Becky
New member
Well, we have finally returned to the hallowed shores of the old UK. The trip, all 2300 miles of it was very like the curates egg. (Good in parts).
The rally itself was great fun, but to be honest we had a problem keeping up with the larger yachts. Daily runs of 50 odd miles, easy. But 75 miles in a day was, for us and several others, pushing hard. In mitigation for Cornish Maid, the copper paint we had on the bottom was USELESS, and we have the greatest difficulty reaching 5 knots at the moment, with the profuse growth of weed under our hull. ther is NO antifouling effect at all. Apparently it needs burnishing, but we didn't know that.
We arrived back in the UK last night, having left Guernsey that morning. Our whole return has been a nightmare, with winds on the nose for about a thousand miles. All the way from Lagos, in fact. We were stuck in Bayona for ages waiting for a weather window to round Cape Finisterre, but when we got one, it was 24 hours late, and we had a real pasting for 36 hours. Highest wind over the deck was 40 knots, and 30+ for ages. We had to beat into it. But then the furling gear had lost all its screws just before we entered this rough area (at the bottom of Biscay, just above the Cape) so Richard had to effect a botch to allow us to reef. It worked. Then in the middle of Biscay, 250 miles from shore, (we still had NE winds) the starter motor packed up. We managed to cobble it up enough to start the engine, and we motored all the way to Camaret (two days and a bit), as we had sailed into the middle of the High, and had virtually no wind, and what we had was of course, from NE.
We had contaminated water due to the vents exiting in the anchor locker (which for 36 hours was mostly under water), a serious design fault of Moody's in my opinion, so we couldn't drink any of our main water supply. I had taken lots of bottled water, just as well, as it turned out. And while I am on design faults, the drain for our anchor locker is in the middle of the bow, a couple of feet above the water line; which turns into a fountain when oyu are bashing into parge rollers, and ends up going down the anchor chain pipe.
Six days at sea crossing Biscay (but only four days, Plymouth to Bayona on the way out), and we only made Camaret, where we were stuck for a week awaiting a new starter motor. Then Guernsey, where we were stuck, a( because we physically could get out, too many boats, and b) because the weather broke.
I don't enjoy long spells at sea, especially when I couldn't wash properly, because our water was salty, and the ***** watermaker never worked properly from start to finish (bad installation).
Then we have Navman electronics; the depth isn't right, it reads double often enough to be useless, the wind direction/strength packed up yesterday, and this morning, the log has been totally unreliable. And while I am having this rant, the chartplotter isn't all that either. It is very slow to redraw the chart when you are changing the zoom.
Then, we had the fresh wtaer pump pack up two days out; it didn't matter too much,I had just bought a spare, and going S just before Cape Finisterre, when the fuel was a bit low, the sediment in the bottom of the tank, that we had paid out good money to have cleaned, turned our fuel into tomato soup, which blocked the filters, and killed the engine. We cleaned everything up, but couldn't use the egine because it would have clogged again. We had leaks that couldn't be found with a high pressure hose, it needs an Atlantic roller to find them. And didn't it find our weaknesses. Water came through the roof on the way out; we sorted that. Then on the way home when we were beating into a F8 gale, we found that the windows all leaked. And gallons of water made its way down the anchor chain pipe into the bilges, and lots of other places as well. But to be fair, the Monitor wind vane took us through the lot, we didn't touch the helm for days on end, including the worst wind strenght. (Rant again- why can't they make something so good out of proper stainless steel. It is brand new and RUSTY)
Anyway everyone, we really had a good time. The Rally was wonderful, the people we met were great, and I wouldn't do it again at the moment.
A fuller up date will appear in a day or two.
Love Becky
The rally itself was great fun, but to be honest we had a problem keeping up with the larger yachts. Daily runs of 50 odd miles, easy. But 75 miles in a day was, for us and several others, pushing hard. In mitigation for Cornish Maid, the copper paint we had on the bottom was USELESS, and we have the greatest difficulty reaching 5 knots at the moment, with the profuse growth of weed under our hull. ther is NO antifouling effect at all. Apparently it needs burnishing, but we didn't know that.
We arrived back in the UK last night, having left Guernsey that morning. Our whole return has been a nightmare, with winds on the nose for about a thousand miles. All the way from Lagos, in fact. We were stuck in Bayona for ages waiting for a weather window to round Cape Finisterre, but when we got one, it was 24 hours late, and we had a real pasting for 36 hours. Highest wind over the deck was 40 knots, and 30+ for ages. We had to beat into it. But then the furling gear had lost all its screws just before we entered this rough area (at the bottom of Biscay, just above the Cape) so Richard had to effect a botch to allow us to reef. It worked. Then in the middle of Biscay, 250 miles from shore, (we still had NE winds) the starter motor packed up. We managed to cobble it up enough to start the engine, and we motored all the way to Camaret (two days and a bit), as we had sailed into the middle of the High, and had virtually no wind, and what we had was of course, from NE.
We had contaminated water due to the vents exiting in the anchor locker (which for 36 hours was mostly under water), a serious design fault of Moody's in my opinion, so we couldn't drink any of our main water supply. I had taken lots of bottled water, just as well, as it turned out. And while I am on design faults, the drain for our anchor locker is in the middle of the bow, a couple of feet above the water line; which turns into a fountain when oyu are bashing into parge rollers, and ends up going down the anchor chain pipe.
Six days at sea crossing Biscay (but only four days, Plymouth to Bayona on the way out), and we only made Camaret, where we were stuck for a week awaiting a new starter motor. Then Guernsey, where we were stuck, a( because we physically could get out, too many boats, and b) because the weather broke.
I don't enjoy long spells at sea, especially when I couldn't wash properly, because our water was salty, and the ***** watermaker never worked properly from start to finish (bad installation).
Then we have Navman electronics; the depth isn't right, it reads double often enough to be useless, the wind direction/strength packed up yesterday, and this morning, the log has been totally unreliable. And while I am having this rant, the chartplotter isn't all that either. It is very slow to redraw the chart when you are changing the zoom.
Then, we had the fresh wtaer pump pack up two days out; it didn't matter too much,I had just bought a spare, and going S just before Cape Finisterre, when the fuel was a bit low, the sediment in the bottom of the tank, that we had paid out good money to have cleaned, turned our fuel into tomato soup, which blocked the filters, and killed the engine. We cleaned everything up, but couldn't use the egine because it would have clogged again. We had leaks that couldn't be found with a high pressure hose, it needs an Atlantic roller to find them. And didn't it find our weaknesses. Water came through the roof on the way out; we sorted that. Then on the way home when we were beating into a F8 gale, we found that the windows all leaked. And gallons of water made its way down the anchor chain pipe into the bilges, and lots of other places as well. But to be fair, the Monitor wind vane took us through the lot, we didn't touch the helm for days on end, including the worst wind strenght. (Rant again- why can't they make something so good out of proper stainless steel. It is brand new and RUSTY)
Anyway everyone, we really had a good time. The Rally was wonderful, the people we met were great, and I wouldn't do it again at the moment.
A fuller up date will appear in a day or two.
Love Becky
