Shakedown Sail

Thursday 11^th September 2025

 

0000   hrs

Lat: 50° 24.33' N Long: 004° 12.32' W
The Mooring

0700 hrs

Spent the night onboard as the J24 World Championships were being hosted by Saltash Sailing Club and Plym Yacht Club and everybody was invited to a 'Cornish Evening'. A social with pasties and cream teas, I did have a chuckle to see the pasties were made in Devon and the cream teas were served in both the Cornish and Devonian style, they also had a very, very loud band.

While I've not sailed Aphrodite over the summer she is staying on the mooring so I can sail over the winter.  However, I have been down on the boat several times checking her and working on some improvements, but today was going to be the first time I'd take her off the mooring and raise the sails.

1245 hrs

After a morning of sunshine and showers, the forecast was spot on, hoisted the main with two reefs in and slipped the mooring.

Delighted to say that leaving the mooring was a lot easier than I had envisaged.  Took off the port bow line, past it in front of the forestay and attached it to the karabina.  Repeated the process with the aft lines, slipped the aft lines then walked forward and slipped the remaining bow line and the boat drifted away from the mooring buoys.

John was on the wheel in case it went horribly wrong.

I left John on the wheel as he had not helmed on a boat with a wheel before and set about unfurling part of the genoa as we headed down river close hauled before turning off the engine and settling down to the task of looking after the sails.

As we passed the Lynher river to our starboard we were hit with a 30 knot gust! Turned smartly round and headed back up river under the Tamar Bridges, where we lost all wind, before heading towards Cargreen.

With just over three metres of water under the keel, don't you love big spring tides, we turned south again just off Devonport Naval Base and got in a right muddle.  Hammered by 35 then 0 knots with speeds through the water ranging from 0 to 7.5 knots!  

On seeing that we were doing zero knots, both SOG and STW, I started the engine to get through a tack. Thirty seconds later the engine sounded a high temperature alarm and I went into 'Don't panic' mode.  

We sailed up the river discussing the option to sail onto the mooring. We did attempt it, but did not quite manage the maneuver and I sadly lost an old and faithful boathook. Time for Plan B and I gingerly turned the engine on just as we were hit with a 20 knot gust, crossed my fingers and took the wheel. Thankfully, no temperature alarms this time and came alongside the mooring at ½ knot. John sprung onto the foredeck and picked up the lines.  

1515 hrs

Back on the mooring.

While a short shakedown I was delighted to see that getting on and off the mooring was not as terrifying as it had become in my head. Given the amount of time the boat has been on the mooring and the visible slime on the hull she moved at about six knots through the water at times! A couple of small issues were found, I had not rigged the reefing lines at the end of the boom correctly and there was on sail slide not in the slot. Both are easily fixed.

While I need to investigate the engine temperature alarm I am sure it was something partially over the raw water intake, we did have some cooling water exit the exhaust.

After sorting out the sails and tidying up I noticed that the club bar was open and a celebratory drink was in order.  

All times are UTC.

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The Log

 
                                                                     

	Distance NM	Underway	Avg SOG knots	Max SOG knots	Night Hours
Day:	7.30	2h 30m	2.92	7.00	00h 00m
Year:	12.60	3h 36m	3.96	7.00	00h 00m

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Crew: Sandy Garrity (Skipper), John McMurdo

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Sunrise: 0542   hrs     Meridian Passage: 1159   hrs     Sunset: 1931   hrs

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Weather: The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at  00:15 (UTC+1) on Thu 11 Sep 2025 for the period  01:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 11 Sep 2025 to  01:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 12 Sep 2025.

There are  warnings of gales in Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Shannon, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle and Faeroes.

The general synopsis at 1800

Low Malin 987 expected Faeroes 975 by 1800 Thursday

Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth

West or southwest 5 to 7. Moderate or rough, occasionally very rough in west Plymouth. Showers, thundery at times. Good, occasionally poor.

