Icebreaking in Swansea Marina

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Anwen

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I took Deep Joy out for a sail today, and arrived at the marina to find the boat iced in! Not arctic type stuff, but more the thin layer you get on a pond. It was quite good fun leaving the berth to the noise of splintering ice. By the time I came back in at 4:00pm, the ice had reformed in the channel between phase 1 and 2 and all around the berth, so more snap crackle and pop.
 
Happy New Year Jon and everyone else on here.

We got out yesterday on Cardiff Bay.It was freezing but no ice other than a bit on the decks.I wouldnt have bothered
but my Brother was keen so we had a couple of hours sailing.

Quite an enjoyable sail with 10or12 knots of easterly and the whole bay to ourselves.

had the new Bluecat heater running in the cabin and soup bubbling on the cooker which made a difference.

It must have been Nippy by 4pm coming back in,I bet there wasnt many in the lock with you. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Happy New Year to you Graham, and too everyone in the BC. I went with the tide down as far as Three Cliffs, and then had to beat back - had the tide against me for a couple of hours before it turned. I can't tell what the wind speed was as my masthead wind instrument has gone t*ts-up but I had to put the second reef in for a while...

Here's to a much better sailing year than 2008 - hope to see you all, perhaps at Mermaid Quay in July.
 
Happy new year. Must have missed you yesterday, graham. Louise and I were working on Ishtar in the afternoon, but didn't spot anyone out.

Took Tigger for a walk in the wetlands area, which was all frozen. He's never walked on ice before. A swan hissed at him then, and he showed extreme courage in the speed of his tactical retreat. Ran into a post, in fact.

Couldn't start the engine - Still not quite there, but I reckon the diesel was very cold. Got back to the car just before dark and it said -2!
 
We left CBYC about 1200 tacked up to MQ just on the jib.Had some soup etc onboard then sailed back on main and jib.We went up past CYC moorings then tacked back out just before the road bridge ,you must have had your head in the engine bay at the time. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

We got back to the mooring about 2.30 just as another larger yacht came out of the Ely under engine.

Good Luck with the engine ,sub zero temps arent the best for restarting it.Our outboard took quite a bit of starting which is unusual.
 
You are brave, well done. About 11 or 12 years ago the river froze up as well!

Piccie taken today (your boat???)

Regards

AA-Ice.jpg
 
Been down there again all afternoon. Wired in the new preheater properly but she still wouldn't fire up. Battery sounded sluggish so, just before I was going to leave, I tried the leisure battery and she fired up very quickly. Chuffed to bits. Ran the engine for an hour then to give both batteries a good feed. If she'll start in this weather, fingers crossed she should be fine in the summer. The guy who did the work said she'd start a lot better once everything beds in properly.

Bumped into Allan on Cobby Girl. He stayed on the boat last night and may stay for the weekend, and the Sail on Sat, but he said it was very cold, even with the heater on all night.

I'm going to open a bottle now. Then another...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Cold? You're telling me. I went to the CYC on Saturday with Bev to check on Lizzy D and give the bilge a pump. It was blummin' freezing. In fact it was so cold, I goose pimples on my teeth and kept tripping over my own nipples! (OK. An exaggeration I accept - but it was really cold.)

We went to Swansea for a walk with Kaiser on Sunday and strolled around the marina. We watched some children throwing rocks onto the ice trying to break it. Nowhere near any boats I hasten to add, otherwise I'd have dcone the decent thing and sent them on their way.

Wrap up warm. I am using internal central heating - from a bottle called Jameson's!!

Take care all.


Lizzy D
 
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