What everyone should do...

is practice safety drills. It's what you're tested on on every pracical sail training course I've ever been on, but I have to confess that we'd never done a man overboard drill on Robinetta before. I decided that we should definately do some this weekend, no wimping out, so that was our intention when we left Shotley, heading out to Pennyhole Bay.

The forecast was good for October, force 4, WNW, with sunny spells, and we had a good sail out into the bay with main, jib, and staysail. We were doing well over four knots over the ground, against the tide, and soon passed Pye End. I was helming, and began to feel rather overpowered, she had a lot of weather helm and kept trying to round up no matter how I trimmed the sails. Julian had put the cornish pasties in the oven, so I told him to turn them down and come back on deck; experience said that Robinetta needed reefing, so we put a couple of turns around the boom. I love how easily she reefs now we know how to do it! The key is to unhook the topsail from the topping lift and let it hang down. Otherwise the topping lift tries to wind the topsail yard into the reef! We also furled the jib away, thinking that would slow us down nicely while we had lunch.

Sea state was slight, but increasing, and the wind kept getting up. We were tuned to Harwich Harbour VTS, and several people asked for wind information which they reported from the Landguard cardinal (very close to where we were) as 20-25 knots WNW, which is force 5-6. Helming was still hard work, and I decided this was not the place to risk our best bucket and fender doing man overboard drills! I gave Julian the helm and we tacked round the Pennyhole Bay buoy before heading back into the Harbour.

Yachts were racing out of the Walton Back waters, some spinnakers flying, and once they rounded Pye End they came our way, heading for Pennyhole. Julian steered us nicely through the pack, and we were soon in the relative shelter of Harwich harbour.

We had to tack up the Stour, and Julian took us in close to Halfpenny Pier while I made a cup of tea; there was a shanty festival on, so we became a photo opportunity!

Wind over tide made the main channel a bit rough; Robinetta was dipping her bowsprit in the water on a regular basis which I hadn't seen before, but she felt perfectly safe, and not even too uncomfortable! We had not planned to do the drills there as it would have been a very antisocial place to mess around, but I was glad to reach the more sheltered waters of Erwarton bay. It was nearly high tide so there was plenty of water there, and our bucket and fender man went over the side.

Julian had first go, under sail, and we did get the bucket back on board, but it took us two goes to get there and we did not quite stop. I did it under motor (by dropping the peak and loosening the stay sail halyard to de-power the sails) and got back in one, but had similar problems staying still. We both need more practice.

The other drill we decided we should try was heaving too. I've done it successfully in Bermudan Sloops, but knew it would not work with a self tacking staysail! We unfurled the jib, and backed that, with the helm hard over, and she hove too making 2 knots of lee way. We got that down to 1 knot by loosening the staysail halyard, but we were drifting back into the main channel, so we called it a day, rolled away the jib, and headed back to Shotley.

We should do man over board drills more often, conditions where someone might end up overboard and more likely to be like Pennyhole than Erwarton, but you have to start somewhere....

Walton Backwaters

The forecast for the whole weekend said "light winds" so I did not have much confidence that we would get anywhere when we went to Robinetta on Sunday. We bumped into Melvin on the pontoon, and he said he was just back from Walton backwaters, motoring all the way because the wind was too light to sail. None the less we decided to head out because the wind had risen in the afternoon yesterday, and might do the same again today.

We were out of the Marina at 1205, just before low water, and got all the sails up including the top sail. That did give us enough speed to sail; Robinetta does well in light airs and what there was was in a good direction for Walton, so we headed out as we had planned. The sky was clear blue, and warm (especially for September), all in all a good day to be on the water.

There were quite a few boats taking the rising tide into the Backwaters, and several were already anchored at Stone Point. We were just there to explore though, so we sailed on after all the other boats had put their motors on. Tacking into the Walton Channel while motoring yachts kept clear of us was fun, but hard work. One eye on the yachts, one on the boays, one on the depth gage, one on the GPS plotter, keeping track of the wind direction, all in a narrow channel we'd never been in before.... I was helming, with Julian as skipper navigating and tacking the jib.

