Family Commitments of one sort or another have rather curtailed sailing activities this year after my summer cruise to Scilly.
The first opportunity I had to get down to the boat for a couple of days was in mid October and given I had last been on board in late August I suspected her bottom may be in need of a clean and so I booked the club scrubbing dock for the 12th/13th October and went down to do battle with slime and weed.
What I found was even worse than I expected and given I had only applied new Copper Coat in April, I was rather taken aback by what I found. There must have been a coating of weed and sludge almost a quarter of an inch thick over the entire bottom of the boat. My pressure washer was just about up to the job of getting rid of that but hidden amongst the weed was the most extensive growth of barnacles I had come across for many years. Persistent and close quarter action with the pressure washer got rid of most but I had to go round with a scraper to remove the worst offenders, I was a bit concerned about the risk of damaging the Copper Coat but thankfully that did not appear to happen. Once I had cleared them all I then went round the whole bottom with a scrubbing brush and then the pressure washer again, to remove the last vestiges of slime. Finally, I went round the whole bottom one more time with very fine grade sandpaper in order to expose the copper.
Strangely the rudder had the worst weed and the worst barnacles. I was however relieved to find that the repair I had made to a hole in the rudder back in the spring had held. The propeller had barnacles as well but it did not seem any worse than in previous years with Arctic Smoke when I had applied Prop Shield. I've therefore concluded that is not worth expense.
Some days later I mentioned my experience to Howard who also has Copper Coat on his boat which is moored in Gillingham Marina and he told me that he too had experienced very significant fouling this year. Given that he also uses a sonic antifouling system, I was re-assured that the extensive fouling was not caused by some inadequacy with Bonny's new and very expensive Copper Coat. I previously had to remove a type of copper coat from Arctic Smoke when it proved ineffective and that was an experience I did not want to repeat. I assume the combination of a very hot summer and the pea-soup-like waters of the Medway were the cause of the virulent marine growth this year. Howard also said that the fouling on his rudders (he has 2) was significantly worse than on the rest of the boat. He had concluded that it was because the sonic system did not cover the rudders, but now we wonder whether there is some other explanation!
Anyway, now I could look forward to a late season sail with a clean bottom! Originally, Howard and I had a week's sailing planned but an operation on his foot put him out of action and family and social commitments ate away at the time available for a solo sail. I ended up with 5 days instead of seven and the state of the tides meant that I could only get on to the boat late in the afternoon on the first day. It was also wet and so I decided to stay put that first night. The following day by mid afternoon, things improved sufficiently to make a short sail down the river to Stangate Creek worthwhile. We were lucky and only got caught by one brief shower during an otherwise very pleasant sail. Friday afternoon and night were therefore spent at Anchor in an otherwise deserted Stangate Creek. The wind was quite fresh over night but by the morning had moderated to the predicted South Easterly, Force 3 to 4 - ideal for the short passage to the Colne and Pyfleet.
I got the anchor up at 0845 and we set off punching the last hour or so of the neap flood tide. A very pleasant sail up the coast in the unusually warm Autumn sunshine followed. All was well until a few hours later, about halfway between the Whittaker and Swin Spitway buoys, the mainsail suddenly lowered itself. I went up to investigate and found the halyard was no longer attached to the head of the sail and was also nowhere to be seen! On parting company with the sail it had disappeared down the inside of the mast. On pulling it through I found out why. The thread used to make and the eye that attached it to the sail head head had rotted and finally parted. The eye broke open, the sail fell down and the halyard pulled through the sheave at the top of the top of the mast and fell down into it!
I continued on under Genoa alone and a couple of hours later, anchored in the Pyfleet next to the ex fishing ketch - Pioneer. The wind had freshened by this point and given the forecast for lighter winds the next day, I had no difficulty in putting off the inevitable trip up the mast to try and put matters right.
After breakfast the following morning I climbed the mast using the clever mast climbing kit I had bought from the USA some years back. I took up a real of whipping twine, a couple of nuts to act as weights, a knife and the halyard. The plan being to send the whipping twine down the mast and to then pull the halyard through. Of course I could not get the nut through the sheave and all attempts at poking the halyard through it and down the mast failed. The spare external block that I had spotted from the deck, that I was going to use as a temporary fix in just these circumstances, turned out to be broken! So I had to go back down the mast, pinch a block from the mainsail preventer system and return up the mast to install that. Eventually, I got back to the deck for the second time with the halyard re-installed, albeit temporarily.
Anyone following the Golden Globe Race, may have noticed that the race leader (during the period I am writing about at least) Simon Curwen sailing a Biscay 36, experienced a near identical problem but with his Genoa halyard. He also attempted to re-reeve it but also without success. Admittedly, he was probably in far worse conditions than me, but it is nevertheless re-assuring that my failure to fix the problem is a failure shared with such an notable sailor!
Back at home searching on-line I came across the suggestion of using a length of Bicycle chain to get a messenger line over the masthead sheave and to act as a weight to get it down the inside of the mast and an extendable magnet to catch it at the bottom sheave. I've ordered both and will try it out on the next opportunity - which may not be until the Spring. A warm windless day is best for such a performance!
I had to get home for Sunday evening to take Sharon to the Dentist on the Monday and plan A had been to leave in the early hours of Sunday morning on the last couple of hours of the ebb. Sunday's weather was looking decidedly unpleasant however, so I decided to leave later that afternoon which would mean crossing the Thames in the dark and an arrival at Hoo at around 2200. The option of a lie-in on Sunday was also rather appealing!
So I got the anchor up at around 1330 with three hours of the ebb left to go and headed out to sea. Initially we had a southerly breeze that required two tacks to cross the Spitway it then veered towards the south east which required another two tacks in the late afternoon to get through the Swin channel. Bonny seemed to be sailing particularly well which was very pleasing - possibly because I finally managed to adjust the genoa leach line properly (it is though on the verge of breaking). We were often making 6-7 knots through the water hard on the wind. The sea was very flat but nevertheless it was a pretty good performance. Bonny also steered herself which was very satisfying.
We had to dodge a couple of ships around Sea Reach - one entering the Thames and one leaving, but apart from that it was an easy crossing of the estuary. The wind died just before Garrison Point and so I motored the next 5 miles or so to Hoo and picked up the mooring at 2210. Just as I did so, it started to rain!
I hope to get some more sailing in before the weather gets too dismissal and then the Spring will be busy with preparations for my hoped for extended cruise to start in the summer.
