Bonjour from Sunny France

We are now in France and enjoying lots of sunshine, although it has turned a bit grey and wet in the last couple of days.  We filled up with diesel in Port Samson, Guernsey at 57p per litre so we squeezed every last drop into the tanks since prices in Europe are about £1.20 to £1.40!!!  We headed to the Island of Sark for a few days and suffered some bouncy times in the anchorage because of the swell, the first evening we had to move to another bay it was so bad.  After that we used bow and stern anchors to make sure we lay head on to the swell and things were much better, most of the monohulls around us were having a much worse time than we were!!!  Mike and Pru spent a couple of days in Sark with us so we had to have a few drinkies to be sociable.  Tried our lobster pots for the first time this year in Sark and caught two small lobsters on the first night.

Sue and Pru Partying in Sark	We Catch Lobsters as Well as Fish

We left the Channel Islands with calm seas, clear sunny skies and barely any wind so we motored or motorsailed to the Ile de Batz just offshore from Roscoff, the 80nm trip took us about 12hrs and we anchored in the lovely harbour of Porz Kernof. The harbour dries out so we spent the night firmly sat on the sand with no rocking around for a change.  We wanted to make a bit of progress southwards whilst the weather was nice and settled so we left the next day for a 40nm trip to Argenton, more sunshine and winds of less than 10knts all day, we did get the spinnaker up for about an hour but it was only enough to pull us along at about 3knts so we gave up and resorted to engines again – good job we filled up in Guernsey!!!

Porz Kernok, Ile de Batz	Dolphins in the Chenal du Four

Just an overnight stop in Argenton, especially as it took us 5 attempts to get our anchor to set properly!!  From there we headed through the Chenal du Four and into the Rade de Brest, we had about 8 or 10 very big dolphins with us for about 15mins as we went down the Chenal so that really made the day.  At the eastern end of the Rade de Brest is the River Aulne and the weather was forecast to go downhill for a few days so we decided to head up the River to shelter for a while.

Beautiful Tall Ship Under Full Sail	On Our Way Up the River Aulne

The River is a lovely 15nm trip through reed beds and farmland until you arrive at the lock at Guilly Glaz that lets you into the canalised section of the river, not much room for us in the lock but we got through with no hassles.  A mile upstream we tied up to the canal wall at Port Launay with a varied selection of French liveaboard boats and cruising boats from the UK.  As I said the weather has taken a downward turn for the last couple of days but Port Launay is sheltered and safe so we are just waiting for the sun to return.  The weather out in the Bay of Biscay has been pretty horrible with winds of F6 – F8 and rough or very rough seas – we are not keen on sailing in that sort of weather so we can sit tight until things get better.  We also met Dan and Rhianon in Salcombe, they had left their boat in Port Launay for the winter so we had the pleasure of giving St Anna a good check over and telling Dan and Rhianon that she is in great shape and ready for their summers cruise in a few weeks time.

Bonjour mes amies Sue ici!!

As usual the Captain has got in first and said it all!! What he didn’t mention though was we nearly lost our dinghys in Sark. We went ashore for a tour of the Island with Pru and Mike and came across a little pub called The Bell Air where it was £2 a pint, needless to say we stayed for one or two!! It was then we realised how late it was and the tide would be coming in and our dinghys were on the beach!! We made a hasty retreat for the beach where we found Mikes dinghy just floating and ours, although anchored, had got washed around the other side of a large rock. The swell was very big and it took us some time to get both dinghys off the beach, in which time I managed to get thrown forward and banged my head on the dinghy engine. I ended up with a very impressive lump over my right eye!! Anchor drinks were definitely needed when we got back to our boats.

It was a lovely feeling reaching France, we are finally abroad and well on our way. When we got to the loch at Guilly Glaz Chris insisted that I ring ahead to make sure we could fit in the lock. His reasoning being that I did my French O level, I had to remind him that it was 36 years ago!! It was a very interesting conversation but I got there in the end and the lock keeper was very amused!! I was trying to tell him we would be arriving at seven o clock and he thought i was saying we would be there in seven hours and kept telling me he would be in bed by then!! I have since been studying my French phrase book.

The weather has once again brought us to a standstill but at least we are moored up safely and have met some really nice people. Wine is very cheap here so no doubt we will be sampling a few bottles to decide which to get for when my sister and here husband arrive in two weeks time. We are really looking forward to seeing them and aim to be in the Gulf of Morbihan by then where hopefully we will find the sun again.

Leaving the UK on Nimrod

We left Padstow as planned, although the wind did not do what it was supposed to do – what a surprise.  As we motored up the Camel Estuary away from Padstow it seemed like the wind would be OK so we raised the main and headed down the North Cornish coast towards the Isles of Scilly, after about 1/2hr it was obvious there was not enough wind and the main was flapping about like an old hankie so down it came and we motorsailed with just the gennaker for most of the day in calm seas and sunshine.  We had a visitor spend a couple of hours with us, a young swift hopped on board, obviously in need of a rest, he perched on various parts of the boat before heading off. The wind picked up for the last 15miles or so and by the time we got to Scilly it was up to nearly 20knts.  We anchored in St Helens Pool, that is supposed to be a well sheltered anchorage but we had a very bumpy night.

Young Swift pays us a Visit off Cornwall	We Eventually Catch some Fish (Pollack)

Our friends, Jean and John, were joining us in Scilly so we left St Helens Pool and headed round to Porth Cressa on the main island of St Mary’s to await their arrival, a busy anchorage with nearly all French boats there – only one or two Red Ensigns to be seen.

I thought I had better try a bit more fishing just to give Sue something to write about!!!  Surprise, surprise the rod and lures do actually work and an hours fishing resulted in two large Pollack and a decent Cod, as well as 1/2 dozen smaller Pollack that went back – see it really is very easy this fishing lark!!!  We caught quite a few more Pollack during our stay in the Scillies.

We picked Jean and John up in the dinghy on the beach – the best way to arrive on your holiday, to hear John complaining about the most expensive bus ride ever, £3.50 each to travel about 1/2 mile from the airport to St John’s!!!  It was soon forgotten as the beer and wine were tasted.

