Ciao Bella is a Hurley 20 bilge keel sailing yacht, she is my second 'proper' boat. having had some great times in a Fantasie 19 called Jelly Bean I decided it was time to increase my sailing range with a boat that could successfully bridge the gap between the huge fun of being able to explore every nook and cranny of a harbour or estuary and proper sea going ability. I hope this will be the case :~)
Ok, so after work I went straight to the boat and motored her up in front of the club house. The idea being to let her dry out on the falling tide so that I could remove the broken fittings and see what would need to done to get her usable again.
Even though we are coming off springs now there was still a lot of water. I'd expected to have hit the bottom about half way along the pier but I could have got nearly to the seawall. In the end I dropped the anchor where I thought I should be then drove home for some dinner while the tide did its bit.
Back to the club with a full belly, I took advantage of the Hurleys tendency for the bow to drop and deliberately pulled the nose down to get the skeg clear of the water. This gave me about another 20 mins of working time.
I took the broken parts to Brian's house as he has the skills and equipment that I lack for working with stainless. After a bit of a conflab we came up with a plan however it wouldn't be until at least Sunday as Brian was preparing for a trip to the solent.
Back on the beach and I took the opportunity to touch up the antifoul and contemplate my navel while waiting for the tide to come back.
Sat on the boat, I amused myself in my sloping world by have a pint and rocking out to the itunes disco... not easy with only 4' of headroom :)
Eventually, about a quarter past midnight there was enough water to motor back to the mooring. I seem to be getting the hang of the seagull outboard, I'm finding it easier to start and timing when to cut the engine before the inevitable crash is becoming more intuitive. I find cutting the engine early then using a paddle to dierect the tender the last few feet works well.
Nearly afloat.. clubhouse webcam captures me on the iphone :)
Hmmm, it looks like the problem with the tiller was a symptom and not a cause. Unfortunately, when I arrived to repair the tiller, the rudder stock had dropped down the tube, the rudder was just floating. Something is obviously missing from the bottom of the rudder / skeg. I will have to run her up the beach and wait for low tide to investigate. In the meantime I have drilled and tapped the headstock for a bolt to locate in the rudder stock. This will stop the rudder from potentially coming out altogether.
We had plenty of time to kill before setting off home again. We planned to leave at about 2pm and push the tide a little. Jintan Jeff hailed the ferry soon after 9 so I abandoned the kettle and we took the opportunity to get ashore. The kitchen in the club was up and running so after a quick shower I grabbed a sausage bap and a cuppa tea. The weather was glorious and the view from the clubs veranda is stunning, looking out over Portland harbour and the Sailing Academy.
View from CCSC Veranda
After yesterdays antics I had a list of things that I needed from the chandlers. We took a stroll into Weymouth to do a bit of shopping. At the chandlers I managed to find a complete drain exactly the same as mine.. a nice easy fix, I bought it and just used the twist in stopper on the one in Ciao Bellas transom. I also bought a few spare shackles as they are alway important to have.
After a stroll around Weymouth and being almost entertained by a duet (a vocalist and a ukulele player) singing such varied artist as Madness, the Stereophonics and Amy Winehouse we made our way back, via the chip shop and the pub, to CCSC.
Weymouth Harbour from the lifting bridge
Back on the boat and we prepared to leave. We hoisted the main and had the engine running for a smooth get away. I went to the front of the boat to cast off. There was a lot of rope on the deck from the mooring buoy and I throw the lot in. I made my way back to the cockpit while John motored us into clear water. Mark and Jenny on Jamie Bump were waving and shouting at us.. the mooring line had snagged and we were about to reach the end of our tether. This was not dangerous but just plain embarrassing and was number two on my list of oversights. Eventually underway again we sailed out of the harbour and goosewinged across the bay.
John at the helm.
We made our way towards Warbarrow bay with the intention of dropping the anchor and making some lunch. As we approached the conditions were pretty good and the timing for the race a St Aldhelms was good so we just continued, I went below and fried up some sausage sandwiches to keep us going :)
Essential work in progress.
