First solo cruise - The Pyfleet and back via Black Eyed Spit

Black Eye

For those familiar with the Thames Estuary, that's not a typo in the title but a reference to what I looked like when I turned up at Medway Hospital on Sunday afternoon to visit the latest members of the family who'd arrived earlier in the week .....

Black Eye

Charles, my eldest and the girls proud father greeted me with,  "Hi Dad, why've you got a black eye?" "I haven't", I replied slightly puzzled my this strange greeting. I know he hasn't had much sleep recently but... "Oh yes you have - here take a look" he replied as he produced the latest smart phone widget - an electronic mirror - what next?

Having only just (and much too late to do anything about it) re-connected with shore norms, I was now even more concerned at my appearance. Straight from a weekend's sailing, I now sported a black eye to complement my scruffy sailing garb, and would not exactly be setting a good example to the new arrivals. Good job the always elegant, Mrs Fisher wasn't with me - I would probably have had to wait outside!

Twins

This is them - and very cute too!

Tiana and Angel!

To the Pyfleet

That's enough of that - back to the sailing.

It was Saturday 19th May and I thought it was about time I tried my first solo cruise on Arctic Smoke. The forecast was for light South Westerlies becoming North Easterlies on Sunday, so despite the threatened rain and fog patches it seemed like an opportunity too good to miss. HW was about 1230 which is when I wanted to at Garrison Point to catch the ebb up the coast. Had a cuppa with Tony at the Hoo Diner and he then gave me a lift out to the boat (I must get a hard dinghy to ferry myself out). Got sorted and dropped the buoy at 1050; exactly when the nice breeze that had been blowing  from the East or thereabouts up to then decided to die. So motored down the river hoping that the breeze would return. It never did beyond fits and starts so the engine stayed on.

Approaching Sheerness Harbour passed the gorgeous sight of the now fully restored Cambria under full sail.

Cambria

My Dad was a sailing barge enthusiast and owned two barge yachts in his time, both converted ships life boats - 'Tessie' a full spritsail ketch complete with leeboards added by Dad. She was lovely but her hull was soft as putty and her Lister engine was a museum piece that would decide to work every now again and would even more frequently decide to stop working. I learnt the lost arts of kedging and warping on Tessie. The furthest we ever got from Portchester on the south coast, was Bembridge! A few years later in the mid 70s, Dad found 'Chlamys' at Hoo and bought her. Having since rediscovered the Medway, I'm not sure why he decided to relocate her to Portchetser but he did. Chlamys had been converted by a local Woodwork teacher with the help of his pupils and was built like a tank - double skinned clinker and rigged as a standing gaff cutter. She was beautiful and went to windward a little and could be persuaded to tack if you were patient! We got as far as the Channel Islands in her - but Dad consumed a large part of the UK Gin stock getting there. He was far happier creek crawling which is why I don't know why he didn't stay on the Medway! Anyway back to the present.

As we crossed the Thames the mist lifted and the sun came out and I was down to my T-shirt. The wind returned for a few of hours just before Maplin and we enjoyed a pleasant sail to the entrance to the Colne. We crossed the Spitway an hour before low water and recorded a minimum of 2.2 meters under the keel (I think - but I must check the echo sounder).  The wind then gradually died again and soon the engine was on for the last mile or so up to the Pyfleet. Just as we arrived it then freshened considerably. I didn't see anyone else the whole trip but there were a few other visitors in the Pyfleet. There was plenty of space for another though and I let go the anchor around 1800.

The trip had gone without a hitch and I was feeling confident about my ability to handle Arctic Smoke on my own. Little did I know that tomorrow would prove a little more challenging.

The Pyfleet is a delightful spot, so I soaked up the atmosphere for a while and then prepared dinner. I had provisioned for two hoping that Howard would join me but he was under the weather - so I gorged myself on steak with tomatoes and mushrooms, new potatoes, and broccoli, washed down with lashings of red wine. Lovely!