We had a great time visiting various places around the Islands and the weather was reasonably kind as we had a lot more sun than rain and no mist or fog.  We had one very wet day that, at least, let us test out the water collection off our new bimini roof – we collected well over 100ltrs of nice clean rainwater so that goes down as a huge success.  Seeing as we nearly always anchor, rather than paying exorbitant marina prices, getting water usually means filling jerry cans ashore and carting them back in the dinghy so getting water without even leaving the boat is great.

Lunchtime in The Isles of Scilly	Jean & Sue Admiring the Local Flora

All too soon we had to head back to the main harbour of St John’s to say goodbye to Jean and John and put them on their gold plated bus back to the airport.  We had a great time with them for the week and we are looking forward to their next visit – as well as visits from other friends and family.

We had another couple of days waiting for the weather to play fair so we could head back to the mainland.  After a very lumpy night in Porth Cressa we had had enough of nearly being thrown out of our bed by the swell in the anchorage so we got up at about 0400 and headed for the Helford River near Falmouth.  The seas were big and uncomfortable with not really enough wind to keep us moving comfortably so it was a very rough start to the passage with Sue going back to bed to avoid getting sea sick.  Eventually the seas calmed a bit, as did the wind so we motorsailed all the way and anchored in the lovely Ponsence Cove just inside the Helford entrance.

Perfect Sailing Leaving the Helford River	Leaving the UK Behind, Salcombe

We left the Helford in perfect conditions, flat seas, sunshine and 12knots of wind from behind.  I rigged both our poles and set our two headsails wing and wing to pull us along at a perfect 7.5knts.  It lasted for about 1/2 the crossing to Salcombe before the seas started building and the wind increased until we only had the jib sail out, doing 8 or 9 knts.  We headed up the Salcombe Estuary to anchor at the very top of The Bag where our friends Pru and Mike (we met them in Norway)came out in their dory to welcome us to Salcombe.

The weather did not seem to want us to leave the UK so we had a full week in Salcombe,  we had a really great time with Pru and Mike, helping them pack up as they are moving house, as well as helping Mike with various jobs on their yacht, Ghida, in preparation for a three week holiday to France.  In between we managed a few drinks and meals together, in return we managed to get all our washing done as well as getting driven to the supermarket for supplies – see how easily pleased we are these days!!!

Finally the wind and sea state looked good for us to head towards the Channel Islands so Friday morning saw us raising both anchors and heading down the Salcombe Estuary to leave the UK behind as we head for sunnier southern parts.  Mike and Pru waved us off from the headland and we headed out into the Channel.  Full sail and a little help from one engine to start with had us heading SE towards Guernsey, after a couple of hours the wind had backed slightly to the SW and we turned the engine off to sail at 8 to 9 knts nearly all the way to Guernsey.  The shipping lanes in the middle of the Channel were very busy and a couple of cargo boats that we were going to be quite close to studiously ignored all attempts to contact them by radio and also made no effort to change course, so we had to alter course to give us a safe passing distance.  There was quite a bit of radio traffic and most other shipping seemed happy to answer calls, maybe we were unlucky with our 2 potential risks – I even called Brixham Coastguard for a radio check and they confirmed we were loud and clear from over 30 miles away, it seemed from their answer that they had clearly heard us calling the two ships also!!!.

 

Castle Cornet Anchorage, Guernsey	How the Other Half Live

The wind dropped off and we motorsailed the last 10nm into Havelet Bay, St Peter Port, Guernsey where we anchored for a few days.  The residual swell found it’s way into the anchorage to make the first night pretty uncomfortable but since then it has been a pretty good place with plenty of sunshine and little wind.  Saturday saw the arrival of a 128ft long Oyster yacht, it looked very impressive coming up the coast under full sail and even more impressive when it came in to anchor.  I thought they might have come into the anchorage a bit further but a check on the AIS showed it to be 6.8m draught as well as 33ft beam explained why they stopped further out.  A 200hp RIB was lowered into the water by a crane that folded down into the deck while boarding steps came out of the side of the hull and folded down to board the RIB – like something out of James Bond!!!  A very impressive yacht with an even more impressive price tag no doubt (probably 20 to 30 million at a guess!!!).

We are spending a few days here to take advantage of duty free fuel prices, 60p per litre for diesel, and to enjoy some of the stunning beaches around Guernsey, Sark and Herm.  Then we head off to France to cruise around the Brittany coast before meeting up with Caroline and Rich for a week at the end of July – really looking forward to that.

Hi all Sue here

As usual the Captains covered it all, I must get in before him next time we update blog!!

Isles of Scilly were beautiful and I’m glad we managed to visit them despite weather conditions as usual. We had a great time there with our friends and think we managed to visit most pubs. On our many walks we came across various stands on the side of road selling fruit and veg and you just left your money in the honesty box, I couldn’t see this working in many places!! We had some wonderful ice creams in St Agnes, various flavours to choose from then topped with clotted cream and a flake, lethal on the calories but worth it..

As you can see from picture the fishing is now going well. After me joking about it on last blog there was no way the next time Chris went out fishing he was going to return without any!! We now have a well stocked freezer.

It was lovely visiting Salcombe to spend some time with our friends Pru and Mike. We were glad to be able to help out with their house move and boat jobs in return for getting our washing done!!. On top of moving house they also look after Mikes dad Richard who suffers with dementia and had to get him sorted to go into respite care for three weeks. Mike, Pru and Margaret (Mikes mum) do a wonderful job of looking after Richard but it’s a very trying time for them all. Richard is a lovely man and its very sad to see what this illness is doing to him and his very caring family. What Chris didn’t mention about our anchoring in Salcombe was the fact we ended up on a sandbank. Our first day there and Mike very kindly took us supply shopping to Tesco, it was a very windy day and Nimrod had been moving around quite a bit on her anchor. On returning in the Dinghy fully loaded with shopping and it was pouring down, I looked ahead and thought Nimrod seemed to be sitting quite a bit higher than the other boats at anchor. As we got closer it was quite obvious that something was not right and there was Nimrod perched on a sandbank. So there we were in the dinghy, load of shopping and still pouring down and quite a few yards away from Nimrod. Only thing for it was for Chris to roll trousers up and wade in thick black smelly mud to boat barefoot and fetch my wellies!! I then joined him to wade to the boat but being a lot smaller managed to sink up to my knees on first steps. I shouted to Chris but he said I would have to wait until he’d put the shopping on the boat!! It’s a good job we’ve got a hose on back of boat as the smell was horrendous, we just had to strip of everything and shower of all the mud, not a pretty site I can assure you!! Ah well another experience in boating has been learnt.

