New jib sheet

 For years Bonita used to have separate port and starboard jib sheets tied to the clew of the jib. However the trouble with cutter rig is that the jib sheet frequently catches on the forestay when going about, and it wont come free regardless of which sheet you pull on. Its not a major problem as the jib will come free if you  come off the wind and bear away a bit, but it means that tacking in confined waters is not as crisp as it should be. And sailing without sheet winches, its best to pull the headsail sheets in sooner rather than later when the sails are full of wind. Having put up with this for years I thought maybe things could be improved and this seems to be the answer....

The new jib sheet is one continuous length of rope, with a brass cringle spliced in the middle that is shackled to the clew of the jib. There is nothing really to catch on the forestay.  I have been using this during the last season and it does seem to be a definite improvement - I wish I had tried it out years ago.

Thats all very well, I hear you say, but what news of the boat? Shes in her mud berth for another month or so. I've installed a couple more bronze brackets to strengthen the hull at the after end of the cockpit, and shes had her annual treatment of wood preservative being sprayed into every accessible crack and crevice internally.  With various other commitments we aren't planning any major trips this year and its looking like we will be mostly be sailing in the Thames Estuary, the Essex and Suffolk rivers. And with such a varied and interesting cruising area so close, why go any further?

Midwinter

Bonita is snug under her winter covers, and not much happens in the middle of winter, although I do try to visit her every week or so between family and other commitments. We have removed everything that can reasonably be moved ashore. The mizzen mast which sadly got split while trying to leave Brighton marina in the summer is now hanging up in my garage at home and is I hope, stronger than it was before.

                                                    

                                                    Bonita's venerable toolbox

Bonita's toolkit is sufficient to tackle most routine and emergency jobs afloat, and is kept in a waterproof box in the bilge to get the weight down. Some of these tools may well be as old as the boat and would probably have been familiar to the Crossfields. We carry no electric tools aboard. Probably the oldest and best are stamped to show they were made in Birmingham or Sheffield when Britain was the workshop of the world. These were the days when the best manufactured products were British or German ie. 'Bog standard'  which is a phrase that has had a complete reversal of meaning over the years. Others were made in countries that no longer exist, such as Czechoslovakia and East or West Germany. The most modern are mostly Japanese or Chinese. Let's hope they last as well as their predecessors.

Crossfields conference in Arnside

Bonita is resting peacefully in her mudberth, but D and I went to Arnside at the weekend for the 4th  Crossfields conference. These have been held alternate years and are an enjoyable occasion, though this year the journey there by rail was a bit disrupted due to signal failures, train delays, diversions, cancellations etc. However sailing in old boats equips you to cope with this sort of frustration and we got there eventually. 

It was good to meet up with people and hear encouraging stories of boats being restored and bought back to life.  Bonita is the oldest Crossfields built boat afloat, and I have talked about her at previous conferences. However this time I talked about Pacific Moon, a yacht built by Crossfields in 1913 and which sailed to the South Pacific in 1931-2. She is the subject of a book 'Thames to Tahiti'.

Now out of print, it is nicely written account of the adventure and deserves to be better known. I had done some research and found out a bit about her voyaging after Tahiti, but her final resting place remains unknown. The picture below from the book shows Pacific Moon at Tahiti with the owner, Sidney Howard in the hatchway.

Under cover

November is the time to put Bonita away for the winter in her nice cosy mud berth. Even with an exceptionally warm November, the wetter shorter days and frequent strong winds add to the general wear and tear and there are not many good sailing days.  So on Friday with help from Allan and a very high spring tide we motored the few miles up Faversham creek to the boatyard.

Bonitas old winter covers were over 40 years old, and had given good service. Winter covers of course dont get degraded by sunlight much but get plenty of wind and rain. However the old ones had aquired many patches and were no longer waterproof despite the application of a compound that was claimed to repel water.  So, maybe time to invest in a replacement. I went to the excellent Wilkinson sails in Faversham and spoke to Cindy, who made the previous covers.

The picture shows the fine new covers in place, a definite improvement. Cleaner, better fitting and waterproof, and now you can tighten up the lashings without worrying about the risk of tearing the material. But will they last as long as the previous ones? Well, maybe they will. 

52nd Swale Race

Yesterday we took part in the Swale Match, I think the only race where the Thames Barges, smacks and gaffers race together. We - and everyone else- had almost perfect conditions, mostly NW force 4. We had a very capable crew of D, Allan John and Martha.

For Martha (aged 6) this was her first sail on Bonita. 

The picture below, taken by Mary Gibbs from the smack ADC shows Bonita about to start the race.

Sadly Bonita didnt win any of the prestigious prizes, but we had a fine sail, and I was intetested to see a couple of barges that I dont remember seeing before in the Swale.

Will ( originally Will Everard) was one of the largest barges ever built- in steel-  and after a long career carrying cargoes now earns her living in corporate hospitality.

Seagull II is one of the smallest barges ever built, a half size barge built to carry explosives for the Admiralty at a time when the early internal combustion engines were thought to pose an unacceptable fire risk. She was rebuilt a few years ago and looks lovely, although the scaled down barges were never very fast.