Rest, Work and Play in Gijon

We both enjoyed a lie yesterday (Saturday) until after 9, although the rain pooring in the open forehatch woke Mick at about 0600.

After a late breakfast we manouvred Bonny so that her stern was adjacent to the empty pontoon next to us and contemplated the Hydrovane installation and the potential options. They boiled down to three:

* a beefed up repair to the customised hinge mechanism including additional metal reinforcing 'gussets'

* the removal of the existing shaft and it's replacement (big drawback being that neither the 1 1/8" shaft or it's bearings are manufactured by Hydrovane any more and would therefore have to be custom made

* buy a new system hopefully without the need to include the two heavy cast aluminium brackets that fasten it to the stern of the boat. These are very expensive but in theory we don't need new ones. The problem is that so far we have been unable to remove the bolts that clamp them to the tube containing the shaft. After 40 or so years they are heavily corroded and it may prove impossible to remove them without damaging the brackets.

Eventually, we decided that in order to cover all options and given we currently had the luxury of an empty berth along side us into which we had swung the stern and so had access to the unit, we would attempt to remove it.

And so we set to. After a couple of hours and hard work with spanners, sockets, penetrating oil and hammers we had removed the various nuts from the bolts clamping the brackets together but could not remove the bolts themselves. We therefore turned our attention to the bolts holding the brackets to the stern of the boat and we were able to remove those. With a complex series of ropes to prevent the whole apparatus from dropping into the drink we eventually got the beast of the stern and onto the pontoon.

This is top of the join that failed.....

This is what was attached to it ....

The replace option would unfortunately require buying virtually everything you can see in the photo of the unit on the pontoon (hopefully minus the bracket) AND the rudder because whilst there is nothing wrong with the drive unit at the top nor with the rudder on the bottom, the bit in the middle - the tube and shaft - are now manufactured to different diameters and so will not fit the existing components!

I have contacted the manufacturer and will be contacting the OCC's (Ocean Cruising Club) Port Officer in Vigo for advice and info about potential professional help with repairs.

The dismantling process took most of what remained of the day so after a very late lunch at 1800 and a tidy up we headed out to explore the town.

And what a smashing place it is. It appears to be an extremely popular holiday destination for Spaniards. It Very lively at night with crowded restaurants and bars all 'vibrating' to the exhuberent  sounds of the Spanish at liesure. There's something extremely pleasurable to be in the thick of it without understanding hardly a word. Life is for living and the Spanish certainly know how to do that!

We found a place to eat an excellent sardine and calamari dinner with a huge salad to go with it...

All sorts of water sports are available which must be one of the major draws...

The old town has pleasing architecture too..

During our tour of the town we came

across the late night air display over the bay to the west of the old town.....

It seems that by complete coincidence we had arrived in the midst of a major air display. On arrival on Friday afternoon we noticed stunt planes doing their thing over the town and yesterday their was a Typhoon screaming around the place at incredibly low altitudes. Today, Sunday the stunt planes are out again and so are military planes....

After a fairly extensive tour of the town lastt night, we were hungry - it was now 2330 and the town was as busy as ever and finding a table was a bit of a challenge despite the numerous restaurants. Eventually we found were squeezed into a trendy burgur joint with charming staff and excellent burgers.

We eventually got to bed around 0130 this morning!

I was up early at 1030 and Mick a little later at 1230 🤣.

After a shower I said Hi to who turned out to be Frederick on Xena his very cool looking XBoat ...

We got chatting and I discovered he was from Iceland - one of the places I have a hankering to visit and may do so towards the end of this trip if I manage to over winter the boat in Nova Scotia in 24/25.

Frederick sails mainly solo but has his kids with him for a few weeks. He plans to circumnavigate over the next few years and may possibly cross the Atlantic this coming winter too. He's a photographer and do hopes to earn some money along the way. I don't yet have a photo of him but hope to get one of him and his kids later.

I then rigged Bonny for Summer in harbour..

A little later I waved off a charming French crew who arrived early yesterday from Lotient and are now heading back along the Biscay coast...

