SaltyMoose
Member
Hi,
I’m new here and new to sailing, having sailed from Poole to Carbis Bay with the help of a skipper. The skipper had to bail at Carbis Bay leaving me to solo this boat to its final destination.
My original intention was to take this 30ft Dufour Arpege with the help of a skipper to Aberystwyth however a number of issues have arisen during the passage.
First, the wiring on this boat is something an electrician would have a heart attack seeing. The alternator was wired to charge the batteries as expected but without any kind of over voltage protection.
The alternator overcharged the batteries and then the alternator died, I can no longer charge the batteries from the engine. Luckily I can just about keep the batteries afloat with solar.
After attempting to cross the Bristol Channel with the help of a skipper we were forced to bail due to lack of good wind for sail we had been promised. We calculated that the fuel we had wouldn’t last motoring the whole way and decided to go for our bail out plan and made way to Carbis Bay.
After the skipper hopped off at Carbis Bay I took the boat to Padstow and stopped there a couple of nights. Checking the weather, tides and waves everything looked good to make it from Padstow to Dale near Milford Boat Haven.
Looking at the wind I should have got good wind to go to Dale and the waves were forecasted to be 0.5 with 6-7 second wave period. I topped up on fuel and made sure I had enough to motor the whole journey if I needed to and prepared boat for the journey.
I rechecked the forecasts that morning and all seemed fine so I set off early in the morning hoping to get to Dale for good time. I got about 1/4 of the way across and started to encounter waves the size of pyramids, it was difficult to keep the boat under control, the boat was leaving the water and diving back down bow first straight in to the drink, I’ve never seen anything like it, there were at least 2 times when I thought that was the end for me!
The tiller was snatched out of my hand and as I tried to grab it back it swang back and cracked me on the arm, I realised at this point I might have broken my arm.
I quickly worked out that it would be quicker and safer to return to land so I headed for Clovelly and bailed on my plan to cross the Bristol Channel.
I arrived at Clovelly and decided to work out a more safer coastal hugging plan thinking I could manage with a bad arm suspecting it being more swelling/muscle problems rather than broken bone.
After working some things out I decide to crawl closer towards Swansea to make the jump to Swansea from Ilfracombe with the intention of resting up in Swansea and hiding from the really bad weather that’s about to hit the Bristol Channel (up to 4m waves and 40+ knots wind).
I set off the following morning for Ilfracombe, the water looked almost flat and I felt confident in the predictions and plan I had put together however coming round Croyd the waves again began to get bigger and bigger. At one point the boat left the water, I could hear the prop whizzing in the air just before slamming back down in to the water, the waves were coming over the bow so much so that it filled the cockpit with water. At one point, again the tiller was snatched from my hand and swung back and slapped my arm again in the same place as last time.
Unable to cast anchor alone at Ilfracombe I requested the help of the HM but no one was available to assist. They called the local RLNI to help and they helped tie me on to the RLNI mooring buoy just outside of Ilfracombe Harbour.
I’m currently at Ilfeacombe, still tied on to the RLNI mooring buoy, it’s currently smashing in to the side of the boat and I worry for the hull. I’ve tried to put fenders round the boat but I don’t have many, seems to be working for the most part but there are many gaps in my defence and it’s still managing to hit the hull.
I’ve contacted the coast guard to ask for assistance however they said I will just have to wait it out here but can offer help getting to land for medical attention for my arm. I originally asked for assistance getting to a safe harbour (Swansea is close, about 5 hours) but they were unable to assist.
With the bad weather coming in (it’s already really really rolly, boat like a rocking horse getting smashed by the RLNI bouy) I fear for the weather coming in.
Any advice/help would be very much appreciated.
I’m new here and new to sailing, having sailed from Poole to Carbis Bay with the help of a skipper. The skipper had to bail at Carbis Bay leaving me to solo this boat to its final destination.
My original intention was to take this 30ft Dufour Arpege with the help of a skipper to Aberystwyth however a number of issues have arisen during the passage.
First, the wiring on this boat is something an electrician would have a heart attack seeing. The alternator was wired to charge the batteries as expected but without any kind of over voltage protection.
The alternator overcharged the batteries and then the alternator died, I can no longer charge the batteries from the engine. Luckily I can just about keep the batteries afloat with solar.
After attempting to cross the Bristol Channel with the help of a skipper we were forced to bail due to lack of good wind for sail we had been promised. We calculated that the fuel we had wouldn’t last motoring the whole way and decided to go for our bail out plan and made way to Carbis Bay.
After the skipper hopped off at Carbis Bay I took the boat to Padstow and stopped there a couple of nights. Checking the weather, tides and waves everything looked good to make it from Padstow to Dale near Milford Boat Haven.
Looking at the wind I should have got good wind to go to Dale and the waves were forecasted to be 0.5 with 6-7 second wave period. I topped up on fuel and made sure I had enough to motor the whole journey if I needed to and prepared boat for the journey.
I rechecked the forecasts that morning and all seemed fine so I set off early in the morning hoping to get to Dale for good time. I got about 1/4 of the way across and started to encounter waves the size of pyramids, it was difficult to keep the boat under control, the boat was leaving the water and diving back down bow first straight in to the drink, I’ve never seen anything like it, there were at least 2 times when I thought that was the end for me!
The tiller was snatched out of my hand and as I tried to grab it back it swang back and cracked me on the arm, I realised at this point I might have broken my arm.
I quickly worked out that it would be quicker and safer to return to land so I headed for Clovelly and bailed on my plan to cross the Bristol Channel.
I arrived at Clovelly and decided to work out a more safer coastal hugging plan thinking I could manage with a bad arm suspecting it being more swelling/muscle problems rather than broken bone.
After working some things out I decide to crawl closer towards Swansea to make the jump to Swansea from Ilfracombe with the intention of resting up in Swansea and hiding from the really bad weather that’s about to hit the Bristol Channel (up to 4m waves and 40+ knots wind).
I set off the following morning for Ilfracombe, the water looked almost flat and I felt confident in the predictions and plan I had put together however coming round Croyd the waves again began to get bigger and bigger. At one point the boat left the water, I could hear the prop whizzing in the air just before slamming back down in to the water, the waves were coming over the bow so much so that it filled the cockpit with water. At one point, again the tiller was snatched from my hand and swung back and slapped my arm again in the same place as last time.
Unable to cast anchor alone at Ilfracombe I requested the help of the HM but no one was available to assist. They called the local RLNI to help and they helped tie me on to the RLNI mooring buoy just outside of Ilfracombe Harbour.
I’m currently at Ilfeacombe, still tied on to the RLNI mooring buoy, it’s currently smashing in to the side of the boat and I worry for the hull. I’ve tried to put fenders round the boat but I don’t have many, seems to be working for the most part but there are many gaps in my defence and it’s still managing to hit the hull.
I’ve contacted the coast guard to ask for assistance however they said I will just have to wait it out here but can offer help getting to land for medical attention for my arm. I originally asked for assistance getting to a safe harbour (Swansea is close, about 5 hours) but they were unable to assist.
With the bad weather coming in (it’s already really really rolly, boat like a rocking horse getting smashed by the RLNI bouy) I fear for the weather coming in.
Any advice/help would be very much appreciated.
That’s also me at the railing looking down at her, the phone signal’s not too great round here especially on the boat so have to come up to use the phone.
