Independence | Upadates & Cruising

[Portofino]

Hi Robin ,
Thx for the final Del trip vid .Well put together.
Listen don,t dwell on the “ shut down “ thing .Ive seen it loads of times in guys .
Put it down to inexperience of being out in those condition s .In the military there’s a ramped training process and selection procedure .Birds of a feather often are grouped together .When a newbie enters the fold and the going gets tough ,they ( the group post - Higher -selection process) - just get going, often overlooking or forgetting the newbies cos they are concentrating on the job in hand .
You just assume the newbies have gone through or had similar training and selection and are like your self .Ok with this .
The leader allways in “mission objective must be accomplished “ mode -
Weighing up risks Vs objective,as more and 8hit is thrown into the mix .

As the situation deteriorates and there’s more and more stuff for the experienced guys to handle ,the let’s call it the pastoral care of the newbie slips down the priority list .

It’s on a list but way down - hence let you lie down in his cabin in this instance .
It’s the best place in this case - you are out of the way and safe .

Sure there’s lots of compassion and tbh guilt from the leader - “ could we have briefed the newbie better “ etc
“ forgot it’s his first time “ “ thought he would be ok - we are busy here “ etc

Once everybody’s safe so to speak and in this case the boats in a marina , then thoughts turn to the newbie .
The correct decision was made to RTU you .
In military speak that’s Return To Unit . basically get you out - Absolutely no shame or guilt on your behalf.

Happens a lot ,

Two things happen
Some of the guys return ,come back after let’s call it a after a proper gentle ramp up of the experience ( more training) and become excellent at what they do -
Some guys are put off - it’s not for them - just a cruel way to find out .

So my advice is ( I know this is civy street ) you are gonna have take the boat out again to sea - and but in calmer weather a short trip , perhaps with Griff and his bro along - nice tee shirt summers day - have a play - occupies your self with your nav gear etc .
Basically set you own gradient on the sea state experience ramp .

You will get there - good luck with the boat :encouragement:

 

[londonrascal]

I must admit I did cringe seeing that rope on the bow, mine are always tied up on the rails unless it's flat calm but lots of people do it without issue so it's not a criticism

None taken, but what surprised me was the fact both ends had been secured around the mooring bollards - the force of the water had lifted it up several times enough to free the starboard end from the bollard, once that had happened each additional wave pushed the end of the rope further off down the deck.

The ropes are actually way overkill and something I need to address, there bad enough when dry but almost unmanageable when wet as so heavy.

Things will be more boring now - this weekend I am up to see what progress has been made with works in the engine room and hopefully fit a new stereo, 3 new and larger fire extinguishers, a label to show where the battery isolators are on the outside of the DC distribution smoked glass door (to comply with BSS requirements) and get cleaning the RIB which is now to be named Picca.

Then in a couple of weeks I will be working on Broad Ambition helping fit solar panels and finishing off Dek-King - one day there will be time to actually go boating lol

 

[londonrascal]

So my advice is ( I know this is civy street ) you are gonna have take the boat out again to sea

Firstly thanks for the post above, I have to agree with you. Though Charlie was heading things up, he and Howard were both in the Navy - Brian former RAF too so they had been through a bunch of things in their lives and me not so much.

Having posted the video you can imagine I have had a lot of messages, comments and the like and it has taken me back over things and I can see where things 'went wrong' for me. Firstly the day before at Brighton I had set myself up for a problem worried about the direction of the swell and what if the boat rolls over and does not come back and that seed grew.

When we left Brighton in the high winds, other boats were heading back in to the Marina (including that boat heading the other way closer in shore) while we headed out. That too was some more worries planted. By the time things got really bad in the fading light I was feeling like the boat was not meant to be here, by that I mean if another boat was that would be ok but my boat not so much which makes little sense now I guess.

I also think that had I have been out for sea fishing trips in the rough stuff before I might have had some idea of how a small boat handles and waves are - but I had not, I had only been in rough conditions on far larger boats. You combine that lack of experience to such a situation and previously cemented worries and that was me done for!