Mick cooked a Spanish omlette for lunch...

that we ate while watching the fantastic air display...

Viva la Espana!

Gijon

The last few miles took ages but we finally moored up at 1715

To Gijon

Of course soon after we got off the pontoon the wind eased further so that after cleaing the harbour entrance we motored sailed roughly south and parallel to the coast in order to clear the lee of the Lizard and hopefully pick up some fresher wind. How ironic, we had spent all day hoping the wind would ease, nearly mangled Bonny and two other boats because there was too much of it and now there wasn't enough to keep us sailing! 

Finally, at around 0330 on the morning of the 25th the breeze filled in from the NW and we were able to turn the engine off. We had still not managed to get our satphone weather system to work and so would be reliant on a 5 day graphical forecast we downloaded just before we lost contact with the internet and any Navtex forecasts we may be able to get and possibly weather fax images via the Raspberry Pi (little computer) based navigation system I put together last year. So far though I had not been able to get reliably clear images and in any case the scale is not really detailed enough to support decision making in relatively small areas like the Bay of Biscay.

The forecast we had, indicated that our preferred destination (owing to its westerly location and closeness to, the longed for northerly Portuguese Trades) was probably out of reach without days of tacking and that a port further East was therefore more likely. Indeed we were half expecting to have to settle for somewhere on the French Brittany coast. In these post Brexit days landfall is more complicated because one can only check in at a designated 'port of entry' the number of which probably reduces the availability of viable ports by some 75%. Fortunately, there were three candidates within our anticipated landing zone to the East of A Coruna on the north Spanish coast; Gijon, Santander and Bilboa.

About 120 miles seperates the three ports, of the three Gijon, being the furthest west is our preferred one.

We held what initially was a fair breeze from the NW for most of the day and made steady if slow progress SW. This encouraged me to conclude that a landfall on the Spanish coast was viable and I decided we would make as much westing as possible whilst keeping up a reasonable speed. However around 1500 that day the wind backed further west forcing us towards the north westerly corner of the Traffic Seperation Scheme off the Ushant peninsula. We now needed to get south as quickly as possible to escape strong SW winds forecast for the Ushant latitude and to find more friendly westerlies further south. 

To that end the engine was pressed into service once again and stayed as we motor sailed in light winds, parallel and close to the western extremity of the TSS. Just as I started to think we had missed our chance to find the westerlies, they found us and at 0130 on the 26th we made sail and close hauled were able to lay A Coruna. We continued on close hauled on roughly the same heading in fresh winds for the rest of Wednesday averaging around 5 knots and making good progress. I even dared to think that we might make A Coruna afterall!

Up to now neither of us had eaten much. I had made bacon sandwiches on Tuesday and Wednesday but that had been the limit of our culinary achievements! I had also got down a bowl of muesli on each day but Mick had otherwise eaten very little since Monday night.

Time to cook therefore! So on Wednesday afternoon I rigged my new piece of galley equipment - a four foot length of '2x2' along the length of the galley. We were on the starboard tack and leaning significantly over to port and it provided a very useful barrier to lean against whilst preparing and cooking the food. Dinner was a chicken chilly stew with boilded potatoes and broccoli. 

After dinner and before Mick stood his watch between 2000 and 0200, I put a reef in the mainsail. Bonny was already quite hard pressed and our forecast indicated stronger winds over night. That was indeed what happened and by the time I came on watch at 0200 on Thursday 27th July, it was evident that a further reduction in sail was required. I decided to take in a few rolls of the genoa. At that point I noticed that the sail had started to pull out of the bottom of the groove of the furling foil and was in danger of getting into a right old mess. Getting some rolls in it was the way to temporarily address that issue too. By now the combination of increasing wind strength (around 20 knots) and a lumpy sea both greating us from the starboard bow made the motion of the boat was a little tiresome.

When I came on Watch at 0200, Mick reported that the wind, as forecast, had backed further South and as a consequence we were now unable to lay A Coruna. The question now was would we mske Gijon or would the wind push us even further to the East, msking Santander or even Bilboa our eventual arrival port.

