Friday 3 June 2016

6. An Update....and not before time!


When I wrote the last blog in August 2014 I had no idea that it would be getting on for two years before posting the next one.  Perhaps it is just as well that I was ignorant of what was to come or I probably would have resigned my post as Ship’s Dogsbody.

The past.....


Severn Swan was hauled out of the water and propped up in Tom’s Shipyard in Polruan in October 2014…. and spent a very long time there. To cut a long story short, we discovered that the prop shaft (all 4 metres of it) was bent at the very end where the prop is attached, which kind of explains why we hadn’t noticed and also why we chewed up so many sets of bearings. The water maker died soon after commissioning and then was lost for a year after having been sent to the manufacturer for repair. The solar panel controller died and was repaired under guarantee.  Martin decided that he wanted  the engineering challenge of building a wind vane for steering (which took months to complete but kept him happy and out of the way). The rudder came off again when it was discovered that the pintels were out of line (which explains the stiff steering). Not unexpectedly a lot of the varnish work has degraded over this period despite covering the whole deck area with tarpaulins so here we go again with the varnishing….Most of the bedding, galley equipment, clothing and food (and a lot more besides) was carried up to the house for overwintering (x2 winters!). Hippo-Thomas too called it a day and took root on the sofa up at the house in more comfortable surroundings (for those who don’t know Hippo, see our website – www.schoonercharter.com).  He doesn’t want to be skipper when it is too boring, too cold or too dangerous – which accounts for a lot of the time actually.

The present....


What happened next…
We were lifted back into the water on Friday 13th May 2016– unlucky for some, but our lift was very smooth and without incident or undue stress (thanks to Alan and Paul Toms and team) although we’d been stressed out for weeks just thinking about it.   

A last dollop of antifoul before she goes in







And so we're off for more adventures!


Sea trials


Sea trials out in St Austell Bay went amazingly well.  It was a beautiful day and we had all five sails up - and found the boat steering herself in a straight line when going to windward (we haven’t tried the previously recalcitrant autohelm yet  - we have never managed a straight line with that!). Thanks to Sarah and Dave for their help, and for the champagne that we all drank in the cockpit afterwards.  It was such a lovely day and reminded us why we have invested so much of our time and energy (and money) in this boat.

Martin has posted aYouTube video of our little outing (thanks to Dave and Sarah for this):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22M4RWcNZUw&feature=youtu.be

  



Friday 22 August 2014

5. Fowey

For once everything went according to plan. Maureen Shaw kindly delivered Peter back to us at Padstow and we left at 1330 on Tuesday 22 July. Unfortunately we left the harbour just at the time that a small RNLI craft and two other yachts were entering, although we couldn’t see them until we rounded the harbour wall.  Fortunately a helpful bystander kept us informed.  Otherwise it could have been a very short trip.

The sea was a bit lumpy at first but the wind was in the right direction to get the sails up and the tide was increasingly with us so we were doing 7 plus knots by the time we rounded the Longships lighthouse at Land’s End. 

Sailing-to-Fowey (I know that I am not wearing a lifejacket.  I was cooking tea when “the powers that be” decided to have a major sail change…can you take the wheel please…..)

Dawn We’d seen hardly any other traffic until then but suddenly we were inundated. It was getting fairly dark when Peter announced that we were headed straight for “thousands of yachts”.  I thought he was joking – maybe he was on the precise number – but suddenly were were dodging our way amongst a whole fleet of oncoming racing yachts who were headed for the same buoy as we were and appeared as ghostly outlines in the dark.  It was like driving the wrong way down a motorway with only side lights but thankfully we came out the other end with  no damage to anyone, although my nerves were a bit frayed. Peter was having a ball….. The sea was fairly busy until we were past Falmouth but then the wind died and we motored on into the dawn and reached Fowey at 0700.

 

I have sailed into Fowey before - on a square-rigger and on a pilot cutter - but it was a bit different doing it in our own boat. Yet again I missed the photo opportunity because we spotted an empty visitors mooring buoy (a rare thing at Fowey) just inside the entrance to the estuary and so the camera had to go back inside PDQ while we caught the buoy (10/10 to Peter) and tied on.  Thankfully Maureen had driven over from Padstow the previous night and caught our arrival on camera.

 Approach-to-Fowey  SS-at-Fowey-2   SS-at-Fowey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lifting-out-2 We then spent several days waiting to go into Tom’s Shipyard to change the propeller in order to increase the engine revs and to deal with a few other issues (yes, we’ve only just escaped from Sharpness Shipyard and straight away we were looking to get lifted out in another yard).  We motored up to the sea wall on Friday afternoon and the yard trundled the crane over and fitted the strops and the lifting bars.  It is a big crane but there was much creaking and groaning as Severn Swan came out of the water. The yard had set up the lift for a 30 tonne boat (which is what we thought she was) but the crane was showing 40 tonnes as she lifted out -  so back into the water she went before any of the straps broke. Then it was home time at the yard so we went back out on the moorings for the weekend.