The fact is, already I feel different now - I have a 'pointer' if you like, this is what happened, and the boat and crew were fine. Despite not being there the next day they went through even worse than I had to Dover - and again the boat and crew were fine. It does not mean that in future I will be blasé to things "Oh don't worry she can take it" type of attitude, but if say we went somewhere and it was a fine day with light winds but headed back the following day suddenly things picked up I would not be doing the same as I did before as I would have some more confidence and more experience too.

 

[pan]

Excellent & honest 'blog' Robin, many would have glossed over issues you have highlighted & good to see you have been able to review & analyse the situation you were in. Inexperience of the conditions you found, caused an overload of 'what if's' completely overcoming rational thought processes, it really is about a build up of experience, knowing your boat, what it can handle, sea states etc, with that knowledge the 'what if's' are put to the back of mind & you can concentrate on the decision making.

As Portofino says, get back out to sea & develop your experience (training), so that you can enjoy it without constantly questioning yourself about the boat & what 'might' happen....

 

[IDAMAY]

Well done Robin. I enjoyed the video very much so thanks for taking the time. Whilst watching it, I was reflecting on a trip last year from Porto to Viana do Castello (about 40 miles) when, for part of the way, we encountered rough conditions. We were taking solid water up the fore deck and then rolling on up the screen. It was uncomfortable and frightening for a while but nothing broke or even moved around. We had left harbour on a forecast of winds of F3 to F4 and swell of 1 to 2 metres but with quite a short period. In the event the wind was at F5 and the swell 2 to 3 metres with white caps everywhere. We learnt, or, more correctly, relearnt a few lessons:

1. The forecast isn't always right.
2. The swell period is as important as the swell height.
3. Sometimes you get caught out when you would rather have stayed in harbour.
4. Traders are strong and well built boats.

I know and totally respect your views on stabilisers but the video of Independence entering Gt Yarmouth makes a really good case for them. Ocean Spirit would have retained an even balance all the way in.

Like others I hope your next trip to sea will be on a nice, calm day and that, in the meantime, you will enjoy getting independence up to the spec you want. Keep the videos coming!

Richard.

 

[londonrascal]

Idamay - watch out you've just mentioned the 'Stabiliser' again lol.



In the above screen grab you will see the roll encountered on arriving at Great Yarmouth. I recon if the RIB was not up top and the Crane you could well loose a few degrees there, and I recon too if I had stablisers you could take away a lot more!

You have to reach a point of comfort over cost, or cost of comfort depending on your take. She is no spring chicken now and so to spend out on having something fitted that would make things more comfy some of the time does not, for me add value. This is why I am not going down that route much as some would like this if nothing more for a more stable easy going ride.

Having been in some horrible conditions and now also knowing the boat can handle the sort of head seas that I encountered when on passage to Dover beam on, I feel far more comfy in my mind as to what the boat can handle. While it makes people's legs turn to jelly having to counter the roll and hold on, at least I know the boat does not 'fall over'.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Very well done Robin. As others have said very honest write up and video. I have just bought a boat on the Broads so probably see you there one day

 

[BroadAmbition]

The Weymouth to Brighton trip although far from flat calm was easily manageable and we made our eta on time.

The morning of Sunday 4th is where we encountered our first issue totally out of our control. The admiralty chart and the Reeds almanac both agreed with each other stating ‘Maintained depth 2m’ We knew we would be departing at Low tide and 2m would be sufficient. The fuelling pontoon / station was further round inside the huge breakwater up by the lock to the inner marina. We had got ourselves up and ready early as we also knew that topping Indy’s tanks up would be more than a five minute job. I thought it prudent to call the HM on the vhf enquiring as to the depth as we could plainly see the mud shoaling very close to the marked channel. The HM informed us that we would have to wait till about 1000 if we wanted to move round for fuel or alternatively 0900 if we wished to proceed to sea. Brighton Marina it turns out do not maintain a dredged channel depth to 2m at all as stated.

Nowt for it then, after an early ‘Call the Hands’ we all trooped off to Wetherspoons for a full English as one does for the princely sum of £3:50 plus as much coffee as one desired. Then bimbled round to the local supermarket for supplies with all of us forgetting it was Sunday morning and nowt was open, apart from a petrol station so we made do with what they had to offer.

