Testing testing......

First chance to try out the new sails today, well the main and roller genny anyway. We were sailing from Largs to tighnabruich in the Kyles of Bute. A wee problem with the top shackle on the roller furler will be sorted out next Thurs, so at the moment it tends to stick when unfurling, soon fixed by rolling in then out again.

The luff tension on the main needs to be greater than the old mainsail however even poorly setup the boat just flew! The wind was east to North East and about a force 3. Dark Tarn was consistently over 7 knots and hardly heeled.

Approaching the East Kyle, Toward point on the right.

The little number bottom left is speed in knots, in this case 7.2, taken just after the photo above.

Not bad considering the wind speed poor setup and we were towing a heavy dingy!

Going through the Kyles we met some old friends, starting with the Waverly.

Later we met up with Alba Endeavor, she is one of the BT challenge 72s I have sailed a lot on one of her sisters Alba explorer, they are owned by the Ocean YouthTtrust of Scotland.

After a bit of a look into Caladh harbour ( has to be one of the most scenic anchorages on the west coast) we hunted around a bit to find the mooring for our friend Chris Millers boat Duo. We eventually located it opposite the starting hut for the Kyles of Bute sailing club. By this time we were thoroughly

Wet through due to the Scottish "soft weather" so retired below for a warm and a brew.

A very good day all in all, still grinning!

The Irish Sea

It seems that this blog is a bit patchy, so in an attempt to fill in some gaps, here I am going down the Ribble, notice jaunty hat!

We had a very calm crossing to Isle of Man, picking up a mooring in a lovely bay on the east coast near Laxey

Had a quick run ashore

Lynne found a swing! 24 hours without sleep will do that.......

 Anyway lovely spot however the forecast south westerly wind became distinctly southerly making the anchorage subject to reflected swell around the headland, this meant swell on the beam ( cos the boat points head to wind) and ROLLING.......

So we moved a few miles up the coast to Ramsey.

Largs

Finally got here to get the new sails fitted, popped in to Saturn sails to see John, "anything you need me to do?" " no Phil just take the old sails off and I'll see you in the morning" could I get the genoa down? No I could not, was it stuck in the foil? had the Hilliard jumped a sheave? No option but to head up the mast before John or Graham arrived and see what was what.

Lynne and I have developed a technique whereby I can climb the mast using a mast ladder (this bit was easy as we had taken off the mainsail, the mast ladder runs in the mast rack for the main) she isn't strong enough to winch me up so I climb and she winches up a bosons chair at the same time. This means when I'm at the appropriate height I just need to sit in the chair and Lynne can support my weight on a winch.

The news from the masthead was not good, the halliard had not only jumped the sheave but had partially crushed it, this would need a rigger ( sometimes referred to as " mast monkeys")

Luckily Dark Tarn has a spare for most things and that includes genoa halliards so once I had freed the halliard and dropped the old sail we were in business.

The new main has 5 full length battens and three reefs the third being very deep, Dark Tarn has an inner forestay whose sole function is to carry one of the two storm jibs, let's call them storm and the tiny spitfire ( hurricanes only!)

The genoa is 130% as opposed to the old 150% monster. John has also made us a cruising chute or Gennaker for light downwind work, this will be flown from the new bowsprit.

Graham measured up for the last thing which is the quick drop lazy jack system which will be fitted next Thursday

In the meantime Lynne and I will be exploring the Kyles of Bute and upper Loch Fyne and hopefully getting to grips with Dark Tarns new rig.

Finally a few pics of Largs.......

If you are interested in ancient history the pencil monument balanced on Lynne's head is the sight of the famous battle with the Vikings at which they got their arses kicked by the locals, they are absurdly proud of this fact in Largs!

Arran

We sailed from Kirkudbright at 11 am Friday arriving at East Tarbert Bay in the evening. The bay is tucked in on the east side of the Mull of Kintyre about a mile from the headland. It is a very good spot to await the tide to turn in your favour in the north channel. It is very lovely and feels quite remote, however it being weekend there was a contingent of Geordie family's who were camping and fishing (there is a very basic campsite on the beach) they were quite noisy, obviously fishing and alcohol seem to go hand in hand.

We weighed anchor around midnight and motored around the Mull, it was a very dark night due to cloud. The over falls were abscent, but there was obvious tidal movement with large boils, however a remarkably calm strip was evident close in to the cliffs. We shot around into the North channel at about 7 knots.