Overnight I had to avoid a couple of fishing boats and right in the middle of that the chart plotter alarm started beeping loudly. I couldn't figure out why quickly and therfore so as not to disturb Mick or distract me I turned it off. I got past the fishing boats without too much difficulty but in the middle of doing so Mick emerged to say there had been a big bang by the port side chainplates (the fastenings which attach the wire shrouds holding the mast in placea and the hull of the boat. Happily the port shrouds, being to leeward, were not taking any strain and so I was not unduly concerned. As soon as the fishing boats were behind us I directed my head torch on the side deck and had a look. I could see nothing amiss and could on summarise that the spinnaker pole had jumped despite its lashings and banged against the chainplate. Mick wasn't convinced though. So far it's a mystery. Later we were pestered by a tanker who overtook us too close and insisted on questioning our intentions and telling us not to cross his bow. "We are getting very close, do not cross my bow". Given we were the 'stand on' vessel, this was pretty rich and I should have given him a piece of my mind, but with a few thousand tons bearing down on us, all I could muster was a meak, "please pass us to starboard". He did then have the good grace to say he was altering course to port.

I went off watch at around 0900 but before doing so, given the wind had increased further and Mick observed the port side hull windows were under water, I took another reef in the mainsail. Still close hauled and double reefed, we were making 5-6 knots which is pretty good for the old girl. Also, encouragingly, we were still able to lay Gijon. 

At some point during the day, when I noticed a line trailing behind us because the throw line bag had rotted through and a wave had washed thevline over the side, Mick joked that the only thing on the boat immune to the effects of sailing hard to windward was me! That observation was to prove rather precient a few hours later.

The day which had dawned brightly soon turned grey and stayed that way with the winds contiuing to blow strongly from the SW.

The wind continued to strengthen and we got an update on the weather from one of our pals, Roger, via the YB tracker. This indicated the wind would increase to 29 knots - Force 7 - before diminishing later and so I put a third reef in the mainsail. We still made 5-6 knots close hauled.

On going off watch at 0900, I slept and dozed until about 1300 and then relieved Mick again. Around 1500 I was below making a hot drink and looking back out of the companionway, noticed the wind vane was hard over and staying there and the boat's behaviour had changed. Fearing the worst, I clamboured out into the cockpit and looked over the stern. Sure enough we were towing the Hydrovane rudder behind us. The newly reinforced weld had failed I thought. At least this time I had attached a safety line (two in fact) and was able to haul it aboard once I had engaged the auto helm. I had a quick look at the damage

and whilst the weld around the top of the shaft seemed intact, a jagged piece of metal was protruding from the other side. A bit puzzled I put it to one side and finished sorting out the boat. My initial feelings of dispair and frustration soon softened to more philosophical resignaion. Just one of many 'events' that are thrown into the lot of long distance cruisers on old boats to make life interesting! Somehow we would overcome this issue as we have the numerous others. Affecting a reliable repair in a foreign country would surely be an interesting experience! When he came on Watch later, Mick inspected the damage to the shaft and concluded that the weld itself had held firm, but that part of the metal plate making up the hinge to which the shaft was welded, had sheered, leaving the jagged protrusion noted earlier! If so, affecting a good repair may be even more difficult. I suspect that the best solution would be to completey replace the upper shaft in the tube attached to the stern of the boat, to which the upper part of the hinge is attached, and replace it with a new shaft that inserts directly into the rudder. That after all is the original design. That poses numerous challenges however - quite apart from removing numerous corroded fastenings of one sort and another to get the old shaft out, bearings and a new shaft will need to be found or manufactured and installed. Not a simple, cheap or quick operation. The alternative would be to replace the whole system with a new one. Most probably not a Hydrovane because they are hellishly expensive even second hand. Hopefully we can find a decent second hand alternative somewhere but even that or a full repair is likely to cost a few thousand pounds.

Oh I do wish I had never sold my Ares that I tried on Arctic Smoke but removed because it was too heavy - it would have been perfect for Bonny. I tried to buy it back recently but the new owner was adamant that he would use it. We passef his boat leaving the Medway and there was no sign of it! 