We are now in Guernsey and the weather is gorgeous at last, actually got the bikini and sun cream out!! Chris is very excited about duty free fuel but I am going into town to suss out the wine prices, I’m sure this is also very important!! Hopefully our friends, Mike and Pru, will sail in on Ghida later today and we will greet them with a well deserved anchor drink.

Making Progress South

We managed to get across the harbour to the wall outside Chris’ shed on the high Spring Tide and lifted our shiny new bimini canopy onto the frame using the spinnaker halyard – all went very smoothly with no dramas, just as planned!!!.  Back across the harbour to the main wall then and get the new top all screwed down to the frame, windows fitted and joints sealed all ready to go.  All in all it took an awful lot of hard work to make the bimini cover but it was well worth while, the cockpit now looks much brighter than it did with the blue canvas, we can now walk all over the roof instead of just down a narrow plank and we can also collect water off the roof when we need to. Hopefully you can see from the pictures that it looks like it has always been part of the boat.

So it was finally time to say goodbye to the Isle of Man for the last time and start making progress South.  Firstly a huge thank you to Chris Machin for help and assistance making the bimini and for letting us do all the work we could to keep costs down, also thanks to Bill and Angus for letting us use the shed to do all the work inside.  I think it cost about £2000 in total to make the cover, that is not too bad seeing as a new canvas cover was around £1500 and would need renewing every 3 or 4 years in the Med sunshine.  Thanks also to the Harbour Staff, Martin and Keith, for looking after us.

New Bimini Roof all Fitted	Inside View of Bimini

The forecast was not too good for leaving the Isle of Man, but it was getting worse with strong SW winds setting in – not good for going South.  We decided to do a 20 mile hop down the coast to Castletown before heading across the Irish Sea to Holyhead.  The last 2 or 3 miles into Castletown, around Langness Point were about as bad as we have encountered with a strong F6 SW blowing against Spring Tides and the fact that Langness is a rough patch of sea anyway.  We had aimed over 2 miles off the shore to try and miss the worst of the conditions but it was still really rough with things jumping around inside the boat that have never ever moved before!!!  We got into Castletown and the wind died to almost nothing – you could not believe the difference in 20 mins and 2 miles.

Out of Castletown the next day, we started with westerly winds and actually managed to do some sailing for a change, conditions were not too bad and we thought our crossing to Holyhead might be pretty good – no such luck!!  Halfway across the wind started backing to the SW and increasing as the forecast had promised so it was motorsailing time.  As we approached the Skerries north of Anglesey the wind was a good F6, again blowing against the Spring Ebb to kick up some more shitty seas.  Sue was struggling to keep everything in place inside while Chris dropped the main sail and tried to dodge the worst of the waves as we headed to Holyhead.  We were mighty happy to be tied up alongside in Holyhead Marina.

We had planned to just spend a few days in Holyhead but the weather had other ideas with a constant stream of low pressure depressions heading across the country giving gale force winds for over a week, we were tied up securely and we were definitely not going anywhere in that!!!  Scotland had things much worse with F10 and F11 winds, we only had F8-9.  There were another few boats also stuck in Holyhead waiting for better weather.  We finally escaped after 10 days – that was long enough in Holyhead.

It did us a chance to meet up with lots of friends, have one or two parties and finish of the final few jobs we needed to do.  Chris also managed a couple of days racing with John on Madam Wen in the Bank Holiday Weekend regatta – very enjoyable but bloody hard work even with electric winches and self tacking jibs!!!  How these single handed racers manage all the way around the world I really can’t even guess.

We left Holyhead on the Bank Holiday Monday and lots of friends came to wave us off on our way – all very emotional.  Too many of you to list here but a great big thanks to all of you for going out of your way to come and say goodbye.

We headed down to Bardsey Island, around the corner into Aberdaron to anchor for the night, we had quite a swell rolling into the bay and it was just about OK for us on Nimrod – you definitely would not have stayed there on a monohull, you would have been rolled out of your bunk.

Next day we headed to Fishguard, some very bumpy seas around Bardsey Island for the first hour or so but we had enough wind for sailing so off we went.  Just for a change the wind increased a bit and backed to WSW so although we were still sailing really well at 7 or 8 knts it was hard on the wind with typical short choppy Irish Sea conditions for 7 1/2 hrs to Fishguard – not the most comfortable trip we have ever had.

Nimrod From the Top of The Mast	Main Halyard Nearly Chaffed Through!!!

We dropped the mainsail as we entered Fishguard to find that the main halyard had nearly chafed through at the top of the mast, our halyard is 12mm Dyneema that is very strong but it is under a huge amount of tension with the mainsail fully hoisted.  The halyard was fixed to the ring on the head of the sail that you can just see in the photo below and this has been fine up till now, unfortunately the choppy seas and windward sailing must have caused the head of the sail and the ring to swivel around and this meant the halyard was being rubbed against the top roller as the sail ring moved from side to side.

So we had to re-design the fixing point for the halyard to prevent future problems, the halyard is now attached directly to the mast track head car, this car can slide up and down the track but it does not move or swivel no matter what the sail does.  Hopefully this will solve the problem – a trip up the mast also reinforced our conclusions with no sign of anything else up there that might have caused the chaffing.

Re-Engineered Halyard Attachment

We left Fishguard on Thursday to go round St David’s Head through Ramsey Sound and Jack Sound and into Milford Haven for the night anchored in Watwick Bay just inside the entrance.  Hardly any wind so it was 5hrs of motoring on calm seas.

It was a dawn o’clock start from Milford to Padstow, up at 05:30 and on our way by 06:00 into very pleasant conditions, not quite enough wind to sail at the speed we needed to make the tide at Padstow but only a bit of engine needed to keep us moving.  We had a visit from a couple of pods of dolphins, about 25 in the first group and 8 in the second group, they were with us for over an hour which was really nice.  By 09:00 the wind had increased by a couple of knts and we could turn off the engine and relax in perfect sailing conditions with 14knts of wind from the NE as we headed South, but it couldn’t last!!!  The wind picked up a bit, the seas increased a bit, still all well and good, then the wind backed to the North and died off leaving us wallowing around with sails slapping about wondering what had happened.

