John's Travel Blogs

Category: BoatBlog

Blogging my travels in Lady Cindy, a 1965 Camper Nicolson 32 IV build number 069/1965/IV.

  • About Lady Cindy in 2021

    Lady Cindy is a 32 foot, long keel yacht and was one of the first GRP production boats ever built. She was built in 1965 by Halmatic and Camper Nicholson. More information about the Nic32 can be found on the Nicholson 32 association Web site. I have yet to find a definition for a classic boat, but I think she qualifies.

    Lady Cindy

    She has a very thick hull and topsides and 3 tonnes of lead ballast in her full length keel. Nic32s are renown for their safe and kindly behaviour, a big factor in my choice of boat. She is slow in the water compared to modern lighter boats, but I am in no hurry to get anywhere and I do want to get there safely. They suffer from osmosis like all GRP boats but Lady Cindy has previously been properly peeled back and treated and shows no signs of problems since.

    Lady Cindy was originally purchased new by a syndicate (hence the name) and has been kept for most of her life in the Portsmouth area. I think I am the third owner in her 56 year history; that is if you count a syndicate as one owner.

    I bought her in the late summer of 2020, just before the second wave of Covid 19 in the UK. My intention was, and still is, to live aboard and explore the world.

    Over her years, she has been well cared for and essential work done as needed. However, she needed updating especially the electrics, plumbing and eventually the engine. Priorities were the electrics and navigation, followed by the plumbing, both unsuitable for liveaboard. I have blogged the work done so far.

    The engine, a Yanmar 2gm20, is old but serviceable, it’s got a few years left in her but I cannot see me doing 6 knots of speed for several hot and long days that would be required for Panama or Suez canal crossings. She has been serviced regularly and only smokes at startup, which is normal for these engines.

    Rigging and sails were all in good condition as was the hull. I got a couple of spare sails with the boat but the storm sail will need replacing, it is the original 1965 one. She has a slab reefed mainsail, furling genoa and a spinacker. The cockpit is deep and a good place to be in bad weather. Although all sheets and the furling genoa run to the cockpit, you still need to go on deck to raise, lower and reef the main sail, running at least the main halyard to the cockpit and investigating lazy Jack’s and single line reefing options are on my list of jobs. I want at least enough control from the cockpit to get the mainsail down if I get caught out by high winds, ideally reefed from there as well. I will seek expert advice from a rigger for this.

    She has two anchors, the original Danforth in a factory fitted deck locker plus a plough anchor mounted on a bow roller with 40m of chain and an electric winch.

    The interior retains much of the original teak and is in the original mark V layout. This includes a galley, nav station and 3 bunks in the main cabin, a heads area and two v bunks up front. Eventually I want to improve this layout by converting the two bunks on the port side to be a wide single with storage over the top. The existing bunks are very narrow which is fine on a passage but not good for livaboard. The forward v cabin is where I sleep but condensation is a problem here. In time I want to improve the insulation and ventilation and move the chain locker and winch further forward and seal it from the berth area. Sleeping next to a smelly chain is not ideal.

    The galley has a sink, gas cooker and there is a fridge under the nav station. I want to improve the cramped storage here by putting in a cupboard above the sink.

    The heads has a jabsco hand pumped toilet that uses sea water to flush. There is no holding tank so I need to do something about this before visiting places like the USA where you must have either a holding tank or a composting toilet. I have heard a lot of good things about composting toilets but these are expensive. I can get the special seat to make one fairly cheaply so I may end up making my own that is built specifically for the space. The hull rise and the mast make it a difficult place to fit factory produced toilets. The sink now has running fresh and salt water, as does the galley sink, these are fed by pressure sensitive pumps. The taps have a shower attachment so showering in the heads area and using the bilge as a drain is possible. I do use it over the sink to wash my hair to minimise soap in the bilge.

  • Two Queens and no fish

    After leaving Southampton, I stayed off Calshot for two nights, there has been little wind in the morning but biting cold Northerlies later. I did a bit of fishing with no success, even a collapsable crab pot I put down overnight was epty in the morning, I was hoping to catch something to use as bait on the hook.

    While there I read a lot and fixed the damage to the hatch I caused when I had to break in. I have secured a stainless steel plate to both sides. Now even I would have trouble breaking in.

