Recent content by weustace

I've had a long-running saga with my antiquated 4hp (2T) Mariner. Despite its extreme simplicity, it fairly abruptly died on me on passage a while ago; it has since been lavished with some £200+ of "professional" attention with no substantial improvement. Both I and the mechanic have cleaned the...

Following this with interest as I was planning to sail for Roscoff from the Solent this morning. I wimped out when a 7 "at times" appeared in the Shipping Forecast - a bit much to do for me, for pleasure, solo in an elderly 24'er! That said, I had also observed the wrinkles in the UKV forecast...

Thanks all. I've done the passage a number of times both solo and with crew and have always found the planning aspects re tides straightforward; I intend to go straight to Poole as don't really like going through the inshore passage at Portland from so far West. (echo sounder is also reported...

Hi all I have tentatively agreed to help a friend get his Co26 back from Dartmouth to the Solent in the next few weeks--we are both very flexible in terms of timing, so should be able to select and exploit a weather window. He has only brought her round from Plymouth so hasn't a great deal of...

I've been thinking about this in the last few months as well. I am quite interested in putting together some sort of landing pad for it, ideally with what the airline types would call 'autoland', as the idea of being mauled by props while some way offshore and potentially single-handed is not at...

Fred drift: My grandfather was a BEA/BA pilot for many years, and is fond of recounting one of his colleague's experience. During taxi in very wet weather at (I believe) LHR, they were routed around a PanAm 747 that had run slightly off the edge of the taxiway and got a wheel stuck in the mud...

I seem to recall a remark in the 79 Fastnet report that some skippers found the use of bolt cutters difficult in heavy weather due to the need for one hand to cling onto the boat. I've always considered a junior hacksaw to be my preference, and carry one (+ a number of spare blades) instead of...

Oh dear, I'm very sorry we're such a nuisance to you. What did we do to bother you? Regarding the OP's question: legally there is a clear distinction in that the LRC permits operation on the maritime HF bands, the amateur licence does not. Amateur radio rigs will not be equipped with DSC for...

As an owner of another of the class it's a bit sad to see it being brutalised in this fashion, but I don't have much of a problem with the general concept... Apparently it has a massive fuel tank and large engine inside it, as I suspected.

Yes, that's right. Then "trouble with the steering gear's always a winner at the court-martial!"

I don't think racers are really in the market for heaving to or pulling a drogue somehow...

Indeed—though word on the A24 forum is that this is far from an unloved MAB (well, you can argue on the latter bit). Won a couple of notable races including Round Lundy (class anyway) in 2015. Of course, a lot can go wrong in 4 years, but still... I guess even a good MAB hull is pretty cheap, so...

I saw this posted on the Achilles Owners Forum and first thought it was a joke about somebody not obeying col-regs. But no: https://www.abports.co.uk/media/aypp4aqj/abp-lowestoft-ntm-no-23-2019.pdf Not only have they apparently converted the hull into an electric autonomous boat (I'm guessing...

Another happy HP-33A user. I ordered it on Amazon with next day delivery—so UK dispatch is available. I was relatively confident that I could have returned it to Amazon had it been DOA; I do not expect that I could return it economically to the makers now, but it's been >2 years so I doubt I...

I have a Matsutec HP-33A. It does everything I ask of it, and cost only £350. The antenna is a quarter-wavelength wire attached to a small fibreglass stick on the taffrail, with the coax ground braid connected to the guard wires by wrapping round the rail. This seems to form a fairly effective...