It seemed like time to get the spinnaker out, but first we dropped the main to give the gennaker a chance to fill properly, it helped a bit but still not very comfortable so I got everything ready for putting the spinnaker up in 12knts of wind from behind – ideal for our big colourful sail.  By the time everything was ready and we had a cup of tea to make sure the wind had come back and increased to F6 so we doing over 8knts with only the gennaker – good job we did not get the spinnaker up, it would have been a nightmare getting it down again in that wind.

The wind stayed at F6 for the rest of the way with top wind speeds of 28knts – the forecast said F3 or 4!!!.  We got to the Camel Estuary and the Doom Bar at 17:00, perfect timing to head into the harbour for the 17:30 gate opening.  Fortunately we rang the harbour the day before to let them know we were coming so they had allocated a space for us, because there were nearly 20 boats all heading into the estuary at the same time.  The harbour staff did a great job of getting everybody safely inside.

Visitors South of Milford Haven	Padstow Harbour in the Sunshine

We have had a day off today (Saturday) to get the boat washed, do a few little jobs, laundry etc.  Our friends Jean and John rang yesterday to let us know they are flying out to join us in the Isles of Scilly – we are really looking forward to seeing them again and the weather forecast looks very good for the next few days so we are hopeful of having a great time.  We are leaving Padstow tomorrow morning for a 70nm trip to the Isles of Scilly, the forecast is NE F4-5 so hopefully they have got it right because that is as good as it gets.

Hi all Sue here

As usual the Captain has said it all!! The passage from Ramsey he mentioned around Langness Point was horrendous, I thought there was a poltergeist on board throwing things at me!! I made sure everything was well packed in before we left Castletown for Holyhead but we still got quite a battering around the Skerries. I seem to remember making a deal that if we sold the house I wouldn’t have to go out in rough seas anymore!! I suppose that’s the Irish sea for you, it never does what its meant to, the forecast said sea state slight but it was definitely rough!!

I enjoyed our stay in Holyhead as it gave me time to catch up with friends and I even managed to do ladies who lunch a couple of times, don’t think this is in Chris budget anywhere so no doubt it will go against sues miscellaneous account!! I have decided that I am no good at saying goodbye to people, I always end up in tears, but it was still very nice of our friends to give us such a good send off. Some were even on the breakwater waving us off, very much appreciated.

After a couple more lumpy passages we had a very nice sail from Milford Haven to Padstow, with the Dolphins as usual making it more special. I don’t think I will ever tire of seeing them swimming and showing of around the boat. Chris tried his hand a fishing again and got quite excited when he thought he’d caught a big one. I slowed the boat down while he carefully reeled in his catch, a big lump of seaweed!! No doubt he will keep trying and I will continue to report on his progress!! Perhaps if anyone has any tips for him you could email them to us.

We are of to Isles of Scilly tomorrow so hope weather forecast is right. Really looking forward to our friends joining us there, Have been to Tescos to stock up on supplies, well mainly alcohol!! I was quite impressed Tescos run a shuttle bus from the marina, it was probably worth their while though considering the amount we bought. No drinking tonight though as long day tomorrow.

Hard Work to Start the 2011 Season

Hello again to everybody from us both on Nimrod, sorry it has taken us a while to get this first blog of the year to you but we have been very busy with boat jobs to get Nimrod ready for our planned travels South – more later.

We spent the winter in Victoria Dock, Caernarfon, safely tucked in the corner of the dock, sheltered from all the winter threw at us.  We started the winter with 60knt gales, endured over 10 inches of snow on the decks up to Christmas and spent most of March in glorious sunshine – plenty of variety then!!!.  We also had quite a few parties, visits from friends and family, the sad loss of our dear friend Jan and in between we even managed to get some jobs ticked off the “To Do List”.

Jan, who passed away 8th Dec with her partner John	Winter in Caernarfon – 6” Snow!!

We want to express our thanks to all the Caernarfon Harbour Staff for making our stay safe and enjoyable, for taking our post and for looking after Nimrod when we were away, with a special mention for Mark who always went above and beyond the call of duty to look after us and the rest of his customers.

New Years Eve aboard Nimrod	Laundry Time – A bit Big for Sue’s Yellow Bucket!!!

The Girls from Oswestry	The Boys from Oswestry

We managed to drag ourselves away from Caernarfon on 7th April heading for the Isle of Man with our first stop being Amwlch on the North coast of Anglesey for an overnight stop.  As usual we had no wind so we motored up the Menai Straits, under the bridges and through the Swellies before heading up the East coast, around Point Lynas and into the cosy little harbour of Amwlch.

An early start the next day (sounds very familiar) and we were motoring out of Amwlch at 0600hrs into a cold, calm and foggy Irish Sea.  Visibility less than 1/2mile so much concentration was needed on the radar display to make sure we missed anything that might have been out there – we passed one target at just over 1/4 mile away according to the radar and we could not see it at all!!!  Being at sea in the fog is definitely not much fun, you can’t relax at all and you are, literally, sailing blind relying totally on the radar, chart plotter and instruments.  Fortunately the fog finally cleared about half way to Ramsey and we could relax a bit – still no wind so it was down to Hinge and Bracket, our diesel engines to get us across to the Isle of Man.

We were heading for Ramsey and fibreglass expert Chris Machin to make a new bimini cover for Nimrod.  After 9hrs across the Irish Sea we were welcomed into Ramsey by Martin and Keith the Harbour Staff and we tied up on the scrubbing grid in the Harbour. The grid enabled us to check everything below the waterline – fortunately only the expected jobs to do underneath – we don’t like surprises down there.

The main job is a new plywood and fibreglass bimini cover over the cockpit, the existing canvas cover is over 7 years old and the stitching is starting to fail in lots of places as well as the canvas not being very waterproof any more – time for a change.  We could have had a replacement canvas cover made but canvas work does not last too long in the Mediterranean sunshine so, after talking to Chris, we decided to go for the more permanent solution of a fibreglass covered plywood construction.

We thought it would take us 2-3 weeks to do the job but in the end it has taken over 4 weeks of long hard days to get it to look as good as the rest of Nimrod.  First we had to join 5 sheets of ply together with glass fibre bandage and filler to make a 12ft square ply base, this was lifted on to the boat and marked around the existing frame, removed and cut to shape then put back on the frame.  The ply was clamped down to the frame to get the right curves and then edging and screen sections were bonded to it and a skin of glass fibre was laid on the top to maintain the curve.

