The Golden Cloud 3/5/13 - Aberaeron MidWales -
60 miles down, ~440 to go.
And So after the madness of the last few days finally I feel prepared to go again. The issue with the cloud's engine turned out to be significantly more minor than originally realised, although the trouble shooting of the engine and fuel system has lead to significant improvements in the engines running and has given me confidence in both the engine and myself.
In my week in Aberaeron (instead of the 12 hours originally planned) has been fantastic, the weather has been great, and the towns folk (especially those of the Yacht Club and the Grandparents of Heather O'rourke) have been fantastic. Not a moment seemed to go by on that mooring where there wasnt some well wisher or sailor wishing me thier best and offering any assistance possible. It just shows how much the sea can bring us together.
And so as i sit in an Arriva bus enroute back from Cardiff after passing my Naval fitness and medical, I am filled with great excitement for the forthcoming week. Billy Whitehouse is crewing with me for a few days, the forecast is sunny, and hopefully the wind isnt as brisk as forecast so we can safely make Cornwall by the week's end.
Mind you, my engine blues continue... The Bus has stopped on the hard shoulder of the M4, "serious engine overheat" maybe i'm just bad luck for these things!!!
Sadly my internets not great but next time i find an Internet Cafe there will be a few photos to put up!
Bon Voyage
Joe
P.S. This Trip is no longer raising funds for Surfers Against Sewage.
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Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Sunday, 5 May 2013
Friday, 8 June 2012
We are sailing!
We are Sailing
The Golden Cloud 8.6.12
Once again I've left you lovely people for too long. So much has happened in so little time with me and the boat, and now I type sitting onboard my boat as she sways in the Gales.... Maybe this wasn't the best week to give her some sea trials!
About 10 days ago I had a bit of an issue at Uni, and as a result I was frustrated with life. The result of this frustration was me deciding I should spend a week or so tending to my Boat.
As I started working me and Lloyd the boatyard manager, started talking and we decided that it was probably better for me to work on getting the boat to sea for a short period of time, to suss out any issues she had before I spent out on the interior. For all I know I could spend thousands making her gorgeous inside and then the engine might not work or the hull might have a massive leak!
First I repaired the mast, her spreaders (the arms that keep the mast upright) had snapped over winter. To save the extortionate cost of buying Yacht Spreaders, I went to a metal merchants, brought the tube raw and manufactured it myself!
Then I got to work on was sanding down the hull to check for any dodgy repairs... I found a few!
Turns out at some time in the past her long keel had hit bottom and got damaged. Whoever owned her at the time did a quick repair job with car filler fibreglass, and never got round to going over the job properly.
Needless to say this area now leaked,and so needed a repair.
So I sanded the area down, chipped out the fibreglass, drilled it around the hole, and left it to dry.... Apparently 40 years of soaking water into a concrete cored keel meant it didn't dry, and as time past it kept seeping water.
In the end we decided to mark down the affected area, reseal it quickly and come back to it in the winter, put the boat in a barn and let her dry out.
Next on the list was getting the engine started. So we charged up the battery, put a hosepipe on the water intake, and next morning started her up.
Amazingly she started first time!!!! Turns out the engine name SABB (not SAAB like the planes and cars) which is Scandinavian for hard working and reliable, is quite fitting.
Then I unpacked the sails to check for damage, all sails were the original 1970 sails no damage, just a bit of oiling on the Hanks! This was too easy!
Then the issues began....
1st I noticed that the prop shaft was disconnected with the engine. meaning although the engine worked it didn't turn the propeller!
And because of the engines age, the bolts were not modern metric dimensions! So out with the hack saw and manufactured some new bolts.
Then all bolted up. Me and the lads from the boatyard slowly hoisted the mast up by resting it on the roof of a shed! By the end of the beautiful evening, we sat around with Golden Clouds on the horizon, sharing a curry and a can of lager! Wonderful!
