Sailing Aphrodite

06/07/2023

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.

	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

Crew: Sandy Garrity (skipper), Mark Rodgers

Sunrise: 0413 hrs Sunset: 2031 hrs

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

01/07/2023

Treluggan Boatyard

Saturday 1^st July 2023

The original plan was to be in Treluggan for seven months in which time I would do a major refit. The most pressing job was to sort out a 'rumble' coming from the drivetrain that I had heard during the summer.

With the boat out of the water you could wiggle the prop shaft at the P bracket, looks like that is the issue. As we dismantled the drive train it became apparent that something had happened at some time in the past and that things were worse that I had feared. Not only could the P bracket be moved when the stuffing box was removed the stern tube end was not straight, but had chunks out of it. Something had happened at some time in the past, but I was unsure if they were related.

Then came the long hunt for somebody to do the work as this was way beyond my level of GRP work. One contractor said he was interested, but had not done that type of repair before. He then disappeared for several months. I suspect he was not confident and rather than saying, 'Sandy, sorry but I'm not happy doing that job.', just left me waiting. I frustration I had a chat with the people at the yard to see if they had any contacts in the trade and thankfully they had just found somebody that fitted the bill.

In June 2023 Ian arrived with his tools dug out the P bracket from the GRP then proceeded to rebuild the structure that held it in place, this time a bit more substantially than the original design. Once that was completed moved on to replacing the metal stern tube with a spun glass fibre one. The original metal stuffing box, with a Radice dripless seal to eliminate having to pump out the engine bilge daily.

All Glassed Up

The Finished Job

There had also been a number of other equipment failures that meant things needed replacing. The fresh water pump being the highest priority, a simple trip to the chandler with the part number of the existing pump.

The most comical item was the hinges for the sea toilet, they do have a habit of routinely breaking.

Water in the Engine Bilge

One of the most satisfying jobs to get done while the boat was ashore was sorting out a mysterious leak that kept filling the engine bilge.

After a heavy downpour I would return to the boat to find water under the engine and backed up to the transom which was puzzling as I was unable to spot where it was coming in from.

On removing the fuel tank I found a pool of water under it and was able to work out that the water was entering the boat via the hole in the deck where the fuel pipe cap was located!

Unscrewed the fitting, drilled the holes through the deck and replace the screws with three bolts and applied butyl tape round the fitting and tightened up the bolts. Finally, the leak has stopped.

I really enjoyed my time at Treluggan, the yard are happy for you to work on your boat, get them to do the work or get a contractor in to do the work. Other yards are very 'protective' and only they can do work on your boat.

01/06/2023

Bespoke Log Book

Thursday 1^st June 2023

I mentioned on the introduction page that I am the 'world's worst' at keeping a log on passage and one of the impacts of this was when coming to write up this blog, I was missing all sorts of detail that I wanted to include.

As a result I gave the subject some thought, why was I not keeping a good enough log, what could I do to improve my log keeping, what would help me to keep a good log and use it throughout a passage?

Firstly, I am left handed, corrie-fisted as we say in Scotland, and don't have the neatest of handwriting as I spent my working life thumping a keyboard. I've found the spaces in the RYA Log Book ~~are way too small~~ 'a bit tight' to say the least and with their predefined columns rather limited to recording what somebody else thinks they need to record, not what I want to record.

Secondly, there is never enough space to write things in the log as they are usually about A4 size. This has resulted in things being jotted down on different bits of paper, e.g. amount of fuel purchased on the Peterhead ended up on at least three pages of a notebook and I'm still not sure if that covered every jerry can filled.

As a result I decided to design my own. Prolific has a rather nice hardcover bound A3 log as it needs to conform to coding requirements, this sparked the idea of producing the same size A3 book for Aphrodite with two pages for each day. The left hand page for the entry of data for 24 hours and the right hand side for a narrative. Throw in a few extra areas for crew, weather, route and passage stats and it had all the data that I would need on passage and to be able to write up the blog at a later date.

