Here in Spain

We have had the usual ups and frustrating downs when you try and work on a boat - particularly at a distance.


The big thing is that we have the chart plotter installed and working. The internal Aerial works fine so we are fully up to date on that front. Thank you Marco for that.

The bad news is that the batteries seem to have been damaged beyond repair. They are not holding a charge at all. So an expensive bit of shopping is in order now. The recommendation is to get AGM but they cost an arm and a leg so we may have to settle for sealed lead-acid ones. Lots of research is in order I think.

The windmill has taken a good bit longer and there has been some real frustration with the mounting pole as the holes drilled in it are fractionally off center which means that not all the screws can go in. It comes in two parts and only three of the four bolts will fit into the aluminium jointer. Similarly, only one of the bolts that attach the actual windmill into the tube will go in. A bit of work with a file or Dremel should do the trick in due course.

Further details and photos will follow in due course. As usual!

Next Visit Imminent

We have the usual 0500 start tomorrow morning and a flight down to Gibraltar courtessy of Sleazyjet. The weather is very much not sunny though with a depression off out in the Atlantic bringing forecast thunder showers and a possible easterly (or westerly).

Plans are to fit the wind generator at last, install the newly aquired chart plotter, reeve on the new halyards and have a look at the Henry the Navigator (AKA Aries windvane).

We will probably also run up the Honda outboard to see if it is knackered as I suspect.

Time and weather permitting we will try and get out for a day sail as well. If weather really plays ball we will blow up the dinghy and see about getting some photos of her under sail!

Watch this space anyway.

Boatshow visit

We made our annual pilgrimage down to Southampton today and visited the great temple of marine consumerism that is known as the Southampton International Boatshow. It was, as ever, a nice day out. There were even a couple of boats we liked the look of amongst all the dreadful Sunseekers and their ilk. In particular, the Ovni and Rustlers caught our eye as well as a beautiful gaff cutter and a late fifties ocean racer.

Of course, the bulk of our time was spent more geekily looking at toys we might like to get for Sarah G. In particular, new engines are high on our drool list though charts, books and rigging caught our eye as well. I am increasingly coming to the view that we may wind up replacing the standing rigging before we do any more serious cruising.

Piplers was the only organisation to actually get any of our money where we bought the Imray-Iolaire chart of the Azores archipelago so that is firmly nailing some colours to the mast I suppose.

Plans and ideas will follow in due course of course.

Good News and Congratulations

Fantastic that they have managed to get back cruising.

http://blog.mailasail.com/lynnrival

Updates and a new visit to La Linea

We are starting to get some certainty now and plans are finally firming up. Sadly, we are not going to get away this year now but should be away next year now. Details will follow on the specifics of what happens early next year but …

We have booked a long weekend for the end of September – the primary purpose of that will be to install the Windmill which we have now christened Don Quixote and the newly acquired chart plotter. We will then take a week or perhaps two near the end of November for a holiday. I am hoping that we can get down to Morocco and perhaps do a series of day trips from places like Smir though it would also be good to get a little bit further afield.

Next year, however, is now taking shape. We will most likely go to Jamaica in February for a two or three weeks. Then it will be a mad rush here in the UK to get the house finalised and rented. Then another mad rush to get Sarah G dealt with for an April departure. We will work our way along the Costa de Luz and the Algarve before kicking off from somewhere like Lagos for the Azores.

The routing charts seem to favour heading for the Azores around the end of April. I like the idea of spending a couple of weeks visiting the islands and then making our way back to mainland Europe late May/ early June. We can then make a decision about whether to come back to the UK for a winter fit out or carrying on south again. If we do go south it will be with the intention of carrying on across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

All very easy to type now and looking at the nice pale blue on the Atlantic routing chart from Imray or the wind diagrams in our wind atlas. What we actually encounter and what we like or dislike is a completely other affair. Still, it feels like a nice idea now.

Easyjet will be getting more of our custom anyway but I won't be sorry to leave the Gibraltar area in the end.

Sarah G will have to spend some time out of the water over the winter so we can do below the waterline things - check seacocks, change anodes and all that sort of thing.

Here in London, we have continued our surprise at the success of the Olympics and Paralympics. Last Thursday, we went to the Wheelchair Basketball semi finals where we saw a Canada v Australia final be set up and a US v GB play off. Tonight we have tickets for the final and play off. Never have I been so pleased to have to eat my words having been so implacably opposed to the whole thing right from the winning bid to the opening ceremony.

Perhaps we really should plan to sail down to Rio for 2016!

Boat Porn

This all I can describe this video as. Still, there are some ideas for what we might do on Sarah G sometime.

Click Here

Now real news at the moment. Off the boat, we had a very nice anniversary weekend in Paris.

New Aquisition

Last week Sarah Giddings entered the world of 21st century navigation. I have always resisted having a chart plotter aboard and, given a choice, I would still prefer to use paper charts. However, the difficulty in acquiring large scale charts of the Moroccan coast has persuaded me of the need to get some sort of chart plotter.

I was leaning towards investing in a laptop and putting a suitable bit of software on it. I had even experimented with OpenCPN on our netbook. Then, Marco Nannini of the Global Ocean Race let it be known that he had a Garmin plotter to dispose of. A bit of discussion followed on Facebook and a deal was struck! We are now the proud owners of a GPSMap 720 and an SD card with the western Mediterranean on it. We then decided to jointly treat ourselves to a large map including the Canaries, Azores, Atlantic Iberia and most of the Bay of Biscay.

Thanks to Marco for that and we wish him luck with future plans.

I am determined that the days of drawing little triangles on large expensive bits of paper should not die out. Nor will laying off courses to allow for tidal set or even EPs. However, poor visibility and strange entrances where we do not have a detailed chart will no longer cause so much concern.

I will post photos once we have it installed on the chart table.

In other news, my Brother had a mad moment and bought a Yanmar 1GM10 off Ebay and now has to figure out how to shoehorn it under Kemara's cockpit. This is to say nothing of putting in a new sea cock for the cooling water intake, redriling the shaft hole in the trailing edge of the keel, moving the cockpit drain seacocks, installing a fuel tank, installing an exhaust and silencer to come out over the transom and finally, glassing in the outboard well!

I think it is actually a good idea and will make her a much more practicable boat. We should be able to get some ideas for when we have to face up to replacing our old Bukh diesel engine as well.