Propellor removal......

A couple of weeks ago D and I took advantage of a day of good weather, spring tides and no other duties that couldnt be rearranged to bring Bonita up Faversham creek for the winter. Remarkably, we managed the trip without going aground, although there were moments when we only had 0.1m or less under the keel. So what work is planned for this winter? For the last couple of years I have been worrying about the wear on the folding propellor. There doesnt seem to be any corrosion, but due to the metal wearing down there is quite a lot of lateral movement of the blades in their housing. How much movement is too much? How much wear can there be before there is a risk of a blade falling off? There are no easy answers to these questions, but I have previously had the experience of one blade coming off a folding propellor and its definitely a situation thats best avoided. Fortunately on that occasion we were able to sail back across the estuary to our mooring. Its not necessary to have her lifted ashore to take out the old propellor and shaft - working from the dinghy at low tide it can be removed as the boat sits in the soft mud, and a wooden bung hammered in to keep the water out. We will see if the new prop goes back as easily, as Bonita will probably settle down a bit deeper into the mud over the next few weeks.

The picture shows the old propeller and shaft after being bought ashore and much hosing down. This is a Gori type of folding propellor that I bought in 1989, so I hope its replacement will last as long. When I looked at it in the comfort and security of home, the wear didnt seem quite so bad after all, but the man in the shop who makes his living selling propellors said it definitely needed replacement. Its a significant expense so I hope that maybe the boat will perform a bit better under engine with a brand new sleek propellor. Well, perhaps it will.

A visit from a Crossfield!

On Wednesday Bonita had a visit from Eric Crossfield. Erics great great grandfather ( I think thats right) was William Crossfield who built Bonita. William was about 40 at the time, and Bonita was as far as we know his first commission for a yacht, so no doubt he was keen to make sure everything was to the highest standard. The family long ago gave up building boats but Eric is ex-Navy and a keen yachtsman. He also has lots of documents and photos from the families boatbuilding days. This may very well have been the first time a member of the Crossfield family had been aboard Bonita since she was launched in July 1888- I hope he thought she has been looked after properly in the intervening years. Bonita is not only the oldest Crossfields boat afloat, but also probably one of the most original, with much of the Victorian shipwrights craftmanship on display. It was a breezy day, but we went for a short sail with a reef in the main. You would have thought Bonita would have been on her best behaviour for the occasion, but sadly this was not so. Being the end of the season, her bottom had got rather weedy and she was slow in stays while going about. Due to the inattention of the skipper she ran aground ( on soft mud on a rising tide) and then further disgraced herself by getting a rope around the propellor while motoring off. Apart from this we had a fine brisk and enjoyable sail in the sheltered waters of the Swale and picked up the mooring under sail. Eric stowed the sails while I unwound the remains of the rope from the propellor. It was a great pleasure having Eric aboard. He has very bravely taken on Peggy, a Crossfields boat that went round Britain with us in 2013 but now needs a lot of restoration. Hopefully she will be afloat and sailing again before too long!

Second Arnside Conference

D and I went to Arnside (by train) for the second conference on the Crossfields and the boats they built for use in Morecambe Bay and beyond. The conference was once again ably organised by Alasdair Simpson, Commodore of the Arnside sailing club. At the last conference a couple of years ago I gave a talk on Bonita. This time we went to listen, learn and network. We had a very interesting and sociable time and hope the conference will become a regular, if not annual occasion. Its good to hear of the efforts going into preserving these fine boats. As well as the old wooden boats there are several grp Crossfields boats made from a mould taken of the old Morecambe Bay lifeboat, the William Priestley. The Crossfields made hundreds of boats and about 40 are still in existance. Bonita is the oldest, as shown in the poster on display at the conference....

The Church Hill boatyard where Bonita was built no longer exists- it was demolished a couple of years ago and replaced by new housing. Unusually, the boatyard is not on the waters edge, but up a fairly steep hill in the middle of the village. When completed, the boats were rolled on a trolley down the hill and onto the beach, to be lifted off by the incoming tide. The Crossfields had no way of getting boats back into the yard if there was a problem, so everything had to be 'right first time'. The second picture shows the river Kent, running west from Arnside out towards the sea.

