Wander Lost

Tag: Sailing

  • New windlass and across Biscay

    My windlass finally arrived in Brest, and with advice and reassurance from Darren who repairs boats for a living it was installed and is working great. I have anchored twice with it so far with no issues.

    New windlass

    I decided against crossing Biscay direct from Brest to A Caruna. The frequent storms and being single handed made me nervous. If there is on thing I have learnt in my travels, that is to trust your gut instinct. Instead I have travelled down the French coast and crossing to Santander where I will pick up my new crewmember Nelly.

    The storms still effect me, it’s just that they lose some of their power as they travel East. I have been outrunning one coming in tonight, its forecast near gale just North of Brest, it should be a brief storm for me in the morning.

    Crossing Biscay Day 1

    I have been sailing for 12 hours now, progress has been slow due to low winds so I have motor sailed a lot. The wind has picked up now but not from the forecast South West, it is Southerly, the direction I need to go so I am having to tack through it. After the storm the winds come from the opposite direction so I should make good progress then.

    I have been accompanied by dolphins all day. Mostly common Dolphins but I have seen a few Bottlenose Dolphins too. They have been leaping clear of the water, tail slapping alongside me and bow riding.

    Day 2

    The brief storm actually lasted 24 hours, first with South Westerly winds then halfway through they Switched to North Westerly. Wind speeds were 15-20 knots so as I had hoped, it blew out most of its fury before it reached me. It was near gale closer to Brest. The wind was no issue, it was the confused seas due to the changing winds. After the first 12 hours, the short choppy waves that picked the boat up and promptly dropped all 8 tons on the other side gave way to big rolling waves that were better but occasionally I could feel the boat sliding down the other side. I am sure Lady Cindy said weeeeee…, I said wow!, Dotty said howl! When the winds changed direction, the whole process restarted with short waves but with the added bonus of the long ones still coming in from the other direction.

    Winds have died now and switched direction again to North Easterly. The seas are still a little confused about which way the waves should travel but Lady Cindy is happy cruising under mainsail only at 6-7 knots. I should still arrive in Santander tomorrow (Thursday) but only just.

    Day 3 Arrived in Santander

    The final days sailing was.. well.. plain. The wind was following me all day at a steady 10-14 knots, perfect. I arrived in Santander after dark so I have anchored for the night and will go to the marina in the morning to pick up a new crewmember Nelly. I may stay a couple of nights to fix a few things. The main one being the masthead lights. But now I sleep 😴

  • Parcels, Anchors, Stramash, and Crew

    First the parcel, which was sent from the UK, its a replacement windlass and it was held up in customs. I knew I had to pay french vat and duty on arrival but didn’t know how this was supposed to happen. Apparently somebody on the French side should have contacted me to tell me. Nobody did and I had no contacts except the shop I bought it from and a DPD Web page that simply said in transit then to be delivered Friday (last week).

    Yesterday the DPD status changed to time expired to pay duty, return to sender. 😳 How are you supposed to pay if they don’t contact you and you cannot contact them?

    I would have been here until at least Friday anyway due to storms in Biscay and have arrived here now. Hey ho, go with the flow.

    The shop (YouBoat) have been very good, it’s not their fault, they have now sent a replacement which should arrive this coming Friday.. we will see.

    What’s Stramash I here you ask (or am I phsycic?). Stramash is a 44ft boat solo sailed by Darren who has similar plans and goals as mine and is going South as I am. We met in a facebook group for sailors looking for crew, more on that later. Realising we are both in Brest we arranged to meet at an anchorage. More on how that turned out later (are you on the edge of your seats yet?). We shouted our hellos across the windy water when he arrived. At least I think it was hello, he is Scottish and although I am a quarter Scot and lived in Aberdeen in my youth, I have trouble with the accent at the best of times. In that situation he could equally have been saying “fuck off you sasanach bastad”

    OK the anchor.. here is my Facebook post at the time…

    Well that was exciting. Making pizzas and the anchor alarm went off. Looked out and shit!!! I am moving back fast toward my new sailing friend Darren. Engine on, forward gear while i went forward to let out more chain. My windlass is broken (parcel I have been waiting for) so no way I am pulling in the anchor with this wind and current. Luckily it caught again and I am stable but idling the engine to reduce strain on the anchor. Sorry for scaring you Darren, pizzas are ready and we plan to go back to the marina tonight when the current slackers and have pizza and as Darren put it “get shitfaced” that sounds like a bloody good plan to me.

