Irish Sea Trials

Skerries Light

On Sunday 24 June we set off on 2 weeks of sea trials to iron out any problems. Conwy to Holyhead was achieved in short order on the back of a spring tide and a Foce 5 South Westerly wind. At times off Wylfa power station we were doing 9 knots over the ground with the tide. In view of the rough water caused by wind against tide off Carmel Head we went outside the skerrries and tacked into Holyhead just behind the skerries light which gleamed at us like a lonely sentinel as we went past.

Monday was blowing a Force 6-7 on the nose from the North so we spent the day fettling and buying expensive pieces of kit from the Chandlers. The Old Gaffer fleet was also stormbound in port so we joined them for a singsong in the yacht club. Richard Lewis was particularly taken with a rendition of the old 8th Army song "we are the D Day skivvers in sunny Italy" sung to the tune of Lily Marlene. It was full of soldiers ironic humour about having tea with the Germans and some really pointed comments about Lady Astor.

On Tuesday we motored over a glassy sea to Port St Mary on the Isle of Mann. The fishing kit and trolling line came out. We don't seem to have mastered the art yet as we ended up minus some feathers but no fish.
Have subsequently bought a huge old fashioned Alvey Reel and some 100lb breaking strength line which will hopefully change the situation.

Calf of Mann Sound

Wed 27th June we battled through the Sound  just North of the Calf of Mann where we had a wind against tide situation at the exit. Unknown to us this was seen by a birdwatcher doing a Manx Shearwater survey. We subsequently met Andrew Godd on the Isle of Mann steam train to Douglas where he happened to mention a yacht overcoming "mountainous seas " and to our surprise showed us a picture of Kika which he kindly E mailed over. The rest of the passage to Peel was hard going as there was a big swell slowing the boat as we tacked up against a Northerly Force 5 . It took us 4 hours to cover 12 Miles and had to motor sail to point a bit higher. We were too late to get across the Sill into the Marina at Peel and had a rather bumpy night tied up against the outer breakwater. Peel was full of French and German bikers getting ready for the Isle of Mann TT

                                             
                                          Close hauled up to Peel

Thursday. We made good time doing 60 miles accross to Drogheda in 8 hours. The river up to Drogheda is beautiful and the site of the famous Battle of the Boyne. The town itself was famously sacked by Cromwell and still appears to bear the scars- there are no facilities for visiting yachts so we rafted up against the only other yacht in the centre of the river and had scrambled eggs Salmon and lots of Gin and Tonic for dinner prepared in a jiffy by Catriona Fearn who was informed that the dinghy pump was'nt working and what had we got in the stores for dinner!

Friday  Arrived in Dun Loughaire where we secured a berth at the Royal St George Yacht club. We were made very welcome by the sailing manager and the Commodore. We then basked in luxurious showers , Richard Lewis and Iain Mitchell played a couple of Frames on Irelands' best full size snooker table while Colin Sharratt and I had an afternoon nap in the library to work off lunchtime Guiness! Dinner was a superb steak in the club Bistro to celebrate Ian Fearns Birthday - We had definately landed on our feet  for a 33 Euro mooring Fee.

The Parasailor Arrives

Finally we got the boat in the water and over to Deganwy Marina for further tarting up and sea trials

On Saturday May 25th Stuart Anderson from Seateach kindly joined us to demonstrate the parasailor. This is our main hope for getting Kika, a medium to heavy displacement boat moving in light airs and save on the diesel. We arrived at the fairway buoy off Conwy to be greeted with a gentle Force 2 Zephyr of a Northerly Breeze. The sail behaved impeccably. We clocked up  4.5 knots downwind and 5 knots on a reach. She is easy to handle with a good snuffler system and you can even Gybe it across the bows although its tricky to make 10 degree sequential alterations in course and adjust the sheets and guys progressively.
 Clive arrived in Sephina after launching at Beaumaris with as brand new engine and zoomed around taking the shots.
Apart from the price we all agreed that there wasn't much not to like about the parasailor and celebrated over dinner on a gloriously sunny evening on the balcony of the Deganwy Keys Hotel with Conwy castle glimmering across the river in the late evening sunshine.

Kika's Winter Haul Out

Kika lined up under Conwy Bridge for lifting out opposite the harbour masters office in November. 

The previous day Hamid Toussi and Ian Fearn kindly gave me a hand assembling a newly purchased yacht cradle from Yacht Legs. The instructions were clear, we made good time and were in the pub for lunch.