    My plan when I left was to start heading West, a big storm is due Monday and Tuesday and needed to be sheltered from South Westerly winds. My plan was to get to Sandbanks bay which has a suitable anchorage but if I had problems, I could go to Chistchurch or Portland harbours. So off I went, heading toward the Isle of Wight initially due to the wind direction. Just before tacking to go West, my mum text me. “Its a shame you are not still in Portsmouth as the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier is duw out today. OK – see that and shelter from the storm in Chistchurch harbour or head West, turn left or turn right?… I turned left (Port). I am glad I did,

    I had a great sail down the Solent in really challenging wind conditions. Twice the wind direction did a full 360 around me and at one point the mast top wind speed was zero but I could feel a good 6-8 knots on my face. I first thought the anenometer was broken – it worked fine later on A couple of times I was becalmed so did a bit of mackeral fishing (fishing is not the same as catching).

    I arrived at a spot just outside the main shipping channel just before it widens out, hove to and put the engine on as there was a strong current. I got it all nicely balanced so Lady Cindy was not drifting and waited , and fished, and took some practice shots of passing traffic.

    The wait was well worth it, altough the Police rib came and “had words” with me. I was outside the channel and holding station (not moving) but my bow was pointing toward the channel. He asked me to turn a few degrees to port, I did and of course that upset the boat balance so she started a slow drift. Luckily too slow for me to have to do anything to correct it.

    And the second Queen? That was the Queen Mary 2 who left while I was returning to anchor. I am back at Chichester for a few nights. There are gale force winds forecast for Monday night and Tuesday morning so want to be sheltered.

  • Bye bye Southampton

    After two days resupplying and meeting my mum, stepdad and uncle, I cast of from the marina late morning and made my slow way down the Solent. Winds were light to non existent but I had plenty of time so resisted the urge to turn on the engine. Tacking back and forth across a busy shipping channel is fun. A couple of times I turned off the wind to allow big ships to pass. I don’t think the rule power gives way to sail applies when the sail is a tiny boat and the power is a container ship.

    I am anchored off Calshot for the night. The wind is forecast from the North so although its a bit bumpy as ships pass and currents are strong, I will be sheltered from the wind. I will be monitoring the anchor alarm a lot while here.

    Queen Mary 2
    View from the anchorage
    Car transporter

  • Chichester Harbour to Southampton

    Today I sailed to Southampton to resupply and pick up some deliveries. I will be at Town Quay Marina for two nights. The wind was very calm today which meant I had to motor some of the way. Some interesting sights on the way, including a tall ship at anchor.

  • Wind vane steering

    Lady Cindy was fitted with a monitor wind vane steering system in 2006 by the previous owner. Just before I bought the boat it was removed and sold separately from the boat. Wind vane steering uses the power of the wind to keep a boat on course much like an autopilot would. If the yacht wanders off course, the perceived wind direction changes, which pushes a vane over, which adjusts the steering to bring the boat back on course. It requires no power so is perfect for long voyages.

    I managed to contact the buyer to see if he had fitted it to his boat and would he be willing to sell it back to me. After several months, he agreed so today I sailed to Portsmouth, did the deal and together we fitted it back on Lady Cindy. Fortunately I was able to redrill out the original mounting holes so the whole process was completed in less than three hours.

    The trip back was ‘fun’. 25 knot headwinds and 3-4 meter swells. I decided to motor back rather than sail and I am glad I did. Another yacht was under sail and had to tack about a mile to my starboard side and back several times. I overtook him and got back before him plus had a more comfortable ride with my bow to the waves, he had the waves on his beam giving him a very rolly ride.

    I was involved with another emergency with the coast guard on the return. A mayday call came across the radio but the vessel did not respond to the Coast Guard calling back, a DSC distress message also came up on the radio. A short while later a yacht about 1/2 mile behind me made a pan pan call saying they were taking on water but pumps were controlling it. I thought it was all related but later the Coastguard put out a call asking if anyone else heard the mayday. It turns out they were seperate incidents. I reported what I had heard and gave the MMSI number from the DSC message. Later they reported the incident was closed.

  • New plumbing, pumps and taps

    I have spent the last two days ripping out the old sink plumbing, laying new hoses and installing new taps and water pumps.

    Lady Cindy new cold water system

    Originally there was hand operated pump taps at the galley sink and in the heads pumping fresh water from a 150L fresh water bladder tank. Have you ever tried to wash your hands and pump water at the same time? They leaked and the galley counter top has rotted around the taps. They had to go.

    My options were a foot pump or electric pump, I found a water pump with a built in pressure switch, I was not sure if it would work without a pressure vessel but they were not expensive so thought I would give it a go. I mocked up a system before starting to rip out the old taps and it worked.. really well 🙂.

    The taps are designed for hot and cold water supply, I don’t have hot water but I do have sea water, a very big supply of it. Most people seem happy with salt water washing and fresh rinsing so I plumbed the ‘hot’ supply to sea water from the toilet supply through hull. This line has its own seperate pump mounted slightly higher to keep it above the waterline (in case it leaks).