Across the harbour we lifted the whole thing off and moved it into Chris’ workshop for laying up the GRP on the inside as well as filling and bonding all the curves between roof and edgings.  This meant lots and lots of grinding, sanding, filling, sanding and finally even more sanding – even Sue donned her overalls and helped out with the sanding, even if it did turn her grey!!! (sorry no piccies).  All the sanding and filling was necessary to ensure the finished surface was as smooth as a baby’s bum ready for painting – any little blemishes show up like beacons when you spray paint especially white!!!

Fixing all the Ply Bits Together on Board	Windows Cut and Primer Coat Sprayed

We have just finished putting the final top-coat on and the cover is now all finished and ready to go back on the boat, unfortunately we can’t get back across the harbour to the wall outside Chris’ shed until the next Spring Tides, next Monday/Tuesday.  We can lift it back on top of the frame on the boat, screw it all down, fit the polycarbonate windows final few little jobs and we should be ready to head off on our travels South.  Pictures of the finished job next blog and also some idea about our plans for this summer.

Hi all Sue here

As Chris has said quite a lot has happened since the last blog. I intended to do so much over the winter months but they seemed to fly by. From October to December I spent a lot of time at the hospital in Bangor visiting my dear friend Jan, who sadly passed away on 8th December. She loved life and being on Nimrod, we will miss her very much.

I have also spent a lot of time at the dentists, not my favourite place to be, but I fingers crossed after all that pain and a very large bill I’m all sorted now!!

We had a great New Year on Nimrod with six friends, two of whom, Pru and Mike, we met in Norway and they came to stay with us for New Year. Chris cooked a five course meal which was fantastic, all washed down with lots of wine and champagne. Then we spent New Years day in Holyhead Sailing Club where a local group called the Coffin Dodgers were playing.

We had lots of friends and family visiting us over the winter, hence many parties on board, which was really nice and lovely to see them all. We visited home several times as well and tried to fit in seeing everyone, sorry if we missed anyone but it was always pretty hectic.

Caernarfon was a lovely place to spend the winter months but all too soon it was March and we were of to the Isle of Man to prepare Nimrod for her great escape!! I’m really looking forward to sailing in warmer climates, not to mention all the wine tasting in France!!

My daughter and granddaughter visited us in April. I told Chris I was booking the week off and had a lovely time going around the island on buses and trains with them. I actually spent my birthday,24th April, on Peel beach, building sandcastles and paddling. I’d forgotten how much sand a two year old can cover everything in!! We had a great week though and it was sad to see them going home. The next day Chris produced my overalls and my holiday was over.

Chris has worked really hard and we are nearly ready to get going again. He has also acquired a canoe so is busy patching that up at the moment. I’ve been busy supply shopping and sorting our clothes out, hopefully we will need more shorts than jeans from now on.

Last Few Miles of the Year

We ended up spending longer in Ramsey than we had hoped because the weather decided to give us South or South-West winds for over a week and we didn’t really fancy a long hard slog into the wind and waves all the way back to Wales.  So we had a bit of a rest in Ramsey until the wind backed round to the East and North East to let us make progress towards Holyhead.

We had been parked on the scrubbing grid in Ramsey so we could have a good check on everything below the waterline in readiness for winter.  The anodes on the folding props were almost completely eroded so they were renewed and we also had some signs of water getting into the sail drive leg of the gearbox on the starboard engine, so we fitted new oil seals to the prop shaft to remedy that.  Not knowing what size the seals were we had to buy them from the Volvo parts supplier at a cost of over £13 each – I can get the same thing from an industrial supply company for less than £2!!!!  I think we will be carrying a few spare seals on board from now on.  Both those jobs were expected and my inspections of everything else underwater revealed no more surprises and no more jobs requiring attention – a good result!!!

We had to visit a few pubs during our extended stay and we came across some very interesting characters!!!  We were listening to an old couple and their son in one pub and it was like watching an episode of Till Death us Do Part – first she was complaining about their hotel because she had got locked out of her room the night before while going to the loo down the corridor (it doesn’t bear thinking about) and then they had been kicked out for the day and not allowed back until late afternoon – they were not going to pay them by the end of the ranting!!!  Next an old man came in with two or three newspapers and sat down with his crisps, peanuts and pint – all pretty normal we thought until he took out an old tobacco tin and tipped his peanuts into it before eating them out of the tin, then we noticed he had brought in last Sundays paper (this was a Saturday), and finally he carefully folded up his empty packets, put them in his tin and took them with him!!!  A very entertaining afternoon it has to be said – it really would have made a great sit-com script.

We also had to contend with some really high Spring Tides last weekend, at one point we were almost level with the road alongside the harbour, along the seafront the strong winds also made for some very impressive waves crashing over the wall onto the road and the traffic.  We also met a lovely couple on their boat behind us, Roger and Jean have lived aboard for 25 years and he will be 91 next Feb, they were both still pretty fit and active and still enjoying their life on board.

A Stormy Day in Ramsey	Nearly on the Road – High Spring Tide

Eventually the wind did back round to the NE and ease below F6 to let us escape from Ramsey and head down the SE coast of the Isle of Man to Castletown for one night before heading back across the Irish Sea to Holyhead.  We had hoped for a fairly nice crossing with F4-5 winds from the NE and slight to moderate seas, the wind was OK at F5 nearly F6, but the sea state was pretty horrible because the waves seemed to be coming from the SE and combined with the NE wind to give a very mixed up, uncomfortable sea – typical Irish Sea really.  We were very glad to get tied up in Holyhead, at least the wind made for a pretty quick crossing of just 6hrs dock to dock for the 45nm passage.

We had a nice few days in Holyhead catching up with everything that had happened over the summer and seeing a lot of friends to catch up on the gossip etc.  The weather was nice and sunny with light winds so last Thursday we set off for Caernarfon on our last passage of the year.  Conditions were ideal with a 15knt NE offshore breeze, flat seas and sunny skies so we raised sail in the harbour, motor sailed to the Stacks and then sailed all the way to Caernarfon Bar at 7 – 8 knts, a lovely trip to finish off the summer.  We are now tied up for the winter in Victoria Dock and we probably will not move until next April.

For anyone who is interested in the facts and figures of our summer adventures we covered 2160 nm at an average speed of 6knts. Total time on passage was 362hrs, this is 7.5% of the time we were away, 21% of the time we managed to sail, 17% was motor sailing and 62% was motoring, so you can see that we did an awful lot more motoring than we would have liked seeing as we are supposed to be a sailing boat!!!