   

      © Met Office Synoptic Chart 11/09/2025  

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Updated: 14/09/2025

Mooring Work

Sunday 16^th March 2025

0000 hrs

Lat: 50° 24.33' N   Long: 004° 12.32' W
The Mooring

1200 hrs

On a bright sunny Sunday morning I popped down to the boatyard as some packages had arrived! The largest was a new set of mooring strops from Jimmy Green's in Beer. The smallest was a pack of four drawing board clips, my solution to charts flying off the chart table in a seaway.

Given the number of boats that had come off their moorings over the winter, it has been quite a windy one, I decided to move up from 18mm to 20mm strops. The quality of the work from Jimmy Green is outstanding.

Arrived at the sailing club and did my new exercise routine, pumped up the dinghy, and fetched the outboard motor from the shed more exercising, starting it for the first time in eighteen months. Actually, it started after a few pulls which secretly I was quite pleased about.

The visit was timed to coincide with low water springs in order to change the mooring strops. With the tide ebbing I started with the down river strops as they were slack. The first issue was undoing the shackles and much to my surprise it was not as difficult as I anticipated, due to the greasing the threads.

Being careful not to drop the pin or shackle into the water I removed the old strop and replaced it with the new one then worked my way back to the boat and tied onto the new strop. With both new strops on I nipped up the shackle and locked it with a zip tie.

An addition to the strops this year is adding some pipe lagging made of closed cell foam in order that they float and to discourage the growth of aquatic life, mussels in particular and a protective plastic tubing to stop chafing.

Back onboard it was time to adjust the length of strop - I had ordered them a metre shorter, but still think they are too long. With the foredeck all set it was time for coffee and wait for the tide to turn.

Sat in the cockpit with coffee in hand I watched the tide move up river. A line of foam and bubbles moving up stream with larger ripples behind that line.

With the upriver strops loose it was time to change them. Same process, but with a much stronger tide running under the dinghy.  Still not 100% happy with the length of the strops, but will adjust them over the next few weeks. 

1700 hrs

Time to close the boat up and get back to shore, deflate the dinghy exercise and head home.

There had been quite a few boats returning from a sail, what was really nice to see. I still need to get the sails bent on before I let go the lines.

All times are UTC.

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Launch Day 2025

Wednesday 5^th March 2025

0000 hrs

Lat: 50° 59.99' N   Long: 004° 59.59' W
Trellugan Boatyard, Cornwall

I woke at six after a cold night, another one below freezing point, and popped my head on deck to be greeted by a blanket of thick fog, a layer of hoar frost and water frozen to 10mm in a bucket that was on deck. Today might prove some interesting navigation!

As Mark who had done this trip before was unavailable I had put out a call on a local sailing group and Morag volinteered to crew. Thus we me met each other at the sailing club at 0754 and started the two car shuffle between there and Treluggan.

0830 hrs

The yard team arrived and started the tractor. I removed the last items that needed to go ashore and popped them in the car.

The slope was inspected for ice and treated with grit before the tractor started its slow descent to the river. At that point an inbound vessel arrived, realising that we needed to be launched before they could be lifted, drifted back down river and moored to one of the lower pontoons.

Boat Launching Treluggan Style

The dinghy was walked down the slope and manhandled onto the deck. Time to climb onboard and swap the blanking plate for the depth sounder; an essential bit of kit on this passage.

Next was the moment of truth. Would the engine start on this cold and frosty morning? After what felt like an eternity she caught and after a roar at full revs was happily chugging away at tickover. Forward and reverse propulsion was engaged and the wheel was turned port and starboard - just to check that I had not accidentally shut the hydraulic circuit off. All working we were set to go.

0900 hrs

The bow was led round the end of the pontoon, I pushed the throttle forward and we were off - almost going the wrong side of the first navigation post! A few shouts of 'starboard' and we were on course chugging our way down to the railway viaduct.

Just after the railway viaduct the engine began to hunt for revs, always a nervous moment, I pushed the throttle to the stop and hoped that it was just a few air bubbles in the line - thankfully this was to prove correct.