We were at St Aldelms head in no time at all, it was a relatively calm rounding. we kept a 100yards or so off the tip and headed onto swanage.
St Aldelms head
We picked up some speed across Swanage bay, Brian and his family in Figment caught up and passed us here. As we rounded Handfast point we could see the harbour entrance and we were on the home stretch.
Jintan also came into view, she'd been catching for some time but I'd just recognised her. As we approached the training wall at Studland we were side by side and were able to talk to each other when suddenly the tiller seemed take on an awful lot of weather helm... and then it just came off the top of the rudder stock! Mild panic set in.. We furled the Genoa then John pulled down the main while I started the engine. I was able to steer with the engine but even better than that there was a large set of mole grips in the tool box.
Mole grips.. never leave home without them!
The mole grips made an excellent emergency tiller. Mark and Jenny were on hand to witness my second F-up of the day and kindly kept a close watch as we motored into the harbour. The design of the tiller head is pretty crap, it just clamps onto the stock. I will drill and pin it during the week, that way it can't twist.
Jamie Bump keeping a watch on us in our hour of need.
Too many things went wrong on this trip for my liking, I will have to have a thorough sort through the boat checking for other weaknesses before my channel crossing next month.
Before I start, this trip has thrown more than it's fair share of problems, which has made me stop and think about how I prepare to do things and double check once they are done.
Saturday Morning was bright and a little warmer than I expected. John and I loaded up the car and set off for the club about 7.30AM. We had brought the tender down and put it on the outhaul the previous evening and it was nice to see it was still dry inside... My GRP work had held. We took our time getting sorted, there was no rush as the tide wouldn't be in our favour until after 9am. The old Seagull works well but is difficult to start and without a clutch or kill switch, coming along side is similar to watching Kamikaze pilots in the old movies... once you're committed there is no going back! It's also incredibly mucky to handle.. oil and fuel everywhere. I think I'll be looking out for a replacement.
By 9:40 we were under sail heading for the harbour entrance, I started the engine to clear the chain ferry and reverted to sail power once through. Not much progress being made and the wind seemed to be dropping. Jintan passed us on the motor in the Swash channel and after another 20 mins of very slow progress I gave in and started the engine. We furled away the Genoa and motored sailed out past Swanage.
Just before St Aldhelms head I went below to grab a chocky bar for John and myself. There was water in the cabin which surprised me as there had been no rain, spillages or large waves. When I lifted a floor board I was even more surprised, there was about 4" of seawater laying in the bilge; which had definitely been dry when we set off.
The drain hole for the old gas locker, with no gas locker in place any water coming in just drops into the bilges
A quick check located the problem.. When I had removed the gas locker, I had not plugged the drain (The first oversight of the trip). With the engine running the transom was being pushed down forcing the drain hole below the waterline. Reducing the revs stopped more water coming in and I set about bailing her out. I have a manual bilge pump, but to be fair it was quicker to bail out with the washing up bowl. Initially I bailed out into the cockpit expecting the scuppers to do their job. No such luck, they were both blocked so we had to bail out over the side. It was then that Brian pulled along side in Figment and asked if now was an appropriate time to wash up :) I assured him we were safe and under control and Brian went on his way. With the bilge dry I tried to clear the cockpit drain. One eventually cleared but the other was blocked solid. I turned my attention to the drain hole in the transom. As a temporary measure I used a bolt, 2 penny washers and some insulation tape to seal it. Once happy that it was watertight we put some revs on the motor again to make up for lost time.
The temporary repair
The cockpit drains where running free at the start of the season, in fact I had shortened the hose in order to make it an unimpeded route but they had still blocked. I whipped the hose off the drain which was still blocked and pulled out an inch and a half of black slime. I guess anything that goes down the drain and can float will eventually start to slime up and block the pipe. Not sure what it was but it did encourage me to have better housekeeping in the cockpit area and look out for scuppers with a grate on top to stop some of the things getting in there in the first place.