We slipped Indy’s mooring lines at around 1000 and made our way round to the fuelling station only to find a large rag-n-stick alongside waiting for water depth to increase. This was another delay. I had to hop off onto the pontoon and kindly inform them that we needed fuel and could they wait elsewhere? Non to happily they moved off and sat in mid channel. Fuelling Indy took an age. By the time we had completed, slipped, secured the upper deck for sea obtained permission to proceed etc it was approaching 1200. We were well behind schedule now.

Once clear of Brighton it was throttles down, I was doing my calculations with regards to eta at Ramsgate, we would now be arriving in the dark with low water approaching, not good. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I was familiar with the pilotage into Ramsgate harbour but to my knowledge I had only been there once before and that was 26 years ago. Still we would just have to deal with it in due course.

It was after passing Beachy head that the sea state really picked up. The wave height steadily increased to around 8ft i would guess, not so much of an issue but it was a short swell with sharp peaks that was making itsen felt, it was getting uncomfortable and more violent by the minute. No option but to reduce speed to deal with it. The film footage / photo’s you saw taken by Nigel and Grendel, we were only making around 9/10kts SOG at best, though probably more through the water. I knew that this was putting our eta at Ramsgate even further behind with the real possibility that we would now arrive at smack on Low water but there was no way we could make any better progress in the sea state we were dealing with. As we pushed on and altered course as one does, the direction of the sea changed from being directly on the bow to more on the Stbd bow. So as well as the bow / anchor forging into the peaks and dumping green water on the foc’sle it increased the roll as a result, Joy and glee, we were as badly burnt as scolded. In the snow/rain storms visibility kept reducing significantly too.

My crew fazed? – not a bit of it. I knew they would be fine with this otherwise I wouldn’t have picked them for this kind of trip in the first place. I always knew that this sort of situation was likely to happen at this time of year. It was getting hard work keeping on ones feet and my regular engine room rounds were somewhat challenging. The fwd bilge pump indicator kept sticking on with the threat of burning out the motor. The blasted float switch kept getting thrown vertical and stopped there even though the bilge was only slightly wet. It was probably never designed to be vertical! Added to that some clown of a boat builder had mounted the float switch lower down than the pump. So if there was enough water to lift the switch, the pump was still sitting dry. I put a weight on the float switch – that cured that issue of saving the pump running dry but meant if we did have a water ingress the pump could not now operate. This meant of course regular checking of the fwd bilge, just another issue to deal with then. Going fwd with the amount of pitching we were experiencing and lifting deck plates was an adventure.

I was keeping a crafty eye on our resident crabfat too as this sort of passage in this sea state was an unknown to him and would he deal with it ok? Mentally he would lap it up and would not stop or give in, but would his stomach rise to the challenge? No worries about our submariner or the Wizard. Robin however was a different entity and went into shut down mode. It was understandable as he would never have been in this situation before or experienced anything like this. The best place for him was aft in the master cabin. I kept popping in reassuring him that his boat was fine, the crew were looking after Indy and she would in turn look after us. The crew were dealing with the situation in hand.

Indy was fine too. She was handling the sea state and shrugging off even the now more regular rogue waves that she pounded through. Nothing was coming loose (Well it did actually, the fwd berthing rope that was tied onto the cleats – Howard dealt with that one) or was breaking, the water tight integrity was to the good. The engineering department was purring along just as it should do. The crew however were now under no illusions that they were not on a Sunday afternoon cruise down the Yare, far from it. Our crabfat was doing just fine so we had four of us operating normally. Upper deck rounds – Well that is to say venturing onto the sun deck (Sun deck? – should have been named monsoon deck) and fly bridge was not for the faint hearted but it had to be done.

Robin came up for a word, could we alter our destination to Dover and get out of this sea state?







Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

Robin came up for a word, could we alter our destination to Dover and get out of this sea state?

Well yes, we could but there would be implications, a short term gain would mean longer term pain. I knew that the next day’s forecast was due to be worse than the present one today with a forecast sea state in Dover / Thames of moderate to rough, added to that it would make the last leg longer to travel. On the plus side we would avoid arriving at Ramsgate at low water, in the dark with a gale blowing. Then there was Robin himself to consider who really did need some respite from this scenario.