A few days messing with the word processor gave me a couple of early drafts that were printed off and refined. Once satisfied I found a company online that would take a few PDF files, print, bind and add some covers.

Much to my surprise the cost was cheaper than the RYA Log Book, granted it is not as nice looking, but I want a practical document not something that looks good on the shelf. A3 fits on the chart table.

If anybody is interested in a copy please get in contact.

image host Data page - sits on the left

image host Narrative page - sits on the right

12/02/2023

OYT Training Weekend

Saturday

As a member of Ocean Youth Trust Sea Staff I always try to attend their training weekend near Southampton.

Not only does it allow us to do some specific RYA training and specific topics related to the charity and Prolific, but means Sea Staff can meet up socially and remember trips and look forward to the summer season.

After an early start and a three hour drive through thick fog I arrived at the training venue and was able to park the car nearby.

Saturday's excitement was to renew my RYA First Aid at Sea Certificate, something that needs to be done every three years. And given COVID I was interested to see how we were to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Not long after we got started I met the new 'blow up' Resusci Annie, a few giggles went round the classroom.

Resusci Annie

As we ploughed through the material during the afternoon it occurred to me that I have held a first aid certificate, in some form or another, for 50 years!

The second thought that struck me was that the RYA First Aid at Sea book has very little to do with doing first aid at sea! While the content is great it is written for an audience that has easy access to emergency services!

Sunday

A very different day with a series of lectures and activities on OYT and Prolific specifics.

10/12/2022

Frostbite Delivery – Day 3

Saturday 10^th December 2022

0600 hrs

On watch and it is still dark, we had been weaving through the Thames Estuary for most of the night. I took over from the skipper, but as we were close to the destination he remained on deck.

0700 hrs

As the light started to fill the sky we had a course change turn to starboard at Black Deep No 8 Buoy (N51 36.51 E001 21.32), then keep within that channel, but as with everything there were two large cargo ships inbound for London. We furled away the Genoa and dropped speed allowing them to pass well in front of us.

Crossing the channel we consulted the tide tables and felt that there was enough water to safely cross a major sandbank. I turned to port and over we went, carefully monitoring the depth sounder. We were fine with over a meter of water under the keel.

By now the sun was up and it was turning into a lovely morning, Phil was also up on deck, everybody was aware that we were on the last few miles, being guided by the windfarms.

One of the many wind turbines in the Thames Estuary

With everybody up on deck we all enjoyed the sunshine and remarked how brown the water was then set the boat up for arriving at Brightlingsea.

1200 hrs

We really could not have timed our arrival so well, noon it was. Greeted by the new owners on the pontoon, they had been eagerly watching us on AIS and were keen to see their new boat tied up, safe and sound. We handed over the boat, gave them a list of small issues that they needed to know. They insisted that lunch was on them and we were all taken to the local sailing club. Where we all enjoyed our first pint since before leaving Plymouth.

1400 hrs

Following lunch at Brightlingsea Sailing Club, including some excellent local beer, we were driven to the local railway station, waved our goodbyes to the new owners and bought tickets for the rail journey home.

Crossing London on the new Jubilee Line was a new experience. It was fast and the trains very modern. Climbing the steps at Paddington threaded my way through the pre Christmas throngs of people and waited for the next train to the West Country. The train was delightfully warm.

All times are UTC.

	Underway	Distance	Avg SOG	Max SOG	Night Hours
Day:	12h 00m	68	6.00	10.00	7h 51m
Trip:	49h 50m	248	5.70	12.00	7h 51m

Crew: Ismail Tezdiker (Skipper), Phil Kingerlee and Sandy Garrity.

Sunrise: 0751 hrs Sunset: 1547 hrs

Weather: The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, at 23:30 (UTC) on Fri 9 Dec 2022 for the period 00:00 (UTC) on Sat 10 Dec 2022 to 00:00 (UTC) on Sun 11 Dec 2022.

Humber, Thames

West or southwest 3 or 4. Moderate at first in Humber, otherwise slight or moderate, occasionally smooth in Thames. Wintry showers. Good, occasionally poor.