Weather or not

Tags

cruising, racing, weather, yachts

When I first started sailing as a kid on Mulungushi Dam, in what is now Zambia, racing was not enjoyable. Gunkholing was what enticed me, sailing into little coves and seeing what was there, exploring in “forbidden” areas was what appealed.

Gunkholing at it’s best

The thought of racing and having to beat someone was pointless, why bother, much better things to do than to waste good exploring time trying to prove who could win what.

As a consequence I never did worry to learn how to get the fastest speed out of a sailing boat, happy to just relax on a boat and explore.

Then I started sailing at sea, the horizon was always beckoning, calling to new, unseen, (for me at least), places. Half the fun was the dreaming of where to go and how to get there.

When my hobby  turned into my career, things changed a bit. Delivering boats mean you need to get the boat and crew there in one piece in as fast a time possible. The weather and the boat, of course, conspire to rob you of the ability to do this without a struggle. It becomes a battle of wits and knowledge on your side and a boat, whose sole purpose it to think of things to do to you next, (at least that is what it feels like), and the weather, which never reads the weather report and so does not know what it is supposed to do, on the other side.

Confronted with a pending storm, in what you have discovered is not such a seaworthy boat, all the racing skills now become a necessity as racing the weather into the nearest port becomes a necessity, far more important than winning a race against humans. Comfort and safety are at stake now.

So I learned to get the best out of a sailing yacht, not to prove I could set sails better than my fellow sailors, but because many times, lives depended on our ablity to get the most out of the boat and the crew. Being able to race the weather will prevent you having to survive it.

Survival mode, funny how photo’s “shrink” the waves

My advice to prospective cruisers…go racing for a season, preferably on someone elses boat, not because you enjoy it but because one day it might just save you.

REVIVAL OF THE AEROGEN 6

Tags

Aerogen 6, overhaul, sailing yacht, wind generator.

by Mr Meme.

like new

After 5 years the wind generator, despite having been greased regularly started rumbling. The AEROGEN 6 is a quiet source of alternative energy. It is simple and efficient but…

On examination the lower turret bearing was found to be shot. With the brush cover off one can see what is going on inside the housing. Condensation had caused oxidation of the aluminium and the fine abrasive powdered aluminium had washed in past the bearing seal causing premature wear.

The turret or slewing wear on the bearings can be felt by simply tilting the unit by lifting the tail up and down. Also it gives off a knock when the wind is flukey.

The main bearings cause an audible vibration which is amplified by the hull becoming a rumbling noise.

Day one we took it down, and started stripping. Stripping is the word because some of the self tapping screws on end covers were seized and simply sheared off.

Tools needed are a large and small hammer, metric ring set spanners, a brass punch, steel punch, screw drivers and a bearing puller, small drills and drilling machine and a soldering iron.

Materials needed are emery paper, fine waterpaper, small self tapping stainless steel screws,one inch

Oxidized aluminium casing inside windy.

rubber jointing (neoprene), white smooth Hammerite, good quality water-resistant grease and silicone grease. No SEAGULL Shite (ie. SIKAFLEX) of course. A set of new bearings and circlips. And an AVO meter.

The inside of the casing was emery papered an rubbed with silicone grease and the outside casing was dressed up by removing all flakey paint and feathering with fine water paper and all was painted three coats.

shot bearings

By day three the bearings were fitted and assembly completed through to day four. All re-greased and tested and the output was according to the manual. (Which is available on-line).

We once again have a quiet windy pumping free liquorice when the sun don’t shine and the wind does blow..

 

HOWEVER!

Should you not feel like doing it yourself, chuck it in a box and send it to me and I will assess it and after a reasonable approved quote, I will send it back renewed with invoices of spares and materials used, photographs and a full report of the job done and its performance, including a 12 month warranty.

I asalted my husband.

Tags

batteries, fermented vegetables.

The batteries arrived yesterday. YAY!

old batteries out, new batteries, still in thier boxes, about to go in

We went to Gibraltar with the boat to pick them up, as we have no car it is easier, we had a 15kn NW wind and it was very bouncy in the marina in Gibraltar, it reminded us of how fortunate we are in the Alcaidesa Marina in La Linea where our mooring is very calm in all weathers, ok so we do not have the restaurants, bars and noise, for which we are also grateful.

