What has been your high of the season

seastoke said:
Ours was first trip across to Ireland , and now planning further afield
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Hope you enjoyed it. Where did you visit - North, East coast or South coast?

Our highlight of the year was mooring up river in a large town, leaving the boat for two nights, getting a train to Westport on the wild Atlantic coast, and then cycling 50km along the Great Western Greenway which runs on a disused rail line track bed from desolate Achill Island to scenic Westport. Awesome lord of the rings style scenery and some harry potter'esque style bridges and viaducts to cycle over amongst the forest and the mountains.

http://www.greenway.ie

Other highlights included overnight anchoring in some desolate beauty spots on some wonderful nights.
 
oceanfroggie said:
Hope you enjoyed it. Where did you visit - North, East coast or South coast?

Our highlight of the year was mooring up river in a large town, leaving the boat for two nights, getting a train to Westport on the wild Atlantic coast, and then cycling 50km along the Great Western Greenway which runs on a disused rail line track bed from desolate Achill Island to scenic Westport. Awesome lord of the rings style scenery and some harry potter'esque style bridges and viaducts to cycle over amongst the forest and the mountains.

http://www.greenway.ie

Other highlights included overnight anchoring in some desolate beauty spots on some wonderful nights.
Click to expand...
We went to grey stones how th and Malahide and yes we licked it except the price of beer
 
skipmac said:
Easy answer for me. High point was launching my boat after a 7 1/2 year overhaul.

Second highest was the engine firing up and running like a top after sitting for 7 1/2 years.
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Ooo, please elaborate :encouragement:
 
MrB said:
Ooo, please elaborate :encouragement:
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OK. You asked.

It started 30 years ago when wife, daughter and I gave up liveaboard life so I could finish my engineering degree and get a real job. For some reason my wife demanded food to eat every day and other outrageous things. So sold the boat and swallowed the anchor.

Fast forward to 2008. Had a great year and made a couple of big commissions. We had paid off the house the year before leaving no major financial obligations, so got my wife a new car, even though her Volvo was only 15 years old and hadn't even reached 300,000 miles on the odometer. Again unrealistic demands but what can you do.

After all the dust settled I still had a few coins left so decided it was time to get back into boating. Shopped for a year and found a very neglected Pearson in New York. Cosmetically horrible including the worst boat stink I have ever encountered. The holding tanks were leaking, oil leaking from the engine, hydraulic fluid leaking from the engine and the whole mess locked up for a few months to mold, mildew and marinate.

But the hull, deck, mast and engine were very sound and I got a pretty good price so gave it a go. Since wife and I both had a few years before we could retire a project seemed to make sense at the time. Gave me something to do, kept me out of the house, out from underfoot and out of the local bars err pubs.

Closed the deal, spent a few months on board cleaning up and getting the boat operational, sailed to FL and had the boat hauled and trucked to our property in north Florida.

Including the prep work before I left for Florida, more or less in chronological order:

1. Pumped about 20 gallons of oil, sewage and sludge out of the bilge and hauled it off for proper disposal. Rinsed the bilge with about 20 gallons of water/detergent mix and hauled that off as well. Later pressure washed everything under the floors and got another 20 gallons of sludge and gunk.

2. Cleaned out the boat including:
- Three large garbage bins of rope ends, rotten pieces and Irish pennants.
- One large bin of bits of wire and associated non functional parts.
- Two large bins of old, broken or corroded "spare parts" the PO saved anytime he installed something new. Example, three seriously corroded faucets "saved" when he put new, cheap hardware store faucets in the heads and galley that were also corroded and ready to go.
3. Emptied both diesel tanks of stale, sludge filled fuel and hauled that away.
New Racor and filters.

4. Overhauled heads and fixed leaks.

Sailed to FL and hauled the boat.