    Getting too close to Stramash

    And the next day….

    Soon after my last post yesterday about all the excitement, it all kicked off again. My anchor slipped again and now I was far to close to Darren and getting closer, I had to move; fortunately the tide had started to ease. After a bit of maneuvering by both boats trying to get anchors in and stay clear of each other, the shore line and other boats, we were away. 3 hours later we were in a packed marina looking for a free slot. I got in between two bigger yachts with the help of other boaters, I have about 2-3 foot gap fore and aft 😳. It’s been a day of uncomfortable closeness. Darren found a spot in the residents area but has moved to the visitor area this morning. We never did get shitfaced, I hope we can remedy that some time. I have saved you some pizza though Darren.

    And finally… the great news you have all been waiting for…. come on play along…. drum roll….. I HAVE CREW 😊🤣🤗😘🥰🙂🙃😊 or I will have when I reach Spain. Can you tell I am happy 😊

    Her name is Nelly and she has sailing experience. She will join me at a point to be decided on the Spanish coast. More on this another day but it improves my safety with an extra pair of hands and eyes, it reduces my workload and stress in sailing, anchoring and docking, I can sleep more than 20 minutes at a time on long passages and it will be company for dotty who gets lonely occasionally and says I don’t talk enough to her. I may have got me and dotty mixed up there.

    Plans for today were to go to an anchorage tonight but you know me and plans, we just don’t seem to get along. Darren came around today and we decided that stopping tonight and going out to get the long neglected shitfaced was a better idea. So we planed one more night. No, we cannot have that.. a plan? It has to change! I went to the marina office to pay for tonight and they kindly offered to bundle all my nights here and give the weekly rate (basically a free night), oh no, sorry Mr Barret with tonight you have only been here 5 nights, you need 7 to get the 7 night weekly rate. 🤔 so if I stay 2 more nights, the second is free? Yes, 🤔 OK, I’ll do that…. wait a minute, that’s a plan!!! It has to change!!. So I am staying 3 nights here (paying for 2) so I am here Friday for the parcel.. unless plans for its delivery change…

    Oh yes, I forgot something I know you were all concerned about… Darren got his pizza today.

  • Sailing in fog

    Sailing along an unfamiliar coastline in fog is a bit daunting but with the right equipment and a bit of planning it’s perfectly OK. I had to do this today from Lannion to Roscoff with visibility rarely more than quarter of a mile.

    First the equipment I used..

    • Raymarine Axiom plotter
    • Garmin GPSmap 551
    • Simrad VHF radio
    • Samsung Galaxy tablet
    • Samsung Galaxy phone
    • Large scale paper map of the entire coast
    • Raymarine autopilot
    • Wind vane steering
    • My eyes
    • My brain

    Having up to date charts is essential, my favourite electronic source is an android app called Savy Navy but I also have charts on my plotter and the Garmin.

    I rely heavily on electronics so I needed a backup plan in case of a lighting strike which could knock out them all. In this case it was to keep an eye on the safest route to open water and memorise the bearing from my current position. That way I could get to a safe position to reassess and not run into rocks on the way.

    Route, weather and tide planning is essential. You don’t want to be fighting a tide pushing you in the wrong direction and you don’t want to be fighting high winds. Those are the times to stay where you are and wait.

    The most expensive bit of kit I used was my eyes and my brain. I was constantly on the look out for other vessels, uncharted obstacles, pot bouys etc. I was also constantly monitoring my course and the tide to avoid charted rocks and shoals.

    After leaving the anchorage this morning the visibility was about half a mile, within half an hour it was down to less than a quarter of a mile, sometimes much less, the first land I saw in the final 3 hours was Roscoff harbour wall, right where Savy Navy said it would be.

  • Tough few days

    The last few days have been tough on both me and the boat. I want to get on but the weather and strong currents around here mean slow progress.

