found the summer!

We found the missing summer this weekend!The forecast had been looking promising for a few days, so I was mildly optimistic about the weekend, and it didn't dissapoint.We got down to the boat rather late Friday, as C wanted to attend Sea Cadets, so a quick stuffing of various items into lockers and we were in bed.... Saturday dawned with a typical 'summer' high pressure morning... not a breath of wind, slightly misty, and not a cloud in the sky... with the barometer reading 1035, it bode well..... We'd already decided that Saturday would be a cleaning day. Poor Morgana, after a summer cruise, a 2 week enforced stay in Dover, and perhaps a weekend or two prior to that, was starting to look grubby.... so, after a quick motor back into our own berth from our temporary home it was all hands to the decks.... or rather, all kids to the decks... they donned shorts, filled a bucket, and scrubbed to their hearts content.... meanwhile SWMBO and I sett too down below... every surface was wiped carefully down to remove salt deposits, all woodwork was polished within an inch of its life, and both heads compartments were comprehensively scrubbed. With a sweet smelling and shiny interior, I set too in the cockpit... scrubbing, and even resorting to using a toothbrush to get into small gaps, she really began to gleam.... I even opened all the cockpit lockers and scrubbed round their recesses where they close..... hard work, but made easier by the glorious sunshine....By 15h00, we'd done enough to be satisfied, so downed tools, and set off for a long walk along the river bank... some 7 miles later, we were all exhausted, so instead of eating on board, treated ourselves to grub in The Shipwreck...A good days work, added to the walk, saw us in bed by 22h00, and for the first time this season, we stuck the heating on.... a blessed relief to a cool evening.Sunday started much the same way, and after a leisurely start, an enormous fried breakfast and copious coffee, we cast off the lines.... what a decision!Soon out to sea, and with between 7 and 10kts of wind and strong unbroken sunshine, it could only be described as perfect!.... I hardly touched the helm.... SWMBO and the kids argued over who got to drive next, and I sat and enjoyed the fact that slowly, everyone is building in confidence and competence...Sadly, we had to go home at some point, and locked back in and onto our berth without drama.... A great weekend, and a reminder of what the summer should have been like.

Miles logged 13nm
Miles this season 935nm
Miles since this blog started 3,882nm

Cherbourg and hungover!