Next I had to plan the return trip. Up to then, I'd forgotten to factor in the time needed to get back out to the Whittaker before the flood commenced, so the 0630 start I'd assumed became 0500 which meant getting up at 0400! The hight of tide would be a little lower, but I calculated we should still have enough water to get back over the Spitway at low tide.

The wind had got up quite a bit from the North by 2200 so I let out some extra chain and set the anchor alarm before turning in. The alarm went off once when the tide turned as I half expected it would but we were still where we should be and I quickly went off to sleep again.

Return to Hoo

I was up at 0400 on Sunday and whilst there was a breeze building from the NE and the sky was overcast, the dire weather threatened by the forecasters had not arrived. Weighed anchor an 0500 - my first experience of using the winch. Discovered that the lead of the chain forward to the chain locker rather than straight down made for extra work but it was manageable and I got the anchor up  without too much difficulty and amazingly enough for the Pyfleet it was as clean as a whistle!

We motor sailed out to the Whittaker in order to ensure getting there before the flood headed us. Recorded 1.7 meters over the Spitway - this time the shallowest water was nearer the Swin Spitway rather than the Wallet Spitway as on the way out.

Turning south west we had a mostly fresh breeze behind us heralding a rather busy run down the coast as I tried to keep the boat on course and the sails working effectively. I was disappointed that despite her long keel AS would not hold a course for long despite lots of attempts to balance the set of the sails. After a while I enlisted the help of George AS's ancient self steering system. I gave up after an hour and a number of uncontrolled gybes. George stubbornly refused to co-operate.

The following weekend whilst attacking the long list of jobs with Mick, he tactfully pointed out that I had installed George's motor back to front! It was also only having returned that I realised that not being able to lock the wheel/rudder was probably a major cause of the hassle being metered out. The following weekend therefore I spent the majority of the time dismantling the locking mechanism. This included 4 hours on Saturday afternoon in the blazing sun trying to retrieve a spanner I dropped to the bottom of the steering pedestal. I had one of those clever tools for retrieving small objects - a push plunger at one end operated a claw at the other. It was like playing one of those fun fair games with the grappling hook that looks like it should be able to pick anything up but actually fails to do so. I'm sure my shrieks of frustration must have been heard on both sides of the river. Eventually after the sun had gone down and I could see what I was doing I managed to retrieve the blasted thing. The next day I finished getting all the bits off only to have my suspicions confirmed - the shaft itself that is supposed to turn a screw thread that then drives a 'car' that squeezes clamps against the steering column - was completely an utterly seized up. I'd even rowed ashore to buy a blow torch that turned out to be completely useless given the need to hold it upside down.

Still, despite the constant too...ing and fro...ing from the helm to the sails (including a failed attempt to rig the spinnaker pole to goose-wing the Genoa) and to the chart table we enjoyed a cracking sail down the coast. A minor hic-up crossing the Thames - I thought we needed to take avoiding action to get across the approach channel quickly so stuck the engine on and tried to furl in the Genoa, but all the flogging had tangled the furling line and it took much faffing and cursing to set things back to rights. Whilst all this was going on the strange looking vessel that I was seeking to avoid had hardly moved and as we drew closer going up the Medway approach channel, it turned out to be nowhere near as big as I feared. And then back up the Medway. The down-poor never arrived - just a couple of light showers and the wind, may very briefly, have gusted to F5. By the time I picked up the buoy at about midday the sun was out.

Monty Zoomer

Are the men of Kent bonkers or what? At the mouth of the River Medway lies the 2nd world war wreck of the Richard Montgomery an American munitions ship. The wreck is so dangerous that the authorities decided the only option was to leave it where it was and keep their fingers crossed. The Isle of Sheppy and Southend have lived on borrowed time ever since!

Mick at the Helm

But the men (and women too) of Kent are made of stern stuff; so Hooness Yacht Club organise an annual yacht race/game of chicken - a race that if you want a chance of winning - means sailing as close to the wreck as possible before scarpering back up the Medway for a well-earned beer at the club to calm those nerves.