Dover it would be then. Howard altered the navplan to suit, I was into the charts and the almanac. Now heading for Dover meant we could alter course further to Stbd to ease our passage with regards to the swell direction, then coming round to Port for a straight run into the West entrance. It made both transits longer but a tad more comfortable. The almanac stated that a pilot boat would guide us to our destination, this was a welcome nugget. It was now dark, rain and still that swell to deal with. Vhf call to the HM at Dover Marina confirming they had room for us, then a vhf call to Dover Port control. We didn’t have to wait and we could come straight in and to call again when ½ mile from the breakwaters. We were somewhat relieved to enter the west entrance, the sea state abated to a more comfortable level but still not safe for the deck crew to do their thing.

Getting into Dover harbour was fairly straightforward, finding the narrow entrance to Dover Marina however was a tad more challenging. With Local knowledge it would have been a breeze. To us though it was most confusing, the light pollution was not good. I could see red / green lights but there was a huge wall between us and them, the charts and radar was telling us where we were and where the mouth was but could the naked eye see it? Sort of but not confidently at all. By now the deck crew had got the ropes / fenders ready in all respects. Robin was now with us and offering his eyes too, decision made, we proceeded - straight to a huge sea wall on the ships head! Nope - ‘Round again class leader’ then the vhf burst into life, it was Port Control. ‘Are you ok and do you need assistance’? To which I replied ‘Yes we are fine and your assistance would be appreciated’ (Just where was this ere pilot boat to guide us then?)

With vhf assistance (The port control using their radar of course) we once again were faced with a narrow entrance to what looked like a dead end but was assured we should proceed, I was now helming one handed with my other hand hovering over the engine controls ready to go astern, dry mouth, port and Stbd lookouts telling brain this was not correct, but vhf assuring us it was, deck crew offering verbal advice, there was certainly plenty of information flowing - Voila! we could see at last! It became oh so apparent where the actual channel was, this was better. I helmed Indy in mainly using just her engines, we could now see our intended berth opposite the lifeboat but there was a yellow marker buoy in the channel slightly over to Stbd, no mention of it on the chart or almanac, no mention from the Dover marina HM either who could now see us apparently, so I took Indy to port of it which seemed the most obvious course which was the correct one as it turned out. Doug was there to take our ropes, then we were alongside and secured at last. What a day.

We popped over to visit the HM, paid our dues etc. Back onboard Nigel and Pete were a welcome site. Shortly afterwards the lot of us trooped off to Wetherspoons for our dinner. It was over dinner that Robin declared that he may not be sailing with us in the morning but would make a decision in the morning. We discussed options, the wx forecast, crew numbers etc. Indy would sail in the morning come what may with the wx forecast in hand. The crew numbers would however be subject to confirmation.

Back onboard, get tomorrow’s charts and electronic navplans ready. No dvd this evening, by around 2300 latest it was lights out, we would have to be up at 0400 for an early start and a very long day to have any outside chance of making the bridge lifts at Great Yarmouth







Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

Monday 05th Feb





Even with the high walls around the Marina and the water level low at 0400 we could tell it was blowing a hooley. Robin, the Master of Indy has made his decision and would meet us at GYA. No problem we had our secret weapon onboard who has participated in tall ships sea going stuff so no issues with being light on crew numbers. Preparations for sea were done in the normal manner. Paper charts, electronic wizardry, almanac, vhf checks, nav lights, radar, etc. Bring Indy’s two main engines up to warm, generator on, shore power disconnected, secure internally for sea. The crew were well versed in securing for sea. Check the wx forecast, Yep as we had expected, force 8 predominantly from the East with a sea state of rough with a short swell – Just fine and dandy. I took mysen off for a five minute spell in a quiet area before we slipped Indy’s lines. I always tend to do this, check the wind strength / direction, tidal flow if any, other hazards be that pontoons / craft / buoys etc and get it in my head how best to carry out the evolution. In this case it was to turn Indy about in restricted waters within the marina, proceed out of the channel into Dover Harbour, then deal with getting out to sea proper. It was obviously still dark, cold and not inviting but we had made our decision to go. Crew were briefed in the normal fashion, that being safety and MOB procedures. This was done every morning before sailing, especially if new crew members had joined. Then it was onto ropes / fenders and the need to communicate loud and clear with me on the helm, that would have been better if the upper helm had been in operation but we would deal with it as it was.