We really need to get round Cape Finestere before the summer progresses much further because the likelihood of bad weather in this area increases, not to mention my date with Sharon on Grand Canaria for our wedding anniversary on 12th September and so whether we repair or replace, the other issue is where will we do it?

Orcas, who needs them? 🤣

In the meantime we rely on the autohelm. It is a robust ram type, so I am not too concerned, but it can't keep us at a set angle to the wind which means we have to be more alert to changes in wind direction when making ground to windward.

On the bright side progress towards Gijon is good. 

It's just gone 0600 BST on the 28th and we have just 33 miles to go to the outer approaches of the harbour.

Just after writing that I had to take evasive action to avoid a couple of fishing boats that appeared to be working together but in fact were not. It also started pissing with rain!

The wind died considerably during the manouvre and so once completed, I shook out all three reefs in the mainsail. Back down below I saw on the AIS that there was a considerable fishing fleet ahead and to starboard. 

They were all moving off to the west however and so I hope they continue to do so!

At 0745, we have 25 miles to go and are making a very gentle 5 knots towards Gijon. The approaching coast line is dramatic, mountains shrouded in clouds and rain. Well it is the Costa Verde!

As we approach closer the clouds thicken and descend to obsure the coast. The wind goes through increases and decreases but generally always from the WSW. Rain comes and goes too - sometimes heavy at other times light. 

The morning is nothing if not changeable. It's 9.45 and I'am now sitting in the cockpit in the sun. The wind having died, we're motoring the last 15 miles or so.

The Great Escape!

The strong North Westerlies that blew all day on Monday 24th July should have been blowing us across the channel but instead because I had parked Bonny on the outside south eastern corner of Falmouth Haven Marina, they were our gaoler - they blew athwart the boat and pinned her to the pontoon in their vice-like grip. Furthermore, Good Report was moored alongside us and so even if I had been foolish enough to try and escape, she would have to move first to let us out. We were 'guarded' by a pair of boats moored in front of us on the same pontoon and behind us about half a boat length and at right angles to us, lay the sterns of two other boats moored alongside eachother on the other face of the corner of the pontoons.

To escape forwards would require turning the bow of the boat into the wind within about 15 metres, but the windage on the mast, which sits considerably nearer to the bow than the stern, is huge and  excerpts a tremendous load pushing the boat sideways. Not only that but the boat's long deep keel provides a large resistance in the opposite direction. Oh and I nearly forgot, when forward gear is engaged the considerable 'prop walk' initially turns the boat to port - in this case, onto the pontoon.

The reverse is of course true - engaging reverse pulls the stern of the boat to starboard. Whilst that would pull the stern of the boat away from the boats behind us, the bow, encouraged by the strength of the wind would be blown onto them. Contact of our bow pullpit with their over hanging stern gear, of dinghy davits on the first and Hydrovane steering gear on the second, would leave a tangle of twisted metal and some very cross sailors and so was not an option to be considered lightly!

As it happened, these considerations were academic for the first half of the day because the Yellow Brick tracker had still not turned up and so Mick and I were out shopping for fresh provisions for what we hoped would be a passage across Biscay. I had emailed YB Tracking first thing to advise them and they had replied that it was out for delivery! Whilst on our way to the shops, a UPS van passed us and resisting the temptation to acost the driver, I checked the delivery status. My heart sank when the tracking page continued to read "delivery date to be advised".

I fired another email off to YB tracking and we continued with our shopping. On our way back I checked again and to my great relief the status had changed to "delivered". So Mick went to buy pasties for lunch and I went to collect the tracker.

Back on board the wind was still howling and Bonny was still pinned to the pontoon. Nevertheless after our pasties, we made preperations to leave including filling our water tank and recommisioning the Yellowbrick - which proved time consuming and required repeated phone calls, but eventually it was done.

By 2000 hrs the wind had started to moderate and so the three of us (including George) studied the latest weather outlook and considered our options. We all agreed that Brest was achievable and if we were lucky we might get further south, possibly even A' Coruna.

