"My my my Delilah" ...

"My my my Delilah
Why why why Delilah
I could see, that girl was no good for me
But I was lost like a slave that no man could free"...

Lyrics by Tom Jones

...passed by the sailing club this morning on the way to work (just to make sure the mast was where David and I left it 😏) and as it was a low tide thought I'd check out "Delilah" the Langstone Harbour Board moorings service/maintenance vessel...

Sometime overnight on the 27th she broke her mooring and then made the following trip....

 Little over 5 nautical miles if I read the scale right...  even more amazing, just before she ended up where she did, she either went through, or across, this...

She ended up just about where that white yacht in the background is - in the first picture you can see the blocks in the background - I'm guessing she went over one of those concrete pilings (they're the old bridge supports for the Hayling Billy railway line) as the navigable route is through the middle of the larger metal towers, and it's narrow even if she were under control...

Not without damage though - starboard side superstructure damage (in top picture), but she's also been grievously bashed, and holed, underneath..

Bottom plates are well and truly buckled....

Going to need some welding before she moves...  the "good" news is that it doesn't appear to be a huge hole, I couldn't see any other damage, and she'll float in 10 feet (from the depth marks) and there's easily that where she is...

More here: http://www.ybw.com/news-from-yachting-boating-world/storm-katie-gales-barge-sailing-hits-bridge-18203

Katie lashes out...

Just a month and a half after "Imogen" [clicky] and now we've just been pounded by "Katie" over the last (Easter) weekend..

Wind speed scale (left) in knots, wind direction (right) in degrees - data source Cambermet.co.uk

The graph shows three days worth - I was working on Sparrow during the day on the 27th (peak of 45 knots, force 9) and at times the rain was horizontal, and even down in the "valley" between two much bigger boats, and with her mast down, she was rocking.... As it turns out that was nothing to overnight on Sunday into Monday, when we had a gust of 65 knots which is full blown F12 (hurricane) but consistent gusts of F11 , and that was inside the harbour..  I suspect that was when this occurred...

Thankfully - no damage was done - even the mast head light seems to be OK (but I need to test it), but it was a bit of a shock, and huge thanks to fellow club member David who tipped me off to the problem and had already replaced and lashed down the mast by the time I got down there.... I'm guessing that the rope lashings at the foot acted both as a shock absorber and a hinge, so she just gently fell sideways - no damage to mast or boat, the spreaders are fine....  I was lucky...!

More than I can say for others though....  one of the club members who launched early suffered a mooring failure and his catamaran is currently down harbour high on a mud bank - jib looks to have shredded, I do hope they manage to get her off..

Picture courtesy of Max at http://bursledonblog.blogspot.sk/2016/03/after-storm-katy.html

 ...the clubs mooring barge turned turtle, and Langstone Harbour Board's own mooring service tug broke free and ended up wrapped around Hayling Bridge (clicky - pic courtesy Mark's blog) - she's been warped off but looks like some significant damage.

Scenes of devastation when I came through Emsworth this morning...  this one looks bad - she was pulled up on the beach last week guessed the owner was cleaning the bottom as she had a couple of chunky anchors out...  not enough though, it looks like she's lost a bilge keel, one of the spreaders has gone, but the whole of the pontoon side is caved in and fractured - a right off... 

...and two up against the harbour wall - the blue one is "Geraldine" a  Leisure 17 - I think that's the second time she's ended up there....   There's also a bigger boat called "Sheherezade" at the bottom of the main street just to the left in the picture below...

That puts the mast slipping off the boat in context...  

Coming along nicely...

Just over two weeks to launch, and with another Atlantic low tracking in (it must be a Bank Holiday weekend), I decided to take a day off on what looked to be the last good weather day for a while in order to get some work done on Sparrow..

First order of the day was anti-foul..  for good reason the club likes members to anti-foul at least a week before launch as it means the paint has a chance to harden off a little, and therefore not leave deposits all over the strops used on the 8 ton lift, which then get transferred to top sides of the next boat, and the next, and etc..  With this weekend looking to be a wipe out, and the low staying with us until well into next week, it was a bit of a "no brainer"..

So obligatory "before" shot..  all taped up and the first tray loaded...

..and that ground is as hard as it looks...

...and I love this bit... "after"...  my absolute favourite bit is taking off the masking tape - watching that straight line appear...  small pleasures!

.....I'm convinced the chap behind me is using the same brand....

...a little over 2 hours with a break in the middle for a coffee - it's a hideous job, especially the bit between the keels..  even with gloves, all over covering and glasses, I was still liberally smeared and spotted... when I got home that evening I even had a couple of paint spots on my front teeth..! 

Went with a new plan this year and used the entire tin - just kept painting it on until I didn't have anything left - previous years I've given it two coats and an extra on the waterline and come away with a half litre of paint for "just in case" which I then never use, so two thick coats all over, and then extra thick coats on bilge keels, rudder and water line...  time will tell (as usual) but I liked this stuff as it was a little less viscous than the usual stuff so much easier to roll on..

After that it was time for a beer from the boats bar with a cigar and a time for contemplating, before cracking on with some fettling jobs.....

• Mixed up some plastic padding and filled those holes on the cockpit hatch and weather board from the previous padlock hasp, and 
• while I had some spare I also filled a couple of old/small dings on the sides..  (as is the way of these things I then spotted a couple of others I'll do next time)
• Glued and test bolted a batten to the inside of the top washboard cover - clamped it while it dried and once it was firm removed the clamps and slapped a coat of paint on the batten...
• Put the final coat on the bottom washboard
• Put the final coat of wood treatment on the tiller, outboard bracket and companion way sides

Jobs for next time:

1. Rub down the plastic padding and paint both the hatch edge and the top weather board
2. When the top weather board paint is dry, bolt through the batten to complete the top washboard
3. Fit the earthing block inside the switch box
4. Rub down the repairs to the dings on the topsides
5. Fit the master switch
6. Fit the crimp terminals to the negative and positive battery feed cables (measure the positive first as it is a partial length ie. battery <=> master switch <=> switch box/panel)
7. Connect power to switch box and test
8. Put the last coats on the cockpit hatches (they're at home so I can do them any time)

...after that I then want to do the bits and pieces to run the topping lift and halyard back to the cockpit.. then fit the cable gland for the VHF, and finally, give her a wash down with some Oxalic that I've just ordered....   no sweat!

Happy Easter, folks...