Barnacle Bill
Active member
I've just returned from my longest ever solo trip. Three passages in a very rewarding week, Waterford to St Mary's, Isles of Scilly; Scilly to Dale, Milford Haven; Dale back to Dunmore East and Waterford.
First two passages were a bit wild, 2 reefs by the end on each passage, wind mainly in the right direction but a bit on an upwind slog into Milford Haven at the end. Final one across St George's Channel was slow but incredibly relaxing, ghosting along at 2kts in 10kts of wind, flat sea, moonlight. Great to get back to two top UK destinations and Real Ale!
The one 'anxious moment' was when a jubilee clip tried to destroy the whole boat. About three quarters of the way through the first passage - 140 miles, bumpy enough to make things uncomfortable - I went to make a cup of tea, filled the kettle, turned on the gas, and sparked the cooker burned alight. Imagine my surprise when, instead of an encouraging small blue circle of flame on the burner, I was confronted by a "whump" and a four foot yellow smoky flame from behind the cooker. "Christ" I thought, "I've never had a full-on fire on board the boat before, what the hell do I do now?" I don't know how long it took me to figure out the solution (obviously, turn off the gas) it may only have been 2 seconds, but my recollection is that it was all so unexpected (and I tired) that it wasn't immediately obvious what had happened, and what to do about it.
The gas pipe had, of course, been dislodged from the cooker as it was swinging around. I cleaned up the smoky soot from the panel to the side of the cooker, pushed the pipe back on and tightened up the jubilee clip, and pumped the bilge with the hand pump in case any gas had ended up there, but I don't think any had: I think all the escaped gas had burned off.
Thank goodness prior to that I had been attentive to my gas routine, i.e. I had turned off the gas tap when not using the cooker. And each time I turned in on again after that, I reached over to the back of the cooker to check that the pipe was still attached.
What fun sailing is, so full of surprises!
First two passages were a bit wild, 2 reefs by the end on each passage, wind mainly in the right direction but a bit on an upwind slog into Milford Haven at the end. Final one across St George's Channel was slow but incredibly relaxing, ghosting along at 2kts in 10kts of wind, flat sea, moonlight. Great to get back to two top UK destinations and Real Ale!
The one 'anxious moment' was when a jubilee clip tried to destroy the whole boat. About three quarters of the way through the first passage - 140 miles, bumpy enough to make things uncomfortable - I went to make a cup of tea, filled the kettle, turned on the gas, and sparked the cooker burned alight. Imagine my surprise when, instead of an encouraging small blue circle of flame on the burner, I was confronted by a "whump" and a four foot yellow smoky flame from behind the cooker. "Christ" I thought, "I've never had a full-on fire on board the boat before, what the hell do I do now?" I don't know how long it took me to figure out the solution (obviously, turn off the gas) it may only have been 2 seconds, but my recollection is that it was all so unexpected (and I tired) that it wasn't immediately obvious what had happened, and what to do about it.
The gas pipe had, of course, been dislodged from the cooker as it was swinging around. I cleaned up the smoky soot from the panel to the side of the cooker, pushed the pipe back on and tightened up the jubilee clip, and pumped the bilge with the hand pump in case any gas had ended up there, but I don't think any had: I think all the escaped gas had burned off.
Thank goodness prior to that I had been attentive to my gas routine, i.e. I had turned off the gas tap when not using the cooker. And each time I turned in on again after that, I reached over to the back of the cooker to check that the pipe was still attached.
What fun sailing is, so full of surprises!