Approaching Queenborough Spit

AS joined the fun this year and wonders of wonders was second over the start line at 1000 with 2 hours of the ebb left to run. Once again however Charles in his Nic 32 'Aurai' stole a march and within a few minutes was leading the fleet down the river towards the USS Richard Montgomery.

The breeze freshens...

It was a gorgeous day - the first summer day of the year (not counting the March heat wave) and layers of oilskins and winter clothes were gradually shed as things warmed up. Mick, who joined me as crew, navigator and race tactician, was soon regretting donning his thermals. The wind was NW varying force 2-4.

Aurai stayed ahead (possibly behind ANO Hooness boat) and extended her lead over the rest of the fleet. However, she got caught out by a wind shift rounding South Kent and had to put in an extra tack and so we gained on her for a while. She stayed in front though and then extended her lead (swapping places with the other boat that was possibly in our fleet), she passed Garrison Point and headed for the wreck.

As AS got to the first wreck mark the wind died to almost nothing for a while - thankfully the last remnants of the ebb took us safely past and in so doing saved the Isle of Sheppy from what could have been a very big bang indeed.

Once past the wreck the wind picked up and we sailed back up the river on a slightly freer tack than the one we had come down on. We started gaining on Aurai again at this point and for 10 minutes or so thought we might catch her. It was not to be however - the combination of wind shifts and the bends of the river brought a return to more close hauled work and Aurai once again lifted up her skirts and was off.

...and Chica closes for the kill

Worse was to come. We had left Will Pretty (who managed to combine racing with Race Officer) in the Trimaran CHICA, trailing in our wake on the way down the river, but inexplicably Chica started to overhaul us on the way back. From Darnet Ness onwards, Arctic Smoke and Chica were engaged in a close quarters duel through the moorings. The occasional wind shift required us both to harden up for brief periods and during these, Chica's relentless progress was briefly halted. Soon however, we were prow to prow. In a last desperate bid to hold her off, we dodged through the moorings into the channel in an attempt to get more tide under the boat. Then we aimed directly for Buoy 30 and the finish line, hoping to force Chica to round our stern. No doubt a veteran of numerous such duels, Will held his nerve and smiling pleasantly also held his course directly for the buoy! With yards to go there was no longer any doubt that Chica had her nose in front, so - not wishing to sink our race officer - we gave way, and Chica got the nod in 4:20:54 against AS's 4:21:00.

Must be one of the closest finishes on the Medway!

May Bank Holiday 2012

A bit blowy. Crew - Ian. Saturday; Hoo - outside Isle of Sheppy in a fresh NE, 2 reefs. AS went well to windward in choppy conditions. Thought about Ramsgate; went to Harty Ferry instead. Lots of seals in the outer Swale. Forgot my charts of the Medway and Swale, but remembered enough. Picked up buoy and dined on board. Very bouncy night with gale from the NE. Little sleep. Sunday up the Swale to Queenborough. Cold. Good ale and food at the 'House and Home' - very friendly. Monday sailed out to Richard Montgomery, back to club mooring at Hoo. Great sailing.

Ian at the Helm

Traffic in the Medway

Action man!

Going well up the Medway, but ...

...couldn't catch Charles in his Nic' 32 ..wait 'till I get full sized genoa!

Very smart

Lowestoft to Hoo

Having spent the previous weekend doing a succession of small jobs to get ready for departure, the Easter weekend arrived and Sharon accompanied by No 2 son Stephen, drove me and the crew (Mick and Alan) up to Lowestoft on Good Friday with the expectation we would leave the following day. There were just a couple of little jobs left to do; patch the mainsail, fit split pins to the throttle linkages and fix the nav lights.

Things started ok. The mast was indeed up and all the bits and pieces connected. It took most of the afternoon to stow provisions and say goodbye to Sharon and Stephen so precious little got done.

