Drying Out and Warming Up

Saturday 27th April

We spent last night anchored on the East side of Dungeness: not a very peaceful anchorage but a useful place to wait for a fair tide or a reasonable wind when going down channel. 

We lifted the anchor at 4 am by the light of a full moon and had a brisk sail with a northerly wind to Brighton. Still very cold (nearly May!)  but we are now warming up in more hospitable surroundings while waiting for crew reinforcements - Ant Bennett - and drying the boat out a bit.

We will go for a drink with him when he arrives...

Driving the crew to drink!

Contented Skipper

Off at last!

Left the Swale at 6am, and a very wet and fast sail down to Ramsgate. It seemed a pity not to go on but the rain stopped, the wind died and we are now becalmed between the Goodwin sands and the Kent coast.

There been much discussion recently of the possibility of building an international airport on the Goodwins. Certainly if you have to build an airport somewhere then the Goodwin scheme would cause less disturbance to fewer people than any other option. The Goodwins have for centuries been a graveyard for ships -the site of many wrecks and many heroic rescues. Buried in the sands must be many remains of ships and their cargos from all ages, all in an unknown state of preservation and quietly deteriorating. How interesting it would be if the airport construction allowed systematic excavation of this unique depository of marine archeology. Wrecks always have an unending fascination-the site of so much drama and effort frozen in time.

Maybe the international air travellers of the future could pass the time while changing planes by wondering at the preserved remains of intercontinental travel from a long forgotten age.

Sent from Samsung Mobile

Sponsorship!

Bonita's trip has attracted some sponsorship. First we have been presented with a smart logo  by the excellent digital branding agency Vitamin London.

Designed specifically for the trip this logo will feature on our crew attire which is being generously donated by the UK's leading marine consulting engineers Beckett Rankine. Why Beckett Rankine? Well, apart from a family connection which keen-eyed readers might have spotted, Beckett Rankine are also celebrating 125 years of history this year and what better way than to sponsor a 125 year old yacht's tour of UK ports!

Beckett Rankine's origins began in 1888 when Robert White (current director Gordon Rankine's great grandfather)  set up in business as a consulting engineer. Originally specializing  in railway projects, mostly in India, the firm moved into port work in the early 20th Century. Robert White's son Sir Bruce White was responsible for the design of Richborough port during the 1st World War and then the Mulberry Harbours in Normandy during the 2nd World War. Bonita will be passing many of the firm's achievements en route with some of the more notable projects getting a mention in this blog as we go.

While on the subject of anniversaries we are undertaking this voyage as part of the Old Gaffers Association's Golden Jubilee Round Britain Challenge. Details of the event and all the boats (and bloggers) taking part in it can be found on the OGA50 website.

2 days until the shakedown passage to the Solent....

Time to leave the boatyard and head out for the great wide world...
...or as a first installment, out into the river Swale anyway!

This requires a little mental effort as the yard seems comfortable and safe. There is a well stocked chandlers and a pub within easy walking distance.  There is also mains water, electricity and clean(ish) toilets. There are lots of interesting boat restoration projects to look at in various stages of hope or despair. What more can a troubled sailor ask for?  The river here never gets rough, and indeed at low tide there is hardly any river. Many boats and their owners get cosseted by these simple luxuries and seem never to leave the yard at all.  

However today we had sun, a pleasant SW wind force 3-4 and it was time to leave the yard and negotiate the meandering channel of Faversham creek and out to Bonitas mooring on the Swale to await further developments. 

Laying nicely to the tide on a secure mooring....

2013: Hand crafted wooden technology + hand crafted digital technology

1666: Great Fire of London - caused by new oven technology
1777: First Marine Chronograph Patented
1888: Bonita hand built by craftsmen at Arnside, Cumbria
1999: Mobile Internet starts in Beta test

In her 125^th year, Bonita now carries echoes of all these events as she sails round Britain.  At the time she was built, she was ‘state of the art’ for a gentleman’s cruiser.  As much skill, effort and creative problem-solving went into her construction as went into the crafting of the computer software this old lady is carrying aboard - or for the new technology of baking bread..

Once GPS position keeping became commonplace, one of the first maritime extensions was the AIS system.  This was originally designed for large ships to transmit short range ‘pings’ of their position, speed and heading.  Any ship within radio range could pick up these short messages and then, visually or automatically, work out whether a collision was going to happen — and take avoiding action if necessary.  The same equipment transmits & receives and is compulsory on all registered merchant ships.

For cost reasons, Bonita only has a receive capability, but this will be enough to stop her being run down in Bristol Channel fog.  Much easier than shining a torch on her mainsail— which we've done on more than one occasion!

Early on, some clever techie realised, that if they could receive these tiny AIS messages at a shore-based radio station. They could then display ship positions live on a computer - and nowadays send them onto the Internet.  

Go to  http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/ and have a play –  you’ll be astounded by the detail.   You can also download Marinetraffic for your Android phone or tablet from here.  If you’re still on old technology, it’s available for the Apple iPhone  here.  If you really want a great view on your PC or tablet, get the Google Earth 3D extension from here. 

Zoom in on the English Channel or Shanghai.  See the live position of every ship in the area, then right click to see their track, their pictures and ship details.  You can even add waypoints and calculate arrival times.  If you search for Bonita‑Yawl (not ‘Yawl Bonita’), you'll see her position if she’s transmitting.  If she hasn't for 24 hours, it will say ‘Out of Range’.  It will also tell you the last time she transmitted. The picture above shows her journey today from Iron Wharf Boatyard to her mooring (click the picture for a much higher resolution).

So if she only has a receive capability, how is Bonita doing this? Well the answer is the Google Android Phone that Mike or his crew is carrying, and the mAIS Self Reporting app which you can download from here.   Bonita has her own MMSI number (or at least her VHF radio does) — 235098433 — and you can search on Marinetraffic using this instead of her name.  As long as she’s within range of a cellular network (which is almost all the time), Mike or his crew’s phone will send out her speed, position and heading every 15 minutes.  The messages are tiny, so the cost is negligible with a UK data plan; the power consumption is low enough to only need to recharge the phone once a day.  

More on Bonita’s electrical systems in a later blog.