Then to make her ready for sea, I removed the infamous freezer, and put in a worktop to give me space for chart work. While a porta potty was installed in case I journeyed to Aberystwyth Marina, where the bucket and chuck it method isn't accepted.
Soon it was time to get her afloat, and after a day of cleaning her up and cleaning the area where she once sat, Lloyd picker her up in his tractors slings, and down to the water. Mick from the yard who also owns a Falmouth Gypsy, came on-board to help with proceedings.
Down into the water, and away we went FANTASTIC! She sat beautifully in the water! And she reversed with ease out of the slings.
oh
wait
She could only reverse!
NO FORWARD GEAR!
Mick ran to the front of the boat and prepared the Anchor!
OH NO!!!!
Luckily the beast of a rudder this fantastic boat has meant she steered OK in reverse. So we gently reversed her onto the mooring, with a bit of help from the nose of Lloyd's rib.
When low tide game I got down underneath the prop, and saw that too big an anode (piece of metal to stop the propeller deteriorating) had been installed. So I unscrewed it, put it onboard, and readjusted the bolts on the propshaft.
Tide returned. FORWARD Gear existed.
Since then, I've happily lived onboard, and every high tide myself and Mick have gone down the estuary to try and iron out any issues with the boat.
Yesterday we even got a jib sail up, and in the wind this was enough so we didn't need the engine.
Needless to say these sea trials are showing a few faults (3 a4 pages so far) but nothing that cannot be worked around.
This weekend when the weather dies down I'm going out without Mick for the first time, but with some friends out fishing. Safe Seas and Tight lines!
The Golden Cloud 8.6.12
Once again I've left you lovely people for too long. So much has happened in so little time with me and the boat, and now I type sitting onboard my boat as she sways in the Gales.... Maybe this wasn't the best week to give her some sea trials!
About 10 days ago I had a bit of an issue at Uni, and as a result I was frustrated with life. The result of this frustration was me deciding I should spend a week or so tending to my Boat.
As I started working me and Lloyd the boatyard manager, started talking and we decided that it was probably better for me to work on getting the boat to sea for a short period of time, to suss out any issues she had before I spent out on the interior. For all I know I could spend thousands making her gorgeous inside and then the engine might not work or the hull might have a massive leak!
First I repaired the mast, her spreaders (the arms that keep the mast upright) had snapped over winter. To save the extortionate cost of buying Yacht Spreaders, I went to a metal merchants, brought the tube raw and manufactured it myself!
Then I got to work on was sanding down the hull to check for any dodgy repairs... I found a few!
Turns out at some time in the past her long keel had hit bottom and got damaged. Whoever owned her at the time did a quick repair job with car filler fibreglass, and never got round to going over the job properly.
Needless to say this area now leaked,and so needed a repair.
So I sanded the area down, chipped out the fibreglass, drilled it around the hole, and left it to dry.... Apparently 40 years of soaking water into a concrete cored keel meant it didn't dry, and as time past it kept seeping water.
In the end we decided to mark down the affected area, reseal it quickly and come back to it in the winter, put the boat in a barn and let her dry out.
Next on the list was getting the engine started. So we charged up the battery, put a hosepipe on the water intake, and next morning started her up.
Amazingly she started first time!!!! Turns out the engine name SABB (not SAAB like the planes and cars) which is Scandinavian for hard working and reliable, is quite fitting.
Then I unpacked the sails to check for damage, all sails were the original 1970 sails no damage, just a bit of oiling on the Hanks! This was too easy!
1st I noticed that the prop shaft was disconnected with the engine. meaning although the engine worked it didn't turn the propeller!
And because of the engines age, the bolts were not modern metric dimensions! So out with the hack saw and manufactured some new bolts.
Down into the water, and away we went FANTASTIC! She sat beautifully in the water! And she reversed with ease out of the slings.
oh
wait
She could only reverse!
NO FORWARD GEAR!
Mick ran to the front of the boat and prepared the Anchor!
OH NO!!!!
