Winter Maintenance

There are not as many jobs to do this winter. The outboard mount and top of centre board case both need some attention, as do the spars. The outboard mount had suffered where the clamps had marked the wood, some glass fibre was used to build this area up.

Both pieces were stripped back to the bare wood, before using Deks Olje D1. I made the mistake of applying the D2 too soon and this took several days before it dried fully. It is recommended that there is a gap of 3 days before the D2 is applied, I think this may be a minimum time and suggest leaving it longer for the D1 to fully dry. The bottom end of the mizzen mast, inboard end of the bumpkin and gaff, all needed a good rub down before new coats of the D2 could be applied.

There were a number of small chips and old fitting holes on the deck moulding which needed to be filled. I was pleased to find Honnor Marine could supply some gel coat that matched remarkably well and certainly helped enhance the finish of the boat.

The real development is the decision to order a new set of sails from R&J sails. The jib is a straight replacement but I have decided to change the mainsail for a high peak variation. This should improve the performance of the boat and also  allows the mainsail to be "scantalised", a traditionally useful method for de-powering the rig. However, it does need some additional rigging, which will need to be planned and fitted before the new main sail can be used.

Coniston Sailing Club - Bart's Bash

 

Friday evening light and no wind

 

A new jib stick made from a length of plastic tube, fine for light winds.

The weather remained fine for the weekend and a gentle NE breeze enabled us to have an enjoyable time on the water. On Saturday evening the club held an auction to raise money for the club house to be extended, to include new toilets and changing rooms. The event proved to be a great success, with over £3000 being raised.

On Sunday the club took part in the Bart's Bash, this is a sailing race run by sailing clubs all around the world on behalf of the charity, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. The club had around 35 boats taking part, which did prove to be quite exciting, as they ranged from Toppers to cruisers of 25 feet in length. It also confirmed to me, that although Drascombes are great to sail, they are no racing machine, which was actually quite pleasing.

Deks Olje - One Year On

Last year we decided to strip the old varnish off all the wood on the boat. However, the decision about what type of finish to use was one that took some time. Reading various reviews, Deks Olje seems to be one of those "Marmite" products - you either love it or hate it, but did seem to provide a quality solution to protecting and enhancing the small amounts of wood that are on the boat.

http://www.deksolje.com/

Deks Olje comes in two parts: D1 which is an oil and D2 which is similar to varnish. Both products are very "fluid" and run very easily, so keeping a rag to hand to wipe any drips is very important, as I was to find out. The varnish dries very hard and is difficult to remove once dry.

Over the year the woodwork has worn very well and have been very impressed with the product. The finish seems very hard wearing, which is ideal for the gunwales and it also gives a high gloss. To keep things looking good, I recently used some wet n dry paper to give a good key and then rubbed in some of the D1 oil. Letting this dry for a day, I then gave two coats of the D2 to finish. There seems no reason to do any more work on the gunwales. Some say that a gloss finish can become slippery when wet but I have not found this a problem on the gunwales.

The wood grating in the cockpit floor has been treated just with the D1 oil, this being reapplied once during the year. The one area that that has been cause for concern, is the floorboard just inside the cabin doorway. This can become wet and I have felt the potential for a slip as I step down into the cabin and perhaps some non slip material here may be useful. The top of the centreboard case does have an area of non slip material on it and this has proved to be essential at times.

Once the season is over the spars and oars will need some attention. These only received a light sanding and a couple of coats of varnish last winter, with some areas which were worn having some additional coats. Perhaps more thought and effort will need to be applied to these.

Norfolk Broads

Once the rain and Bank Holiday traffic had calmed down I headed back the Norfolk Broads and launched at Martham boats early on Tuesday morning. This week and the previous visit to Chichester were actually a repeat of last year's trip, although I did manage to travel further at both venues. It was always interesting to talk with other boat owners, especially those who regularly sail their own boats on the Broads. The most relaxed sailing is always to be had up stream of Potter Heigham bridge, in the areas of Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere. However, the River Bure in the area of Thurne is wide and open, giving some excellent sailing. Another Broad worth visiting is South Walsham, although it is not possible to land in the actual Broad, free moorings are available on the approach and a pleasant walk takes you into the village.