    The sail from Guernsey to the French coast went well. It started with good winds which dwindled to nothing and ended in strong winds gusting to 25 knots and passing showers. I found a safe anchorage in the Lee of a small island and have spent two rolly nights here. The strong currents here mean I can only move on the ebb tide, high tide is mid day so cannot move in the mornings at the moment.

    I tried to move yesterday but the anchor windlass stopped halfway up. The anchor was not snagged, I could pull the chain. I spent the next couple of hours stripping down the windlass to investigate (missing my chance to move). I found this….

    Windlass motor drive shaft sheared

    I think the gearbox has jammed and that caused the motor to shear the drive shaft. The winch is old and given the gearbox and motor will need replacing its more economic to replace the whole thing. Especially as I wanted to move it further forward anyway. That will have to wait till I reach a marina, probably Brest. In the mean time my muscles will get a workout manually lifting the anchor.

    I have also struggled mentally with a lot of setbacks. I am naturally a positive optimist but the last few days have drained a lot of that. I need something to enjoy for a few days. I may stop at Brest a while and live a little 🙂.

  • Sailing to Europe with a Dog

    We have just crossed the English Channel so this is a good point to write about our experiences with beaurocrazy in doing this post Brexit.

    Pre Brexit, UK vets could issue an EU pet passport once all relevant jabs, including rabies, were up to date. The pet passport lasted the lifetime of the dog and allowed travel across Europe. That is no longer the case. You must now obtain an animal health certificate from a UK vet, leave within 5 days and arrive in Europe within 10 days, you are allowed longer if travelling by sea. You can leave by private boat but YOU MUST BRING THE ANIMAL BACK BY AN APPROVED ROUTE; which means by plane or ferry. The returning pet must have an valid animal health certificate OR an EU pet passport with up to date jabs. The new rules are complex but the information is available on .gov.uk.

    I started the process last January by getting Dotty’s jabs up to date. A couple of days before I sailed I got a health certificate from PetPass in Havant. This cost £99 for 10 minutes of checking her jab certificates and her microchip and stamping preprepared forms. Most vets were charging far more for this, PetPass is run by a couple in a conservatory at the back of their house and this is all they do so keep the costs down.

    With the paperwork in hand, I arrived in Cherbourg marina and presented them when I met the frontier police at the marina to have my passport stamped. They looked confused 😳 they didn’t know what to do with them. I showed them the page where they are supposed to sign and stamp the form. This is necessary for onward travel in Europe. They filled it out and stamped it but did not sign it, so I asked them to do that too. They had no means of checking Dotty’s microchip so the whole thing is a farce.

    This form allows me to travel with Dotty in Europe as well as return her to the UK (via an approved route) within 4 months. We will be away longer than this so I plan to get her an EU pet passport within that time. French vets no longer register dogs except for French citizens so I plan to get one in Spain.

    This is just one of the many crazy consequences of Brexit which was a good idea but very badly implemented. I hope that over time the mess will be sorted, but in the mean time we must jump through paper hoops put in place for political reasons, not practical ones.

  • Sark, Channel Islands

    My plan last night was to do a night sail back to Guernsey. It was the first opportunity to move for several days due to high winds and a sequence of storm fronts moving through the Channel.

    I got as far as the outer harbour entrance in bumpy seas and noticed a line flying around over my head… that’s not a line, that’s the stern shroud (the wire running from the top of the mast to the back of the boat.. it holds the mast up 😳).

    Panic!!! No… stay calm… I quickly got the engine running, furled the headsail and dropped the mainsail and turned back to the harbour. On the way I figured out what went wrong. The shroud is attached to the boat via a thick clevis pin which should not be able to work loose due to a retaining pin. Both pins were missing. Fortunately I have spares.

    I anchored outside the marina, did the repairs and went to bed.

    I set off about 9.30am, conditions were good with at one point 7.5 knots of tide pushing the boat up to just over 11.5 knots.

    I made good progress as far as Alderney but then wind dropped and tides were against me. Heading too far East I switched on the engine and motor sailed to Sark where I am anchored for the night.

  • Cherbourg, France

    In this blog entry.. crashing the boat, crossing the English Channel, playing dodgem with big ships, storms, checking into France after Brexit and more changes in plans (why do I bother planning?).

    Let’s start with the embarrassing 😳 bit, hopefully you will have forgotten all about this by the time you reach the end of this blog.

