drained - 5 litres added to the fuel tank **

Distance: 10.18 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction):   Both ends of a F3; NE going SxW (sea breeze)
Sail Plan: Reefed/full main; reefed/full genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots):  5.4 / 2.8

Tacking practice..

Seize the moment...  and bloody pleased I did...

Glorious weekend in the UK with plenty of breeze (forecast was 3 gusting 4) which is Sparrow's sweet spot, the only downside was an 18:30 neap'ish HT, but needs must, and even a few hours on the water was better than none at all, and besides, after that all too short shakedown the other night I was keen to get out for a slightly longer trip..

Down the club by 2'ish then and after a chat with fellow club member Julian, I found some bits to do while I waited for a little more water to arrive...

Main order of duty was to find some buffering/fendering materials for the new tender as she currently has none. 

Round the back of one of the containers at the end of the yard though, I found a couple of old small fenders, still inflated though a little soft. Clearly surplus to anyone's requirements, so with the addition of some line I found in the boot of the car I added these to one side of the tender - I'll make a more permanent fixing this week, but lashed long'wise, end to end, they were perfect...

The tender is beginning to come together - some O rings on the bung fixed the dripping issue I had the first time, and to all intents she is almost dry now...  one of the other issues though was the hawser/towing line which was too short to allow me to tie her off to Sparrow at my usual attachment points but still have her broadside to the cockpit to make getting in and out easier and safer..  I have some 12mm mylar rope in the garage which was a gift from the brother in law and removed from one of the Clipper Round the World yacht race boats a few years back, so a length of that whipped at each end was pressed to service..  it's probably too thick but it tickles me that a rope that probably saw the worst of the Southern Ocean is now a towing line for my little tender.. 😀

With just over 3.5 hours to HT I launched the tender and made my way to Sparrow to get her ready to go..  depth showed me half a meter under the keel, so having taken covers off, started donk, tied off tender, and dropped the mooring chain we were off..  not bad on a 3.4 mtr tide.

Also not surprisingly though, that early in the tide it was flowing fairly strong against me (and the rest of the afternoon to be honest) so with the wind direction being mostly southerly with just a little east in it, I motored to Beacon where I put the main up for the first time this year, slackened the topping lift, rolled out the genoa, and then went tacking for the afternoon..  😃

Pictures of Sparrow courtesy of Julian's missus as they were out on their boat.. 

Lovely afternoon with just enough breeze to keep Sparrow on her toes...  she was pointing well despite the full genoa, and she was also moving well, a regular 3.5 knots SOG. 

What was also gratifying was that the experiment with the genoa sheets seems to be a qualified success..  tacks were definitely smoother with the sheets feeding far more easily, what I want to now is get some guards for the chain plates to stop the sheets catching, I have an idea what I can use and how to do it (seen on one of the other boats in the yard) so I'll fabricate those this week...  "Qualified"? Well they are a little hard on the hands, as I suspected, but not unduly so, and they are manageable

Hurtled past Marker, carried on another couple of tacks and then turned and goose wing ran for the top of the harbour (picture top of post) - I was getting cold and besides I had a fish and chips vision praying on my mind..  gybed just off Emsworth Beacon, rolled the genoa away (as the main was blanking it), started the engine off Sweare Deep, and then sailed down the ditch past Northney (very unusual to be able to do that as the wind down there is very very squirrelly and comes from all directions) before dropping the main just shy of the bridge and then picking up the mooring..

Packed and tidied away and then spent 10 minutes tightening up the stays (nothing like a good tacking session to show which one's are loose 😏) before heading home (via the fish and chip shop 'natch)..  excellent sail!!

Stay tuned for possible updates on the engine front..  changes may be about to happen...

Log:

Distance: 7.56 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F3 gusting F4; S going SE
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 4.9 / 3.1

Standing rigging replace.. done!!!

So, it's all done...