The next morning we set too in earnest. Alan and I got on with the sail and a general tidy up above decks and left Mick to sort out the Nav lights. By late afternoon it was clear . Multiple problems with the Nav lights fittings and wiring finally let to the diagnosis that new lights and wiring were required. After much heated debate about whether we needed the lights (that continued during the rest of the week) I decided we did and it was therefore clearwe were going nowhere that day. Only undersized lights and domestic wire could be tracked down quickly so we had to make do with a temporary solution. Somehow or another it was late Monday afternoon before the lights and a succession of other unanticipated more minor jobs were done.

The northerlies had been and gone and with freshish south westerlies forecast we dropped down the river to the outer harbour having played chicken with the local dredger on the way.

The Dredger Orca

We weren't going far only to the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk YC/Marina. As we manoeuvred into our chosen berth I gave the engine a touch of half throttle forward to ensure AS carried her way and at that point the throttle jammed open. AS started to surge ahead towards the marina wall. Fortunately Mick had just got on the pontoon with a line and had got it round a cleat. I had time to catch the look of alarm on his face as he looked back to the boat before I dived for the stop button. We escaped serious mishap - just. Investigation revealed a missing circlip in the Morse control. An hour or so later a temporary repair was affected and the water tank had been filled - with non drinking water - the only water available on the pontoons but we failed to notice the signs!

We consoled ourselves with a very good meal at the Yacht Club and got a reasonably early night ready for an early start in the morning.

A fresh south westerly was blowing but we got through the banks without undue difficulty and made sail. We we were able to lay a reasonable course for Harwich and were enjoying a cracking sail. The boat was going well under full genoa and a single reef in the main. Then the 0810 Lowestoft Coastguard transmission wiped the smiles off our faces. A SW severe gale force 9 was forecast. In our alarm we forgot that "soon" gave us 6 hours and we diverted to Southwold after only 2 hours sailing.

Proud owner at Brightlingsea

Alan and Mick had to leave for other duties. Mick returned on Wednesday evening and Tony joined us too. The stiff breezes of Wednesday and Thursday (the F9 never materialised in Southwold) were replaced by two days of flat calms So we motored to Brightlinsea and then onto Hoo without further incident other than being boarded by the Police off Blacktail Spit. I think they were getting in some Olympics prep as I've never been boarded before. Suffice to say they fpund no reason to detain us!

Roll on the sumer!

George at work before we discovered his proper home, 

Tony and AS at Brightlingsea

The Crew

Haul out

Friday/Saturday 16-17/3. Took AS over to the Yacht Haven for Haul out/survey on Monday. Took the guys a few attempts to get her into the slings but all ok.
First time seen her out of water.

No obvious signs of osmosis but will have to wait on survey.
Oiled/greased sea cocks. Except after getting home realised had forgotten outlet for the loo! Tidied up cockpit lockers. Found emergency tiller.

Removed port aft chain plate u-bolt. Some corrosion on alminium toe rail under chain plate but not excessive. Backing plates not up to much though. Discussed with Tim from the yard and agreed that he would remove all four u-bolts for the lower shrouds and replace the backing plates with more substantial ones.

Tried but failed to get the diesel central heating to work. Probably something amiss with the fuel pump.

Found a box of winch spares which is very handy given that Tim warned me that the mast winches felt like they needed stripping down and servicing.

Also found inspection lamp and anchor lamp both fully operational.

Better luck with the ancient Navtex console. Just needed the antenna connection improving.

Stripped out the lining under the the side deck in the galley area. Absolutely sodden. The toe rail fastenings and or those for the genoa tracks probable culprits. There's standing water on the deck after rain and it leaks through. Similar situation on the starboard side above the chart table. Probably a job that will have to wait until get to the Medway.

Spoke to the Surveyor on the Wednesday following. Thankfully doesn't seem to be any major problems. The rudder apparently is covered with blisters which I completely failed to notice but the hull only a couple of small ones which he said were of no concern. The seam along the bottom of the keel had apparently opened but had probably been like it for years. Not a difficult job and not urgent. One of the rudder fixing bolts was loose so Tim sorted that before AS was relaunched on the Friday. I go up again over the weekend of the 24th/25th and by then the mast should be back in. Will have lots to do to prepare for the trip down over Easter.