We hope you have all enjoyed reading about our travels and are not too jealous of our adventures – you just need to think about what you really want in this life and then make it happen.  This will be the last blog update until next Spring but we will have Internet access all winter in Caernarfon so you can email us, text us or even phone – our mobile numbers are still the same.  We are heading back to Oswestry for a week to catch up with friends and family so we are looking forward to seeing a lot of you next week.

Back to the West Coast via the Caledonian Canal

We have had a busy time over the last few weeks with some really great times as we have been joined by a few visitors as we make our way through the Caledonian Canal and down the West Coast of Scotland.  Internet access has also been very limited so it has been a while since we let you all know what we have been up to.

Last time we told you how bad conditions were in Peterhead as we sat out a 2 day storm, we finally left on Thursday 9th, in the dark as usual to catch the tide north and west into the Murray Firth.  The sea state outside the harbour was still pretty horrible after the storm with 10-12ft waves, fortunately the wind had died to under 10knts so it was not too bad as we were going much the same way as the waves, it was still bad enough for Sue to decide she was better off in bed!!!  It took a couple of hours to get to Rattray Head and start turning west into the Murray Firth and then the sea started to calm down, then it started to get grey and murky with patches of mist cutting visibility to less than 1/2 mile – never very nice when at sea in a small boat.  We got into Buckie about 1330 where the harbour staff were waiting to take our lines in lovely sunny conditions.  Not too much to see in Buckie and the downturn in the UK fishing industry has taken it’s toll here as it has in many smaller fishing ports, we did find the fishmonger selling local catch at very good prices.

Surprisingly the tide decided we needed another early start so we left Buckie at 0600 and headed out into calm seas and light breeze to be treated to an amazing sunrise that really was worth getting up early for.  The breeze picked up enough for us to actually do some sailing for a couple of hours as we set course for Inverness, it didn’t last so it was motor sailing and then motoring as we entered the Inner Firth.  We thought this would, at least, mean an easy entrance into the Sea Lock at Clachnaharry, but the weather had other ideas. The wind started picking up as we headed under the Kessock Bridge and by the time we got to the canal it was 35-40knts directly across the entrance to the lock – not what you want for our first ever canal lock.  Nimrod is nearly 7m wide and the canal lock is a bit less than 11m so there is not much room for error when the wind is blowing us sideways, we had to abort our first attempt as it just seemed to windy.  A quick radio chat with the lock-keeper gained us the valuable advice that “you just have to be brave” and “it’s sheltered when you get to the office building”!!!  Anyway it was time for a deep breath, make sure Sue was ready with two lines, and into the lock at 5 or 6 knts to keep us on course and then lots of astern on the engines to make sure we didn’t open the gates at the end of the lock with Nimrod’s bows.  In the end it was all fine and we were safely tied up to be greeted by the very friendly and helpful canal staff.  We then only had one lock and bridge to negotiate before we tied up in Seaport Marina, Inverness.

Friday Sunrise as we Left Buckie	A Wild Entrance to the Caledonian Canal

Saturday was a nice day and we headed up the flight of three locks out of Inverness with only one other boat joining us in the locks.  Papa Joe was a private motor boat with Kenny & Joyce & family aboard so it was a pretty stress free introduction to canal locks.  The staff were great and made it all very easy really.  After the locks we coasted down a couple of miles of canal before tying up for the night.  The forecast for Monday onwards was for quite strong SW winds, this meant the wind would be directly up Loch Ness on the nose as we headed down the Loch.  Loch Ness has a nasty reputation in such winds so we decided to make an early start on the Sunday to get to Fort Augustus before things got nasty, at least the locks do not operate until 0830 so it was no too bad.  Loch Ness is over 20nm long and although it was fairly overcast it is still a very spectacular place, conditions were pretty good so we had a nice trip of about 5hrs before tying up below Fort Augustus.  Papa Joe arrived a couple of days later to tell us that conditions were not nice on the Mon and Tues so we definitely made the right call.  We stayed in Fort Augustus for a few days while the weather calmed down.

Looking Down the Locks to Kessock Bridge	A Peaceful Mooring at Fort Augustus

Fort Augustus has a staircase of 5 locks to negotiate and also an awful lot of tourists watching our progress up the locks.  This time we had 4 hire cruiser boats as well as Papa Joe with us – the hire cruiser crews only get about 1/2hr instruction before being let out on the canal so they can be a bit of a liability in the locks – fortunately it all went fairly smoothly with only a few loud words from Kenny on Papa Joe as the hire boat behind tried to mount his dinghy on the back of his boat!!!  For or five miles of canal and a couple more locks took us to Laggan for a couple of days. Had to have a look at Papa Joe’s batteries because one engine would not start very easily to discover they were almost dry and the one was totally kapput, so began another of those nights that just seems to go downhill!!!! We were joined here by Jean and John, friends from Oswestry who sold their boat last year after spending 15yrs sailing around the world.  It was lovely to see them and it was also the best excuse possible for a few more little drinkies.  A short trip in nice conditions with only one lock and one bridge took us to Banavie at the top of Neptunes Staircase – a very impressive flight of eight locks to take us back down to near Sea-Level.

Jean and John Helping us Down a Wet Neptune’s Staircase	Looking Back Up the Full Set Of Locks at Neptune’s Staircase

 

Saturday morning was a wet, grey Scottish morning as we headed into the locks with Seven Sisters, a large motorboat.  It was typical Scottish rain, not too heavy but very persistent and very wet, Jean and Sue were handling the lines on shore so had no where to shelter, Chris and John on board could hide under cover occasionally, but we were all pretty bedraggled by the time we got to the bridges at the bottom.  We headed out of the Corpach Sea Lock about 1400 and out to sea under grey skies and choppy conditions down Loch Linnhe to Dunstaffnage Marina where Alan & Yvonne, more friends from Holyhead, were waiting to take our lines.

So now we have four friends on board and Papa Joe moored just behind us so it would have been very rude not too have a little party, trouble is we can never have just a “little” party and it was about 0200 when we got to bed.  Surprisingly most people were a bit slow coming round the next day.

