Sunday 6th July We didn’t go to church this morning because Helen is not feeling well. That meant I got the opportunity to go to the boat and work on the engines.
The outboard motor took quite a bit of priming before it would start. That was not really all that surprising as the fuel pipe, pump, filter and float chamber were all empty after the recent work. I haven’t tested it under load or at speed but the engine ran reasonably smoothly for around 20 minutes with only the occasional stutter, presumably due to air bubbles clearing from the system. The filter lies on it’s side under the pump with a loop of tubing coming out of the pump up and around to the filter inlet so there will potentially be trapped air present in the housing and feed lines for quite a time.
The inboard engine also ran OK for a while but I didn’t get a chance to check for water in the exhaust flow because it started to make a strange clattering noise. I think it has to come out during the winter and get a proper dismantle and check before running it on the bench. The block was full of rusty water again so it looks as if the water pump works but there is potentially quite a lot of water traps and swan necks to fill before anything appears out of the final exhaust outlet.
The third job was to partially dismantle the outboard mount to change the position of the locking beam and possibly allow the engine to go down a little further into the water. It is a long shaft engine but the propeller needs to be around 5cm deeper into the water to run properly. The locking bar acts as a spacer so had to be put back in dangling downwards instead of going through the top bars. This was a little difficult process because it involved partially removing a load bearing bolt while retaining the friction washers which regulate the movement up and down. The bracket now goes a little lower but I am not convinced the gain is enough to make much difference to the engine positioning while running.
As I was about to head ashore Helen announced she was not going to the concert this afternoon so I could potentially have gone into the harbor for a sail however I hadn’t brought myself any lunch and therefore ended up going home.
Sunday 13th We were supposed to be attending church on the beach at Branksome Chine however the traffic to get there was a total mess. It looks as if the whole population of Bournemouth was heading to that beach so we were stuck in a traffic jam for over half an hour getting about 100 yards of the final half mile. We gave up and went to Compton Acres where we were joined by Grace and Willow. While the ladies went shopping in Poole, the dog and I headed home to collect life jackets, sandwiches etc then headed to the boat.
This was the first time Willow has been on the boat while it is floating. She did well during the tender journey out although she made it very obvious that she would prefer riding on my knee rather than in the bottom of the boat. Once aboard Rathenice she settled down a bit and allowed me to get everything organised before working out her own route up from the cabin. She seems happy enough on the boat.
The mooring was cast off at around 11:30 and I motored out of the lagoon, across the moorings then along the easterly side of the main channel to avoid the incoming Fast Cat ferry. Then crossed the main ship channel to the Brownsea island side. There were quite a few motor boats out as well as the tour boats so a fair amount of disturbed water which meant I cancelled my plan to try out sailing on Genoa only (that was the reason for heading up wind to start with.
I then crossed the main channel again into North Channel and continued to motor back to LSC. My first attempts at picking up the mooring single handed did not go as well as I could have hoped –
- On the first attempt I was blown away from the bow pickup buoy and couldn’t reach it with the boat hook as I drifted further away.
- After a reverse to get lined up for the second attempt I managed to get the tender and pickup buoy on the starboard side towards the stern and got my ‘outside all’ line from the front through the strop but then pivoted to starboard and instead of drifting back something caught on the keels leaving me with the tender painter and strop wrapped around the rudder. That took a bit of help from Jayne and Ian to start getting sorted out. Temporary mooring lines onto the correct buoys meant I could tidy up and turn around without drifting into anyone else’s boat.
Having rowed ashore there was a mutiny at the slipway as Willow wanted to get out of the dinghy before it was on the wheels so she went for a swim followed by a run around the yard doing a wee and a poo. Eventually she came back and her lead was tied to the dinghy rack while I unloaded the boat and put it away. Maybe next time I will keep her on the lead while in the tender.
Total distance today – Approximately 3.4 NM.
Saturday 26th The first day of the LSC Regatta (3 races today). I am acting as crew for Karl on Summer Breeze. Dawn is looking after both dogs while we are out on the boat so I am heading to therir house for about 7:30 and then to the club for breakfast and to head out ready for a 10:00 start for the first race.
We slightly messed up the start of the first race as the proper start line was between the committee boat and a temporary inflatable mark. We would have started on time if the line had been between the boat and the ‘Rig shop’ mark but in reality we went the wrong side of the committee boat and had to do a 360 degree turn to cross the start. Despite that we ended up with three boats crossing the finish after us.
We got the start of the second race right and were in around 4th place by the end – Several of the boats have the advantage of going closer when sailing into wind.
The third race was affected a little by poor visibility in that some boats set off for the wrong third marker (Bar buoy instead of East Hook) so we got a bit of an advantage by realising the error fairly early.
Basically we didn’t win any of the races on the day and also didn’t come last on any of them however the overall results can be very different when boat handicaps are taken into account so we will have to wait until tomorrow to have any real idea of places overall.
In the evening we had a Fish & chip supper at the club with a Latin Jazz band. There was also a shared birthday cake for Geoff and me.
Sunday 27th The plan was for two races today with the second being the charity race in support of Poole Sailability. They do sailing experiences for kids who are disadvantaged and/or have learning difficulties.
The first race at 10:55 was supposed to be the final race as part of the regatta using a course which was two circuits round the starting line and the Alum Chine buoy inshore and downwind. However the wind faded to nothing and none of our boats had reached the marker for the first time within half of the allocated time so this race was cancelled.
After re-grouping at the start point the charity race was set from the start line to East Hook Buoy and finishing by leaving East Looe 2 to port. We were back on the mooring and ashore by 3:30 having had a better race this time but still only in 4th position out of 5.
Initially posted 6th July. Updated 13th, 27th.