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Swale Race 2021

The last two year's Swale Matches were cancelled due to stormy weather, but we had a fine westerly breeze, force 3-4 for today's race.  It was nice to see the river full of traditional craft one again, although there seemed to be slightly fewer boats than usual, perhaps due to the pandemic. On Bonita we had 3 minus 1 crew members. Apart from myself, we had John, Allan and Toby. Toby is 4 and this was his first race under sail. He was very interested in everything that was happening and enjoyed pulling on ropes. He did however need someone older with him most of the time to make sure he didn't get hurt when the boat was heeling over or when we were tacking or gybing, so most of the time he fully occupies one adult. Toby did feel a bit queasy at one point, but this was easily cured with a chocolate biscuit.

                                                               Toby and Allan

The race is over about 20 miles and takes us out into the Thames estuary off the North Kent coast. We had a fine race, with the topsail up the whole time, and no water on deck. Unfortunately there was a bit of weed on the boat as I hadn't had time to scrub her off properly, but nevertheless we overtook a few boats in our class.

I was interested to see that Blue Mermaid was present, who I had not seen before. She is  a new steel sailing barge, owned by the Sea Change Sailing Trust, and looks magnificent. She was commissioned in 2019, and is the first Thames sailing barge to be built since the 1930s, built on the lines of the original Blue Mermaid that was sunk by a mine in the 1940s. 

                                                    Blue Mermaid

Remarkably, when it came to the prizegiving we found we had come second in our class!  We got the Whitstable Times Cup. Who knows how we might have done if I had been able to clean all the weed off the bottom?  Bonita has won this cup in the Swale Race twice before - in 1986 and 2008. On all three occasions Allan has been part of her winning crew - although he was very young indeed in 1986. Clearly we do better when we are able to call on the services of a younger crew....

The picture shows Allan, Toby, Martha and Alice with Toby proudly holding our prize cup.

                                                     The Whitstable Times Cup

There are some good photos of this years race taken by Seamus Masters on the Kentish Sail Association instagram page. There is a lovely picture of Bonita approaching the finish line, which has attracted over a thousand 'likes'!

Back Home!

I left Bonita at Gosport for a few days while the NE winds blew over  and went back aboard on Wednesday night. Luckily our friend Jane agreed to come as crew.

 Jane has done lots of sailing here and in Australian waters and has sailed on Bonita many times before. We set out at 1.30am to catch the tide. Such an early start seemed a bit bleak, but we had a a still night with a full moon. We motored to the Looe channel just off Selsey Bill, arriving just as the east going tide was starting.. Soon a light SW wind came up and we spent the day gently running up Channel keeping a few miles offshore. We heard many warnings on the VHF about illegal migrants crossing the channel, and we saw some military activity, but we saw no overloaded  dinghies full of migrants. Very likely many slip in unnoticed by anyone. 

As night fell we were concerned to see that the Varne lightship  marking a sandbank in the middle of the English Channel, whose light has always flashed once every 20 seconds was in fact flashing every 5 seconds. Usually the characteristic of major navigational lights stays the same for many years. None of the charts we carried could explain this. However it appears that this change has been made as part of converting from diesel generated electricity to a solar powered LED light. Very few lightships show a red light, which requires much more power as the red filter absorbs the majority of the light. Its possible  some of our charts might not be completely up to date, and perhaps its time for a new chip for the chartplotter.

  By midnight we were passing Dover harbour with a brisk fair spring tide.  There is plenty of anxiety in passing Dover at night, with its frequent fast ferries entering and leaving, and the array of dazzling shore lights can make the process more stressful. Immediately after Dover there is the contrast of the calm and unclutted waters of East Kent. Daybreak saw us off Margate, and we had a brisk tack into Swale against a freshening SW wind. D met us in the car, and we had the abrupt transition from old gaffer sailing into the real world. Ds picture shows Bonita back on her mooring with Jane and myself sorting out the covers intended to keep the worst of the rain off.

This was our second year attending the Falmouth Classics, which we enjoyed a lot, although it is a long way to go from the Thames estuary.  Maybe next year we will be freer to cross the English channel and North Sea, although I am always anxious that we might meet an official demanding proof that VAT has been paid, or certification that Bonita complies with current boatbuilding regulations.