The Joy of Being Back at the Helm
© Morag Thomson Findlay 05/03/2025

An early morning trip down from Treluggan in good weather is always stunning, the place can be quite magical and so it was today. On reaching the confluence of the river where it branches up to St Germans a bright yellow fishing boat with two massive outboards passed and we roughly followed her down to Dandy Hole. As ever Dandy Hole has a few liveaboards and still has one wreck that has not been lifted.

Past the Royal Navy training ship by Beggars Point and we were out into the Tamar with the tide just on the ebb. We motored slowly upstream and I pointed out the mooring to Morag, let her have the wheel to get a feel for the boat before turning round and as we came alongside the mooring gave a big thrust astern after I picked up the rather mucky lines and managed to get the aft starboard line on the cleat.

1006 hrs

We were back on the mooring.

On the Mooring - at last!

With one line on it was a matter of adjusting the very messy lines, a mug of coffee and getting the dinghy fully inflated and over the side for the trip to the pontoon.

I had forgotten that the sailing club was having an RNLI Fundraising Coffee Morning, so we sat and had a coffee, by this time I was regretting not putting some sun lotion on! Then it was back for the two car shuffle and Morag could get to her early afternoon meeting.

Back at Treluggan I handed back the keys and had a final wander round where the boat had been and picked up any litter, chatting to the owners still working on their boats - mainly passing news of the route down.

1400 hrs

Back to the club and out to the boat for a final check that all was in order.

I had left the engine sea cock open to check what the water ingress was like without the engine on and was surprised to see that the engine bilge was almost full.  At that point I decided to invest in a new water pump rather than faf about repairing the original one as that would take time and a few tools, a three armed bearing extractor, that I did not have.

The fuel leak was sorted by the fuel being turned off and a nappy placed round the leak - on my next visit to the boat I'll need to measure up for a new fuel line and get that sorted.

A final check of the lines and I locked up the boat and rowed ashore - only to discover that I had left the dinghy pump onboard and a couple on a boat on the pontoon were kind enough to let me borrow their outboard to speed up my return trip to pick up the pump.

Finally got the dinghy back to the car for deflation and transport home - the summer dinghy park is not yet open - and into the bar for a well earnt orange juice and lemonade before the drive back to East Devon.

All times are UTC.

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The Log

Distance NM	Underway	Avg SOG knots	Max SOG knots	Night Hours
5.30	1h 06m	5.00	6.00	00h 00m

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Crew: Sandy Garrity (Skipper), Morag Thomson Findlay

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Sunrise: 0655 hrs    Prime Meridian Passage: 1211 hrs    Sunset: 1804 hrs

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Weather: The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at 23:30 (UTC) on Tue 4 Mar 2025 for the period 00:00 (UTC) on Wed 5 Mar 2025 to 00:00 (UTC) on Thu 6 Mar 2025.

There are warnings of gales in Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle, Faeroes and Southeast Iceland.

The general synopsis at 1800

Low 800 miles west of Shannon 980 expected Southeast Iceland 970 by 1800 Wednesday

Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth

Variable 2 to 4, becoming south or southeast 3 to 5. In Plymouth, slight or moderate, becoming moderate or rough later, otherwise smooth or slight. Fair. Moderate or good.

© Met Office Synoptic Chart 05/03/2025

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New Mooring at Saltash

Thursday 6^th July 2024

After way too long Aphrodite is back on the water!  A busy few days at the yard, Ian the GRP man has done a fantastic job on the P bracket, but kept us waiting right up to the wire.  Leaving Donald very little time to sort out propellers and get the engine running before launch.

Mark offered to assist with taking the boat down to the mooring, having left the cars in at Tamar River Sailing Club and Saltash Sailing Club, we being members of the clubs that look at each other across the Tamar, we jumped in the dinghy and went up the river at low water to take a good look at the channel. Only after setting off did we realise that we had planned a pub meal, but had no means of transport.  Thankfully, a pub was further up river and we were able to arrive by boat on a very high tide. The ride up was like going up a jungle river with the trees touching the water. I must do that trip again.

0815 hrs
Duncan arrived and we set about reconnecting the exhaust pipework. That done filled a bucket full of water and turned the engine.She chugged and coughed, but did not fire up. No fuel getting to where is should be. After what seemed like ages she sparked into life and I could breath again.