 

On Monday there was already a big fishing boat along by the craning wall and at this point the yard suggested that as it was spring tides we should dry out on the beach along the wall by the ferry pick-up point. We managed to sneak in early on the high tide before the multitude of tourists arrived but we rapidly became an unwilling tourist attraction. We went up and down with the tide, aided by two wheelie bins full of water which gave us sufficient tilt to lean in to the wall rather than falling outwards when the water disappeared.  The first time the angle of lean was a bit more than we expected and our spreaders touched the fairy lights strung between the lamp posts on the quayside but thankfully it was not enough to break them. Next time round we had more confidence to reduce the amount of lean.  The prop came off and was replaced with the old one that we happened to be carrying with us and the barn-door-sized rudder came off as well with a big chain hoist.  The rudder had been so stiff that steering the boat was like a workout for the upper body (so much so that the autopilot refused to work at all). Martin ground out the bushes that the pintles sit in and we hung it back on again with the help of a Dutch couple who were passing by on their way to the ferry - and suddenly we have light touch steering again.  There were frantic bursts of activity underneath the boat when the tide was out (less than 4 hours) and then work inside when the water came back, all the while hiding from the tourists as far as possible (or I did anyway).

 

On-the-beach We remained on the beach for 3 days and then had to go back out to the moorings before we got stuck there as the height of the tides gradually decreased. We still had a a number of fairly substantial jobs to get finished though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What with the weather and the list of jobs to do we decided to stay at Polruan with Lissie and moved the boat further up the estuary to Penmarlam where there is more shelter.  We have, after all, long dreamed of sitting up on the hill looking down at our own boat (although we can’t see it now as it is round the bend in the river) so we might as well make the most of it, even if the weather is going to be pants (for most of August by the looks of it).   I am patching up the varnish work destroyed by last winter’s storms and scrubbing the hull, Martin got the watermaker working but then the inverter packed up.....and so the jobs go on!!

In view of the inexorable passage of time we’ve also had to review our round-the-world plans which look as though they are going to be delayed until next year. C’est la vie…… I can think of worse places to get stuck.

 Fowey-at-sunset

Monday 21 July 2014

4. Stuck in Padstow…….

Padstow 1

We had planned to stay in Padstow for a day to fix a few things on the boat that weren’t quite right – and to  have a day off - before continuing our trip round to Fowey on the south coast.  However things didn’t quite work out that way.  The weather forecast became worse every time we heard it.  We’d touched on force 6 winds between Porlock and Lundy and that had been very unpleasant indeed.  The forecast on the Wednesday evening before our departure was threatening force 8 and there are no sheltered bolt holes between Padstow and Falmouth.  We decided to stay on for a couple more days until it had blown over.  Peter took the train home so that he could get on with some sensible things but we didn’t have that choice. His taxi driver thought that we’d be stuck until the following Tuesday – and here we are: stranded!  It is now Monday and the winds and tides look right for tomorrow.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

 

Padstow has been a lovely place to get stuck, albeit a bit on the pricey side. The weather for the past few days has been wonderful, although not so good out along our planned route round to Fowey.  A few other boats got stuck by the weather too so we had some drinking partners to commiserate with.

Padstow 3

Padstow 4

Fish-and-chips

 

 

Hopefully we will be leaving Padstow at 1400 on Tuesday 22 July and arriving at Fowey sometime on Wednesday morning.  We just have time for a last taste of Rick Stein’s fish and chips…..

Friday 18 July 2014

3. Towards the open sea……

Brian-Debney

We left Cardiff at 0830 on Monday 14th July and set off across the Bristol Channel to Porlock near Minehead in order to visit Brian Debney, former Harbour Master at Porlock Weir.  Brian built Severn Swan during the late 1970’s and early 80’s. We first tracked him down about 5 years ago via google and Thornbury Yacht Club.

We knew that Brian was out with the binoculars so we tried to put on an appropriate show as we approached, with all sails up.  We are too big for Porlock Weir so Brian guided us by phone to the anchorage off the beach opposite the pub and we rowed ashore. We had help from Jim, the Commodore of the Porlock Sailing Club, to haul the dinghy up the beach and then went to the pub to find a very emotional Brian.  We had a wonderful couple of hours hearing his tales of circumnavigation, downed a pint and then had to scarper quickly as the weather started to deteriorate.

We left Porlock at 2000 in big waves (to me anyway), rain and increasing wind. I threw up all the way to Lundy where we anchored at 0330 in relatively calm water.

 

 

 

 

 

Our schedule only allowed us 3 hours to get ashore, explore Lundy, and get ready to leave again.

