Boulogne-sur-Mer

The white cliffs of  Dover astern on a grey morning

Today bought a moderate SW wind. This would have been perfect for going to Calais.  However this seemed not so attractive. Calais is rumoured to be full of asylum seekers desperate to get into the UK and various French and English officials who job it is to stop them.We have a lot of sympathy with the refugees who are often showing energy and initiative in escaping from civil wars or similar disasters and looking for a better life. However we thought Calais might be less suitable as a holiday destination, so we hauled in the sheets and headed south.

We had a brisk sail and after 6 hours reached Boulogne. The marina was full partly as there was a rally of Dutch yachts, but we squeezed in eventually.

It is many years since we were last here but the town is still busy despite the loss of the ferry traffic. It is definitely worth the walk up to the old fortified town where there are many interesting attractions. We had supper in a restaurant there and walked round the old ramparts.  

The Pharoah's ship in Boulogne

The second photo shows a model of Cheops' ship from ancient Egypt. The original is over 4,000 years old and at 42m is rather longer than this model. It was a little unclear why this model was on display in Boulogne (although that may be due to poor understanding of the French explanation on our part). But its interesting to see the quality in woodworking and how the design works due to the shipwrights' thorough understanding of the materials they had available to them.

While we felt we could spend another couple of days exploring Boulogne we also hope for reasonable weather to move on west tomorrow.

2015 Swale Race

Alice on the race

Saturday 8 August, the day of the Swale race, began with dense fog and complete calm, but by the time of the start the fog had burned away and we had a light NE breeze. As always the race was a fine spectacle with lots of gaffers old and new, sailing barges,  assorted old motor boats and bermudian yachts. Our crew on Bonita consisted of Dave Patuck (now fully recovered from last year's Dutch trip) Allan and Alice. Although we had a fine day Bonita's performance was sadly not at her best. I attributed this to unwise use of cheap antifouling rather than any lack of skill or concentration among the crew. The first picture shows Alice with one of the few boats we overtook in the background.

Geoff Jones and his prizewinning crew

The evening prizegiving in the Shipwrights Arms was a very jolly affair as always and it was nice to catch up with some old friends. Geoff Jones on Calismarde got the cup and pennant for the first classic Bermudian yacht. The picture shows Geoff together with his skilled crew and admirers and their prized pennant.

We are now heading off down Channel...

New Paint

Maintenance on Bonita continues at a low level through most of the year, interspersed with some sailing in the summer. Although spring is the traditional time for fitting out, the painting goes so much better on the long warm summer days. And so here is Bonita high and dry on the Swale with a fresh coat of paint newly applied to the hull below and above the waterline. This is done by drying her out against posts on the beach and we get a few short hours to scrape off the barnacles, dry, sandpaper and paint before the tide returns.

It makes for a busy day.   Its traditional that the last lick of paint to the waterline is applied at just the exact moment that the rising tide spills over the top of the hardworking skipper/owners boots. However on this occasion the weather was warm and few unforseen problems arose. The photo records the fact that on this day at least the job was finished with time to spare as the tide lapped round the keel. In another hour and a half she will be afloat and back on her mooring.

Our plan this year is to take part in the Swale race in early August, before setting out on the summers cruise. Cruises are sometimes better not planned in too much detail and it can be best just to set out and see where you get to rather than waiting in port for a favourable wind

Chasse-Maree

Sarah Beckett with her Chasse-Maree

Readers of this blog who would like to brush up their French are encouraged to look at the current issue (No 266) of the French traditional boat magazine Chasse-Maree. There they will find a fine eight page article by Nic Compton about Bonita, her round Britain trip and some of her history. There are also historical notes on the Morecambe Bay prawners, and about Crossfield's yard where Bonita was built.

The Beckett family are known more for enthusiasm than ability when it comes to foreign language skills; the notable exception is Sarah who is proficient in a range of European languages. The picture shows Sarah enjoying her copy of Chasse-Maree.

Laid up for the winter

Cosy under her covers 

Bonita spends the winter under her canvas covers at the excellent Ironwharf boatyard at the head of Faversham creek. The picture shows her in her accustomed berth, alongside the sailing barge Mirosa, which has a much more substantial winter cover with a steel frame, corrugated sheet roof and canvas sides. The photo was taken at high tide: however much of the time there is virtually no water in the creek and the boats rest peacefully in a soft muddy ooze. Almost everything portable has been taken out to be stored ashore.

There are always plenty of jobs to be done, even in the depth of winter. There is cleaning out of all the accumulated grime and some internal  painting. Cuprinol wood preservative, sometimes mixed with boiled linseed oil, is sprayed into all accessible crevices and corners.

Knee replacement surgery

This year I found some decay in one of the lodging knees up in the bow. These are wooden blocks, more or less right angled, that give stiffness to the hull against flexing.  I wondered at first if it would be better or easier to replace the old fitting with laminated wood, stainless steel, or some other modern material. Eventually I decided, as I usually do, that its best to replace it with the same material that worked fine for over a hundred years. And so a new oak lodging knee has now been shaped up and fitted. This one is held in place with bronze and stainless bolts though; its predecessor was fastened with galvanised iron.  

 

All the gear that has been taken ashore also needs overhauling, or at least drying out and checking over. This month I have been trying to resuscitate the Avon dinghy which seemed to be leaking more air than ever. This dinghy fits nicely on the cabin top, and I would be reluctant to get rid of it prematurely. It has some sentimental value too. Originally bought for the 1974 Old Gaffers trip to Holland, it has twice been taken (overland) to the Mediterranean. Once on a trip to Northern Ireland during 'the troubles' it was blown off a sea wall by the downdraft from an army helicopter - a hazard I had not anticipated. The trusty Avon was also a key element in a very stressful, but ultimately successful, 'man overboard' recovery in the middle of the English Channel. On Bonita age is not in itself a reason to get rid of something, more likely the reverse.

 

Decayed Avon mushroom valve

The main fault seemed to be that the air valves all leaked, and an oddity of the early Avons is that the valves cannot be changed as it is impossible to get at the inside of the valve housings which are glued in place. Perhaps fortuitously our Avon was vandalised about 20 years ago: someone had thought it would be fun to slash open each compartment with a knife. Presumably they found it an enjoyable experience.  I had made a repair by gluing patches of dinghy material over the cuts and it seemed none the worse. So now I peeled the patches off to enable access to the underside of the valves. All of them were badly decayed: the picture shows the best of the three, the other two disintegrated as they were being removed. Luckily these rubber mushrooms are used on several other types of dinghy and are still easily available for a couple of pounds each. 

The underside of the valve seats were cleaned up from all the adherent bits of sticky valve material, new valve mushrooms put in, and the patches glued back in place.

 

Will this be enough to give the old Avon a new lease of life?  We will have to see....