    Both taps have pull out hose attachments so now I can take a hand held shower. Water can drain into the bilge but I will make sure most of the soap goes down the sink and I run a flush of water down afterwards. My bilge pump is in automatic and in testing coped well with the flow.

    I read a lot of conflicting views online on using the bilge for this. Many reported no problems, others said yuck it will smell. Time will tell but my view is as long as I run lots of sea water through the bilge at the end of the shower, this may result in cleaner bilges.

    Due to the rot around the old galley pumps. I sacrificed a chopping board to cover the old holes, create a mount for the new tap and provide a watertight seal to halt the rot. Visually it’s not great but it is functional. At a future date I will replace the entire counter top.

  • Break in

    Somebody broke into the boat today

    Damage caused by breaking in

    Scandalous!!! OK, truth time.. it was me 🥺. I was planning to run upriver in the dinghy to meet my mum to collect some deliveries and do some shopping. I got everything ready and locked the boat… and then remembered the keys were still in the boat.. sh$t! OK, use the spare hidden one, that is behind a sun cover… the cover that I did not put back yesterday so was still inside the boat… sh$t, f$%k, said repeatedly, good job nobody was there to hear me.

    Eventually after a bit of fettling, including to my knuckles, I got it open with minimal damage. I now have another repair job 😥.

    By this time, my mum reported from shore that the location I planned to land was mud flats, plan B, go to a marina and if doing that I might as well book in for a couple of nights and use the facilities. So that’s where I am, just back from a hot shower, glass of wine in hand and chilling. My mum ran me to a chandlery and to lidl so it turned out to be a very expensive but enjoyable and productive day.

  • Learning to live afloat

    The last few days have not been as the forecasters predicted, why am I surprised? 🤣. It has been useful though because I am learning about living afloat while waiting for better weather. This is something I will be doing a lot of in the coming years.

    Simple things such as having a full body wash including my hair in just a few litres of water. How much power I can expect from the solar panels when overcast, how much power various devices and the heating use in normal operation, how to stay warm while minimising power consumption plus lots of other stuff.

    I am also being more adventurous in the galley, using the oven more, including doing some baking. I plan to make some bread today. I have been reading and listening to music a lot as well. Yesterday we proved remote support for my old shop and a charity I was treasurer for can work

    I am investigating options for a haul out next month on the Isle of wight where its cheaper.

    I have set up links from this blog to Instagram and twitter, lets see if this post arrives there.

  • We are sailing

    No more waiting, conditions this morning were flat calm with no wind, so up went the main for the first time so I could check out everything. The third reefing line was missing and the two spares aboard are too short. I used one of the spares but terminated it at the first reef cleat. That will do for now, if I need the third reef, there will be enough free line to reach its proper cleat, its only when the sail is fully up that the reef line is fully extended.

    By lunchtime the wind started to rise so we were off. I motored out of the harbour and tried to raise the main, it jammed about 2 foot from the top. It was fine earlier but there was no pressure on the sail then. I lowered it and reclipped to a second position at the head of the sail, up she went, no problem. A few minutes sailing with just the main and I felt ready to unfurl the genoa, I quickly found the sheets needed repositioning outside one of the stays, that done and we were off.

    Lady Cindy was predictable and well behaved and although I made no effort to trim the sails, she sailed well. The tell tales were all over the place but I did not care, we were doing 6.5 knots in about 15 knots of wind varying from close hauled to beam reach and I was happy with that.

    I should have stayed out longer but I came in with the tide going out at full race. I nearly turned around but decided to plough on, lets see if she can do this. I throttled up and although the speed through the water read 6 knots, I think we were actually doing 1 knot ground speed. The garmin GPS instrument was not showing speed over ground, I need to see if I can configure it to do so, it was ok when I was tracking a route so I know it can do it.

  • Solent coastguard, Solent coastguard, Solent Coastguard….

    This is Lady Cindy, Lady Cindy….

    I had chance to practice my radio skills today, a yacht ran aground about 500m away from where I am anchored. I first heard about it on Channel 16 (emergency channel) from a conversation between a rib reporting the grounding and the coast guard. I followed them to channel 67 and after their conversation, I cut in reporting I could see the vessel and monitor it until it refloats on the incoming tide. The Coastguard have been calling me hourly to check on the situation.

    Who put that sand bar there?

    I decided not to raise the sails today, the winds were high this morning, the weather gods obviously had a different forecaster than me, more importantly the wind was from the north and freezing. I decided to stay put and do some odd jobs around the boat and have a chill out day reading in the warm cabin.

    I think Dotty has hurt her hip again, probably while sliding around the deck yesterday, the rest will do her good as well.

    Rest day for Dotty