 

 

Horsey Mere

 

Evening at Horsey Mere

 

 

The seal colony on the coast at Horsey



Public notice board at South Walsham

 

A traditional Norfolk Wherry on the River Bure

 

Moored on the River Bure

A traditional Broads sailing cruiser. This example is actually a modern copy and was in immaculate condition.

 

This Kettle Bell weight was my answer to a mud weight. It was considerably cheaper than a purpose made mud weight and seemed to work in quite well in sheltered locations. However, I do wonder how effective it would be once the wind got up.

 

 

This Norfolk Punt, which was taking part in a race from Hickling Broad, is perfectly designed for use on the Broads but completely different from a Drascombe. 

 

Chichester

Having experienced the tail end of the Hurricane Bertha on the Isle of Skye while sea kayaking, I decided to head south for hopefully some more settled weather. As last year a rally had been organised for the last weekend in August, to be held at Chichester Marina. Arriving early on Wednesday morning gave the opportunity to sail for a few days before everyone else arrived. The weather held until Bank Holiday Monday, when it rained continuously for the whole day.

There were twelve Drascombes, which were joined by two local Shrimpers. The whole event was all very relaxed, with a meal at the yacht club on Friday and BBQ on the Saturday evening. As part of Sunday's sail we were invited to Dell Quay Sailing Club for coffee and cakes. The timing of this coincided with high tide, so we could use the club's jetty. The club plans to replace the jetty in the near future with a floating pontoon, which should give access for a greater length of time, as the area does dry out at low tide.

Heading out to West Pole, marking the entrance to Chichester Harbour

 

Waiting the start of an evening X Boat race at Itchenor Sailing Club

 

 

Heading out of the marina towards Dell Quay

Anchored for lunch at Pilsey Island

 



 

Heading back to the marina in an increasing wind

 

On the Sunday I took the opportunity of lighter winds to use, for the first time, a "High Gaff" mainsail, which came with the boat. It performed very well both fully set and reefed.

 

Sunbeam class yachts from Itchenor race past East Head.

 

 

 

Bart's Bash

The inaugural Bart’s Bash is a sailing race that will be run by sailing clubs all around the world on behalf of the charity, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. Coniston Sailing Club has registered to hold a race on 21 September 2014, so we decided to sign up and join in.
http://www.bartsbash.co.uk/

Although Drascombe boats are not known for their racing pedigree, we were surprised to find ourselves as the only one intending to take part, hopefully this will change over the next month.

Sailing from Largs

After a few, very hot days hill walking in the Arrochar area near Loch Lomond, we launched at Largs Marina with some kayaking friends who have recently bought a Coaster, named Shillen. Largs Marina is well known in the Drascombe community, it has all the facilities you would need and provides a good starting point to explore the Clyde and surrounding waters. The cost was £20 to launch and recover but the parking for car and trailer were free. You could also leave the boat there on its trailer for £27 per week. A night on a pontoon cost a further £20. On the first day we headed south to Millport just for a day sail. The day after this we headed north to Rothesay and The Burnt Islands.

 

 

From here we headed around to Portavadie, which must be one of the most select destinations we have ever visited. The facilities were quite exceptional and we were charged £13.70 for the night, which was very reasonable. All the staff were very helpful and the whole complex was very well managed but it was very quiet. There is some good walking in the area and it is also possible to take the Ro-Ro ferry over to Tarbert. It runs every hour and a foot passenger return ticket is £14. A day sail in gusting winds over to Tarbert, gave us a chance to compare the two venues. The pontoons at Tarbert are free for a short stop over, enough time for some quick lunch and a touch of shopping. The cost for a nights stay is £16 and it was noticeably more busy than Portavadie.

 

 

The wind never really cooperated during the trip and as we left Portavadie for Loch Ranza on Arran, the forecast westerly came round to the south-west, leading to a beat in a F4. There are also pontoons at Loch Ranza but only for day time use and a small donation is suggested to assist in their maintenance. There are some visitor moorings but it would be easy to anchor in the Loch near the castle. However, it does dry out in this area so some careful checking of depths and tide tables is required.

