UK cruising/circumnavigation planning - big questions so far

[Daydream believer]

, lacking in confidence in your anchor or abilities and a need for a pub

I am not lacking in confidence in anchoring- I get seasick & see no joy in pumping up dinghies to get to shore, when alternatives- such as just stepping on to a pontoon- exist. I am not an alchofrolic either, thankyou.
As for tea rooms-- I don't drink tea, but can make perfectly adequate (Hot, not stewed lukewarm) coffee on board

What is the point of pumping up the dinghy, rowing ashore, walking half a mile, paying 50 bob for cold coffee & a stale bun & then rowing back to deflate & pack the dinghy, when one can have coffee on board for 20P whilst reading a good book.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I am not lacking in confidence in anchoring- I get seasick & see no joy in pumping up dinghies to get to shore, when alternatives- such as just stepping on to a pontoon- exist. I am not an alchofrolic either, thankyou.
As for tea rooms-- I don't drink tea, but can make perfectly adequate (Hot, not stewed lukewarm) coffee on board

What is the point of pumping up the dinghy, rowing ashore, walking half a mile, paying 50 bob for cold coffee & a stale bun & then rowing back to deflate & pack the dinghy, when one can have coffee on board for 20P whilst reading a good book.

I am beginning to wonder where you sail and just what you do when you get there

 

[AngusMcDoon]

But you have said you never anchored on your round (most of) Britain trips. So by definition you missed 90% of the best places in Scotland, which are almost all anchorages.

I find that the type of people you don't meet when you are in a solitary anchorage and don't meet anyone to be a bonus.

 

[ylop]

I get seasick & see no joy in pumping up dinghies to get to shore, when alternatives- such as just stepping on to a pontoon- exist.

I also get sea sick - but never at anchor.

As for tea rooms-- I don't drink tea,

Ah now we know what's wrong with you...

What is the point of pumping up the dinghy, rowing ashore, walking half a mile,

Well that would all be good excercise - but you could keep the dinghy inflated, and buy an outboard as alternatives!

paying 50 bob for cold coffee & a stale bun & then rowing back to deflate & pack the dinghy, when one can have coffee on board for 20P whilst reading a good book.

That sounds more like an argument FOR anchoring rather than for paying 12x as much as a coffee to tie up to a pontoon.

 

[Daydream believer]

I also get sea sick - but never at anchor.

Ah now we know what's wrong with you...

Well that would all be good excercise - but you could keep the dinghy inflated, and buy an outboard as alternatives!

I bet you do not get half as much sea sickness as me, 25%+ of all trips involve a good puke.
Yes. Tea gives me serious migraines. I cannot even make it for others. If you want it on my boat you get your own.
Inflated dinghy will not fit in the locker & I am not lugging my 40+ half way round the known world

 

[benjenbav]

Perhaps the OP might renegotiate the terms of the charter in order to allow them to make as much progress around GB as they enjoyably can during the available time, with the owner collecting the boat from wherever they finish.

This would mean the OP could embark on a circumnavigation (possibly to be finished on another occasion) but not be under pressure either to complete it this year or to have to backtrack via a non-stop delivery trip in whatever weather presents.

No doubt there would be a cost and it would be up to the OP to decide if they felt it to be a cost worth paying.

 

[ylop]

I bet you do not get half as much sea sickness as me, 25%+ of all trips involve a good puke.

Have you tried scopoderm patches?

Inflated dinghy will not fit in the locker & I am not lugging my 40+ half way round the known world

? lots of boats sailing round Scottish anchorages:
- have small inflatable on deck
- have dinghy on davits or strapped to transom
- towed behind

basically because people are too lazy to pump up / fold away each time.

 

[Daydream believer]

Have you tried scopoderm patches?

? lots of boats sailing round Scottish anchorages:
- have small inflatable on deck
- have dinghy on davits or strapped to transom
- towed behind

basically because people are too lazy to pump up / fold away each time.

Scopoderm make me seasick, even before I leave dry land
No room on deck for dinghies
No davits & there is too much at the stern of the boat already, plus it would spoil the Aries
Have you tried towing an Avon, especially in F7.
It is not a case of lazy. The hassle of trying to inflate a dinghy on deck when SH is just too difficult.( i broke my femour so pumping is a no no & I need help to get in & out of it anyway) If I do inflate it, I do so at home in the garage. That sort of defeats the object, don't you think?

 

[Wansworth]

In the old days you probably could have caught the attention of a waterman to come off to you for a few pence

 

[Dellquay13]

In the old days you probably could have caught the attention of a waterman to come off to you for a few pence

“You!, yes You! you salty Oik… Be a respectful fellow and take me ashore for a pittance, or I’ll have my man take a horse whip to you!”

I can see it all now, and can imagine how well it would have been received.

 

[NormanS]

Have you tried scopoderm patches?

? lots of boats sailing round Scottish anchorages:
- have small inflatable on deck
- have dinghy on davits or strapped to transom
- towed behind

basically because people are too lazy to pump up / fold away each time.

We sail around Scottish anchorages, and I would take issue with your last statement. We normally carry our Avon Redcrest on its side on deck, although we may tow it if conditions are very suitable. I can assure you it's nothing to do with laziness, and all to do with safety and convenience.
With all his dislikes and problems, I'm surprised that the daydreamer bothers to have a boat at all.