As I raised my head from the depths of the bilges I could see that we were catching up with JinTan again. Always nice to be sailing in company. Soon after, the wind picked up and we cut the engine, wow It was great to be back under sail again.
Jintan passing the recent Durdledoor landslip.
We made good time towards Weymouth, beating all the way. The wind shifted in the afternoon, forcing us towards the beach. We went as deep as we could in order to make one tack, in 2.5m of water, to get us to the North entrance of Portland.
Into the harbour and we caught sight of the Castle Cove ferry showing Jintan to a mooring, we slinked over and followed suit. As soon as we were moored, tidied and changed we hailed the ferry again and went ashore. We had a wonder into Weymouth and had a quick pint on the quay before heading back for our BBQ. Richard, the Commodore at Castle Cove had really made us feel welcome, it's a lovely club.
Ahh the ugliest tender on the pier is about to make a reappearance. After months of languishing, first in the club car park and later on my front garden, I have got round to making the following necessary repairs and alterations.
Refit bumper strip, The hose that I attached last year was great except that the screws just pulled out of the GRP. I have now put off cuts of wood and the occasional tree branch behind the lip for the screws to grip into.
Glass over centreboard slot, Last year's launch highlighted a leak through the centre board case which was temporarily repaired by filling with whatever we could lay our hands on at the slipway :)
Repair leak, previous repair took some knocks last year and started to leak.
Add a skeg to help track through water. I cut a piece of hardwood off cut to the right shape and glued it to the hull with Gripfil. I then larruped plenty of CSM and Poly resin over it to form the skeg.
Leaky centreboard slot.
Hardwood skeg glued in position
Jobs a good un :)
All that's left to do is run over it with a flap wheel to take of the frayed edges, not to make it look pretty but the stop weed getting a secure foothold. Then slap some anti foul on it, if anyone sees me wielding a roll of masking tape please slap me... there's no room for straight and tidy on this floater :o))
It will be nice to be able to get out to Ciao Bella in style again without having to pump up my diminutive inflatable. Don't get me wrong.. it's a great inflatable, it's just too small for two fat blokes and a load of beer provisions.
It started with a text "You're in PBO! Pg39... :-)" Panic set in, palms went clammy and I had a furtive look over my shoulder... What had I done, had they captured my attempts at pontoon bashing? or caught me discharging over the Lee rail?! None of the above, fortunately it wasn't a rant about dodgy have go sailors but an article on buying bilge keelers :o))
So if you want to see a dashing chap on a splendid luxury yacht Don't look on page 39 of this months PBO.
The forecast for the bank holiday weekend had been getting better for a while and the excitement for getting out of the harbour for the first time this year was building. I planned to get Ciao Bella into deeper water before low tide and then head off to the Solent on the flood.
As ever, best laid plans and all that... I'd asked to borrow a tender as mine is still awaiting a bit of attention. I got the tender loaded and attached my Seagull outboard There wasn't enough water to get the leg down and as the seagull doesn't have a neutral I had to paddle it to deeper water. I'm sure this must have looked comical but after 30mins paddling against a lee shore and falling tide I gave up. Stepped out of the tender into 4" of water and dragged it back to the pier. I found the proper oars and rowlocks and made the epic 200m row out to Ciao Bella... even with proper oars it was a struggle against the wind.
I clamped the enormous clip on the end of the painter to a stanchion and loaded all my gear into Ciao Bella. After getting myself safely aboard I turned around to see the borrowed tender making good time back to the club house even though the painter was still attached to Ciao Bella. I phoned the owner of the tender who was able to come down and rescue it before it got or did any damage.
By this time I'd missed the chance to move Ciao Bella before low tide so I set about stowing my stuff and preparing for the journey.