5. Engine and drive train.
- Stripped engine to the bare block, cleaned and painted.
- New hoses
- new alternator
- new fresh and raw water pumps
- overhauled oil, transmission and v-drive coolers.
- new mounts and brackets for all the above
- replaced parts of the exhaust manifold
- rebuilt the mixing elbow.
- new motor mounts (which of course led to a total engine realignment)
- new hose to the stuffing box.
- new cutlass bearing.
- new shift and throttle cables.
6. Plumbing
- cleaned water tank
- new hoses (took daily work for two weeks to remove the pickup hose from the water tank, don't ask)
- new pump
- new multi stage potable water filter.
- new calorifier
- overhauled all seacocks
- replaced all hose clamps.
- custom built two gravity drain holding tanks with all new, impermeable sanitary hose.
- rebuilt both heads.
7. New fridge
- cut the old, built in box into pieces to remove it, then disassembled the cabinets in the galley to access the hole for new insulation.
- 4-6" of Dow polystyrene foam insulation
- reassembled the old box 2" smaller in all dimensions. This required glassing it all together in the main cabin since assembled it would not fit in the hatch.
- New counter top, new insulated lid.
- This project took more time and work than any other single project in the overhaul but it paid off. Have a 9 cu ft box including a 1.5 cu ft freezer section that draws less than 50 amp hours/day in mid summer, about 20 per day in the winter.
8. New standing and running rigging, new Hyde roller furler, new main, new jib.
9. Electrical and electronics
- New Victron kit: inverter/charger, battery monitor, isolation transformer.
- New Garmin plotter
10. Pealed bottom and applied 10 coats of epoxy barrier coat.
11. Repair smashed section of rub rail and toe rail.
12. New 20 Kg Rocna and 30 Kg Mantus.
13. 250' of 3/8" BBB chain (used but good).
14. Overhauled windlass (and all the winches while I was at it.)
15. Replaced all plastic ports with SS New Found Metals ports. Stripped and powder coated the AL frame ports.
16. Replaced teak veneer paneling and overhead panels in most of the boat.
17. New engine room sound insulation.
18. New upholstery
19. 135 Watt solar panel (more to come)
20. Rebedded EVERYTHING on the deck and added SS backing plates to the heavily loaded parts like the stanchions.

Probably forgetting (thankfully) a lot of other bits but I think that hit the high points. I guess I should mention one evening two years ago I was working on a stuck hinge that suddenly gave way that caused me to do a back roll off the side about 12' to the ground. I was really lucky, multiple fracture to only five ribs, broken and dislocated collar bone and some minor internal injuries. Only took me out of action for six months.

So launched about four months ago, cranked the engine three weeks later, first full shakedown last month. If my daughter hadn't spoiled my plans by producing a granddaughter I would be stocking up for a cruise as we speak. Oh well, maybe in a few months.
 
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High point was 2 weeks ago....
Weather looked reasonable so crept over the bar before it got too shallow.
Off to a deserted bay. Well, there was another boat at anchor there but he left soon after.
Sun came out and , with shelter from the wind, a spot of relaxing was called for.
After a while thought i'd get the dinghy and go for a pootle round some of the rocky headlands and into the little inlets. Took a rod , just in case.
Drifted for a few minutes and dropped a line into the clear water, to be rewarded a couple of minutes later by 2 good sized mackerel, quite unexpectedly.
Back to the mother ship and, as it was low springs, a whole swathe of sandy beach was revealed. Charcoal fired up and with the catch cleaned, a lunch of fresh mackerel and salad washed down with cold beers ensued.
Afternoon spent relaxing on the sand and swimming in the , now warmish-September, water.
Later, as the sun went behind the cliffs and the temperature dropped a bit, up anchor and an exhilarating run back at WOT for the sheer hell of it.
Even managed to slot into the berth perfectly.
Perfick!
 
For us it was boat refit finished after 2-1/2 years work, launched and then used as the transport from our wedding in Torquay.
 
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Nothing really exciting for us this year. The two glorious weeks we had in July for our trip from Lincoln to the Norfolk Broads and Southwold is about as good as it got.
 
last day of August, slipped our mooring in Chichester harbour at 5.30am and by 9am was standing on the quayside at Cherbourg, wondering whether to fuel up the boat or the skipper first. After lunch, reversed the process and was back on the mooring in blighty 3 hrs later. A magical day out and a first continental trip for the boat, post her re-launch after 15 years out of the water.
 
The season high for us was our 10 day trip from Southampton to Mylor Harbour. I don't think we could have wished for better weather and sea conditions for our first solo trip beyond the relative safety and comfort of the Solent. The first of many similar trips I hope :)
 
July week in Yarmouth, IOW. Weather to die for...

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All of it!
After a dismal start to boating with our first boat, the replacement bought at the beginning of the Year has been faultless.
We've attended just about every club trip out, as well as several other day trips/weekends away and all without any breakdowns whatsoever.
No intention of stopping though, we don't really have a "season" as such. If the weather's OK then we'll go out. Got a diesel heater and a nice comfy saloon now so no reason not to enjoy all of the Winter as well :)
 
Although I should probably say my 14 day cruise it wasn't. It was discovering the anchorages off Anglesey

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Looking back at my wake and seeing a dolphin jump completely out of the water over it.
 
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