Lundy-Island-1 Lighthouse Lundy-Island-3

 

The weather could not have been better after such a hideous night. We pretty much galloped round the nearest end of the island (which is only 3 miles long and half a mile wide thankfully) and managed to squeeze in half an hour for puffin spotting.  I would definitely like to come back here one day as it must be one of the most tranquil place I have visited.  It would be a brilliant place to unwind.

Up anchor again and off to Padstow.  Despite the blue skies and sunshine, the sea was very lumpy for the first couple of hours and cooking bacon butties was a challenge that I had to abandon half way through.

We threaded our way up the estuary to Padstow Harbour during the early evening with a non-functioning depth sounder, managing to nearly run aground in the process, and tied up to the wall in the inner harbour. It was a lovely summer evening and Padstow was heaving with tourists (can’t make any gaffs with parking the boat with such a large audience).  We did a quick, and increasingly desperate, tour of the streets around the harbour looking for Rick Stein’s fish and chip takeaway and then sat on the wall to devour our bounty.  I have to say that it really was the best fish and chips that I have ever tasted, and not much more expensive than the average chippie.

Saturday 12 July 2014

Leaving Sharpness, Portishead and Cardiff….

Sharpness-lock-before-drain

We made good our escape ! Thanks a million to everyone who turned out at Sharpness at 0600 to wave us off. After so many months of aching to leave Sharpness it was actually very sad to leave.  We shall miss all our friends at Sharpness (and Penny’s chicken curry half and half at Sharpness Dock Worker’s Club) and at Cranham (and Lissie’s wonderful roast chicken and mummy chips). Not that we are obsessed with food or anything…..

Sailing-under-Severn-Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

We we so very lucky with the weather.  The wind was northerly which allowed us to get the sails up shortly after leaving Sharpness. It was wonderful to be able to sail under the two Severn bridges. Paul Simpson (along with Cathy) was our helmsman for much of the way and we are grateful to Gordon and Bill for giving us the benefit of their in-depth knowledge of the River Severn.  It is a bit of a scary river to navigate.

We locked in at Portishead without mishap at 0845 and filled up one of our two tanks with fuel (a sharp intake of breath at the cost) 

We had hoped to be able to take Severn Swan to Bristol Docks to see our old work colleagues but we realised a while back that we would be strapped for time.  It was wonderful when some of them came to us in Portishead instead. Thanks – we really enjoyed seeing you.

 

Peter Shaw joined us at Portishead on Friday morning. We locked out at 0930 and had a cracking sail over to Barry on the ebb tide and then back to Cardiff on the flood.  With such a massive range, the tides are certainly something to be wary of. We locked into Cardiff Bay late in the afternoon and Cardiff Yacht Club had kindly saved an easy-to-get-into space for us on the pontoon at Mermaid Quay.  We had a prime position opposite the Parliament building and a stone’s throw from the food festival.

 

Preparing-flags

 

Dressed-ship

At last we found a use for the huge bag of signal flags that came with the boat all of those years ago – there was a competition for the best dressed ship. However we cocked it up somewhat when the string of flags came apart in the middle so I had to go up the mast to retrieve the broken end.  Nice view from the top though…… 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 P7120015-Martin-and-best-dr

 

Lots of highlights:

The Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Margaret Jones, gave an address to a gathering of boaties on the pontoon from our foredeck and we won the prize for best dressed boat ! (but we didn’t get to keep the Welsh dragon trophy).

Yummy cooked breakfast at Cardiff Yacht Club, lots of alcohol (not for breakfast though), any sort of food that you can imagine was available from street vendors.

We got to look around other boats (including another ferro boat – we are not the only nutters) and met a lot of very friendly Bristol Channel yotties.

 

Certainly a weekend to remember (but I don’t think that we shall be getting the flags out again!). 

Bit of a change of plan next – we aren’t going to Milford Haven.  We are still going from Cardiff to Porlock but then we are going straight down the English side rather than going over to Milford Haven.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Almost ready to go – but not quite…..

Engine-trials-1

The pressure is mounting whilst we finish getting the Severn Swan (and ourselves) ready to launch forth into the big blue yonder. Martin has hurt his back again and I am still recovering from a recently broken wrist. All systems go then….. (Fortunately we had some help).

Our current plan is to leave Sharpness on Thursday 10th July on the 0630 tide.

We will only be going a couple of hours down the river to Portishead where we will fill up with fuel (we will need a mortgage for that) and stay overnight. On Friday we intend to go over to Cardiff for the International Food and Drink Festival.  I haven’t been to this before but with a title like that it must be good!

After the festival we will spend a day or so messing around in Cardiff Bay to test various systems before setting off for Milford Haven, hopefully via Porlock Weir so we can see the Harbour Master who build Severn Swan during the 1970’s and 80’s.

The tale of how we got to this point  - ie how we came to buy Severn Swan and then strip her out and rebuild her is set out on our website: schoonercharter.com (and it is nothing to do with chartering).