We slipped Indy’s lines then brought turned her on her main engines (No need for ***** buttons), the deck crew busily stowing ropes / fenders. Exiting the channel into Dover harbour was a lot less stressful than the night before but I was still somewhat apprehensive due to the wind in close quarters and bearing in mind this was only my third time on the helm. A call to Port control, we had to wait for a ferry to come in, then we were clear to proceed out of the East exit and commence our journey proper. Howard on the Plot then asked me ‘Did you shut your port light’? - Chuffin eck – NO! We were clear of the breakwater, Indy was already tentatively starting to feel the swell. Brian onto the helm, me go forward to shut the port light – Tooooooo late, about 2 x gallons of water was in the recesses by the window and the flat storage cupboards. Ten minutes later all secured and mopped up. What a schoolboy error, I was that busy organising everything / everyone else I omitted to organise mysen – Humble apologies all round.



Auto pilot engaged, sea state increasing by the yard. Bring rpm’s up to about 2000, 14kts SOG-ish (We had a long way to go.) check radar / AIS for contacts, up to flying bridge, use MK1 eyeball for contacts etc. It took about 1 x nautical mile for the Auto pilot to start displaying weird information, about a ¼ NM later and it was getting worse than weird, I took the decision to disengage it before it packed up altogether and leave us with the possibility we would not be able to regain manual control. Shortly afterwards it died completely. Brian was on the helm at the time just monitoring so of course he got the blame for breaking it!. We would just have to commence watchkeeping on the helm, 30mins about would do it, following a course on the magnetic compass. About the same time that we lost the auto pilot we also lost our blue water sailor, swift exit aft to the aft heads where ‘Huey and Ralph’ were summoned and that was him done for, for the rest of the journey. The green ginger or whatever it was he swore by was now being sworn at and consigned to the old wives tale bin.

The sea state was just as bad as the evening before. That in itself was not an issue as I knew both Indy and the crew could manage this. What was an issue was that we were only too aware that the sea state was forecast to increase, especially as we sailed through the Thames Estuary area as we would be well away from land. We also knew that although at present the swell was hitting Indy on her Stbd bow, we would soon have to alter course to port putting the increasing swell on her Stbd side. I would have to keep a close eye on those wing fuel tanks and balance them accordingly as best as I could.

Sea state yesterday was around 8ft or the tops of the waves the same height as Indy’s bow / foc’sle. We were already at that, this meant reducing rpm’s to match the sea state, which was the last thing I wanted to do with regards to our eta at GYA but it had to be done, no use pushing her too hard or making life overly difficult for the crew



The sea state picked up as we progressed, now it was getting proper rough. Again I had to reduce rpms and try to balance the speed to the sea state, this of course is not laid down in any marine manual of sailing, it is more a seat of the pants thing. We duly altered course as we rounded the Eastern end of Kent with the sea on the Stbd side. The wave height was now topping higher that the saloon roof, if the rollers had been spread out it would have been easy but they were short and sharp. We were now experiencing solid green water on both wastes as well as the foc’sle. There is one opening window on the Stbd side and it was leaking when a particularly large rogue wave caught us. The sea water was landing straight onto a 240v socket that was conveniently sited to receive it. Our Wizard cured that one using paper towelling and gaffa tape but the damage was done, we lost 240v throughout every system onboard. Great, no microwave or kettle for the foreseeable then. I ventured down into the engine room again to investigate but nothing seemed untoward, the generator was running quite happily, gauges all showing within parameters but no 240v was being delivered to the main switchboard. The switchboard itself was showing everything was in order. I would have to get Howard down here in t engine room, this was his speciality



Work on the helm became just that, hard work. The only bonus of being on the helm was that one was sat down, hanging onto the wheel so you at least would not fall over or get thrown around the saloon. The rest of us just had to hang on as best as we could. We dare not go any slower as we needed the helm to respond smartly when dealing with rogue larger goffers. I made numerous trips to check on Doug, update him and reassure him that all was to the good.