With a fair tide all the way and a gentle southerly we actually arrived at the mouth of the Clyde at 4.30 in the morning and a couple of hours early to catch the first of the flood. The wind increased to force 4 and we had a bit of a wild run to Lamlash on Arran arriving at 10.20 in the morning. We picked up a mooring and tried to get a few hours sleep. The rising southerly south westerly wind made the mooring uncomfortable, forecast was for the wind to veer to the north west. This proved to be the case and after we had slept for 11 hours straight on Saturday night on Sunday morning we moved about 5 miles along the coast to Brodick.

Brodick Bay Arran

Bit of a selfie, taken at Lamlash, do I look short of sleep?

Dark Tarn on the visitors moorings at Lalash

Holy Island Lamlash, directly behind Dark Tarn is a great anchorage just of the buddist monastery, ( Holy Island is now owned by a buddist community) if I get the chance I will pop onto the anchorage and row ashore and ask the monks to bless the boat, you can never be too careful! Any excuse to re-visit Arran!

Kirkcudbright

Arrived here on Saturday, but were too late to get up the rver so spent the night at Little Ross Island ( scene of murder most foul if you google it)  There is a mooring there for the Range safety boat, there is an active firing range adjacent. Gary the range safety guy doesn't mind you using this mooring but in a SW it's a bit rolly polly. Anyway we were up at 5.30 and made our way up river to the pontoon at Kirkudbright. pronounced Kerkoobree.

  It's one of our favourite places to visit, a real jewel of the Solway Firth.

To be continued.........

This is a picture of the anchorage behind little Ross Island

When in Kirkudbright we made some new friends, one quite famous one (in ocean sailing circles anywa)y is Badger, now owned by a lovely couple from Haverigg. We spent an evening chatting and drinking aboard. It feels funny being on a boat you have read so much about, imagining her in the Falklands or Brazil, Badger didn't disappoint she is immaculate. 

 A Jay Bentford dory, junk rigged same size as Dark Tarn at 34ft, fabulous boat.

Fit out

There is a rule, the rule of three, or five, take your pick. It basically states that you have a task to do and you think it will take so long, so then you take the number you just thought of and multiply it by whatever number the rule states.

In our case I think  five is correct.

So what have we done In the last seven weeks?

Painted the hull with epoxy and a polyurethane finish coat.

Brian did some lovely lettering on the stern.

New Navtex and ariel installed.

New MOB instrument and four fobs installed.

New switch panels.

Wind generator installed.

Wiring upgraded for new windgen, ammeter stop switch etc. 

new locker lid built and installed.

Syphon break installed in heads.

New DAB stereo installed.

Old low profile winches removed, deck welded and repainted, new conventional secondary winches installed, Andersen 40 self tailers.

New tool built to remove cutlass bearing.

Cutlass  bearing replaced

Three coats of anti fouling.

Two new plotters installed with movable plotter box in companionway.

New mfd instrument installed in cockpit.

New NMEA 2000 back bone installed.

New triducer installed.

Box made to box in triducer in fore cabin.

Main sheet traveller jam cleat replaced.

Stowe navigator log moved and installed.

Aries self steering gear installed. Mounting tubes bent and new mounting blocks sourced,

Lines led as appropriate.

Water tanks cleaned and treated.

Anchor retaining blocks on deck replaced with new iroko blocks same painted.

New sonar transducer calibrated.

Triducer water temp sensor calibrated.

Outboard serviced.

Two new GPS arial mountings fabricated.

Fore cabin hatch retaining knobs replaced.

Decks cleaned and repainted after weld spatter and grinding spatter.

New retractable bowsprit installed.

Insulating foam replaced bow and stern areas.

Still to do...............

Install rigid vang

Install Rader reflector on mast, permanent mounting.

Install new sails , lazy jacks and stack pack.

Install trailing log attechment deck plates.

Service engine.

Most of the last can wait until Largs.

So the plan is to leave Monday or Tuesday next week.

It's been a real experience how generous and helpful everyone in the yard has been, particular mention must be made of Pete M, brilliant guy who allowed me free reign in his well equipped workshop and several lifts to obscure industrial estates for essential jobs and bits and bobs. Chris Miller also deserves a mention and I wish him a happy retirement and hope to see him at Tinnabruich later on this year.

It's been great, but now it's time to go.................

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iPads

Picked up a good deal on a new ipad and loaded all my navigation apps from my iPhone. It's so much easier to use because of the bigger screen. Made sure I got the wi-fi/cellular model for GPS capability. It also does blogs!