    I set off from my mooring at Deacons Marina in the Hamble at 9am. The marina is on a tidal river with a fast flow, I headed to the Channel. As soon as the bow got into the river flow, it swung the front to starboard (right), toward other moored boats, then the stern swung against another boat, its anchor went through my cockpit canopy canvas. I was pinned there by the current and had to wait till the current lessened to move again.

    Fortunately no other boat was damaged, only mine. I eventually got clear and under way around 11am. I spent the first half of the Channel crossing sewing up the canvas.

    Have you stopped laughing yet?… OK I will carry on 😳.

    The Channel crossing went very well, it was a night crossing and the only scary moment was crossing the busy shipping lanes outside Cherbourg. There are two one for eastbound ships, one for westbound, they are separated by a 5 mile gap. First I had to cross the Westbound lane, that was straightforward, not so scary I thought… then I picked up the AIS signals from the Eastbound lane. Think of crossing the M4 on a bank holiday and you will understand. These were big tankers, container ships, ferries, cruise ships etc. Fortunately I also have AIS and one ship changed course so I could thread the needle at an angle…

    After Cherbourg I rounded a Cape where the winds and waves started to pick up. At first I just thought it local winds and tides, usual around headlands. But then both French and UK coastguards issued new storm warnings on the radio. Things were getting worse, the forecast had obviously changed so, change of plan again, I decided to head to nearby Guernsey in the Channel Islands. There I could find a sheltered anchorage and have a good look at the new forecasts.

    The new forecast was not good news. A big depression was due south of Ireland and will spread its tentacles around Biscay, worse it was set to last until the end of the week and another was hot on its heels brewing in the Atlantic.

    I needed to enter the EU by a Port of Entry. Crossing Biscay to Spain was out but I had two options in France. Brest was best but it will be effected by the storm, Cherbourg was the safe option, although it meant going backwards. I am now in Cherbourg marina with my passport stamped as is Dotty’s health certificate. We are good to stay in the Schengen zone (EU) for 3 months.

    I plan to stay here at anchor in the harbour waiting for the storms to clear from Biscay. If I get the chance I may run to Brest to wait. I am in no rush.

    Oh yes, nearly forgot. This is a big squall that passed through the marina earlier. The video shows the start, in the middle of it a massive gust knocked the boat against the pontoon.

  • St Ives to Portland

    It’s been a tiring week of sailing, sometimes it’s been fun, sometimes relaxing, sometimes exciting and a couple of times a little scary.

    From St Ives I went around Lands End and stopped just before the Lizard point at a small anchorage called Mullion, I stopped there on the way up too.

    From Mullion I went to Falmouth where I stopped in the marina for a couple of nights to alow a predicted storm to pass. Next was Cawsand just inside Plymouth sound and then on to Brixham and then Weymouth.

    I had some excitement with an aircraft carrier. It came within 5 miles ahead of me then turned back. Ha.. scared her off I thought… then she came back and passed within a mile of me. Two helicopters were on deck loading with personnel one of which later flew off.

  • Milford Haven to St Ives

    Winds were good to cross the Bristol Channel but with good winds come choppy seas. For the first time on Lady Cindy I felt queezy. It lasted about 3 hours before the seas started to calm a little and so did my stomach. I wasn’t sick and I have been in worse conditions but I think it started at dusk when I would have lost the horizon as a fix for my eyes.

    I arrived in St Ives at dawn, dropped anchor, had a meal and spent the rest of the day napping and reading.

    I left St Ives about 8.30 this morning after a few chores and plan to get around at least as far as Penzance, preferably further but with no winds and under motor at the moment, that looks unlikely. I want to get to the safety of Falmouth by Wednesday because a storm is predicted for then. It should only last a couple of days giving me a clear run along the South Coast.

  • Crossing the Bristol Channel (again)

    After spending two weeks in Milford Haven, I am on the move again.

    Ffion went home yesterday and I moved the boat to Dale anchorage in the evening. I plan to set off this morning on a 24 hour sail to St Ives, the winds look good but then should drop off in the following few days. I will make the choice at St Ives to either wait for better wind or, more likely, motor around Lands End.

    Whatever I do, I will be out of contact for at least 24 hours.