Having been sailing now for a few months I thought it would be useful to reflect on one or two aspects of life as it has changed for Lynne and I.
I suppose the first thing we have learned is to slow down, rather than rush on to the next port of call we will stay awhile and explore, we have found so much more by doing this. The danger is sometimes in never leaving at all!
The weather is obviously the ultimate arbiter and we have seen other sailors leaving early and in unsuitable conditions ( unsuitable for us that is). We have also seen people who have motored all day and we have ourselves on a couple of occasions. However with the luxury of time we only really feel that is appropriate if we get a double benefit, in other words we are seeking a safe haven or are meeting a deadline.
This year the weather has been rather mixed, the spring was delightful and warm with gentle winds, unfortunately we spent too much of it in the boatyard making extensive modifications to the boat and doing essential maintainance to Dark Tarn, next winter as we will be living aboard we should be able to make better use of time through the winter months and schedule jobs better. Hopefully this all give us a head start next spring. The summer was very windy, winds were consistently at force 5 or above and the late summer and autumn has seen a round of consistent easterlies, hoh hum........
As to all the modifications, everything is still working, we had a small blip when the cockpit display for the NMEA system (repeater) seemed to have a failed backlight for an hour or two, just as I had arranged a replacement from Garmin the damn thing fixed itself and has worked ever since!
All the other electronics have functioned well. Of particular note is the AIS system which not only informs other shipping we are there it also tells us who else is around (big boats) as a fringe benefit , or rather curse, all our friends can track us via the internet which has several sites with this ability. We then gets texts along the lines of " my mother got married in that church over there" or " 5.9 knots, don't you think it's time to put the spinnaker up? " all very amusing of course.
The wind instrument is a godsend, giving a variety of real time information, we also have a barometer and can also monitor air and water temperature, which would be handy if I was searching for the Gulf Stream or Agulas current but at the moment just says it's OK to swim today.
The new sails are just wonderful, the boat is faster, more weatherly and they are a lot easier to hand and reef, fabulous, John has done a wonderful job.
The new rigid vang has meant a lot less of the boom crashing down over the companionway hatch and complements the quick drop main system really well, ditto the five full length battens.
The genoa is noticeably easier to reef, especially now we have 10 mm halliards and sheaves.
Winter job is to replace main halliard sheaves as well.
The two new Andersen 40 secondary winches have proven invaluable and more than man enough for the job, they are in fact a little OTT for a yacht of Dark Tarns size but the crew appreciates the extra grunt, as does the skipper when squeezing the last bit of luff tension from the main!
the Aries works, it has not been used much this year but should become invaluable for longer voyages, the tiller pilot is still used a lot for coastal work primarily because it is so easy to adjust on the fly.
The two plotters work well particularly having one mounted in the companionway that can be seen from the helm position, however as the particular model cannot be effectively networked it means paying for two sets of upgraded charts, something I will need to look into and consider over winter. On the subject of digital charts, one plotter is more up to date than the other and we have noticed a big difference between the two, on one there are no charts at all for Loch Tarbert on Jura, and even the dock we are in at the moment doesnt show the correct pontoons on one plotter ( Belfast Dock ), one plotter is 2013.5 and the older one is updated to 2013. So six months apart, it's a little disturbing to think that so much can change in such a short time. We also carry good old paper charts and assume that they are out of date as soon as we buy them. Of course realistically common sense sorts most things out.
The Navtex receiver is another electronic instrument that has proved invaluable and is never switched off.
Towing a dingy is not the pain everyone told us it would be, to be fair this was mainly coming from people who didn't tow one. It took a little rediscovering of lost arts but especially after I fitted a bow fender to her in Ardfern Allandale has been towed through conditions where the sceptics assured us she would sink! We tow two waves back and pull her up as we enter marinas, she tucks in nicely under the stern or bow quarter if we are on a pontoon and up to now no one has said we need to pay extra, in fact usually we are shown somewhere she can be parked for free out if the way. The old axiom still seems to apply " if she rows well she will tow well"
The DAB radio is a favourite with Lynne ( radio four addict ) winter job is to fit an FM arial for when DAB reception isn't available.
Ditto TV. We have managed to watch one box set of Hamish McBeth in four months and other than downloading the new series of Dr Who on my Ipad that's about it for TV, we tend to mostly read. winter job fit an omnidirectional arial.
The new wind generator has also been a real boon, it's self monitoring of the batteries works well and seems more than up to the job of keeping the fridge going, in fact the fridge has never been off. He, the wind generator, now has a name and is known as Billy Wizz.
The replacement locker in the cockpit has never given cause for worry, I think it will outlast me and looks really well, only I know the amount of work it took to make! Solid Iroko, lovely.
The boat as a whole has been superb, never giving us cause for worry. Most systems work well and the fact we have a steel hull means we care not a jot for the odd bump.
She has always got us where we need to be safely and without fuss. With the new sails and a clean hull she is no slouch either. A great boat.
What have we learned about other stuff?
We buy books in charity shops and donate them to charity shops down the road, 50p would be the average we would pay.
We even bought warm clothes from a charity shop when we were caught Inappropriately dressed at an Airshow, very useful places.
We buy a lot of stuff when we find it cheap, and do without when it's too expensive.
We will anchor more in future, it's often preferable to picking up a visitors mooring and being charged £10-15 for the privilege of having a steel can banging on the boat all night.
Marina berths are worth paying for if you need a quiet night, get a free electric hook up, there are often deals to be had for longer stays, on Islay, Ballycastle and Coleraine we got deals that meant we were paying less than £15 a night.Belfast was £16 with the exception of Port Ellen on Islay all the others offered free laundry facilities, godsend!
Showers, we could probably write a book on these. However if your thinking of opening a marina anytime here are some things to. Think about.
DONT, get a designer to design them, Crinan canal got this wrong, frosted glass panels and a wet room affair, nowhere to hang your clothes, nowhere to keep anything dry and no way to preserve your modesty. No mirrors either, now I can just about shave without one but ladies need them.
DONT think that those stupid push in and get 30 seconds of lukewarm water, then have to push it in again things are a good idea, ditto any thing that needs a constant supply of coinage.
DO, provide somewhere to hang your clothes up, somewhere to keep things dry, hair driers are nice as are heaters and somewhere to sit, basins with hot water and mirrors are also appreciated. Showers that are hot and just work without needing a degree in electrical engineering also good.
Top marks here to Ballycastle and Belfast an honourable mention must also go to Rathlin.
Nothing tastes quite as good as fish you have caught yourself.
A close second is fish that someone else has caught and given you.
We now try to read a paper every day, in England and Scotland it would be the I, in Ireland the I isn't available so we resorted to the Times, as a counterpoint we also occasionally took The Record.
We try to carry cash and pay on card, cash back is more available than ATMs in the western isles.
Internet access is becoming increasingly essential, wi-fi is worth seeking out rather than woefully slow mobile connections. I have joined quite a few library's on this trip! As we do most of our banking etc. online we really do rely on it.
iPads and iPhones are bloody marvellous, make sure to buy the wi-fi and cellular models as then you can navigate quite effectively with one. You can also write up your blog and Facebook as well as a million other things limited only by your imagination, technical manuals, recipes for John Dory, video editing, need I go on? Apple has now seen fit to drop the ipod classic so if like us you have a large music collection buy one now!
Ditto kindles, Lynn is a recent convert, the paper white means she can read in our book with its backlight without disturbing sleepy me.
Lastly make sure you get on and never let the sun set on an argument.
It's a great life, looking forward to learning some more useful skills and meeting more interesting people as the journey goes on..........
No comments:
Post a Comment