We did not go far up the Walton Channel, just up to no 11 buoy, because the wind was virtually on the nose. We gybed round and headed out again, then went up the Hamford Water for a short way. Julian took the helm for that; much easier sailing than tacking into the Walton Channel which had exhausted me!

The wind got up a little as we headed back towards Shotley, and we were very broad reaching all the way. All in all a lovely afternoon's sailing. I don't know how many more we'll get this year!

the neverending task

Varnish looks pretty, but keeping it that way needs vigilance. It gets chipped, and rubbed, and attacked by UV light, so I went up to Robinetta today to give all the varnished teak a new top coat for the winter. That means rubbing it all down with very fine sandpaper, wiping it with white spirit, then coating it. Then it needs to dry for 24 hours without getting rained on, not to mention that the wind should be light so no dust gets blown onto it, and the temperature must be above 10°C, and below 20°C or it dries too quickly to brush out properly... Today was a bit windy, but otherwise perfect.

I also gave a quick coat of varnish to the tiller and winch handles, not to mention part of the bowsprit. Then it was International 100 on top of the life caulk I used between the bulkhead planks on the port side. I need to sand that down on my next visit (not this one because it would just have put sanding dust on the wet varnish...).

I really need to put a coat of sadolin on the wood that still has it, so it's protected for the winter (even though I intend to convert that to varnish next year), and the decks look grubby so they're calling for a coat of paint too, but that's a job for next time...

Showing off

Robinetta has two new associations.

She will be R1717 on the National Small Boat Register at the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall.

I've let the folks at the WesterleyNomadand22 group on Yahoo! know about her too.

Slowly getting the history site (linked from the header) into some kind of shape.

Walton - not!

The weather looked pretty perfect for the weekend and we decided it would be nice to get to Walton backwaters, having missed it on both the August Classics cruises. Unfortunately I came down with the cold Alison had had during the holiday and it knocked me flat on Saturday. I felt well enough on Sunday to try for it.

The day started dull at home but was much nicer on the way and at Shotley. We set off around 11am and headed out towards Pye End. We had forgotten the Chart Plotter and decided this was a really good idea. Its too easy to become dependent on them and its a very different mindset sailing without one. More the kind of mindset that is the reason we sail.

I used my memory of the President's Race to work out which of the other boats were heading for Walton but finding the buoy was not so easy. We thought we had it then Alison spotted we were almost on it!

Just like the previous week, the wind veered around Pye End. I'm sure just a coincidence and not a local happenstance. Unfortunately that mean't it was now on the nose for going along the buoyed channel towards Hamford Water. The channel is narrow and not really suitable for beating up, particularly on one's first attempt. The cloud had built-up again and it was a bit cold and I was feeling fragile enough to want to call it a day.

As soon as we turned onto a run everything got much nicer. The tide was turning and we lost the swell and with the reduced wind chill it got quite warm. Back on the berth by 13:30 we still felt we had had a worthwhile sail. We had lunch in the Shipwreck and I had a sleep in the cabin while Alison put Robinetta to bed.

Not likely to sail next weekend as I'm in Amsterdam Friday and Saturday. The following weekend is the start of Alex's University term so we will be in Wales, so I was glad to get out today.

Homeward bound

Monday morning and Suffolk Yacht Harbout are keen to get their berths back. We decide on a short trip up the Orwell to give Amy a bit more of a sail and to see how lovely it is around Pin Mill. We leave at 9am and raise sail whilst still in the dredged channel and have a lovely reach up and down on staysail and a single roll on the main.

A highlight of the trip is a seal in the water right by the boat near Pin Mill. Amy has never seen one outside a zoo before!

We now feel confidant about the flaky winds around the Orwell entrance and are determined to get out without the engine. It all goes well and we are back on our pontoon by 12:30.