Then we got ready to leave and discussed tactics for extricating ourselves from the Pontoons. After much debate, George decided to go out backwards and then remoor once we had left. The wind was still fresh but because he was further away from the boats behind us he had more room to play with. Out he went without too much trouble.

Next it was our turn. Mick and I both agreed that the best option was to 'spring off' to get the bows pointing out. This involves leading a rope fthe stern of the boat forward onto the pontoon and then reversing against it. The idea is that the stern is pulled in and the bows out, so achieving a turn before moving forwards. Then as quickly as possible, one must cast off and engage forward gear to continue the turn before the bows are blown onto the pontoon once again.

Try as we might however, we could not get the bows to point out enough to clear the boats in front. That left two options; wait for the wind to subside further or go out backwards. Having seen Good Report escape in this way earlier, I decided we could just make it. Once again there were two options; full power to get the whole boat out as far and as fast as possible or moderate power that would reduce the turning momentum. The risk of the first was that our bow might get snared by the other boats' stern gear, the risk of the second that the whole boat is blown onto the sterns of the others.

I decided on the full power option. First we moved forwards as far as possible. A helpful frenchman was on hand to push the bows off once we started moving. This was it, the beginning or quite possibly, the end of our cruise.

OK lets go I shouted and engaged reverse and full power. The stern immediately pivoted out into the wind and the bows swung towards the pontoon. I had to get out quickly enough to get enough room for the swinging bows to clear the other boats. Fortunately they seemed unoccupied because I suspect any on board observers would have been in cardiac arrest territory. Bonny's stern was moving at a gathering pace away from the pontoon and her bow was swinging in a sything arc towards the sterns of the unsuspecting boats. I held my breath, Mick turned as white as a sheet as Bonny's bow swung clear with inches to spare. I just managed to arrest her sternway to avoid smashing into moored small craft and we were free. With a cheery wave to George on Good Report and to our helpful French helper on the pontoon and a rueful grin to Mick, who replied, "that was VERY risky" we made our escape towards the harbour exit and the Western Approaches. It was 2130 on Monday 24th July.

Departure Falmouth

The crew is ready!

We're off!

A welcome Jester & other friends and most unwelcome frustrations

Starting with the frustrations...

Here's Bonny pinned to the outside of the pontoons at Falmouth Haven Marina which we came into yesterday after anchoring in Falmouth Harbour on Friday evening. We did so to make provisioning easier. It did make life easier in that respect but I didn't anticipate that the strong North Westerly wind, that could blow us to Brest (being our maybe, possibly, anticipated next stop) would keep us prisoner in the Marina. It's blowing straight across us and there's no way that Bonny can turn against it from a standing start. The likelihood of us smashing the boats in front or behind us should we try, is just too awful to contemplate. The wind is due to moderate this evening but the issue is whether, if we leave then, we would carry reasonable winds to Brest or face a lengthy spell of motoring or beating. 

Why Brest, given our delcared intention to head for Madeira? Well, there is currently 0 prospect of even remotely fair winds to get us across Biscay during the next week or so.

The other major frustration - now overtaken by the weather - was the delay in getting the Yellowbrick tracker back from refurbishment. It was due on Saturday but never materialised, nor did it yesterday but today it finally did. Then I had to spend an hour or so on the phone to get it set up. Finally that was achieved and it is now functioning as it should.

Before that I had to make yet another trip up the mast because on our trip round from Plymouth on Friday the wretched main halyard once again parted from the head of the mainsail undoing in an instant the hours of work with Bill a few weeks ago to re-reeve it after the initial failure last year. I can only blame myself but I was convinced I had remade the attachment securely. I can't splice so I stitched and whipped an eye in the end of the line - clearly it is not a reliable method! I didn't even try and re-reeve it this time because I knew, given previous experience that it would take ages and so this time I simply attached a spare block at the top of the mast and used that. The halyard is now attached with a bowline with the end whipped down so in theory at least it cannot work lose🤞

While I was up there I removed the latest AIS antenna which we have now mounted on the stern. The instrument still says it's not working even though it clearly is transmitting some sort of signal because it's being picked up on Marine Traffic. Back to the need for some real world testing.

