Drive leg repairs

Got the lift out yesterday, As I have already done this job before it was a relatively easy job to do and took about 2 hours,  It would have been quicker if the pins had come out without a fight.   Considering how much grease I put on them and all the attempts to stop corrosion I'm still surprised at the speed at which things seize up.

Still a nice new functioning drive leg.  Always a good thing.

Another trip to the boatyard.

It's not been a good week for finance.  Twice this week I've had separate bank accounts defrauded. a spate of bills for Moorings,  berthing at Poole, barclaycard etc,  and now Watanga has a broken casting on the drive leg necessitating a lift out and an expensive part.   I think I need a job to pay for all this?

Ho Hum

Never a Dull Moment

Ok so now it's the second week in June and there's another gale on the way,  part of it from a south east / easterly direction.   This is getting really silly.  Just took a look at her from the shore SE 4/5 and shes already bucking around.   Going up to f7/8 before veering to the SW during the night.  

No racing at the club tonight, I'm guessing!

Home again

Yarmouth to Swanage with a following easterly,  not a bad sail but cold and wet. Despite calls ahead to check state of the bay and being assured that it was flat, something must have changed in the last hour or so of our journey, because it was lumpy. 

We took just the essentials and got a soaking when coming ashore.  Luckily I have an "Overboard" waterproof bag for the computer as it was floating in the bottom of the dinghy after a swamping.   I don't think it would have stayed watertight for long though as there was evidence of water inside.  Still no damage.

Went back today in slightly calmer weather to bring the rest of the gear ashore.   

After spending some time on Thursday removing and then resealing the hand rail on the roof I was surprised to find that the leak I have hasn't been stopped.   I'm running out of things to seal that are anywhere near the drip point!

Planning the return journey

We're still in Yarmouth,  and spent yesterday leisurely going round the shops having tea etc.  It was very windy, nothing to be seen on the solent except waves, Even the wight ferry was on a restricted service.   We bought some local caught crab and went to Sorrento for Evening meal and drinks.  I think we came back to Watanga around 0300. 

After a late start today we made a plan for our return, which will be tommorrow afternoon.



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Why we didn't go



I want that one

Stormbound in Yarmouth

Thursday starts wet and miserable but undetered we shared a full english breakfast donned our wet weather gear and headed for the bus station.  Got a great deal with a group ticket, unlimited travel all day for £20. Visited Cowes, (wet) Ryde, (sunny) Shanklin (briefly) and on to Ventnor (windy) for a fish and chip takeaway supper.  Back on the bus for the ride home.   The wind now is about a f7 and increasing so a quick bit of tidying up of the shore lines and then to bed.  Lou starts her second nocturnal treatment,  With the wind during the night exceeding 40knots it was a tad noisy,  a banshee of shrieks from all the boats in the marina, the boat trembling and rocking on its berth, not much sleep this night.

Holiday

As always with sailing you are at the beck and call of the wind and the tides.  Our intention at the start of the week was to sail to Torquay, spend two or three days exploring the Devonian coastline then back home across Lyme Bay at the end of the week. 

We travelled in company with Adrian and Jayne on Sorrento with a light wind and fair tide. Forecast for the week started to look bad for the latter end, with a large storm arriving.   We made a plan that we would stay in Weymouth on tuesday as it was going to be a very wet day anyway and a passage would have been miserable. This would give us a chance to reassess the weather situation at the end of the day.
With a quite vicious storm on the way we decided that we didn't want to be stuck at the other end of Lyme Bay when it hit.  An early start for passage to Yarmouth (closer to home) was the plan.

Tuesday night, Lou completed her first nocturnal treatment on the boat.

It was an early start Wednesday and a fast downwind sail to Yarmouth,  arriving just as the wind was freshening.  "Collective Spirit" the Boat Project boat sailed past and we got a a few pictures, later it was moored in Yarmouth and we had a chat and took a few more pictures.

   

Same old

May has been and gone and I'm still here complaining about the easterly weather patterns.  I do feel sorry for the Divers and the Fishing guys in the bay as most of these bouts of bad weather have come at the weekends.  This coming Saturday and Sunday are no exception.  On the good side the weather in between times has been hot and Sunny.

Easterlies

Ever since the drought in the south was announced it has been raining. Now I don't mind a bit of rain, but what is worse is the procession of low pressure weather systems running up the English Channel. These  create lots of storms and easterly winds keeping us off our usual mooring. Most inconvenient!

It's also not good for the diving and fishing trades in Swanage making it a hard start to their season.

Whoo hoo Back in the water.  

Booo Hoo lots of bad weather forcing expensive stay in Poole

New Year.

Day one was a bit of a damp squib, with most people recovering from the festivities a nice walk on the first day of the year is always welcome.  Constant rain put the mockers on that (What is a mocker).  So a lazy day watching the telly.

I was sad to read this morning that the Celebrations were tainted by violence and that a young lad is now in hospital with head injuries after a fight in the town in the early morning of the new year. 
Now I have no knowledge of what happened and I have no want to condone fighting, but it occurs to me that when I was young that if there was a fight we used our fists and once one or other of us was knocked down that was pretty much it. 