Sue & Joyce in Best Scottish Headwear – No Drink Involved There!!!	Yvonne, Sue, Jean & John – Oh Dear

From Dunstaffnage we headed up to Tobermory for a couple of days to explore some of the scenery around the area.  We had a great meal in the Cafe Fish in Tobermory and sampled a quick beer in the local hostelery.  All too soon we had to go back to Dunstaffnage to say goodbye to Alan & Yvonne and then Jean & John also had to leave us a day later.  We had really enjoyed having everybody on board and it seemed like everybody had a good time – there were an awful lot of empty bottles in the skip anyway!!!

Where Did Those Hats Come From	More Party Antics

Just as one lot of friends leave we are joined the next day by Val & Chris from Oswestry who had been spending a few days in Scotland and joined us for a few days to finish off their holiday.  We went down to Loch Melfort with Val & Chris where we had a couple of bright sunny days in a gorgeous setting, typical Indian Summer conditions.  We had another great meal out at the Shower of Herrings and, surprisingly, a lot more empty bottles appeared from somewhere. All too soon we had to put Val & Chris on the bus and say goodbye to them – the boat now seems empty after having friends on board for so long.

Sue, Val & Chris on Board, Loch Melfort	Idyllic Conditions in Loch Melfort

 

So as September heads towards October and the weather conditions get more variable and autumnal gales rear their heads we are now heading South whenever the wind and sea state let us make progress.  We left Loch Melfort and got to Craighouse on Jura after a pretty calm trip, mainly motoring in light breeze, when we did manage to get some sails up the wind decided to keep rising and we had to roll some away because we had too much wind – sometimes you just can’t win.  20 minutes later we had no wind again and it was back to motoring.  Craighouse was hosting the Jura Music Festival so we headed ashore to watch the local Pipe Band and a few other turns.

Monday morning and we head to Rathlin Island in pretty good conditions, mainsail up before we raised the anchor and we sailed all the way to Bull Point on the corner of Rathlin Island at 8 or 9 knts, before turning towards the harbour and into the wind for the last three miles.  Rathlin was a complete contrast to our visit earlier in the year when the harbour was busy with all sorts of boats and the Island was busy with visitors, this time we are the only boat on the pontoons and the shore is practically deserted – it is definitely getting late in the year and we need to get back to Caernarfon for winter.

From Rathlin we went round the top corner of Northern Ireland and South to Portavoige, mainly a fishing harbour but the Harbourmaster was very welcoming as were the fishermen we met on the harbour.  Only an overnight stop because the weather is being nice so today (Thursday) we left Portavoige at 0830 put the sails up just outside the harbour and had a lovely sail all the way to Point of Ayre at the NE tip of the Isle of Man, wind was ideal at 12 –15 knts on the beam, sea was pretty calm and we sailed all the way at 8 – 9knts barely needing to trim the sails the whole way.

We are now tied up in Ramsey Harbour on their scrubbing grid to give us a chance to check everything below the waterline ready for winter, hopefully no nasty surprises waiting for us!!!  Weather forecast for the next few days is pretty horrible so we will be waiting here until it improves enough for us to get back to North Wales.

Hi all Sue here

Well as you can see by the pictures, despite being away for a long time, some things haven’t  changed on Nimrod. Once a party boat always a party boat!! We have really enjoyed ourselves over the last couple of weeks having friends on board. Mind you it’s funny when we make new friends they always seem to be like minded people!! There was much drinking, dancing and singing done.

When Jean and I were walking down Neptunes staircase holding the ropes a bus load of American tourists arrived at the seventh lock. We were looking very bedraggled by then and one lady commented on what a strong girl I was pulling that big boat!! She hadn’t noticed Chris had the engines on so I just smiled and agreed with her and told her that was the seventh lock I had pulled it through!!

We are used to people taking pictures of Nimrod as there don’t seem to be many big cats around here and we don’t mind but when they climb on board and pose on the back steps this seems to be going a bit far!! Especially when in Fort Augustus it was midnight and I woke Chris as I heard people on board and thought we were being broken into!! He wasn’t very impressed and did shout a few choice words!!

The weather is very changeable now and it’s back to making a dash for it in between gales etc. Hoping to get to Isle of Man by Thursday where we will wait for right conditions to cross to Holyhead. No doubt there will be a bit more partying when we get there!!

Looking forward to catching up with family and friends who we haven’t seen since March, especially my granddaughter Courtney who was two while we were away.

Across The North Sea to Scotland

We left Rekefjord, according to plan, early on Thursday morning at 0600 and this got even earlier as we changed our clocks back to UK time so it was now 0500. Weather was pretty much exactly as the forecast predicted with a light NE breeze and clear skies. As we left the fjord and headed out to sea we watched a beautiful sunrise over the hills of Norway – a great start to the trip.


We started off with a couple of hours motorsailing, the sea had a bit of residual swell left over from the NW winds of the last ten days, but generally pleasant progress at 6.5knts. Soon the wind dropped to less than 6knts so it was sails down and engine only, the sea swell had also got a bit worse and the lack of sails to steady the boat made for a bit of a rocky, rolly ride.

Around midday the breeze had picked up a bit so we could get the sails out again and by 1500hrs we had 15knts from the North so the engine was switched off and we were sailing along at 7.5knts heading straight for Peterhead. The sea swell had also subsided a bit so conditions on Nimrod were pretty much ideal. The North Sea sunset was very impressive as we sailed towards it in almost calm seas – at least Sue could make a meal without too much swaying around in the galley.

Sunrise Over Norway

Sunset Over The North Sea

As usual the wind started to drop off as night fell so it was a couple of hours motorsailing before dropping the sails again at 0200 in the morning. We were also joined by a group of dolphins swimming alongside the boat, we couldn’t really see much of them in the dark but you could hear the splashes as they popped out of the water and they stayed with us for over half an hour. By now we were right in the middle of the Oil and Gas fields with rigs visible all around us, we passed a few miles North of the huge Forties field and we only had to change course once to avoid a restricted area.


Sunrise on Friday saw us motoring in glassy calm seas with no wind at all to help us. This was more than made up for by the arrival of more dolphins to guide us on our way to Scotland. The first group was two mothers with two small calves, as we headed west the groups of dolphins continued to swap and change and at times we had over a dozen swimming around the boat. The display was brilliant, we had a group of six all swimming at the front of the boat with four between the bows and one each side like a police outrider escort. At other times they would barrel roll across the front from one hull to the other or perform like synchronised swimmers as four all arched out of the water together. Occasionally we would get a real show off jumping right out of the water, it was amazing how close they would swim to the hulls and under the boat without actually touching it. In all we had dolphins with us for nearly five hours as we chugged steadily through the oil fields.

