Unguents and a two tick kind of day...

....but hasn't yet shuffled off this mortal coil....

So what's been happening? Bit of sailing, bit of maintenance, not a lot else...

Last weekend I put in a few hours on the transom board and rubbing strakes - the weather has been fierce this summer, and it's over a year and a half since they were last done (Feb '19). The good news was I didn't have to do the whole of them - just the rear third, and only the top edge at that, which I guess gets most of the water run off. Rub down to good with a detail sander, wipe off with white spirit, and a coat on each side and all done. 

Then did the same to the transom board (also known as the cockpit board) - from what I can tell thi sis the first time since 2017 so it's done well, but it had blistered in parts down to wood..  good sand all over, edges and top, removing all lose material, single coat and all good - took the opportunity to also replace the bungee's holding on the solar panel.

One job still to do is to put some varnish on the hand rails - but it is stupid hot here at the moment so I'll hold that over to this weekend..

..and sailing? That good egg Rod the Mod called me the other day and offered me a ride-out for the day... pausing only to spit his arm out, I bit so quick, we agreed on a jaunt last Thursday, and what a jaunt...  suffice to say I ticked two items off the bucket list...

First tick, we went past a pod of dolphins after we let Portsmouth! Cool as you like - just  dipping and blowing about 50 yards off the port quarter - we couldn't believe it...   we were no more than a mile off the harbour entrance, and I was watching dolphins...  bloody amazing...   😃

Carried on - it was easterly's, so dead down wind for most of the Solent, but with a bit of tide under us as well, we were doing 3 to 4 knots and had plans for the Hamble In the end we opted for a deserted mid river pontoon up the Medina from Cowes... food, beer, snooze (we're getting old) and then upped sticks for home...  and just outside of Cowes this speed merchant came hurtling past..

You can watch these in sequence...

Yep - full gybe on stilts - and never dropped off the foils...  simply stunning..  and another tick off the bucket list...

 

 

No wonder we sail in the Solent!

Second wave..

All gone a bit quiet, which isn't to say nothing's going on, but in the words of the old Prince song 'I was busy doing something close to nothing'...

Launch date has been and gone, Sparrow is still on the hard, and I've decided that for the time being at least that's where she'll stay..

Why?

Second wave concerns, mostly.. the UK is managing it's exit from lock down badly, and nothing that I am seeing in mainstream media leads me to disbelieve that there won't be a second wave in about a month or two, with the inevitable lock down, and put simply I would rather the boat was in the car park, than on the mooring, when the time comes that I can't get to her...

I've got stuff I can do on her in the warm and the dry..  I fancy having a go at the damage on the nose for one thing.... 

More anon..

Engines... ready!

So...  time to take the bull by the horns and finish off those three jobs I was talking about oin the last post..  first one ("Test run the outboard and do a test fit to the boat to see if raising it half an inch resolves my issues with lifting it..) is done..

Raided the wood pile/spares box at home and came up with a batten about a cm deep, cut it to length, and sat the engine on top of that, so it rested between engine and outboard well lip..  it raises the engine height by the aforesaid cm, but more importantly it means I can now raise the engine to the upper tilt position without fouling the opposite edge of the outboard well [clicky].. 

 .. it's still tight, and I may have ti turn it to one side to get the necessary to lift it slightly so it can be dropped, but I will live with that as it is way better than the alternative which was to star cutting at the edges of the upper tilt rest [clicky]..

Next, a run up in the tank to make sure she'd still start, fresh fuel, and off she went...

Job done...  wash and brush up next, and then the anitfoul..