A lovely sailing day

Bosun Higgs

Bosun Higgs

N/A
Joined
26 Nov 2009
Messages
13,406
Location
everywhere
Visit site
Today Sunday when we went out for a little race it was beautiful. Bright sun, 8knots, flat seas and no more than one or two cruisers about.

It was the same the previous Sunday racing in the bay though the result is not something to be mentioned.

So why dont more people use those expensive boats sat there eating money on their pontoons? I can't understand the logic of buying a boat and then not using it.

So come on you lot - join in.
 
You're right we had near perfect conditions today - I went out for a couple of hours to give the kids some helming experience. There were a fair few cruisers in the race fleet but only a couple of us just just out for a sail.

Great day right up to the point when the cooling water alarm went off whilst dropping the sails! All fixed now, but spoilt the day a bit.

Many thanks to Vince of Alana for the tow.
 
Most of my sailing is done on weekdays .In winter its not unusual to be the only boat on the bay. In the summer theres rarely more than a handfull out.

I guess they are all busy earning the dosh to pay for the boats and moorings.
 
Last edited:
Whould have love to but i have same problem as Cardiff Cruiser with the temp alarm. Anyway lunch at flying club was good and the emergency landing.....now i'm camping with the kids!!!!!!! Olimpic skiing is ok though.
 
Had a wheel chair outing!

Csail said:
Whould have love to but i have same problem as Cardiff Cruiser with the temp alarm. Anyway lunch at flying club was good and the emergency landing.....now i'm camping with the kids!!!!!!! Olimpic skiing is ok though.
Click to expand...


Yes I should have gone for a sai, but the invite to have another "Go" on a sidecar outfit was too good an offer to miss.l
 
Last edited:
We changed boats back in September and decided it would be a good idea to leave her in through the winter and have a few nice sails through the winter, well that hasn't happened!! We haven't moved off the berth since end of October, we dont live close to the boat so we only have weekends. We had a "FEW" jobs that needed to be done through the winter, first one being to remove the old gas fridge from below the chart table and to change the design of the chart table so that we could access the quarter berth easier. This was near enough a weekend gone by the time we finished off. We then added a new compressor fridge that powered off 12 volt or the shorepower.

Then the battery charger packed in so we had to replace this, what I thought would be a 10 minute job turned into a day!! The biggest job though was fitting the hot and cold water, this took a long long time and was so awkward with the routing of the pipes and location of the calorifier.

If that wasnt enough it was then decided that more mains sockets were needed, one double under the chart table wasnt enough, so this was another weekend gone!

Eventually we have finished all the inside jobs but we still have the deck and woodwork to do. I managed to rip up most of the treadmaster sections off the deck last weekend and now need to get up the bits of loose interdeck paint and smooth over ready for the new coat.

Once that is done we have the sadolin to get off all the exterior woodwork!!

And we are hoping for all this to be done by Easter!!!
 
When I had a bent prop shaft, I took it to the toolroom at work. One of the toolmakers put it between centres on a lathe and then simply leaned on it to straighten it. To my surprise it worked fine so if it happened to me again I would be inclined to take the shaft home and have a go before buying the new shaft the boatyard are no doubt selling you.
 
Bosun Higgs said:
Matt
Long since came to the conclusion that boat jobs are best done in summer when the days are longer and warmer
Click to expand...

A lot to be said for that. Less chance of it snowing on your wet varnish work :-)

Wednesday was a beautifull sunny day my little boat crewed by Barebones and myself was the only one out on the Bay apart from the fast ferry boat. There must be loads of other retired people shiftworkers etc but weekdays its allways very quiet.
 
Yes but on Saturday only, were you selling or riding? Control tower has new building under construction then next is the office for briefing and signing in,didn`t see you or would have had a chat.
A real adrenalin rush this speed thingy! Doctor said don`t fall off because bones take longer to knit at my age! Cheeky sod! am only a young 68
 
Yeah. I was there Saturday lunchtime. Don't remember that car in the picture cuz swmbo comented on how few had stickers and sponsors on.
 
Bosun Higgs said:
Today Sunday when we went out for a little race it was beautiful. Bright sun, 8knots, flat seas and no more than one or two cruisers about.
Click to expand...

It's news to me that CBYC / CYC were out sailing on Sunday. Were you just racing round Flat Holm? I didn't see you west of there.

Bosun Higgs said:
It was the same the previous Sunday racing in the bay though the result is not something to be mentioned.
Click to expand...

Do you expect to see a lot of people cruising around Cardiff Bay? Do people do this in the summer?

Bosun Higgs said:
So why dont more people use those expensive boats sat there eating money on their pontoons? I can't understand the logic of buying a boat and then not using it.

So come on you lot - join in.
Click to expand...

Join in what?
 
yes - boats from both clubs are out racing every Sunday in Feb and March as in Oct and Nov, Zlod. Mind you the weather today doesnt look to be quite so enticing :D

On the two Sundays I mentioned there was just a gently breeze and it was even quite warm in the sunshine. Yet apart from the racers ( and you'd be made very welcome by the way) there were almost no boats out.

Makes boating a very expensive pastime if it only gets used in the summer.
 
I think that one of the problems is the weather forecasts from the "BBQ summer" metoffice. They were forecasting 35mph winds today (force 7) and the latest observations have been for force 3. That force 7 forecast stopped me from going to Penarth this weekend. Then yesterday there was a forecast for 1mph, gusting to 19mph. As it was, it was a nice force 3. That standard of forecasting has been with us all winter as far as I can see.

The weather in the last 3 months has been really beautiful: much better than last July / August. I've come to the conclusion that winter is the best time to go sailing and summer is the best time to have the boat out of the water to dry and do maintenance. That's my plan this year anyway.

Have fun today. I might head up to the bridges this evening if there's a nice force 3 and a moonlit night.
 
What started off being forecast on the Beeb as 45kn with heavy rain, then became 35 kn with heavy rain turned out to be 8 to 10 knots at first with no rain. We eventually got mid teens on the reach back but all in all it was quite pleasant with a well set course.

Reasonable fleet out but saw no-one else but Challenge Wales who insisted at one point in messing about in the middle of the fleet. A bit inconsiderate
 
Bosun Higgs said:
What started off being forecast on the Beeb as 45kn with heavy rain, then became 35 kn with heavy rain turned out to be 8 to 10 knots at first with no rain. We eventually got mid teens on the reach back but all in all it was quite pleasant with a well set course.

Reasonable fleet out but saw no-one else but Challenge Wales who insisted at one point in messing about in the middle of the fleet. A bit inconsiderate
Click to expand...
I was lucky enough to be invited out on Xanadu for the race yesterday. In the CYC bar afterwards I commented on what a good course it was and what bad form it was of Challenge Wales to head through the field the way he did. I was impressed the way some of the fleet sailed passed him and made him look slow! I rarely race, but thanks to Mike the skipper, had a great time. The weather was perfect.
Allan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top