Dolphins Saying Good Morning to Sue

Mother and Baby

The calm seas lasted all day with the waves only just starting to build a little for the last two or three hours to Peterhead. We didn’t have enough breeze to sail but we did motor sail from about midday Friday all the way to Peterhead. Just for a change the wind decided to pick up as we arrived at Peterhead to drop the sails and motor into the harbour. Peterhead is a very busy fishing and oil supply port so Port Control on the VHF was very busy with ships entering or leaving port, fortunately we were called into the harbour with no delay. We headed across the harbour to the Marina and tied up at 1830, 37 1/2 hrs after we left Norway.

Peterhead is a good sized town with lots of shops and supermarkets so we got the bikes out and headed off to re-stock the freezer and booze supplies, this took about half a dozen trips over the next few days – we should have enough food and drink to last us to Christmas!!!! This was quite a good plan since the weather has turned pretty nasty here with SE gales / severe gales battering this part of Scotland. Tuesday was the worst with the wind well over 40 knts for long periods and gusts over 50knts. Watching some of the fishing fleet fighting their way into the harbour made us very glad to be safely tied up in the Marina.

We now need to head North past Rattray Head and then West into the Murray Firth and Inverness to get to the entrance to the Caledonian Canal, a distance of just under 100nm. The problem is the SE winds have built up a pretty horrible sea state and although the winds have started to ease the sea is still forecast to be rough for the next couple of days. We think we might be able to make some more progress on Friday, probably to Buckie that is about half way to the Canal entrance.

Hi all Sue here

Well I survived the long crossing back to Peterhead. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be but the dolphins definitely made the trip for me. At one point when I had just retired from my watch for a sleep Chris woke me to say we had dolphins swimming alongside. I was so tired I decided to ignore him but the dolphins had other ideas, all I could hear were loud squeaking noises and splashes alongside the hull so I had to get up to see them. It was amazing watching them perform and we lost count of how many we had around the boat.

We are now fully stocked up with food and drink after many trips on our bikes. I’ve got a gel seat on my bike but It doesn’t make much difference!! Ouch!! Chris says with all my padding he’s surprised I can feel anything!!

Well once again we are waiting for the good old weather to play ball. Tuesday it felt as if we were out at sea despite being safely tied up in the marina. We just want to get to the canal now so it looks as though we might have to go out in some grotty weather to do so. Batten down the hatches time!!

Homeward Bound

Well we finally managed to escape from Farsund and head up the coast a bit further ready to cross the North Sea back to Scotland.  We were pinned in Farsund for 10 days by continuous North Westerly winds, most of last week the winds were up around 20 knts and more, finally easing off towards last weekend.  As usual this meant the wind was coming from exactly the direction we wanted to go, but we also had to go around Lista Point and this has got a very nasty reputation for rough seas in NW winds.  Apparently the south flowing remnants of the Gulf Stream and the north going current out of the Baltic meet at Lista so causing some pretty nasty waves and turbulent eddies in windy conditions.  We decided we didn’t need to see it at close quarters hence our extended stay in Farsund.

Fortunately Farsund is a very nice place to be stuck, with a nice sheltered guest quay, supermarket and laundry a few strides from the boat, main town only 100yds away, electric, mooring and wifi all for free – what more could we destitute sailors need!!!  We had quite a few British visitors off a large cruise ship that docked in Farsund, they had walked along the quay and seen us there with our UK ensign and our name “Nimrod of Malvern” both attracting attention.  The local people were all very friendly as usual with an ex-seaman called Odd delivering the weather forecast almost every day, he also wants us to email him when we get back safe and sound.

From Farsund we went around Lista to Kirkehamn on the Island of Hydra, another picture postcard type of Norwegian village.  The trip was only about 20 nm on calm seas and light winds, it was a bit longer than planned because Sue decided the southern entrance to the harbour looked a bit too narrow for Nimrod to squeeze between the rock walls of the passage, so we had to around to the main entrance.

Looking West Out of Kirkehamn Harbour	Nimrod and Mary Bryant in Kirkehamn

Shortly after tying up in the harbour we were joined by a lovely wooden schooner called the Mary Bryant that was bound for Harwich, the crew told us they had headed out past Lista a couple of days earlier and had to turn back because the conditions were so bad – good job we stayed in Farsund!!!  We had to let them have some “proper” tea-bags for the passage home because they had only got some local Yellow Label tea and were not happy about a 4 or 5 day trip without decent tea!!!

We both left on Monday, us heading NW to Rekefjord and Mary Bryant heading SW to Harwich some 420nm away.  Nice gentle conditions when we left at midday but by the time we got to Rekefjord, only 12nm, the wind had picked up to around 20knts on the nose and the sea was also building so we were happy to turn into the sheltered inlet of Rekefjord where we tied up in a flat calm!!!  We had visited here on our way south so we already knew it was a good stopping point, they even provide a couple of cycles for boaties to borrow to explore the local area.

We are sat here checking all the weather forecasts – more free WiFi – to decide the best time to leave on our 260nm crossing to Peterhead.  At the moment we are hoping to leave early Thursday to get to Scotland late Friday night, we reckon on about 40hrs at sea, maybe a bit less if the winds are favourable. Our course is almost due West and the winds are forecast to be light from the NE so we will probably be motorsailing most of the way – Sue seems to think this is much better than sailing in stronger winds and bigger waves.

Hi all Sue here

As usual the Captain has said it all!! I must say I enjoyed our stay in Farsund perhaps it was the laundrette that was the main attraction!!

I knew my 2400 Typhoo Tea Bags would come in useful, they are about the only thing we’ve still got plenty of, so giving 100 to the people of Mary Bryant was no problem. I’m sure they will have a much better passage home being able to have a decent brew.

Looks like we are going to make a move Thursday so today we have been to local supermarket and spent the last of our kroner on some chocolate for the journey home. Definitely a must for a 40 hour crossing especially as I’m going to have to do a night watch!! Captain Chris has assured me I will be fine. A means to an end, at least I will be in a pub Saturday night, that’s the way to look at it!!

Bonnie Scotland here we come!!