Luckily the beast of a rudder this fantastic boat has meant she steered OK in reverse. So we gently reversed her onto the mooring, with a bit of help from the nose of Lloyd's rib.
When low tide game I got down underneath the prop, and saw that too big an anode (piece of metal to stop the propeller deteriorating) had been installed. So I unscrewed it, put it onboard, and readjusted the bolts on the propshaft.
Tide returned. FORWARD Gear existed.
Since then, I've happily lived onboard, and every high tide myself and Mick have gone down the estuary to try and iron out any issues with the boat.
Yesterday we even got a jib sail up, and in the wind this was enough so we didn't need the engine.
Needless to say these sea trials are showing a few faults (3 a4 pages so far) but nothing that cannot be worked around.
This weekend when the weather dies down I'm going out without Mick for the first time, but with some friends out fishing. Safe Seas and Tight lines!
Monday, 9 April 2012
Just can't get enough
The Golden Cloud 9/4/12
Continuing on with the theme of the last blog, of what I really want and enjoy in life.
And before you fall asleep ladies/welsh, I do eventually make my point, and everything is relevant, though is probably as tangential as Eddie Izzard making toast.
You may know that I am a fan of a certain football club. For years this team have been the pinnacle of my focus when procrastinating, and the sponge of all my wages. This team is of course "The Invincible... Wolverhampton Wanderers" (Quote from Gabriel Hanot, editor of L'Équipe, 1954, who's article referring to the domination of Wolves across Europe lead to the formation of the European Cup (a cup Wolves have never won!))
Unfortunately unlike in 1954 when Real Madrid, and Honved fell to the Mighty Wolves, at the moment my team isn't terribly good. Languishing at the bottom of the English Premier League, the team and the fan base are in pain and infighting.
Pain, is a weird feeling for me to feel at this moment, but indeed watching my team throw away a lead against the lowly Stoke City, it was something I felt.
Now I've spent in the region of thousands of pounds following, getting tickets, transport and merchandise for this club. And in the grand scheme of things, watching them a few weeks back against our rivals West Bromwich Albion, it might as well have been Pier's Digs-league team.
Yesterday I went for a kayak with my friend Billy. My kayak has never lost to its rivals 5.1, or sacked its brilliant hilarious paddle and replaced him with a clipboard.
The kayak scored its first goal, of a stunning performance as we got in the water... kayaking with a friend on Easter Sunday... Lovely.
Second goal to the kayak came as we rounded the harbour wall, and in the distance was a pod of dolphins. To be this close to such majestic creatures, was an honour...
 |
| Sadly we forgot our cameras but this is a picture from the web of a Tan-y-Bwlch Bottlenose Dolphin |
Better was yet to come. As billy and I headed south along Tan-y-Bwlch beach so 6 or so dolphins from the pod joined us, and started playing around by our kayaks, getting as close as a paddle length. Hat trick to the Kayak here I think.
Soon they got bored and stopped playing near us, so we went onto the beach to check we weren't dreaming and that actually did happen.
We returned to the harbour (to the awaiting news I had the evening off work, meaning I could have a Roast Dinner!) with big smiles on our faces. And in injury time as we came round the Harbour Wall, one final goodbye as from no where a dolphin rose (in what seemed slow motion) feet from our kayaks.
So this weekend Kayak and nature's free entertainment 5, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0.
In the small amount of time my modern life allows me to spend in nature, its surprisingly frequent that she gives me these amazing moments served up on a plate. Where as its increasingly rare my football team give me anything other than grief. I think its time I started supporting nature a bit more!
Later in the evening we went for a walk waiting for the dinner to cook, and from the pier head we could see a ship scuppered with 3 crew onboard against the rocks by Aber harbour trap, with the RNLI trying everything to get them afloat. This made me only think that perhaps option 2 in the last blog was the best idea.... a yacht in the sea looks dangerous, I'll keep the sea for kayaking with dolphins.
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