another step closer to far, far away……..
Towards the end of the South African summer is a good time to be in Cape Town, boat spotting. At this time of the year there are numerous transient cruising boats docked in the marina, crews preparing their boats for the voyage onward across the South Atlantic. Anyone who knows their cruising scene and sees a BCC immediately thinks Taleisin …
A job that’s been on the list for a very long time has finally begun. Of course, I should have tackled the problem as soon as it became apparent but I didn’t and now it’s possibly many times worse than it might have been. The anchor hatch cover consists of a hardwood frame closed off by hardwood backing. Epoxied to …
It’s late in the season here in the Gulf of Finland and I wonder what the plan is with the sweet little Swede? To set sail back home at this time of the year means almost certain encounters with the autumn Baltic gales and icy conditions. Perhaps the plan is to winter the yacht here while the skipper returns back …
Finally, after much to-and-fro, up-and-down and backwards-and-forwards, the new exhaust in in! Back in August the exhaust union gave way in the shipping lanes and, in disgust, I parked the boat for a while. It’s never a good idea to procrastinate because in the end it took quite a while to extract the bits and pieces from the boat and …
Gentle breeze, flat water, birds, whales. Living the life for a change.
I’ve spent several visits to ‘Blue, slowly working at getting the remaining bits of the exhaust out of the boat after the union disintegrated in the shipping lanes a while back. Forty years of use has the exhaust elbow really carboned-up and the remaining piece of the union still refuses to budge but slow and steady progress is being made. …
Just as we clear the harbour mouth the engine note changes, the normal noisy clatter replaced by something a little more disturbing. I nip down below, ripping away the engine covers to investigate. Seems the exhaust elbow has disintegrated and the little Yanmar is spewing fumes into the saloon. We eventually do a repair with fire blanket, hose clamps and …
Up until now I’ve had to shoot down the companionway stairs to start the motor, followed by a mad rush out to reduce throttle [motor won’t start unless full throttle is engaged] and check water flow. Then, if the motor happened to die while motoring [always in the tight confines of the marina of course], a panic rush down the …
There is this theory that life is challenge, that living and experiencing a good life involves risk of both discomfort and failure, that nothing really worthwhile comes easy. I think I can buy into that theory….. On what happily seems to be evolving into a regular “Friday Challenge” we set sail on Jigsaw at around 1500. It’s cold with …
Friday afternoon, 1330, and I’ve had more than my fill of work for the week. On the boat by 1400, mooring lines pared down to just the bare essentials, covers off, safety gear in place, motor warmed up. Now we wait for the crew to arrive. It’s blowing a steady 15-18kt SE’ly, gusting the odd 25kt on rare occasions. Sea …