Recent content by johnalison

Well done indeed. A very similar thing happened to me with our flimsy but adequate pram. An oar broke on the way to the boat on a windy grey evening (the outboard being defunct). I managed to get to the shore and sent my wife off to see what she could borrow, she returned with a paddle which got...

I believe the compact type is more or less circular, which makes yours regular, as in this randomly-chosen example: Jabsco 37010-4092 - TOILET 12V - REGULAR BOWL / Electric Toilets / Toilets / Marine Toilets / Marine / Xylem JabscoShop - Jabsco & Rule Pumps and more - from the experts When I...

It’s certainly not genetic. I have had four siblings, none of whom showed any interest at all in sailing or the sea. My own children adored sailing but moved inland with family commitments.

10/10 for spelling bermudian the old way. I’d like to bring back spinaker as well, just to annoy the young. My father’s sailing career was nothing like as romantic. He took the family on the Broads, and I have quite a lot of cine film of this from about 1935. They used to have a mixture of...

It would make a nice rich-man’s toy for someone who wanted to do a bit of class racing in the Solent, I suppose.

I got the impression when I was there that Brighton marina has base of chalk, with some mud overlying it, so that staying upright might be a matter of pot luck.

Apart from the distinctly unelectronic Walker log from about 1971 and a Mini hand-bearing compass of the same age, I think my oldest e-possession is a digital tuning Seafix which replaced a Hitachi radio with a rotating aerial, probably in the '80s.

I had one of those on my Mystere. It was curious trying to steer with it because this involved turning the compass in the ‘wrong’ direction. I worked quite well and I even had the wind vane, except that after some hours of use the tension of the band squished the grease to the other side of the...

In practice, I find it rather clonky, but it gives a reasonable indication of direction and roughly what sort of strength. I haven’t checked but I imagine that the coefficient is taken into account. For critical situations I have always used the diamonds on Admiralty charts, often easier than...

Dunno about sites. I just bring it up on my plotter.

Rowing to Memmert in the fog would be a doddle with a GPS or mobile phone.

The unisex shower block under the arches was quite an experience in ye olden days. It was all highly organised with uniformed attendants, and the showers were good.

Things have changed a lot in the last few years and I think it must be ten years since we visited Ramsgate. Greasy spoons have become less greasy and all this foreign stuff is all the rage now. I’m happy to do the fine dining if you are paying.

I once met a German group with a mid-sized Hanse. Their tallest member went around in a cycling helmet to prevent head bangs. Many smaller boats in the past gave only sitting room for even those like me much less tall than you, Stellas for example, and we sailed a Mystere for many years. You...

I have always been envious of people who live at what I call screwdriver distance from their boat. This is the distance at which it becomes desirable to go home for the screwdriver you’ve forgotten rather than go to the chandlers to buy another one. Obviously, involving the 9 yr old would be...