Another frustration is our continuing inability to get our two satalite devices to talk to eachother for the purpose of downloading weather information whilst at sea! More faffing about lies ahead on that score!

On a brighter note, as we approached Falmouth on Friday evening, I picked up my good pal George (whom I first met in 2019 whilst undertaking the Jester Baltimore Challenge in Arctic Smoke) on AIS. George sails a beautiful wooden boat 'Good Report' and was awarded the Ocean Cruising Club's Seamanship medal last year in recognition of his efforts in going to the aid of a fellow Jester in the Jester Azores Challenge in 2021. He helped his rudderless fellow Challenger some 300+ miles from mid ocean to the port of Pria da Vitoria, Terceria, Azores, by towing him under sail (often having to deal with gale force winds) when he could make no progress without his rudder.

So George and his faithfull dog Kelpie joined us on board for a hearty dinner of Pasta Carbonara, cooked by Mick. We caught with eachother's news and swapped sailing yarns and generally had a thoroughly enjoyabe eveing.

On Saturday the wind howled and the rain pissed down all day and so we stayed put at Anchor. I also made contact with old sailing friends Steffanie and Peter whom I met for the first time in Albufeira when I bought Bonny in 2020. So on Monday after we had moved into the Marina they visited from their new home in Truro and we once again had a great time. Unfortunately I neglected to take any photos to mark the occasion. Steff very kindly bought Cornish Pasties for all of us for lunch.

Later, after yet more boat jobs, Mick and I went out with George and Kelpie for an excellent Fish and Chip supper.

Today, there's been more jobs and provisioning and now we're waiting for the wind to abate sufficiently to enable us to get off this dam pontoon and possibly head for Brest!

Stoppress: we have just left Falmouth and hope to cross Biscay but may have to divert to the French Brittany coast. Tracker is on 6 hour intervals.

Up the mast again and other tales...

Blogs have been written and published from all sorts of weird and wonderful locations but has anyone done it from the top of a mast before?!

Well, yesterday I thought I might do just that, but as it turned out I wasn't stuck up there for as long as I thought I would be.

I'd gone up to install yet another AIS antenna but quickly realised it was not suitable. So I asked Mick to nip up to the local Chandler's to buy another. However, he was back in 5 minutes - they didn't have any. So down I came before I could finish this post! 

I was back up there in the evening when Mick returned from a trip into town with a new antenna. Up the mast I went again (I must have been up and down a dozen times in the last couple of weeks) and installed it. Back down in the cabin the inbuilt test meter in the AIS unit continued to display poor readings and indeed 'announced' once again that the device was not transmitting! Whilst a disappointment this was not a surprise because it was precisely the same result given by the original antenna which I'd removed assuming it was faulty; and by the replacement one which I'd returned because 'it was faulty' and by the replacement for the replacement. So now, the replacement's replacement, replacement, confirmed it, all those trips up and down the mast were a complete waste of time and effort!

Of course, there's still the mystery of what on earth is going on? We have by the way used brand new cable to an alterntive fitting on the stern of the boat which when used with the different antennas produces the same results. Of course we now suspect the validity of the results displayed by the AIS unit's inbuilt test meter. Except that when we try the boat's standard VHF antenna - also on top of the mast - we get improved test results!!!

We do know that the unit, despite the non-transmission warning displayed, is transmitting something because the Marine Traffic website displays our position! What we can't tell, is the strength of that signal. The only thing left to do is some real world testing by asking other vessels and/or the coastguard whether they are receiving our transmissions!

By now you will have worked out that we have yet to commence our planned passage to Madeira and instead are still firmly tied up in Mayflower Marina Plymouth. The AIS debacle is not the only reason....

Two nights ago we decided to test out our satalite weather system curtesy of an old gifted sat phone and a newly purchased box of computing electronics - a Redport. This Redport gizmo should allow us to connect to specialist data compression servers through which we should be able to download graphical weather info when out of range of normal internet connections. The two "shoulds" above underline the need to test the service before relying on it. Of course, satalite airtime/data is hideously expensive and so we need to keep its use to a minimum. 