I took Sparrow round to the Yacht Harbour yesterday morning on the early tide (0730) expecting to stay there for 24 hours, but a confluence of events found me returning to the mooring on that evenings tide, no time for a detailed investigation but the rigging is very nice and shiny...! 😀

It was a good day all round, as having dropped Sparrow off, "Coral Paul" and I fast footed it to Tesco for a slap up brekkie before then going down to the club to hoist the mast on his boat (Sunray 21)... I do like mucking about with blocks and tackles, and boats always look better with masts up anyway... two of us did this one with the help of an A frame, a jib halyard, and a main sheet - good fun...

So now the rigging's done, let's go sailing!

For reference:

• Replaced 2 cap shrouds, and 2 pairs of lower shrouds, in 4mm 1/19 stainless steel wire with new 5/16^th rigging screws (Swage stud to Fork) and new swage eyes.
• Replaced the split backstay in 4mm 1/19 stainless steel wire using a triangular plate with new bottle screw and new eyes and forks
• Replaced the forestay in 6mm 1/19 stainless steel wire (the fitting on the lower part of the roller furling needs a swaged eye with a diameter of 12mm which is only available to fit 6mm wire. ) with new eye at the top of the forestay and new stud or bottle screw at the lower end.

 

Standing rigging replace.. part the second

Still being done... 

 
All finished apart from the forestay, which despite her diminutive size is 6mm. We had every intention of replacing this with 5mm, but the roller furler (a Goiet) drum has a forestay fitting that uses a 12mm (!) clevis pin, and the swaged end that would accommodate this only comes for 6mm rigging wire - so we'll replace like for like....  it made me chuckle - the entire forestay design is built round one clevis pin!

In the interim,

I've wire brushed and Hammer'ited the tabernacle - I'll give it a second coat this weekend (so that's one good side effect of the delay as I ran out of time last weekend)

"Before".... I'll get an "after" picture this weekend...

I have also fitted a burgee halyard on the starboard spreader - just an eye strap pop riveted to spreader, and then a small shackle and block I found attached to the top of the mast when I was cleaning... it wasn't being used there and now is - not the most important or momentous of fixes but it's something else done, and off the list....and I can now fly my pirate flag.... 

While cleaning and checking the mast I was surprised to find that the light at the top of the mast was actually a tri-colour navigation light, rather than an anchor light as I had assumed - the reason for the confusion is that the lens for the light is so fogged and crazed (UV damage) that it appears white. It's also useless as no light can be seen thought it - it's a shame as the fitting is in very good condition apart from that. There are alternatives though, and the need is not urgent. I'll replace it when I fit the VHF this winter - in the meanwhile I'll keep an eye on eBay for an old light to cannibalise.

As preparation however, I've had the electrical wire replaced - this runs inside the mast so it makes sense to do it now. I've also replaced that manky plug you can see in the picture above - we'll see if I also end up having to do the through deck fitting...

All being well I hope to take the boat round to have the mast put back on, on Monday (15th)

Standing rigging replace..

Sparrow is in to have her standing rigging done... a good day

Up early to meet "Coral" Paul at Emsworth Yacht Harbour at 7:30, where we left one of the cars..  round to the club, rowed out to "Sparrow", lost the tender (the mooring line slipped through my fingers honest! ), fell about laughing, quickly strapped the outboard on, cast off, chased tender, recovered tender, pulled tender back to mooring, tied it to the pick up buoy and headed for Emsworth...

35 minutes later we were gently pushing through the entrance to the marina over the sill, sharp left and glide on to the visitors pontoon...  £16 plus odd change for 24 hours but inclusive of free water/power...

After a slap up brekkie at Driftwood [clicky], Paul dropped me back at the club and I headed home for the pressure washer - I'd been looking forward to this, she's needed a damn good scrub for 6 months now... and following two pressure washes and an intermediate scrub with broom and bio washing powder, she's looking much better.....

Mast is unlikely to be ready before the weekend so I'll take her back to the mooring tomorrow morning.. and then bring her back for 24 hours when it's ready....

Before....

After....

Before.... what a grub...   for shame....

After... clean as a new pin...  you'll have to trust me as the pictures don't show it!

Brilliant day....