Ah but what a trip!...The usual unhealthy, but extremely appealing, combination of boys trip sailing, copious quantities of alcohol and plenty of good food results in me now sitting here with a hangover and a sore throat from all the laughing!It all started with a mad dash down to Lymington Thursday evening after work, unfortunately via Harwich, as i'd left my passport on the boat, but eventually I arrived at Nicks boat, Fiddler's Dream, and we cast off soon after into the dark towards St Vaast.The passage out was uneventful really, barring the usual fun of being popped through Hurst Narrows like a cork with the strong tide, and then being bounced a bit through the Needles passage where the might of the English channel tides tries to force its way over the shallow rock ledge called the Bridge, and inevitably cuts up a bit rough.... but nothing too serious, and Nick's boat as a Moody 44 pushed it aside in her stride.We settled into the normal cross channel routine, and with around 18 to 20kts of wind, soon had her flying along.... Nick served up a great chicken dish, produced by his wife Karen, and we were on our way.Sadly just 1/2hr later, the combination of being very tired from a long week at work with too many early starts, a rough-ish sea, and a very rich meal saw me present the meal to the fishes, which caught me by surprise a little, as its the first time i've been sick on a boat in many years. It wasn't however full blown sea sickness, as I had little warning, and then felt right as rain again afterways for the rest of the journey.We had a little maneouvering to cope with in the middle of the channel as the ships passed out of the Western TSS and set themselves up for the Eastern one, but nothing too troubling....It was, apart from the above, pretty uneventful, and as we got within about 10nm of Barfleur lighthouse on the French coast, the wind had dropped enough that Nick was starting to express concern about us making the entrance window for the tidally constrained St Vaast, so the engine went on, and we approached the coast, and rounded the corner into St Vaast itself as the early morning dawned.A great crossing in just under 12hrs.St Vaast started as planned with a large fried breakfast, and then we got our heads down for a few hours to compensate for the missed night's sleep.By mid afternoon, we were somewhat refreshed, so wandered over to few other boats to say hello, and of course share a beer with them, and by evening, decided that the three of us onboard Fiddler's Dream (Nick, myself and other invited crew member Rick) would have a quiet meal in St Vaast, and get our heads down early.... pah!The meal itself was very good, and in a restaurant that was delightfully named 'The Nelson'.... rather an interesting choice for a French restaurant!.... In particular the starter was a seafood platter that excelled itself, with a whole Crab, Oysters, Whelks, Mussels, Langoustine, Prawns, and all manner of other unidentified delicacies..... very nice indeed. By 21h00, we were ready to go back to the boat for a night cap and a sleep.... no chance....!.... we were soon joined by other revellers, and eventually retired for the night, a little worse for the wear (sorry about emptying the brand new bottle of Port Nick!) at about 00h30.Saturday started off with real promise, with warmth in the air as early as 08h00, and when we slipped by about 09h00, it was sunny and pleasant.... the wind was lighter than the previous day, and so we motored out of St Vaast into about 14kts and flat seas and soon had the sails up and the engine off.... we'd decided the previous evening that we'd try the rather more challenging inshore passage, which zig zags through the rocks and wrecks... this proved to be a great decision, as it was challenging navigation, great fun to sail, and enabled us to get as close as 100m to the shore on one occasion rather than the normal 3nm off. It had a couple of slightly disconcerting moments, as we watched the depth rapidly shallow, and could see significantly disturbed water ahead, but careful nav saw us through. We did miss some of the final route as the wind would have been on the nose to get us through a rather narrow (10m wide) passage between two submerged rocks, and we didn't want to start the engine and spoil the moment, but apart from this, we managed perfectly.We slotted neatly into the Eastern entrance to Cherbourg to find quite a few boats from the gang having already arrived.Again, and afternoon of loitering, drinking beer, and chatting to old friends, and making a few new ones culminating in Roger's boat, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 42DS having at least 25 people stood on board, and still remaining afloat!We set off to the restaurant previously booked to arrive just in time, and settled in for an evening of tale sea tales, food and excellent company. (thanks Fergus and Roger - great organisation - a fabulous evening!)Following a trend we eventually found ourselves back on the boat enjoying a night cap with about 15 other people, and god knows what time we got to bed.A relaxed start to the day Sunday, and we set off into 15kts of wind just at an angle sufficient that we could saul hard on the wind, and started the return back to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.The journey started well, for as we left the inner harbour and entered the outer harbour, the Grande Raide, A dolphin was entertaining the ribs with a spectacular jump and high speed maneouvres.The trip back across to the Solent was equally uneventful, with only two maneouvres needed to avoid ships, and by early evening we slotted past the Bridge Cardinal again, and shot through into the Solent, hitting a remarkable 12.5kts over the ground with the assistance of the impressive tide flooding through Hurst Narrows.Tied up in Yarmouth, we grabbed the water taxi ashore for much needed showers, and then a very pleasant meal in the Kings Head, with a few pints of decent beer, and a timely pub quiz evening, in which we sadly failed to cover ourselves in glory by not knowing the answer to apparently obvious questions like who wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!... still we had a great evening, with lots of laughter again, and early the next morning, set off for the very short hop across to Lymington, where we sorted ourselves out, helped clear the boat up, settled up financial imbalances and set off home tired, a little sunbunt and happy.Thanks Nick and Rick, a truly brilliant weekend, with some fabulous sailing and thoroughly enjoyable company. I can quite understand why Nick is so proud of his boat.... she is lovely.

Miles logged 180nm
Miles this season 922nm
Miles since this blog started 3,869nm

finally!