On the way across the tray with my new sauerkraut fell and half the contents went rolling around the floor.

That evening I intended to sort them out after supper but got sidetracked, just before going to bed I remembered. I dissolved the salt in a pan of water and topped them up and went to bed, leaving the pot with some salt water left on the stove.

home fermented veg, very healthy

Needless to say Mike used the water to make his ginger tea, he was rather miffed at his asalted taste buds, what did not help was my laughter.

Family visit

Tags

Apes, caves, Gibraltar, glass blowing., pillar of Hercules, siege tunnels

Gibraltar, Spain and sailing are different when you have some young people visit, their enthusiasm and delight at the views and sights are refreshing and get hardened travelers like us to see thing in a new light.

My nephew and niece visited, he is in Spain for work purposes but traveled down to see

Glass blowing

us on his first long weekend. It was so great seeing them and they finally got us old folks to see the sights of the Rock.

The first day they were here we visited Gibraltar, we had to go to the see the Glass blowing as my niece loves crystal.

Watching them makes you appreciate the care skill required and the heat involved to make such beauty, you will never look at a piece of crystal the same way again.

the red phone booth at the border

We then of course took a tour round the rock and up the mountain to see the apes, caves and tunnels, fortunately it was the only day we did not have rain so could see the view.

Royal mail box

Roy and Colz with Nelson

St Michaels Cave

The one pillar of Hercules

The tunnel entrance, built to house the cannon that kept Gibraltar free from Spain.

the view from the tunnel

 

 

Us and the Apes, and the view the apes have…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitties have a new home

Tags

cats, sailing

Our sailing kitties have a new home.

The unpleasantness with the bullies here in marina was witnessed by one of the decent members who keeps his boat here, he and his wife offered to give our kitties a home in a house with a garden and a cat door.

They came and collected the three of us and we introduced the two of them to the resident cat, who was not happy but did not kick up a fuss to having two girls thrust into his domain.

TP2 took is all in her stride, Fizzpop had never been in such a large living area and was a little scared at first and hid behind the sofa. By that evening they had settled in and were beginning to play.

They are now settled in nicely and Fizzpop thinks her own door is the best invention ever, Tp2 has taken over the couch in the sun on the veranda.

I am heartbroken and still miss them terribly but having seen Fizzpop’s reaction to our last sail, where she hid, cowering in a hole, and when brought her out she spent the time curled up with my niece, then she leopard crawled off the boat down the dock when we got back in, she would never have been happy on a boat, TP2, as usual, takes life in her stride.

I am happy that they have now got a loving home, another playmate and are away from those dreadful bullies that so often infest the yachting fraternity and make everyone’s life miserable.

The bulies were kicked out after they started trashing the property of other marina members so life is a lot more pleasant now.

                               Our kitties last sail, Fizzy trying to hide behind

     my niece, TP2 is relaxed as usual.

Battery wait

Tags

batteries, making do.

Batteries now on order! Hopefully here on Monday or Tuesday next week.

Fortunately we plugged into 220v in the marina, just as well we are here as we have an Easterly gale blowing at the moment so being at sea at the moment would not be pleasant.

When cruising one so often you have to wait for things to arrive for your boat, sometimes taking a long time, one of the boats here waited four months for an anchor windlass to arrive from the UK. They were getting quite desperate towards the end.

In a more remote place, depending on what has to be ordered it can take months, try needing a new motor in a remote island that is only serviced by ship every couple of months. These Islands usually do not have a yacht chandlers and usually only basic hardware.

I remember having to search Madagascar for bits of rope as the boat we went to collect for delivery had most of the running rigging stolen. The rope we found certainly was nowhere near the quality or specification required but we made do and were able to sail to where we could get the proper rope needed.

On that particular trip we repaired the genoa using the cover for the inflatable dinghy, OK it was PVC but it was material and allowed us to sail to where we could get a proper repair done.