I of course considered bailing out and seeking a safe haven, they were many to choose from but this would have made life awfully difficult for the crew to get home that evening, not to mention Robin getting to us. Besides, Indy was coping with it and I knew that once we got up to around Sizewell that the sea state was forecast to calm down to a moderate as per yesterday. We pressed on. Brian our resident Crabfat was starting to succumb to the conditions, mentally his was as strong as ever but eventually the violent motion got the better of him and off he went at the rush. Great - I’m thinking, that puts us down to three operational crew. Then the Wizard made an announcement. The way he pronounced it certainly lightened the mood. Unexpected, out of the blue in a sort of surprised voice and more of a revelation to himself rather than to the rest of us - ‘I’m feeling seasick’! and off he went too. Never, I thought, just me and Bro’ left standing, this was going to be somewhat taxing. I had my own responsibilities to attend to and so did Bro’ this was going to be a very busy trip for the rest of the day with just the two of us. How wrong was I? Both Brian and Pete, although visiting the heads as and when required, both squared their shoulders and carried on regardless – Much respect to them both for managing that, that takes grit, determination and immense mental strength. On one memorable occasion, Pete shot aft to the heads. On his return he explained that Doug was cuddling the porcelain telephone and Pete was snookered. So to the galley sink he did dance, tap on, Stbd digit used as a macerator on the plug hole and he managed just fine – Clever lad!



The Williams Rib was making groaning noises, this necessitated me visiting the flying bridge via the aft monsoon deck to keep checking the straps and doing my look out thing at the same time.

Bro’s visit into the engine room nearly finished him off. He reappeared in the saloon hanging on to the overhead rails not speaking but taking long slow deep breaths. After he had composed himself, he said just two more minutes in the engine room and he would have been yakking in the bilge! (I could have slept down there!) He could not see anything wrong, so I shut down the generator. Talking of sleeping, Brian actually did fall asleep for five minutes stood up leaning on the back of the helms seat! That’s the thing with being in these sea conditions in a boat of Indy’s size, the amount of physical effort just to stay upright, move location or do a set of rounds etc is immense, it really takes it out of you physically. It was during one set of engine room rounds (This was one of my regular duties) I noticed water on top of the s/steel escape ladder rungs, just how the hell had water got there then? Doing the taste test I was surprised to discover it was salt water to. Now I was really perplexed as to the source. Until another huge goffer rocked Indy over onto her port side, salt water spray was finding its way past the baffles on the port side and into the engine room. Good - panic over then.



On we pounded, our latest eta was 1730, we got word from Robin that the latest the bridges would lift was 1615. Not a prayer of making that in these conditions.



Right then Team Indy - let’s give it a go shall we? Can we make Robins deadline of 1600 at Haven Bridge? This was no jolly trip, we were delivering Robins pride and joy, he had set us a target, Indy was capable, were we? I was damn well going to give it a go. We had nowt to loose and could always admit defeat and slow down again.



I nudged Indy’s throttles up a gnats knacker sack, waited for five minutes then gave her some more in very small steps. My thinking being that if I did it in insignificant increments, then Neptune wouldn’t notice. I mostly got away with it too. Had to throttle back now and again, but the sea state eventually did abate slightly, by Sizewell I had them donks singing at 2’500rpm and we were flying sometimes making 18kts SOG, through the water probably more. I could have opened them up even more by Southwell but 3000rpm is flat out, that puts maximum strain on the donks, g/boxes and gulps fuel and would have been pushing her to the limit, besides the sea state was still far to sever for any more.



After a few miles I calculated our new ETA, Bro did the same with the electronic wizardry and were in sync, our new ETA was now 1600 at the bridges, we would make it! At this news we felt like we were already there! Bri and Wizard had found their sea legs again, Doug was still living and breathing down aft so all was to the good.



We passed a commercial small ship about 500 tons or so, she was on a potential collision course with us, we were the stand on vessel, Rules of the Road applied, she altered course in plenty of time, no drama and we passed safely. I remarked to the lads, just look at how she is getting tossed around, are they bonkers coming out in these wx conditions in a ship of that size? The looks I received from the crew in the saloon said it all!



We arrived at Town House Quay at 1555-ish. Doug generously assisted us with the upper deck gear, he still looked fragile but was determined to assist. Alongside, Robin stepped onboard, Indy’s master was back where he belonged. We had made it! Job done. Mission accomplished Sir.



