Amble to Edinburgh

[scozzy]

Am based in Dunbar, our crane in this season is end of March,a bit earlier than normal (around Easter)but heyho! Can confirm March is full of bitterly cold Easterlies and angry swells and we won't be going out much early on unless we strike it lucky...
I'd think long and hard about having a few smaller sails locally with your pal and talk him into doing it in June/July with the sun in your back and a warm westerlies helping you out with a few stops like St Abbs and Cove,perfect for that size boat

 

[Black Diamond]

I worry that your friend values your life at less than a grand, as well as his own. As Egret advised wisely in post 8, trailering is the only sensible and practical option, but if that has been considered and discounted on grounds of cost, I refer back to my last sentence.

 

[steve yates]

The boat design is up to it, but only if its reasonably maintained and in decent nick. March will be cold and miserable.
I can see his logic in doing it in one jump, as less to go wrong, and usually things go wrong near land.
A settled forecast is crucial, if you cant get two or three days with nothing more than f3/4 in the forecast, don’t go!
Normally I am all for just going for it and dealing with whatever comes as the best way to learn, but in this case I would really advise against it, unless you can nail down his sailing “experience” If its just been crew for others, then no.
I would encourage him to wait till second half of april, just pay any berthing fee and use the time to check the boat over properly.

If you are going to be daft enough to do it, then insist on a couple of day sails out of amble and back and see how much confidence you have in him then.
Assuming the engine works, don’t move from the dock till you guys get a number of spare fule filters, and replace the existing ones and the impeller. You can almost guarantee once you are bouncing about in the north sea the crud at bottom of your tank will get stirred up and your engine will fail. Then you’ll need to change filters and bleed the fuel lines, while being bounced around, so make sure you have done it for real.

I’ll say it again, if go you must, ONLY in settled weather, no “windows”. And chances of that in march are slim

ps, at least have life insurance in place for your wife.

 

[beebarron]

Thanks guys- for all the advice.

I went down this week to have a look at the boat - rigging is a mess with no halyard! So he wants to motor up and repair once he gets to Edinburgh?

No heater of any description, toilet doesn't work - seized sea cock.

He had drained the oil & water from the engine - so couldn't run that.

So I'm seriously thinking of passing on this "adventure" or at least postponing it

 

[beebarron]

Further to my message above, when I pressed him on his sailing experience - he admitted that he’d only ever crewed on a friends boat, and any other experience was on motor boats.

Just out of interest - what would be the approx cost of a lift out, demast, transport to Edinburgh and reinstate?

 

[dunedin]

Thanks guys- for all the advice.

I went down this week to have a look at the boat - rigging is a mess with no halyard! So he wants to motor up and repair once he gets to Edinburgh?

No heater of any description, toilet doesn't work - seized sea cock.

He had drained the oil & water from the engine - so couldn't run that.

So I'm seriously thinking of passing on this "adventure" or at least postponing it

Good call to go for a look. That makes your decision easy.
It is a simple NO WAY.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Further to my message above, when I pressed him on his sailing experience - he admitted that he’d only ever crewed on a friends boat, and any other experience was on motor boats.

Just out of interest - what would be the approx cost of a lift out, demast, transport to Edinburgh and reinstate?

Way more than the boat is worth. Maybe 2-3k.

Forget it. This is a stupid idea with death or at least big trouble written all over it. And if you get into trouble, you’ll be asking others to put their lives at risk to rescue you. Not good seamanship. Not good AT ALL.

 

[Tranona]

Further to my message above, when I pressed him on his sailing experience - he admitted that he’d only ever crewed on a friends boat, and any other experience was on motor boats.

Just out of interest - what would be the approx cost of a lift out, demast, transport to Edinburgh and reinstate?

Yes way more than the boat cost. That is one of the reasons why such boats are offered for so little money. Not usable in the condition offered, located in a place that is not ideal for leisure sailing and the overall costs of getting it to the place where buyers might want it and in a usable condition are just too high.

A friend of mine had a Samphire 23 in tip top condition with a newish Yanmar located in Poole on a good mooring. Struggled to sell it for £4k 10 years ago when such boats still had a following.

 

[ylop]

Just out of interest - what would be the approx cost of a lift out, demast, transport to Edinburgh and reinstate?