Bursill 1 Anode 0

Well the weekend of 3rd/4th March ended in victory but it was a close run thing.

To start with the padlock gremlins returned. I'd left the keys on board in the cockpit so Tim at the yard could get in. Having retrieved them, I just could not open the companion way padlock and became convinced that he'd removed the key for some reason and left it elsewhere. So out came the hacksaw and yet another padlock bit the dust.

Once we gained entry, Mick weighed in with his finely honed analytical mind and after 4 hours, having considered a number of issues and options that I had completely overlooked,  he concluded we should carry on chipping and drilling at the blockage!

Admiral Bursill in his slops

The engine is a Bukh C10 sporting a massive flywheel and in most respects is a great piece of marine engineering with most parts that need servicing being easy to get to. The anode however is most inconveniently located at the back of the cylinder block very close to the exhaust pipe and above the throttle linkage assembly. In the photo below, the front of the engine is on the left. The hand is Mick's holding a mirror on a stalk to see inside the anode hole which runs diagonally right to left from just below his index finger for about 3 inches at the same angle as the rocker box in the foreground with the decompression lever on top. The black tube is the water exit tube which joins the exhaust out of picture. The exhaust manifold and steel pipework is just below Mick's hand also out of picture




Where's that anode?


We spent the rest of the day chipping and drilling. With access severely restricted by the throttle linkage and exhaust pipe, progress was painfully slow and by the evening there was still more of the old anode material in the engine than out. We ceased work for the day feeling very pessimistic about our chances of success.

After a hearty breakfast Sunday continued in much the same way, drilling and filing both manually and using a drill attachment which had been added to our armoury (which also included a 'Henry' vacuum cleaner for sucking out the remnants of the old anode.)


By lunch time (but no lunch) precious little progress had been made, we just could not get a good enough angle of attack with all the gubbins in the way. After contemplating the potential and drastic solution of removing the cylinder head and not liking the idea at all, we were belatedly spurred on to remove the throttle linkage. That -  we reckoned - would allow us to drill into the obstruction at right angles to the block (using the right angle drill attachment I had bought earlier).

Preparing to attack

After an hour or so we had got the throttle linkage off and were ready to start drilling in earnest. At that point Tim arrived to brief me on progress on re-rigging the mast which had been lifted out the previous week. I took the opportunity to raise the issue of the padlock. After some head scratching he picked up the old padlock and my keys and was soon demonstrating that there was in fact no problem with it at all! Duh!

After profuse apologies from me, Tim and I set off to inspect the mast and rigging, leaving Mick to carry on attacking the anode.

Tim is clearly a first rate rigger and took time to explain everything fully including my options for addressing the various issues. The main one being whether to repair or replace the existing roller reefing mechanism which was living on borrowed time. Reassured that once repaired it should be good for another couple of years and that it could be replaced without having to get the mast down I decided on that course of action.

It was clear that all the running and standing rigging would need to be replaced and my budget was tight. A new furler could wait.

Taking on board Tim's advice to service the mast winches ebore too long I returned to Arctic Smoke to find that Mick had finally cleared the blockage and that the new anode could be fitted!

An hour or so later (about 1800) we had re-fitted the throttle linkage but discovered it didn't work. Thankfully it turned out that the cockpit end of the assembly just needed some attention and at 1900 we started the engine. All seemed fine. No leaks. We ran the engine for half an hour had 'lunch', a quick tidy up and headed home.

Reinforcements ....

.... A heavy squadron on the horizon in the shape of Admiral Bursill, master of the universe, is closing fast to help deal with the troublsome anode. Hopefully he will also be able to shed light on AS's complex electronics. There are various dials and boxes of tricks that do goodness knows what. Everything seems to work though, except the central heating and the fridge. Mind you even I could see that the bundle of corroded compressor bits and pieces in the bilge were unlikely to function as intended.