On the big day Clive Sparkes and I motored Kika up to pick up a mooring where we placed ropes under the hull to mark the strop points for the crane. The stern one had to be weighed down to counteract the effect of a strong flood tide. We had just put the kettle on when the harbour masters voice barked Kika over the radio and we came alongside to be lifted aloft by " mojo" from Buckleys cranes and eased onto her cradle by Barry ( Deputy Harbour Master) who had to find extra pieces of wood to accommodate the width of the keel.

The jobs this winter are legion. After near collisions with our neighbours in Conwy marina because Kikas long keel means she has almost no steerage in reverse. I decided on a bow thruster. Schleiper do a reliable 60 Newton one that should give enough thrust. Barry from TLC boat care got a 40% discount and fibre glassed in the tunnel. Inevitably in return for manoeverability you lose a bit of speed, but you can reduce the problem by fibre glassing eyelids in front of the tunnel to reduce turbulence and drag.

We are also putting in a small holding tank,otherwise we will be kicked out of the Galapagos Islands. This creates space issues and we are also fitting extra filters just in case it starts to honk in the tropics. Carl Filer is going to connect up two new solar panels situated on the Gantry above the cockpit . I managed to short out the oil dipstick between the live positive on the alternator and the engine block so its new alternators, regulators all round!  ouch!! My future career as the boats electrician is not looking positive.

Over Christmas we wuz  robbed! Some thieves saw the chart plotter sitting in the cockpit. They probably looked with binos from Conwy bridge. They broke into a locked compound and removed two chart plotters and loads of electrical gear that was awaiting instillation. They got into the boat by sawing through a hasp on the companionway.  Review of the CCTV footage shows them walking away carrying their loot, however unfortunately they were unidentifiable . Fingerprint and DNA analysis was not fruitful either. Pantaenius Yacht Insurers have been excellent so far. The main problem is that the little sods pulled up the wiring to both chart plotters before cutting the cabling which means a recabling job with difficult access. I am getting James the steel to make a bar that will lock the companionway more securely in the future.

Went to a wintry boat show and bought some courtesy flags for Spain and Portugal. So with that major investment the trip is definately on!

Picture

I have told my son that the background is no good in the background and so here it is in the foreground also.

Kika Goes to Foreign Parts

Kika is a Rival 38 built in  1976 by Southern Boat Builders. It was an exhibit at the London boat show which meant that they did the joinery well. She is an aft cockpit long keeled Bermudan sloop and was well laid up because in those days they worried about osmosis. She is a comfortable medium to heavy displacement good sea boat. This means she is fine in a storm, reverses like a pig because of her long keel, and does an average speed of about 6 knots.

The previous owner, Nick Ager, had just completed a circumnavigation when I brought her. He knew her inside out and had got rid of many of the glitches. Since then we’ve been sailing her around the Irish Sea for three years, gradually upgrading a few systems, and learning what goes wrong.

The plan was originally to do a complete circumnavigation. However the piracy situation in the Indian Ocean means that either you have to go around the Cape of Good Hope and back to Brazil before going home (a very long way) or put her on a container ship from India to the Mediterranean at a cost of over £20k, which my mate Clive Sparkes will be doing with his boat Sephina an Oyster 43, but only because he wants to eventually live aboard in the Mediterranean.

We have decided to take the old clipper route from New Zealand to South America using the prevailing Westerly winds to the North of Antarctica. It’s a bit remote but my son Tom is up for that leg because he fancies the challenge of the Southern ocean. Kika is a strong boat and should stand up to it but there is nobody there if you get into trouble.

My friend Colin Sharrat and I will be the nucleus crew but hopefully loads of ne’er do well friends and family will fly out to do various legs as Kika can comfortably accommodate four people at sea.

Over the next few blogs I will try and cover some of the issues of getting a 38’ boat ready for a long voyage. There seem to be no ideal solutions, only compromises, depending on how your budget stretches, the number of high tech home comforts you want on board, the number of spares you want on board, and one's own ability to fix things.

There is also the question of acquiring new skills;  diesel mechanics, electrics, GRP and sail repairs, languages especially Spanish, cookery beyond spaghetti bolognaise, and astro-navigation.

I suppose it’s the old story of being jack of all trades and master of none, but leaving on time in August 2013 regardless.