Is the boat in the marina at Amble? They’ll have prices on line. Where in Edinburgh is it going? The only place that I can think of with a travel hoist is Port Edgar, so if not there you are looking at hiring a crane - that gets very expensive for a one off job, but becomes more manageable if it’s part of a shared effort at a club at the start of the sailing season. I think if the lift in/out and mast remove and fit were under £600 in total he’s probably done OK. On the plus side the missing halyard would be much easier to solve with mast down. I’d also be much happier fixing a seized seacock with the boat out the water. So potentially those costs are inevitable regardless of how it gets to Edinburgh. I’m guessing there’s no trailer included with the boat? For the costs suggested above you could probably buy a second hand trailer (beware it might need work to make roadworthy) and find someone with serious towing capacity (like a Land Rover) to do the towing. You’d still own the trailer which can be used to store it out the water, and it will be easier to sell the lot when he realises that owning an old yacht is hard work!

However if he’s never actually sailed he probably doesn’t really know how to rig a mast. That means either making friends at the local club or paying someone who does. Does he understand the annual storage cost of a boat like that?

 

[ylop]

Thanks guys- for all the advice.

I went down this week to have a look at the boat - rigging is a mess with no halyard! So he wants to motor up and repair once he gets to Edinburgh?

That makes no sense - an unknown boat with an unknown engine becomes a lot less worrying if it can sail.

No heater of any description, toilet doesn't work - seized sea cock.

Neither are strictly essential although all the more reason to split the journey into short day sails. I would be very suspicious of a boat with a dodgy sea cock that hadn’t been inspected out the water.

He had drained the oil & water from the engine - so couldn't run that.

water might not be unusual for winterising… but oil? Surely not?
So he actually has no idea if this will even start never mind how reliable it will be?

So I'm seriously thinking of passing on this "adventure" or at least postponing it

I would say even in a week of perfect weather in May or June there’s no way I’d do it unless it’s properly serviced and tested top to bottom. I’d say it’s unlikely that he spends less on repairs than he spent on the boat!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Your last sentence says it all.

 

[ducked]

He had drained the oil & water from the engine - so couldn't run that.

Draining the water only makes sense if there was no antifreeze, and if not WHY NOT?
Draining the oil and leaving it empty only makes sense if it leaks VERY badly. Oil excludes oxygen, which oxidises.

 

[Andibs]

Yes way more than the boat cost. That is one of the reasons why such boats are offered for so little money. Not usable in the condition offered, located in a place that is not ideal for leisure sailing and the overall costs of getting it to the place where buyers might want it and in a usable condition are just too high.

A friend of mine had a Samphire 23 in tip top condition with a newish Yanmar located in Poole on a good mooring. Struggled to sell it for £4k 10 years ago when such boats still had a following.

The Northumberland coast is fantastic for sailing

 

[[70521]]

So I'm seriously thinking of passing on this "adventure" or at least postponing it

Good call.

Personally, I'd be moving the boat to Edinburgh by road, finding a yard to put her in and spending some time getting her sorted. Only then taking her out on a nice sunny day and building experience.

 

[steve yates]

Run away or drown.

 

[Gargleblaster]

If you could find a friendly boat that could tow you might be a solution.
As an example a plastic FolkBoat called Minke was towed about 250 miles to the Azores when she lost her rudder in teh Atlantic. The towing boat was a 30 feet wooden boat called Good Report, skipper George Arnison. Nearly all the towing was under sail, and some under spinnaker, except for entering the harbour at Praia do Vittoria. The skipper of Minke sailed another 150 miles without the rudder as long as he maintained a course 40 degrees to the wind.

I tried to post a photo but whenever I try I get told by YBW that my file is too large and if won't accept it. I did write an article on it that appeared in the Jan 2022 PBO although I tried to retrieve that and while it is mentioned it doesn't appear retrievable.

I have towed a few boats with engines as small as 8hp, mine now theirs. Generally on a long line when there is plenty of room or tied together if it is close quarter work.

As a sad note the owner of Minke, an East Coast sailor from Levington, Duncan Lougee was lost in the Irish Sea during the Jester Baltimore Dhallenge of 2023 in calm conditions. His boat Minke was recovered.

 

[[70521]]

The towing boat was a 30 feet wooden boat called Good Report, skipper George Arnison.

It is a small world, Good Report is about 100m from my boat at the moment and I was speaking to George just last week.

 

[ylop]

If you could find a friendly boat that could tow you might be a solution.

I’m not sure two novices getting towed on a multi day or 25h+ passage relatively close to shore with potential shipping, pot bouys etc to contend with is a great idea - but such a friendly skipper would need to either be heading that way anyway or unless genuinely a good friend looking for recompense for for the round trip.

 

[Puffin10032]

I had an inkling that your friend's sailing experience would be minimal. Walk away. It's not worth the risk.