And that was as far as we went that day due to circumstances beyond our control as reported previously in this thread. Personally I ached everywhere and was physically shattered, even my earlobes hurt! Myself and Bro got set to, to fathom out that 240v issue. There was a 45amp breaker that had tripped due to the ingress of salt water on the socket. What should have happened was just the ring main in the saloon tripped, but nope the 45amp breaker was taken out. Thing with that was, there was no tally or information of there being a 45amp breaker onboard anywhere. It was only Bro’s technical eye that decoded the wiring diagram that discovered it on paper. Finding it was a Sherlock moment, but find it I did and all was restored to the good. Robin now knows where it is located for future reference.



I can safely predict that Independence will never again go to sea in anything like those conditions at all ever. And if she does, I can also safely predict that I for one will not be onboard either!



Was I worried for Indy herself? No - We had done sea trials, knew what she was capable of, never got to her limit, nor did I want to push her to her limit either, that would have been reckless, not to mention life threatening. The crew limits, well they managed just fine.



Robin made a very brave decision which turned to out be 100% correct and he has my admiration for cajones big enough to make that decision. Doug learnt a lot about himself (And green ginger too). Brian – Said he would never do it again but what a determined sterling effort, especially for a Crabfat, huge respect to him. Wizard – apart from muttering this was the worst sea conditions he had ever been in on a vessel of this size and that if he had been on his sea boat he would have cast a spell or failing that called the RNLI ! You need to remember he is a genuine Wizard after all, we would expect no less from the likes of him. Bro’ – Howard – when his mindset is on the job, then all those years of looking after nuclear reactors / generating plant etc onboard Polaris / Trident submarines in sometimes very taxing conditions, meant he was never going to be beaten by this delivery trip. That memorable sea trip from the Thames to Lowestoft onboard ‘B.A’ was in my eyes far more dangerous that this one on Indy. Indy is a Cat A built to withstand these conditions, ‘B.A’ most certainly is not.



Me? – ‘Just another day at the office’



Griff

 

[benjenbav]

Are you mad...?

Two wetherspoons in one day...

Thanks for the report. Very interesting read. I was slightly surprised that the silting in Brighton Marina wasn't more publicised.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

...I was slightly surprised that the silting in Brighton Marina wasn't more publicised.

Other than on the marina website you mean?

The entrance to Brighton Marina lies between the marina’s east and west breakwater arms and is dredged to – 1.7m C.D. However, storms tend to drive sand in to form a bank to the south and east of the end of the eastern breakwater and shoaling may occur in the entrance channel, particularly on the east side, between annual dredges. For the latest position contact the Marina Reception VHF Channel 80 or 37.

 

[bluetooth]

What an excellent report. Thanks for sharing Giff.

 

[Portofino]

What an excellent report. Thanks for sharing Giff.

+1

 

[Billy Blue]

What an excellent report. Thanks for sharing Giff.

As someone once said to me after a particularly horrendous trip in the North Pacific.
"I wish I could say I had been on that trip but I'm glad I wasn't!"

 

[benjenbav]

Could I just say to Griff and Robin that, many of those on this forum are owner/skippers (in my case, ex-owner/skipper) and might have been tempted to understand Robin's earlier accounts of the same voyage, more recently logged by Griff, from the skipper's perspective, so that the actual preparation and capabilities of the crew and boat were not properly appreciated; these being areas where Robin, now understandably, was light on detail.

From reading Griff's report I would hope that everyone who was concerned as to the wisdom of undertaking the trip will now agree that the only aspect of recklessness was the two visits to wetherspoons on the same day.

Fair winds and safe passage to Indy and all who sail in her, wherever that may lead...

 

[Sticky Fingers]

.... the only aspect of recklessness was the two visits to wetherspoons on the same day...

Brilliant

 

[Sticky Fingers]

PostScript. Looks like the dream is ending...

Trader 535 For Sale | Norfolk Yacht Agency | NYB97678

 

[Greg2]

Yep, saw it was coming to market in a marketing e-Mail from NYA couple of weeks ago. Have only seen it move once since it arrived — might have done a bit more but mainly appears to have been used as a live aboard.

 

[markc]

Yep, saw it was coming to market in a marketing e-Mail from NYA couple of weeks ago. Have only seen it move once since it arrived — might have done a bit more but mainly appears to have been used as a live aboard.

Ideal boat for a liveaboard. The delivery trip didn't give LondonRascal the best introduction to boating - maybe it put him off