 

[Daydream believer]

“You!, yes You! you salty Oik… Be a respectful fellow and take me ashore for a pittance, or I’ll have my man take a horse whip to you!”

I can see it all now, and can imagine how well it would have been received.

still lots of places where a quick call on the VHF will get a man in a launch to come & get you. Perhaps not in a place like Milford Haven, of course. But anyone with any sense would lock to in the marina anyway

 

[Wansworth]

“You!, yes You! you salty Oik… Be a respectful fellow and take me ashore for a pittance, or I’ll have my man take a horse whip to you!”

I can see it all now, and can imagine how well it would have been received.

Chichester harbour hasa boatman/ferry at Itchenor…..it was a pound per person .Was in demand but stopped at 18.00 hours.On an historic note I was hailed by two squadron members to take them to their sloop……even although inebriated they kept their balance in the dinghy……This was 1970 but I managed not to touch my forelock………

 

[dunedin]

…..
No room on deck for dinghies
No davits & there is too much at the stern of the boat already, plus it would spoil the Aries
Have you tried towing an Avon, especially in F7.
…..

There are lots of things you say are not possible on your boat but plenty of others seem to manage to do on the same / similar boats.
Lots of people carry dinghy on deck on similar boats - and yes I have towed an inflatable in F7, but generally most cruisers tend to shelter in F7 rather than bash about. Certainly towed a dinghy for hundreds of miles on the West of Scotland without issue (tied tight to the stern - outboard always removed). Tended to deflate for multi-day offshore trips or round serious challenge headlands.

 

[Dellquay13]

still lots of places where a quick call on the VHF will get a man in a launch to come & get you. Perhaps not in a place like Milford Haven, of course. But anyone with any sense would lock to in the marina anyway

A water taxi service would have been handy last weekend at Dale, the bit of swell on the beam from the Northerlies made overnighting on the pontoon uninviting, but it was gentle enough to anchor.

Being without the tender it was a choice between a few drinks in the Griffin with friends from ashore and very little sleep on the bouncy pontoon or missing the pub and getting a good night’s sleep at anchor.
Leaving the pub late to then move from the pontoon and try to find a spot in the crowded anchorage in the dark and successfully drop anchor by hand S/H didn’t seem sensible when a little ‘insensible’

 

[ylop]

No room on deck for dinghies

Not many boats you would comfortably sail round Britain that don't have some space where you could put a dinghy suitable for one person if you really wanted to.

Have you tried towing an Avon, especially in F7.

Other dinghy types are available and can be brought in for the rare very rough days you need to be at sea rather than sheltering (especially if you suffer from sea sickness).

It is not a case of lazy. The hassle of trying to inflate a dinghy on deck when SH is just too difficult.( i broke my femour so pumping is a no no & I need help to get in & out of it anyway) If I do inflate it, I do so at home in the garage. That sort of defeats the object, don't you think?

Well electric pumps exist (and I'm not sure to what extent a healed femur fracture would impede using the hand/stirup style pump as opposed to the foot style) but have you considered that perhaps you've got the wrong boat, or need to make a friend to share the burden and that declaring Scotland a waste of time to those with a more suitable vessel and crew is perhaps naive or possibly even ignorant? Sailing SH round britain with a tender you can't inflate or get into yourself and therefore being 100% reliant on pontoon berths seems either very confident or foolhardy.

We sail around Scottish anchorages, and I would take issue with your last statement. We normally carry our Avon Redcrest on its side on deck, although we may tow it if conditions are very suitable. I can assure you it's nothing to do with laziness, and all to do with safety and convenience.

It was not meant in seriousness - ours also lives on the foredeck or stapped to transom when transitting between locations. Your convenience is my sarcastic laziness. It was in jest at Daydream who claimed it was too much trouble to get out the locker and inflate - but has now recalled its at home in his garage ;-) I loath trying to get the bloody thing back in its bag and if you keep it pumped up you know its not got any punctures.

With all his dislikes and problems, I'm surprised that the daydreamer bothers to have a boat at all.

I've always seen sailors to be problem solvers, where he does some to be a problem finder!

 

[capnsensible]

I would imagine sailing single handed brings its own problems, such as launching and recovering a tender. Not doing it has a degree of solution, doesn't it .

 

[dunedin]

I would imagine sailing single handed brings its own problems, such as launching and recovering a tender. Not doing it has a degree of solution, doesn't it .

Thousands of singlehanded sailors are using their inflatable tenders every day. But most work out solutions to avoid having to entirely deflate and pack in a locker each time.
Indeed, when single handed anchoring is usually much less effort than going alongside a pontoon, as no ropes and fenders to get out and no tricky manoevering in confined spaces.

 

[steveeasy]

Got seago 260 and I find it very difficult to lift/carry. Being binned for one half the weight in the hope it will make things much easier.
Steveeasy

 

[capnsensible]

Thousands of singlehanded sailors are using their inflatable tenders every day. But most work out solutions to avoid having to entirely deflate and pack in a locker each time.
Indeed, when single handed anchoring is usually much less effort than going alongside a pontoon, as no ropes and fenders to get out and no tricky manoevering in confined spaces.

Thousands? Amazing. How do you know that? Every day too. Well done.