Anyway, we fell before the first hurdle. I'd charged the satphone battery a few months ago and whilst it was reluctant to take a charge to begin with, it did eventually. I checked it a few weeks ago and it still showed a full charge. However, this time the wretched thing refused to power up but as far as we could tell from the onscreen icon, the battery was OK! 

This was more than frustrating. Mick had bought £200 of airtime and I had recently bought the Redport gizmo for about the same amount! Fortunately the on-site Chandler included a Satphone repair service. They looked at the phone and diagnosed a knackered batttery as the cause of the problem. At the time of writing we are awaiting delivery of a new battery to Mayflower Marina. Only once received, will we know for sure whether that was the problem.

Hot on the heals of discovering the faulty satphone, I also established that in order to continue to use the messaging functionality of the YB tracker, it would need an upgrade to enable it to talk to the new Android messaging App - the old one having been discontinued. Our intention being to use YB messaging as a means of receiving summary weather info in the event of losing Satphone connectivity!

After contacting YB Tracking, they offered a 50% discount on their upgrade service and so I posted the tracker off to them yesterday. Hopefully we'll have it back tomorrow when we hope to be in Falmouth.

So, there will be a break in our tracking transmissions over the next couple of days. Providing our AIS does transmit, you'll be able to track us via Marine Traffic ... https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:5934721/mmsi:235104569/imo:0/vessel:BONNY

This is the most important job we needed doing in Plymouth. That's part of the Hydrovane rudder assembly which my good pal Bernie had repaired for me back in February. He welded the the steel bar on to the hinge but we both thought it would be a good idea to get it checked by a professional before relying on it during an ocean crossing. By the way, the other end of the steel bar fits into the rudder and the hinge attaches to its partner on the end of another steel bar attached to the stern on the boat.

The pictures above shows the assembly after inspection and reinforcement and tidying up by a very helpful local welder whom I highly recommend...

Our first port of call to Pheonix 316 produced the all too typical -  'I'm not interested in little jobs' response. He pulled a face and said in very dismissive tones, "oh that's stick welding may be alright but might not". We do "TIG" welding - much neater and smaller. So much for a professional opinion I thought. I'd already concluded the same which is why I was there! Untederred I pressed on "so could you improve it?" I asked. "Well, I can't do anything with that, I'd have to make a complete new unit." "How much would that cost and how long would it take?" I asked. "About £250 and two weeks" he replied. "Thanks" I said, "I'll think it over".

Mick suggested we tried another welding shop we'd just passed - with much more down to earth premises.

In we went to be greeted by a very cheery proprieter. I explained our need. "Lets have a look. No problem I can strengthen that and tidy it up with a bit of TIG welding". "Great, how much, how long will it take?" "Oh, £30 will cover it, you can collect it i the morning"

Now that's customer service. I was so pleased with the results when I collected the next day that I gave him £40!

That's the upgraded fitting back in the rudder and the rudder installed...

I've also started fitting the additional Jack lines (safety lines for clipping onto). 

The white webbing above is the new port hand one. I've fitted these because the existing ones on the side decks - you can just make out the blue port side one in the photo above - are so near the side of the boat that if one did end up dangling on the end of a lifeline clipped on to the jackstay, one would be in the water with little chance of getting back on board.

Mick has continued with his rationalisation campaign and has jettisoned loads of 'junk'. Mind you he has also bought loads of stuff as well 🤣. He has also continued with a variety of electrical jobs.

Oh,  and I did also enjoy a very pleasant social meet-up. It turns out that my old pal Steve's youngest sister Natasha, whom I think I last met when she was 9 at Steve's wedding a long time ago, has got into sailing with her partner. They bought a boat in the spring and are frantically preparing it to undertake the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers departing Gran Canaria in November and will therefore be undertaking a very similar cruise to us. So on Monday I went over to meet them in Plymouth Yachthaven and spent a very pleasant couple of hours. We may well meet them again in Falmouth over the next few days.

