Sunday, 3 August 2025
52nd Swale Race
Saturday, 26 July 2025
And home...
This morning at low water Toby had his first sail in sole charge of Eel, although never far from helpful advice from his Dad.
Then as the tide rose we motored from Queenborough, through the Swale, under the lifting rail bridge at Kingsferry and back to our moorings at Harty Ferry. So ends a short East Coast cruise, and as always it is much more fun with two boats and two dinghies
Queenborough
Wednesday, 23 July 2025
Brightlingsea
Walton Backwaters
Monday, 21 July 2025
Hamford Water
Sunday, 20 July 2025
Old Bolts
Apart from a couple of short day sails Bonita has been peacefully on her mooring for the last few weeks while D and I have been busy ashore. Bonita hasnt been completely neglected though. I put her on the scrubbing posts for a new coat of antifouling. The previous stuff, applied in May hadnt worked well and weed and small barnacles were already growing on it. I presume this is due to an unusually hot early summer. Perhaps unwise economy in buying cheap antifouling paint may also be a factor -it looked like an attractive deal when buying online but perhaps less so in the real world once it was out of the tin. Bonita now has a coating of a rather more expensive variety which I hope will see her through the summer.
In sorting through a box of old bits and pieces I came across some of Bonitas original keel bolts, which Dad had stored away. This is original Victorian wrought iron. These bolts were removed in 1968 when they had by then been in place for 80 years. None of the old bolts could be extracted intact: every one broke around the middle where it had corroded at the point where the lead keel joins with the wood. Their strength had been reduced probably to less than a quarter of the original at this point, so it does seem like it was time the job was done.
I replaced the bolts that were inserted in 1968 with yet more wrought iron a few years ago as it didnt seem wise to wait quite so long this time. Though they showed some corrosion, none of the 1968 bolts broke while they were being extracted. I was interested to see that the original Victorian bolts were 3/4 in diameter (19mm). The new ones I put in were 7/8 in (22mm) so they should be good for a few years.
So whats next for the old lady? We plan to be going on a few days Thames estuary cruise next week so we are hoping for gentle breezes and calm seas.
Saturday, 14 June 2025
And home....
While Bonita was resting in the fine new Dover marina, D and I went by ferry to join the Saint-Malo OGA rally. This was great fun with lots of interesting things going on. I was sorry not to have Bonita there but given the timing and the weather I think we did the right thing leaving her at home. Old boats often do better with more flexible timetables.
I had originally booked Alastair to help us back from St Malo, but on Thursday evening we went by train to Dover. We left the marina at first light -4am - on Friday morning. Even at this time there is plenty of ferry traffic coming and going from the harbour. It was a clear bright morning with little wind. The VHF announced that there were several channel swimmers attempting the crossing and we saw an open-water rowing boat heading down Channel and dodging round outside the harbour wall between the ferry movements.
We motored as far as the North Foreland with virtually no discernable wind, but once we got to the Foreland a nice easterly breeze sprung up. With this we were able to push over the adverse tide with no trouble. This was the first time we had set the mizzen since I glued up the broken mast in Brighton, and I was relieved that all seemed well. We picked up our buoy on the Swale at around 4pm.
So the boat has been away about a month and this finishes her early summer cruise. We have a few more outings planned for later in the year.