After a rather boring train journey down to Dover (but at a bargain basement price), we arrived at the marina (well, via RCPYC for a pint with Barry!) to find Morgana safe and well in the sheltered Wellington dock.This is very very sheltered, but pays the price in terms of a gate which only opens HW +/- 1.5hrs...And I was somewhat unsurprised, yet still oddly dissapointed, to find the wind howling through the rigging, and gusts swirling viciously across the water.It was 22h00 by the time we'd stepped on board, and yet I had to start the engine, just because I could..... ah the joy of a running engine, with no strange metallic graunching noises.The forecast for Saturday was little better, so again, it was unsurprising to hear squalls working their way through all night. I'd left the wind instruments on, as they can graph the wind speed. By morning its screen made depressing reading.We already decided that there was no way we'd be leaving at the morning HW, in the wee small hours, so the next chance was 15h00ish.... so we spent the day fettling and fiddling, and finally walked out along the sea front to have a look out to sea.I am in half minds as to whether I regret, or thank my lucky stars for this walk...We watched a ferry coming in, listing 15 degrees either way, and eventually, calling for tugs to get it through the entrance safely.... it was out past the eastern entrance to Dover, and even at over 2nm range, we could see the waves exploding on the bow and soaking right the way up to the bridge deck..... this was the resuly of nearly 48hrs of F7/F8 with a fetch the length of the English channel...Of course, this made me realise that the late afternoon opening was a non starter.... even if the wind moderated (and it wasn't forecast to until gone 22h00), the sea state would be dreadful.. so we made the decision to leave it until Sunday morning, and see what happened... this did however, mean a very early start, so we decided to lock out, and enter the tidal marina beyond the gates, and also take the opportunity to grab some fuel, which otherwise wouldn't be available very early or very late....We then spent the next few hours in a combination of three activities.... searching the net desperately for updated forecasts, reading books to chew up some time, and fretting about whether leaving was sensible...Eventually, at about 22h00, when the wind had moderated to 20kts, we decided to turn in for the night, and leave it until 05h00 the following morning to make a decision. With alarms set we went to bed. Funnily enough, despite my concerns, I slept soundly, and was awoken from deep sleep at 04h45...I was immediately up on deck to assess the conditions...... there was around 14kts in the marina, the barometer had risen (suggesting the low was moving away), and the wind had shifted a bit more westerly... another good sign....So we took a deep breath, and decided to poke our noses out and see what it was like, with a decision planned to either bale out and return, or to stick at it once outside of the safe confines of the harbour....Leaving the shelter of Prince William dock, the wind rose to 18kts, and the radio comms with the Port authorities was straightforward enough.... so we edged out of the harbour..... we had both clipped on, and I was pleased we had, as the confused sea outside the eastern entrance had us rolling from rail to rail..... we quickly set a scrap of genoa to stabilise her a bit, and headed towards South Foreland...Funnily enough, once clear of the harbour walls, the sea state was much better, with the seas rolling instead of breaking, so we agreed that we'd carry on, and review our situation off Ramsgate, some 15nm up the coast....The wind had moderated dramatically, and it was only 15kts, but with a big sea right behind us, and the tide shooting through the Dover Straits, we scudded along at some 8kts over the ground....In fact, as dyalight appeared properly, and it warmed up a bit, we actually appeared to be enjoying ourselves!It, inevitably, wasn't to last.Off Ramsgate, the decision was obvious... we carry on. We'd made fantastic time up the coast, the wind was perfect, the sea was even starting to flatten. However, we left North Foreland in our wake, and suddenly the weather changed..... the horizon turned black, and just 20mins later, we were under heavily reefed genoa, with the engine on to test the gearbox properly, torrential rain, and 30kts of wind.... the sea was building and sloppy due to the change of direction.... and thus it continued.....We bounced our way down to Foulgers Gat, and squirmed our way through this shallow and narrow passage, and popped out into Black Deep, which at least afforded us the luxury of being enclosed on two sides by snadbanks, and therefore much flatter water.... but the wind remained, both strong, and squally, and the rain.... oh the rain.... it was monsoon like.It seemed to take an age to get to Sunk Head, and then on to Gunfleet, and for a while the clouds parted, and we saw Harwich.... a sense of relief swept over us, not because we were worried, but because we were soaked and fed up!Naturally, the wind had shifted, so the last few miles were too fine to sail comfortably, so we swapped the genoa for the main, and motor sailed the remaining few miles into Harwich.... with squally gust still hitting the high 20's and cloud bursts soaking us to the skin....However, it was still only lunch time when we entered Harwich, and then Shotley, locked in and tied up with 65nm over the ground in just a tad over 8hrs..... excellent...we'd averaged over 8kts for the journey, including a good few miles upwind.... the spells under just reefed genny at 10+Kts had helped!Our home berth was occupied (a long story - with a much more expensive problem for one boat owner than ours), so we were offered a nearby berth, which we gladly took.... and were delighted that with just two of us on board, our team work was spot on, with inch perfect placement in both the lock and the pontoon...The trip hadn't been much fun in most respects.... the wind was very very squally, and a bit more than I would have liked even in the lulls, and the rain was just downright miserable.... but even with this, we were out on the water, rather than stuck at home watching TV like so many of my colleagues at work seem to do.So.... Morgana is back home.... we can stop paying for a berth away from home.... we can weekend sail again... and best of all, we'd left the engine running the whole way, and most of the way in gear (albeit at low revs), and the engine and the gearbox had not missed a beat.... and when I opened the engine compartment in Shotley, the leak from the overflow had clearly stopped, and the compartment temperature seemed a lot lower than previously... the new impellor must have helped... The good few hours of usage had restored my confidence in the engine/gearbox, which is important, as its very easy for these kinds of events to damage that confidence, which can spoil the whole experience of using your boat....Next weekend, its off to Cherbourg, with friends, so really looking forward to that.... and thankfully, the decision to go, has made that trip possible again.... if we'd got on the train home, it would have been abandoned in favour of trying to get Morgana home next weekend, and avoiding another weeks mooring fees..... and I don't like letting people down, so would have felt very guilty.Anyway.... normal service resumed!

