Concerto
Well-known member
A very lazy morning chatting with club members. When the Broom motorboat astern of me moved back to his mooring, I decided to leave having said many goodbyes. The general advice was I should visit Down Cruising Club, so off I motored directly into wind. About halfway there the engine stopped. I had forgotten to check the fuel tank in my laziness and it was now empty. What a fool. So instead of using my auxiliary, I had to use my main motive power source, my sails. So I raised full sail and started sailing at 5 knots to windward. Then it came time to tack, which I did. Then I thought, could I sail into Down alongside the pontoon. Yes, I thought. Thinking about it a bit more I checked where the closest fuel station was, not good. So looked for fuel stations close to any pontoon. There were only 2 in Strangford Lough, Portaferry and Killyleagh, both downwind of me. Portaferry was a difficult one to enter as once committed there was no way out. So Killyleagh it had to be. Then as the tide turned, so the wind dropped to almost nothing. So considering another option, pick up a mooring and use the inflatable. Checked the outboard on the transom and realised it needed some oil being a 4 stroke. Now there was a new problem, where was the key to the padlock. I searched high and low, and still have not found the key. I obviously put is somewhere safe, so safe I cannot remember where.
So back to sailing to the pontoon. With binoculars I could see a motorboat alongside and just space for me at the end of the alongside pontoon. I needed the wind to push me on. The mainsail was dropped and tidied. Turning towards the pontoon meant coming from a run to a beam reach and yes, you guessed it, the wind increased slightly as well. Double reefed the genoa to slow me down. In the final approach I furled it away, but I slightly overshot. No, I did not hit him, but lay partially alongside. The owner then helped me move Concerto aft alongside the pontoon. He then left for his mooring.
Seeing some people outside the clubhouse I walked up the pontoon only to find a locked gate. A quick call brought a young lady to open the gate as I explained my problem. I joined the three ashore and started again. It seemed like I would have to wait until the morning when more members would be around. Then the man from the motorboat came ashore and volunteered to take me to the fuel station. In his boot he had two 22 litre cans. So off we go and I buy 41 litres of diesel. He then helped take the cans to my boat. After emptying the cans he refused anything for his service. So in the morning I will change the filters and bleed the engine. Once the engine is warm I will change the oil and oil filter, and complete a full service. I might even remove the heat exchanger and clean that as well.
Oh what fun boats are and how kind some people can be. I forgot to ask his name but I have taken a drone photo of his boat.
This was the motorboat that helped me so much
Killyleagh Yacht Club and town
Safely moored alongside
For anyone wanting to read the reports from the start, this is the link to first one.
Round Britian day 1
So back to sailing to the pontoon. With binoculars I could see a motorboat alongside and just space for me at the end of the alongside pontoon. I needed the wind to push me on. The mainsail was dropped and tidied. Turning towards the pontoon meant coming from a run to a beam reach and yes, you guessed it, the wind increased slightly as well. Double reefed the genoa to slow me down. In the final approach I furled it away, but I slightly overshot. No, I did not hit him, but lay partially alongside. The owner then helped me move Concerto aft alongside the pontoon. He then left for his mooring.
Seeing some people outside the clubhouse I walked up the pontoon only to find a locked gate. A quick call brought a young lady to open the gate as I explained my problem. I joined the three ashore and started again. It seemed like I would have to wait until the morning when more members would be around. Then the man from the motorboat came ashore and volunteered to take me to the fuel station. In his boot he had two 22 litre cans. So off we go and I buy 41 litres of diesel. He then helped take the cans to my boat. After emptying the cans he refused anything for his service. So in the morning I will change the filters and bleed the engine. Once the engine is warm I will change the oil and oil filter, and complete a full service. I might even remove the heat exchanger and clean that as well.
Oh what fun boats are and how kind some people can be. I forgot to ask his name but I have taken a drone photo of his boat.
This was the motorboat that helped me so much
Killyleagh Yacht Club and town
Safely moored alongside
For anyone wanting to read the reports from the start, this is the link to first one.
Round Britian day 1