By 13:35 I could feel movement, The main was up with two reefs and I started the engine to give it a shove. I had to drop the main again as it was pushing the leeward keel into the sand so with just the engine running I bumped and skipped away from the mooring and towards the main channel. I hoisted the main again and was soon making good speed across the harbour.
Once out of the harbour I unfurled the Genoa and we goose winged away towards the Isle of Wight. The forecast had been for F4 gusting F6. I later found out that it had been F7 nearly all afternoon.
As the wind built I gradually rolled away more and more genoa until eventually it was all away. Speed over the ground ranged from 4knots to 9 knots and that was before getting to the Hurst narrows. I always wear a lifejacket but this time I was also clipped on for the whole journey. The only real incident that I had going over was when a wave came over the bow and crashed heavily onto the boat, straight down the hatch and soaking me in the cockpit. It had also knocked the anchor off the bow and was clanging against the hull. There was no choice, I had to go forward, I clipped myself to the mast before leaving the safety of the cockpit and going forward to recover the anchor. The pointy end is not a nice place to be when it's rough.
The Hurst Narrows were very confused but I was through in the blink of an eye. Once in the Solent all was much calmer, I spoke to The Cruise co-ordinator on the mobile phone.. well he was walking through Lymington at the time :) He gave me directions to the Dan Bran pontoon so as I motored towards the entrance I pulled down the main and prepared fenders and mooring lines. 4 hours on the dot to travel 20.59NM, that's fast for Ciao Bella.
I managed to get along side at the second attempt, and without causing any damage, which is a real bonus. I'm never proud of my close quarters maneuvering :( Mike and Rose provided Tea and nibbles in the Cockpit of their Sadler 29 for the ten of who made it. I donated a bottle of red to the cause.
We moved onto the Mayflower for food and beer. We had to scrounge around for tables and chairs on the terrace to make up a table for ten, they a good selection of food. I plumped for the Venison burgers as I just wanted something unfussy. After sampling a good cross section of the available beers I made my way back to Ciao Bella and settled down listening to something mellow on the iPod.. I can't remember what it was as I fell asleep instantly.
I was woken first by the safety announcements on the Isle of Wight ferry and then by the sound of hell regurgitating the sourest souls that it could not keep down. When I slid back the hatch it turned out to be this enormous sailing vessel, it was using it's engines to maintain position and maneuver in the river, it must have given up looking for a place to stop as it eventually turned around and left.
After morning ablutions I took a stroll around the pontoons. The Amelie Rose was moored up further along, I'd love to take a trip on this one :)
Amelie Rose
Also a quick introduction to the EDSC boats, Ciao Bella looks a bit diminuative.
Hennesae and Whisper
Quest and Istron
Ciao Bella and Istron
Whisper and Hennesae
My Brother Dave (Not Bus Sick Steve) was going to accompany me on the way back to Poole. He arrived around 7:30 which gave us time to get some breakfast on the go.. I fried up some Pork, apple and cider sausages, some thick cut bacon and eggs and loaded them into a sandwich all washed down with a big mug of tea... 'Ansome.
We said goodbye to the others then left. We left the sails down and motored out of the harbour, I think the ferries were ganging up on us but if you stay in the shallows they can't get you :o).
The forecast was for F4 to start then dropping to a F3 or F2, They seemed to get it absolutely on it's head. Just a gentle breeze to start but it would build to be quite strong in the afternoon. Out of the river and we hoisted the main sail, no need for reefs today. When I was sure Dave was happy with the sail being up we unfurled the genoa and had aright good sail, close hauled out towards Fort Victoria then tacked back to Hurst Castle and out through the narrows. Dave was a little nervous about the looming waves in the narrows as they look like waves breaking on rocks.
Dave at the Helm
Breaking waves in Hurst Narrows
It was a pleasant trip back, The wind did build and swung more westerly, forcing us to reef the genoa and tack the last few miles back to the harbour. It was more like 6 hours on the way back but still not bad.
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