Miles logged 53nm
Miles this season 742nm
Miles since this blog started 3,689nm

exchangers and weather

While running the engine up after replacing the gearbox, the engineer commented that he thought my heat exchanger had pretty much failed....His reason.... "a small amount of water coming out of the overflow pipe on the fresh water circuit when the engine is run".... he seemed to think that sea water was getting in there....Now... working on the theory that he hasn't taste tested the water to see if it really is sea water (I hope not, as the fresh water system had antifreeze in it!), and given that I also topped the fresh water up to the top just before he started work and hadn't run the engine since, it got me to thinking..Here's my logic...... the only way that water could come out of the overflow is if it is being displaced by something..... and that could either be a] excessive pressure in the fresh water system, b] excess water from the calorifier system, or c] sea water leaking in....For a] the only 2 real causes of this would be either a blocked/restricted exchange core, or a blown head gasket passing compression pressures into the fresh water circuit... in which case, the levels in the header tank would drop as water was displaced from the fresh water system out of the overflow... (or obviously, overheating, which it isn't....)for b] checked by looking to see if coolant is entering the hot water system... but plausible...for c] I can't see this happening.... the fresh water circuit is under considerably higher pressure than the sea water circuit, and so surely displacement would be in the opposite direction?... maybe the process would reverse when the engine was shut down, but that wouldn't fit with the symptoms of an overflow when the engine was running surely?So..... my conclusion.....I think that when I topped up the header tank just before he worked on the engine, I put the levels above its natural level, and it is just overflowing a small amount of excess water, which will stop quickly (I added about 1/4 litre of water).... it is possible that the calorifier/hot water circuit is leaking into the system, but less likely than the prior reason... on top of this, the overflow wasn't leaking at all previously so it would be quite a coincidence that it failed at the same time as my gearbox....Anyway....if sea water is entering the exchanger, while it'll need fixing pronto, it won't stop us motoring for a few hours, so the collection trip is on.... or at least I hope it is!... the weather looks shocking...... forecast to be very windy (25kts average wind speed) this evening, and through tomorrow (Saturday) and then moderating Sunday morning....We can't get the boat out of the tidally constrained marina until either 0200 tomorrow or after that not until mid afternoon Sat.... not wanting to get up in the middle of the night we'll go for the afternoon option.... i'm hoping that the wind will have started to moderate by then, so that we can set off.... the sea state probably won't be very pleasant, but I guess we'll cope.... we can always wimp out and head into Ramsgate Saturday evening, and then continue the journey on Sunday if neccessary....

Fixed!

Finally, the boat is fixed, and in fine fettle again..... (well almost)A couple of last minute hitches that nearly put the whole plan out in the long grass.....Firstly, I lay in bed last night, with my mind doing 1,000mph, when suddenly I realised in a moment of panic that i'd forgotten to tell the engineer that we had a rope cutter fitted..... and that this needed fine tolerance in terms of fitting the shaft in the same fore and aft position as it was previously.... this shouldn't have been a problem with an identical replacement gearbox.... only the gearbox wasn't quite identical in that the model had been superceded by a newer version, which was 'dimensionally identical'.... only my mind started saying things like "what if its 1mm shorter"... then the fixed and rotating parts of the cutter would clash, with unthinkable consequences... of at best a destroyed cutter, and possibly a damaged shaft or a ripped off P bracket...... no wonder I couldn't sleep!Secondly, the cutter is an Ambassador stripper, and this has a kind of 'V' into which the fixed part locates when the shaft is pulled inboard..... if the V is fixxed at the 6 o'clock position on the P bracket then it will naturally locate itself.... and I couldn't remember where it was on Morgana.... I had a picture, but it was at home.....So I spoke to the engineer, and the only solution he could offer was a lift out to locate it properly.... another £115..... however, he did then suggest that he sees many boats with the cutter not properly located, and it sits happily to the side of the V... not performing quite as designed, but perfectly safe.....This was a relief for three reasons.... one, the lift would have further added to the costs, two, the lift couldn't be done until Saturday afternoon... and thirdly we have a lift planned for the end of September anyway at our home marina, and to have to pay for two lifts in 3 weeks just seemed unfair!So finally, the engineer tells me that she is running as sweet as anything now.... only other thing he can find is that the heat exchanger is on its last legs, so will need replacing over the winter..... that I can do myself.... phew!OK.... so we're on for the delivery trip over the weekend.... only its now forecasting 30kts+ for the Friday and 25kts+ for the Saturday... Sunday a bit better..... will be watching the forecast develop carefully..... it seems stacked against us at the moment!

no news is good news?

Not heard from the engineer today.... I was planning on calling him around 17h00, but got engrossed in a work phone call, and suddenly it was 18h30....So a call early tomorrow I think...I'm nervous that I haven't heard anything!This weekend is important.... I am away the following weekend (off to Cherbourg with friends), so if we miss this one, then we face another fortnight of mooring fees... so the engineer needs to get his finger out.... and the weather needs to remain friendly.... not too much to ask surely?