Winter Sailing.

[dunedin]

Good but very cold start. 0730

How long did it take to de-ice the decks then ?
Lovely day sailing here in Clyde - but did need to spend 10 minutes sluicing decks with salt water as too slippy to walk on. Couldn't get winch handle in due to ice!
But spectacularly beautiful and no need for oilskins, sailing gently in sunshine. Quite a few boats out enjoying the conditions.

Have a safe voyage, Cap'n

 

[dunedin]

 

[Halo]

 

[Halo]

Proper winter sailing!

 

[Halo]

Respect to anyone who de ices the decks first ! Not an easy task with sea water

 

[dunedin]

Respect to anyone who de ices the decks first ! Not an easy task with sea water

Twas essential yesterday - beautiful but unable to walk on decks (and barely able to on pontoons). Put on Lifejacket and started carefully sluicing pontoon surface, then edge of decks then worked from there. Some places took three buckets to clear ice.
Was lovely and warm in sunshine, but when came back in there was still ice on pontoon in places I had missed, still in shadow of neighbouring boat!
Somebody came in on motorboat and crew stepped onto pontoon (with no Lifejacket on) and couldn’t stand. Lucky not to fall in. I left ropes on pontoon with loops on end, as always in home berth, so no stepping on or off for departure or arrival.

 

[dolabriform]

Not as glamorous but we sailed Ipswich to Dover yesterday. The night Sky was fairly clear when we left, great to see the stars and then the sun came out,

Bit rolley down to N Foreland , then smooth to Dover , F5 wind with tide.

Great start to the year

 

[oldharry]

I remember some years ago I had the bright idea to spend a few days over the New Year enjoying the quiet and empty River Deben on my small unheated boat.



With the benefit of hindsight, I can only hope there was a suitable pay-off in terms of the stiffening of my moral fibre.

More likely the stiffening of your joints...?

 

[NormanS]

Winter sailing? Just had a message from the boatyard to say that the (sea)loch is frozen over, so much that the moorings cannot be reached in their (solid) tender.

 

[capnsensible]

Arrived this morning, happy chappies.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Did you see any brass monkeys?

 

[capnsensible]

Did you see any brass monkeys?

Dolphins, turtles, fishing boats out the ying yang and plenty of power driven vessels probably over 50m.

 

[capnsensible]

Good. Lagoon 380. Very nice and perfect for the owners, c and s to live on long term. Impressed and straightforward for sailing and boathandling....although we motored a lot.

Crew best ever.

Moderate. Navionics, still don't rate it but was a good back up when everything else threw its legs in the air.

Bad. Starlink. Owner c had done a lot of research about the various charges but it all went wrong. Never mind, not important but meant Savvynavvy didn't get weather updates so didn't use it. Went close to Morocco and got some windfinder screenshot and footy results. And a tough old builders bag wrapped around stbd outdrive that took an hour to clear.

Poor service from electronics guy who was supposed to have fixed autopilot. It lasted around half an hour. It was 25 gusting 35 on way from Estepona to Gib so no way we were going back. So 2 peeps in each watch, hand steered the 650ish to Lanza. Was actually very enjoyable. They learnt stacks. The magnetic compass is in a pants place on a Lagoon so steered off the autopilot display. That's not easy....

Got to marina at 0530ish this morning so anchored for short zzzz's, went in just after 9. First clearing in at reception then to berth. Wind honking straight into berth so bit of tug assist from marina rib to hold bow and in like flynn. Job done.

What next???

 

[Wansworth]

A voyage from start to finish with details what more could we ask for………..

 

[BurnitBlue]

A voyage from start to finish with details what more could we ask for………..

Battling Orca every inch of the way while making vids and notes about the effectiveness of the various deterrents. Storm force winds while out running pirates would make the details even more interesting.