Heading back towards Bute we considered anchoring behind the island of Inchmarnock but this proved to be exposed so we headed back towards the Kyles of Bute and anchored for the night in Black Farland Bay, opposite Tighnabruaich.

 

 

The final days sailing meant retracing our outward course, past The Burnt Islands and Rothesay, before crossing the main Clyde shipping channel to Largs.  During the week there were many wildlife sightings but no submarines.

 

Coniston Rally

Although it rained hard on Friday and we all got very wet walking to the pub, the rest of the weekend was perfect, with blues skies and some good wind, even if it was a bit gusty on Saturday. There were 15 boats, with a good mixture of  different  Drascombe models. A BBQ was held on the Saturday evening and many visitors were not pulling their boats out until past 5 PM on Sunday.

 

 

On the Sunday we took the chance to visit Bank Ground farm, which has a tea room and jetty for visiting boats. Inside there are a series of old photos of Arthur Ransome, who used the farm as a backdrop in his stories of Swallows and Amazons. The farm was used in the 1974 film, which featured Virginia McKenna and Ronald Fraser. The farm also offers accommodation and meals. http://www.bankground.com/index.html

 

 

 

I'd recently treated the boat to a new mizzen sail, from R&J sails. The difference is considerable in the condition of the fabric, which makes the new one seem to "crack", while the old one defiantly flapped!

Mid Summers BBQ

A perfect weekend of sunshine, with the wind a bit light at times. But we did mange to join the sailing club's annual Nibthwaite cruise to the south end of Coniston, for a BBQ. We anchored over night and sailed back the following morning, eating ice cream at the Blue Bird Café with some kayaking friends.

 

Kathleen at Nibthwaite with the steam powered gondola, which was restored by the apprentices at BAE in Barrow.

Straight from the BBQ, banana with chocolate peanuts, tastes much better than it looks!

 

Two new additions to the boat are some simple plastic clips and shock cord, used to hold the solar panel in place, the clips are sold as picture holders in Tesco's. These were glued in place using Evo-Stik "Serious Stuff", after first carefully removing the layer of paint where they were to be glued.

 

 

 

The second item is a fabric cover for the doorway. This is attached at the top by two press studs and an eyelet for the padlock hasp, this makes it easy to roll away. Perfect to keep light rain out and also for use at night. The fabric is heavy duty waterproof 600 denier polyester, which was available online in a variety of colours, including burgundy that is very similar to the  spray hood and sails.

 

 

Old Gaffers Assn. - Ullswater

 

Glenridding Sailing Centre

A weekend of extremes in weather. Saturday starting looking fine but by 1 PM it was raining and the wind dropped to almost nothing. While Sunday proved to be a more exciting sail, where we found the need to reef both the main and jib.

Before the rain on Saturday

The weekend was organised by the OGA http://sailinginthelakes.com/ and was based at the Glenridding Sailing Centre, which is at the south end of Ullswater. However, we were the only Drascombe and it would be good to see more boats at the September event. Ullswater is a stunning location to sail and along with a social on the Saturday evening, makes the whole weekend most enjoyable.

 

Local shop in Glenridding

Scottish West Coast

An excellent week, launching at Salen in Loch Sunart. The weather was kind all week, a lack of wind at times but this did not stop us visiting Muck, Eigg, Arisaig and Tobermory. The boat performed well. There clearly is a need to carry a small tender, something small enough to store in the aft locker and also to make a good quality fabric cover for the doorway.

It was pleasing to find the battery, only 12 AH, we'd fitted supplied enough power to recharge the VHF, phone and camera. It was connected to the solar panel for one evening and seemed to have plenty to power at the end of the week.

 

Crossing from Arisaig to Eigg

 

Anchorage south of Arisaig

 

Heading west out of Loch Sunart

 

Evening Rain - Isle of Muck

 

Lunchtime anchorage - Eigg