0850 hrs
Shaw and Tom arrived with the tractor and boat lifter we were on our way to the slip.  I walked slowly behind, having spent so long ashore it was hard to believe that we were going back in the water.

0910 hrs
Down on the slip I climbed on board and checked that all the through hulls were not leaking started the engine and let things settle - then a heart stopping moment as the engine died, a quick restart and a few extra revs had her going again.  Clearly she had forgotten how to behave at tick over, or was very cold.

Mark tied the dinghy to the transom and the yard team pulled the bow round the end of the pontoon and off we went following the posts marking the route closely and after an hour arrived at the mouth of the Lynher to join the Tamar.

On entering the Tamar the wind was a southerly F4 gusting F5 and a 'bit lively', I was sure the last forecast I had seen said to expect to see a F3.  We headed up to Mike's boat to drop his kit off when he had a lightbulb moment and suggested that we go alongside the Tamar River Sailing Club pontoon as he would not need to come back to his boat.

Kit dropped we untied and had the easiest pontoon departure ever, the wind blew us off, and headed over to the Cornish side to look at the mooring.

I had inspected the mooring the week before, but it was unsafe to do any work on it in the dinghy.  Lines were both tangled and covered in mussels.  Thankfully the lines on the north buoy were usable, but that would mean that when picking up the buoys the bow would need to be pointing north.

With wind over tide and the wind being the strongest force we had to use the south buoy to attach first and given the conditions that was not going to happen.

Plan B was to come alongside at Saltash, but with two boats already on the pontoon that was not possible, so we had a Top Gun 'buzz the tower' moment, racing past the pontoon giving everybody at the club a laugh.

Plan C was to return to TRSC and tie up to their pontoon while we waited for the tide to turn and the wind to drop - we headed back to the Devon side of the river.

On tieing up I spotted a somebody who had his boat near mine at Treluggan and greetings were exchange, Aphrodite was tied up alongside, Mark and I adjourned to the local pub, where I drunk strong tea and had lunch and we worked out a Baldric like cunning plan.

After lunch while waiting for the tide there was a knock on the hull and I spotted Tim grinning from ear to ear, welcomed him onboard and caught up with the gossip.

1415 hrs
We left the pontoon with a cunning plan to get the boat on the mooring.  The wind had dropped to 15 kts and the sea flattened.  I gave the helm to Mark and he motored the bow up to the south buoy as I hung over the bow with rope in hand ready to thread it through a shackle and get the boat attached.  On the second attempt we were on.

The mooring had not been used for about three years and the lines were covered in mussels! Given the weight of mussels the lines had sunk and had tangled themselves up with each other forming a horrible mess.  After a lot of heaving, cutting, knotting, grunting and a few choice swear words Aphrodite was attached to four lines and we had a mass of line, floats and mussels on the deck, but she looked happy to be back on the water.

The view from the cockpit

1545 hrs
After a well earnt cup of tea we sort of tided up, filled the dinghy and headed back for shore.

My next task is to sort out all the minor defects that we spotted with the engine after it had not been used for 18 months, a diesel leak at the primary filter, the water pump is leaking from the back, the water speed wheel is not turning and one section of the exhaust hose replacing with a longer length as the P bracket housing is much bigger.  That should keep me out of mischief for a while.

It was good to see the boat back on the water.

All times are UTC.

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	Underway	Distance	Avg SOG	Max SOG	Night Hours
Day:	2h 15m	8.10	3.55	5.00	0h 00m
Year:	2h 15m	8.10	3.55	5.00	0h 00m

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Crew: Sandy Garrity (skipper), Mark Rodgers

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Sunrise: 0413 hrs Sunset: 2031 hrs

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Weather: The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at  00:15 (UTC+1) on Thu 6 Jul 2023 for the period  01:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 6 Jul 2023 to  01:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 7 Jul 2023 .

Plymouth

Southwest 3 to 5, backing south 4 to 6 later. Slight or moderate. Mainly fair. Good.

© Met Office Synoptic Chart 06/07/2023

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