Not a great weeks sailing but an incredibly relaxing one. Alison's main goal of not going aground satisfied. Sunday's race told us we still have lots to find out about the boat and how to get the most out of her.

Promotion

Pete Thomas sculled round the fleet in the morning saying the weather had lifted and we would do the long course. Fantastic! Lots of discussions around sail plans. I say I'm thinking full main but its skippers call.

We head out at 10:30, desperate not to repeat last years fiasco of running aground on a falling tide trying to get the peak up. All goes well and we stooge around keeping a close eye on Charm as usual - Robert almost always gets it just right!

Alison has decided to stick with the reefed sail plan and we see lots of others (but not everyone) with reefs. It seems sensible as we are going all the way out to Stone Banks.

Bang on 11:00 we cross the line right in the middle of the pack but fall quickly behind. By the time we get to Colimer there is almost no-one behind us. We had been more or less keeping up with Melvyn and Julia on Ellen but they start pulling well ahead.

I make some suggestions and Alison says we are just out for a sail. I kind of lose it at this point. She hasn't discussed this at all. I say I don't mind coming last but I don't want to hold the committee boat up for hours and I don't want to let Robinetta down when she's been so kind to us all week.

Alison relents and changes mental gear after Nancy Blackett screams past us joining the race from Wolverstone.

We shake out the reefs and unfurl the jib and she picks up. We see other boats heeling but Robinetta stays fairly upright. Its very clear that she needs much more canvas in strong winds than other boats, and that she can take it. We raise the topsail too. Revere had hers up from the start, but on top of a double reefed main. That blessed topsail sheet seems to jam again so its not as tight as we'd like but the speed picks up noticeably and the balance is OK.


We're keeping up with the fleet now, but about 10 boat lengths behind Ellen and Nancy. Amy make sure we honor the right buoys. We put a couple of tacks in to get to Pye End and Alison says the topsail isn't helping - shes remembering Southwold when Charm took hers down and we left ours up and it was a bad idea. The topsail does look like its backing.

We take it down and lose 2 knots! It goes back up again and we find we're overhauling Nancy and that Reverie has appeared from nowhere not far ahead - they must have made some bad decisions. (Pete told me later they'd taken their topsail down and shaken out one of their reefs before raising their topsail again during the race. That might have been why we caught them up here? AMC)

We catch Nancy up but then the wind backs and we make a couple of bad tacks to get to Pennyhole. The top sail is backing again so we take it down while on the last starboard tack before rounding Pennyhole buoy. It's a good decision as Robinetta feels overpowered once we go onto the broad reach after the bouy. She's making nearly six knots and we're just getting near Nancy again when we see her retire and run back to Harwich - we find out later her forestay has failed.

Reverie has pulled ahead again - boy does she heel compared to the long keelers. We follow her line to Stone Banks. The sea's rather rolly, and windy out here. Foxes is really hard to keep in sight - there is quite a lot of swell and the line is parallel to the coast so there are no landmarks. Alison is getting tired and can't keep track of our course but refuses to give up the tiller. We drift out to sea and lose further ground to Reverie.

The next buoy is Outer Ridge - there are lots of candidates. We work out which one to go for and I manage to get Alison to take a rest once we reach it. Its all simple now - just follow the small ships channel back to the committee boat and get the finish klaxon. We give Amy the helm to take us across, and she does it in fine style. Several boats including Ellen are still milling around, so we weren't so far behind the pack.

We cross the finish line at around 15:30 and are back on the pontoon at Levington by 16:00.

When it comes to the prize giving they give the Bowlocks Maximus to Rick & Kelpie II for some rigging misdemeanor on the way to Ipswich. We get the Bitter End trophy for coming last in the Presidents Race. I consider this promotion!

Another great closing dinner to the cruise, although a little more subdued than last year and the food at the Lightship was really pretty poor.