Under way!

Tempted by a few days of Easterly winds forecast, Justin and I cast off from Bonita's mooring on the Swale at 4am and sunset now finds us rolling along with all sail set off Beachy Head. Passing Dover we saw hardly any of the usual ferry traffic, presumably as a result of Covid.The photo shows our fine new topsail made by Wilkinson sails of Faversham.This topsail replaces a home made one that I had altered often but was never very satisfactory. 

Out of the creek

 John helped me take Bonita out of Faversham creek and onto her mooring today. There were blue skies but a brisk easterly wind with plenty of wind chill factor made us think that perhaps we were beginning the season a little early.  However the yard have started moving various sailing barges in and out of the floating docks, and though they are always very careful, I feel it is easier all round if Bonita is not in the way when these much larger boats are on the move.  

                                                            Waiting for the tide

The picture shows a glimpse of Bonita with her dinghy astern, winter covers off, spars in place and mainsail bent on, just waiting for the rising tide to float her off the mud.  It turned out to be not quite that simple: a comforting cushion of soft mud had accumulated all around her during the winter months. Also with high pressure over the North Sea, the high tide did not seem quite as high as I was expecting. However with the engine pushing and four of us on ropes pulling we eventually managed to carve a groove in the mud and get her out into deeper water in the middle of the creek. After that we managed to motor out to her mooring on the Swale without disturbing the mud any more.

So what of the new season? After last year when with all the restrictions Bonita didnt even get out of the Swale, we are hoping for something a bit more active this summer. With all the anxieties about Brexit and Covid, foreign trips are probably not a good idea, but we do hope to get in some coastal sailing.

Lockdown projects

 Being unable to visit the boat, our garage at home is cluttered with various bits of boat gear in various stages of being dismantled and/or restored. Lets hope its not too long before they all go back on the boat where they belong.

I bought the cabin clock home as it has been behaving erratically and needs a bit of TLC. As with so many things to do with Bonita, it has a bit of history. It originally came with a boat my brother Tim bought in the early 1970s. She was the Huzure, a 31 foot Fred Shepherd designed bermudian cutter built in 1937. Tim bought her with his friend Justin to do a bit of blue water ocean sailing. Having set out from the river Swale Huzure's cruise sadly came to an unfortunate end in 1977 when she was wrecked on Lady Elliot Island at the southern end of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The cabin clock was among the items Tim salvaged from the wreck and it subsequently completed its circumnavigation in a packing case in the hold of a much larger ship.

Huzure on the Swale in 1975

Wind-up clockwork marine clocks such as this seem to be hard to get today, and most boats now seem to have the quartz battery powered type. I took the clock to our local high street jewellers and despite the fact that they had several vintage-looking clocks on display, they clearly weren't keen to take it on: I was told  that they have to be sent away, minimum charge £300 and don't expect to see it again for at least 3 months. 

This seemed a pessimistic approach to what is basically a fairly simple piece of mechanism. For a considerably smaller sum I bought a set of miniature jewellers screwdrivers and after a couple of hours work, adjustment  and general cleaning the clock now seems to be running as it should. Of course ticking away on a stationary shelf in a warm dry house is rather different from being fastened to a bulkhead on the boat, but with luck this well travelled little clock will keep going for a few more years.

Canvassing

 Not the sort of canvassing they do in elections. There have been one or two small leaks in Bonita's cabin roof and I wondered during the summer if it was time to renew the canvas on the roof. It is possible to patch and paint and hope for the best for another year or two, but I worry about the possibility of rot developing under the canvas. And once you start taking the canvas off its all got to come off: theres no going back. 

So, on the general principle that its the bits you don't look at that are the ones most likely to give trouble, I decided it was time to take off all the varnished fittings and strip off the old canvas. I was relieved to find that some of it was in quite poor condition so the job did need doing. 

The picture shows the planked cabin top in a state of nature with the canvas removed.  The black stuff is old hardened marine glue. There are a number of wooden patches and fillers where there used to be patches of rot. The planks have all been treated with plenty of wood preservative 

I have done this job several times over the years, and each time I wonder if I should use something more durable and more up-to-date than painted canvas. For many years it was covered with linoleum, which must have been difficult to fit to the double curve of the cabin top. The roof does move and flex quite a bit with sailing stresses and people jumping on it. So there is benefit in using a covering that is reasonably flexible and also easy to remove. In general I find a canvas covering lasts about 8 or 10 years.

With patience its fairly easy to stretch on a new piece of heavy grade canvas, as in the second picture. It soaks up a huge quantity of paint so its not a good idea to use expensive yacht enamel.

The fittings are at home waiting for a coat of varnish before going back on. We are also rebuilding the reefing gear in the hope that reefing can be made a bit easier and quicker. 

No doubt a few other things will emerge that need fixing before we are ready for the new season.

In the mud for lockdown

 When the weather gets a bit windy, Bonitas mooring in the Swale can seem rather exposed, especially at high tide. The boat does roll about a bit when theres a strong wind over tide. I like to think this doesn't do her much harm so long as the mooring is strong enough. The stresses on the hull and rigging must be less than when shes sailing in a bit of a breeze, and at least the topsides get wet to stop them drying out. 

Following this philosophy, I usually keep her afloat till around the middle of November. This year I decided to bring her into the soft and welcoming mud of Faversham creek for the winter just before the second Lockdown, in case visiting her becomes more difficult. 

In contrast to the recent storms, we had a crisp dry day with blue skies. John kindly took a day off work to help with the trip. His video here shows the general view of this part of the river at half flood - Bonita is one of the very few boats still on her mooring.

We got up to Ironwharf boatyard under motor running aground - and kedging off- only once. We were able to remove much of the gear and fit the winter covers before it got dark. And so in a few hours Bonita is transformed from a boat afloat ready to set sail at a moments notice to a being laid up for the worst of the winter.

Sadly for all sorts of reasons we have had very little sailing this year with no long distance trips. Even so, its very therapeutic just sitting on the boat when shes afloat, and maybe sailing around for an hour or two.  Much of the benefit in owning a boat comes from gentle pottering and thinking about her even without going anywhere much at all. Nevertheless, lets hope for a rather more active season next year