I have always taught my students that “if it works, it is good seamanship and the only thing that limits you is your imagination”. Some of their ways of making things work have been ingenious and have made me proud of them, after all, the best compliment a student can give you is to become better than you.

 

The Batteries have died

Tags

batteries, broken wrists, sailing

Getting ready  to sail and the batteries have died.

We decided to leave and cross the Atlantic to the Caribbean, then of course things happen to derail your plans.

First I broke my wrist, one of those stupid accidents, Mike had gone to fetch gas and was in a hurry to go and do something else so dumped the bottle in the cockpit, close to where we climb in through the awning, I of course did not see it, stepped onto it and as they are very badly designed as a step, I fell breaking my wrist.

Needless to say Mike’s ancestry was described as I sobbed with pain, good thing he was not there, he had gone for a bicycle ride and I did not know when he would be back.

I managed to get up and unlock the boat and phone our friend Eric Oostuizen from Gateway Nautica, he has a business in the marina fixing boats.

I phoned him as I knew he would help, has a car and speaks Spanish much better than me. He dropped everything and took me to the hospital in La Linea.

They were brilliant, and some of the other patients told the doctor to take me first as I was in a LOT of pain and they could see my wrist was not as good as it should have been. Two hours to be x-rayed, doctored and plastered.

That put a cap on my computer typing skills and of course our departure date.

Then the batteries have died…..they will not hold a charge but as we have had them for 5 and three-quarter years and they were a year old when we got them, at a special price, we cannot complain, they have done us proud.

Of course they died just before the holiday weekend…I do not know how equipment always manages to die at the most inopportune time.

Mike is now seeing if we can get new ones, a serious dent in our freedom chips, but the thought of being without an autopilot crossing the ocean is a thought too horrible to contemplate, that tyranny of the tiller is torture.

Happy New Year

Tags

cats, Happy New Year, sailing

We would like to wish everyone a very Happy, Prosperous and Blessed New Year.

We have not blogged lately and appologise, we hope with the New Year and new adventures and hopefully no more exams, broken wrists, and worst of all, having to find our kitties new homes, we can rectify the situation.

Thank you for you patience and understanding.

Best wishes

Mike and Meme

 

How do you tell your cats the clocks have gone back?

outboard guard

I had just managed to teach my two kitties that 0700 was a more humane hour to wake up mommy, then they put the clocks back.

They are learning again though, it was 0630 this morning instead of 0600, sometimes it is 0500 in which case they are ignored until a more reasonable hour.

The marina has very kindly allowed me to walk them in a fenced off area, which was supposed to have shops, but because to the economy it will be quite a few years before they get round to building them.

Fizzpop is out the starting gate, Tp2 is still making sure the neighbourhood is safe

We put them in their cat carriers, and carry them to the gate and let them out once inside. On occasions I have let them run back, only have a dog-incidence.

They both are learning well and Fizzpop will run into her basket to be carried back, Tp2 just waits to be lifted into her box, but at least she does not try to get away or struggle.

exploring the “Wild”

They look forward to the walk in the “wild” as we call it, but lately the rain in the evening has been terrible so they have only been doing their morning walk round the car park, before the sun and people get up, as long as the rain is not too bad they are out there, I cheat and put on my waterproof “fur” (foul weather gear).

hidy cat….

waiting for the human to turn on the tap

Herb confusion

Tags

electical short at sea, herbs, sailing

On the same trip our lady crew arrived with fresh herbs and hung them all over the boat to dry, this did not bother me, as skipper as I believe in crew being people, with their own likes and dislikes and individual needs and as long as it does not annoy the other crew or endanger the boat I will allow these idiosyncracies.

This one nearly cost us the boat though.

Mike smelt what he thought was hot wires in the navigation area and sniffed it to a bunch of rosemary hanging in front of the electrical panel so thought he was mistaken and left it.

I came down below a little while later to smell an even stronger smell of hot wires, this time there was discernible as a trace of smoke behind the rosemary and on opening up the panel, it turned out to be the solar panel regulator busy smoking.

Mike was quickly called and snipped a wire and it all cooled down. much to our relief.

A fire on a boat at sea is the last thing one wants