The fashion in the film industry to finish people off with a kick to the head, or any other part of the body for that matter seems to have instilled itself into modern day culture.  Unlike in the films where hero's and villains just get back up,  blows to the head with a boot are likely to cause serious damage.  I don't thick there is that much malice in most people they are just conditioned to think that it is a survivable part of fighting.

I hope the lad is OK.

Couldn't get to the boat this week because of other commitments.  Which is a shame because the weather has now turned and it;s really cold all of a sudden.  Reminder to self - winterise the engine !!  Spent this week catching up with stuff at home.  Actually got the christmas tree yesterday, can't believe it's only 3 weeks to Christmas!

I have spent last week getting items off the boat, well the stuff that goes mouldy if you leave it.  Also made sure there was no water left in the piping as I had some damage last year with bits freezing.  ( One tap and the water filter both burst)  Weather so far has been warm so not really a problem yet.

Must make a battle plan for this year maintenance program.

Bringing the teak trim back to it's former colour is a must as it's starting to look shabby now. I also need to get a generator to run the dialysis machine next year.

November

It's been a busy month.  Not long after my last post, things started to go downhill.  Lou and I both caught colds and the dialysis on the boat became a bit tricky because of the cold.  So it was decided that the best course of events was to get Lou back home.   So on the Thursday we, well I, as Lou was so unwell,  packed up everything, tidied the boat somewhat jumped in the car and drove home.  As soon as we got there we had to set up and dialyse before crashing into bed. Quite a day all in all.

Since then things have been slowly improving.  Lou got better,  although we still are coughing and spluttering from the back end of the colds.  We've had a home visit from the hospital to check we're OK.  And I went back with a mate, to get the boat and sail it to it winter berthing in Wareham.

Having had the weekend off, it was back to training yesterday.  Me this time,  I was given the task of setting up the machine, and getting it primed then connecting up to Lou.  Then after the session to strip down and clean up.  I had to administer an injection, to the machine not directly to Lou, and deal with a fault.  I must admit the fault was caused by me not undoing a clamp.

Then today the anti was upped again.  The machine was brought  to the boat, then they let  us set it up and do a session on our own.  It was both daunting and cramped with three of them scrutinising.  Lou wasn't too good after, maybe a bit too much stress for one day. 

With the first week of training over, we were given the weekend off from dialysis. Saturday we decided to go for a sail. It wasn't a great day, a bit misty damp and cold, but good to get away from the marina.  we went to Cowes and had lunch in the Anchor pub, then headed back in the afternoon.  We were a bit late leaving Cowes so it was dark by the time we were back.  had a close encounter with another yacht just outside the marina.  Fortunately no contact,  I don't think he had seen us and I was left with a choice of hitting a pontoon, or the other boat.  Full reverse power, and we just missed the corner of the pontoon, whilst the front end just missed the back of the other boat. Phew it was close. Even in the darkness I could see the shock on the skippers face.

Today we went to Gunwharf Quays by car,  took a trip up the Spinnaker tower, and had lunch at a tapas bar on the quay.  We had the meal outside, amazingly warm for November.  Looking forward to Xmas Barby on the beach ! !  

Day 3 of the training

Because the weather was fine and the rest of the week looks as if it will be chucking it down  I stayed on the boat today to get on with some essential maintenance.  Now that Lou;s OK with operating the new machine, I will join her for thursday and friday, to learn how to set it up and of course know what to do if things go wrong. Our two weeks of training may be shortened because Lou is getting on with the machine so quickly. No sessions over this weekend so have got to decide whether to stay here or return home. Suppose that will depend on the weather as well.

A New Chapter

I'm restarting the blog.  It's two years after the last entry some of the entries that would have been here went into "A Year in Swanage" blog.

Life comes in chapters just like a book. First a new life with Louise, and now another change for us both with daily dialysis using a nxstage portable dialysis machine.  This opens up an exciting era where we can plan for longer trips away on Watanga.  Lou is going to feel so much better all the time.  I hope I can keep up.

We are currently living on Watanga in Port Solent Marina whilst Lou and I train at Portsmouth Hospital.  It not the best time of year for it but it's fairly mild for the time of year.

IOW trip 2

Lazy sail across to Newtown Creek, all against the tide so took some 6 hours but we weren't in a rush.  The sun kept shining most of the day with the odd spot of rain every now and again.

It's not often you see an Avro Vulcan, let alone flying

The french are invading? Looks like the chap at the back is feeling the swell!

Finally a bit of fishing before turning in for the night.

New Start - Hopefully

Well August was busy wasn't it.

The carnivals over, the red arrows have done their fly past. 

No more fireworks for a bit.

Swanage became a highly populated place with most of the visitors doing their best to get run over.   Strange how folks suddenly forget the highway code, walk everywhere at 1 mph and look everywhere except where they're going. It's not only the pedestrians either,   There must be 500 cars a day do a three point turn on the bit of road in front of the pier. It's only thirty yards and there's a couple of gates - dead end.  Maybe they are all budding 007's and are going to fly off the end of the pier and turn into submarines.

Then there's Shore Road we've had a whole summer getting used to walking in the road, very shortly the sound of screeching tyres will be heard as drivers try to avoid those who've become used to pedestrianisation and wandered into the road without looking first. 
Hey -ho and probably nonny nonny too. Septembers here and  it's time for the hankies, face paints and donning of bells  - it's folk week - Morris men and women, witches, and other strange sights.  Still it's only a week