Well that's just about it for now. Mick's just filled up with water and once the satphone battery arrived we will head out to refuel and then on to anchor in Cawsand Bay. Tomorrow we go to Falmouth.

Up the Tamar

 

Boat with a view - over Cargreen, on the Tamar

Things picked up after rounding Portland Bill early on Friday morning about 5 miles to the north when an Easterly breeze gradually filled in allowing us to sail under the cruising chute and poled out Genoa for a few hours. When the wind veered towards the south later in the evening we reverted to Mainsail and Genoa. 

Basty

Mick

Sunset near Portland Bill

A view from the Bow - Bonny underway

Two salty see dogs

Basty admiring the cruising chute

Good progress was made across Lyme Bay over night until about 10 miles to the North East of Salcombe, the wind suddenly veered and died. With the tide against us we faced what would be a rather tedious and lengthy beat around Start Point. The engine was therefore pressed into service once again and we motored around the Salcombe 'bulge'. Once round we briefly had a fair wind but within an hour or so of making sail, the wind failed once again and once again the engine was pressed into service.

We motored the remaining 15 or so miles into Plymouth and moored up in Mayflower Marina at around 0800 yesterday, Saturday 8th July.

Mick cooked up a huge breakfast after which we all made use of the excellent bathroom facilities.  Basty then left for home and Mick caught up on some much needed sleep. I snoozed for a while and then pottered around doing goodness knows what.

Mick and I then tackled a lengthy diagnostic exercise on the boat's AIS (Automated Information System). This is a system that transmits information about the boat (course, speed, type of vessel etc) over the VHF radio wavelength to other vessels and receives the same information from  other vessels. All commercial vessels are required to transmit over the system but it is optional for leisure craft, many of which have relatively cheap receive-only equipment. Increasingly however, transmitting equipment has become more affordable and more and more boats have installed it. The system has made navigating much safer when vessels are in close proximity to one another.

Bonny has an AIS transmitter, but a few weeks before departing Hoo, I noticed that it was not working properly - a fault indicating that it was not transmitting was displayed on the set. 

The transmission and reception of data is conducted via an antenna that on Bonny was at the top of the mast. So, a few weeks ago I climbed up the mast to investigate. I found a poor connection between the cable and the antenna and the antenna itself looked in poor health. Great I thought, there's the problem, so I disconnected the antenna and ordered a new one. A week later armed with a new one and the necessary bits and pieces to connect it I went back up the mast and installed it. Back in the cabin I turned on the AIS transceiver to check all was well and was extremely disappointed to see things were no better. I concluded the old cable must also be faulty and so I bought some more. I couldn't face what would be a nightmare job to get the new cable up the inside of the mast and so decided to relocate the antenna to the solar panel 'arch' on the stern of the boat. I therefore had to go back up the mast to retrieve the new antenna.

A week later armed with the new cable, I installed the antenna in it's new location. After connecting everything up I turned on the set once again, but again there was no improvement. The set continued to display the warning that it was not transmitting.

A good reading

A bad reading

The question of course was why? Was there a problem with the transceiver set itself, was the cable at fault or was the new antenna faulty? We had three pieces of cable that we could connect the antenna to and we could connect the AIS transceiver to the VHF Antenna that is normally used by the VHF radio. We got poor readings on every occasion that the new Antenna was used but a much better reading when we connected our existing VHF antenna to the transceiver.

Ergo - the new antenna is faulty.

I've therefore contacted the supplier and asked them to replace the antenna. Hopefully that will solve the problem.  

Once we'd completed the diagnostics, Mick left to return home to tidy up his affairs and I took the boat up the Tamar to Cargreen for a few days in order avoid the hefty marina fees. 

A visitor (Wagtail) at Cargreen

The Cargreen Anchorage at dusk

I'll be taking her back on Wednesday, however, when I will also return home for a few days. We then have various friends to meet up with over next weekend. Hopefully we'll be ready to leave for Madeira towards the end of the following week.