Sunny Sunday Sailing

Well I really would have liked to have sailed Valmik the 200 nautical miles from the Swale to Devon. Unfortunately I was running out of time before my wedding to do so, and with funds low, transport by roads provided a fixed price. Getting stuck in an expensive marina for weeks was not an appealing option. Plus with my new boat building job in Devon ,I only had my weekends to attempt this.

So Valmik got to see the M26, M25, M4 and the M5 instead.

So she only suffered a slight bit of damage on the way. 

Probably from a pot hole on the road.

Or maybe just a small collision with the support arm on the trailer. 

Then with the fishermen rushing us to launch her we craned her in without any hassle. 

I then had to untie/untangle the rigging for raising the mast.

The crane driver very kindly came back twice to see if we were ready to raise the mast.

It all went up very smoothly. 

So Kate and I got ready for our first little trip to find our allocated mooring buoy for Valmik. Trusty Old Seagull outboard fired up on the second pull. And surprisingly my second outboard started up too quite easily. We motored around to our mooring as it was blowing a hoolie. We chained her to the buoy and I had to rush off to work.

Sunny Sunday Sailing,

We had planned to go for a sail and the weather looked great. I considered sailing off the mooring but the boats are quite jam packed, and I do like to give my outboards a good test every now and then anyway. So they both fired up and we were off. 

So the differences from Torbay to the Swale are huge. Firstly the tidal streams are not very strong in the bay at all. And secondly there is so much deep water and no sand/mud banks to worry about as long as you stay away from the shore.

The wind was quite breezy, I decided we should have a nice calm and slow paced sail. So we reefed Valmik well down. Even with the second reef in the main and a reefed jib we were flying along in the gusts. 

Check out this Video It is not the best ever but sets the scene.

We sailed for a few hours and then headed back into Brixham harbour. I had one outboard in neutral as we came in, but we easily sailed onto our mooring buoy, down wind under jib only.

A beautiful start to Valmiks new sailing waters.

Outboard engine wrestler

Well as usual something very funny happened again last weekend when we took Valmik out.

We wanted to leave Oare creek and take Valmik back to Conyer and invited our friends Pete and Terry to join us. So everything was in order and I put one of the outboards into reverse with the other in tickover. We went out smoothly astern and against the wind. I then needed to turn 90 degrees to head out the creek and avoid the other boats. So I spun my outboard 90 degrees and I gave it full throttle to spin us quickly, as it's full force was now perpendicular to the bracket it tried to slip off. I had not tightened the clamps tight enough and it ripped up some of the soft plywood bracket as well. I was now in quite a difficult situation with a half completed manoeuvre and a runaway outboard on full throttle with the propeller fully out of the water . I had also forgotten to lash it off to Valmik, so I was also in danger of losing it overboard. We were in close quarters to other boats and I had both hands on this outboard that was trying to jump off. I tried to slip it back on the bracket but as soon as the prop hit the water I was fighting four horse power going the other way, so back out of the water it went again. I was trying to remember how to shut it down but had to have a quick look around to check our position. I saw Kate, Pete and Terry all looking at me and wondering what was going on, Kate said don't worry we are not going to hit anything. I turned my attention back to this misbehaving outboard. Oh that is where the kill switch is. I shut it down. The other outboard engine was quickly put into gear and we were away.

HA ha, wow what just happened (I thought). Oh well lets focus on getting out of this shallow creek with out going aground again. As soon as I had the opportunity I readjusted the other outboard engine and cranked down tight on the clamps. Lesson learnt! I really like having two outboards on the transom. Because if one stops hopefully the other keeps going for a while for you to have a go at fixing the problem.

We had a really lovely afternoon out sailing under full sail in gusty airs. We were fighting a moderate strength tide and were actually sailing backwards between the gusts, which were infrequent.

I got Pete and Terry ashore and Kate and I had a lovely evening in south deep again. We got up very early and motored up into Conyer creek before the sun even started to light up the sky. When we approached the marina I shut down the loud Seagull engine and sculled us very smoothly into our mooring.



I love mooring up under oar, It is really special, It feels more natural than an engine.

Also people who have just undergone knee surgery can go sailing (hey Pete)!

Thats all for now

Postponed

So we spent about two weeks in Oare Creek for some rest and to try and track down more equipment. I did some paid work in order to afford a pair of old winches from the USA. We went to see a friend and got another outboard engine from him. This outboard is another old 4hp engine. It is quite a simple engine and it spins around 360 degrees, so I have reverse for the first time. We were ready for our second little trip and I used the reverse to motor out of our mooring against the wind. It was a very simple manoeuvre with this outboard, but without it my only other option was to kedge off.

Day 6

The forecast was good and conditions were light. We started with our life jackets on and were motoring out of the small creek. We were using the latest outboard engine. I wanted to give it a good run and it had worked well in the test runs. As we neared the Shipwrights Arms, where Oare Creek joins Faversham Creek, Kate asked me what we would do if this engine failed. I said that we would get the jib up quickly, and not a minute after that the engine conked out. Kate got the jib up and came back to helm. We were pointing as close to the wind as possible, with just the jib up, and were heading straight for the side of the creek. We tacked Valmik easily and headed back towards the fork in the creek. During this time, I started to replace the failed engine with my old, reliable Seagull. Kate tacked again and, in the narrow creek, we nearly went aground as we came through the wind. I had the other engine on the outboard bracket soon after and got it started easily. We dropped the jib and started motoring again. Wow, that was an adrenalin rush! And then the seagull conked out... Jib up again. I had to way up my options quite quickly here: Both outboards have failed, the wind is too strong to row against, we could always sail back down the creek or we could beat out of the creek. I thought we would have to do a few quick tacks to get out, so I quickly got the mainsail up to give us more control. We got some help from a small wind shift, enabling us to sail closer to the channel. In the end, we managed to get out of the creek without any further tacks.

When we emerged from the mouth of the creek, the wind started to increase.  It was much stronger than was forecast. We reefed down to make it more comfortable.  Even though Folkboats can handle stronger winds before reefing, we were not after another fast-paced sail through this anchorage. The tide had already turned and was quite strong. We struggled to make ground against the elements, but slowly pulled away upwind and uptide of the cluster of anchored vessels. We tried a couple of times to pick up a mooring buoy. The wind was with the tide and both were strong, making this quite difficult. We started looking for a nice place to anchor. Our timing for tacking the jib was improving very quickly and I started to wonder if we did need those old winches I had bought.

We found a nice spot in which to anchor, well away from the other boats. I dropped both sails and slowly lowered the anchor onto the seabed. We started going downtide and downwind rapidly and I thought that the anchor would bite into the mud quite quickly. Holding the chain, I could feel the anchor skipping over the ground. Oh no. We were fast approaching the other boats. Why had I anchored upwind, uptide and in line with them all? I let out all 30 metres of chain and started letting out my warp(line). Kate remembers clearly my pleading for the line to please hold as we neared the other boats. I was again quickly weighing up my options, none of which I liked at all. We looked like we might be lucky and fall between a big fishing boat and a small yacht, but I was unsure. I considered raising sail and tacking up to the anchor whilst winching it in. This was not something that I really wanted to do. Finally, the anchor bit in and held well. I very quickly got one of the outboards up and running in case we needed it and monitored our position closely. When the tidal stream decreased in strength, we raised the anchor, motored ahead and took a mooring buoy. We then had another one of those evenings which can only be earned.  VIDEO

Day 7

In the morning I investigated the problem with the other outboard. I got it working, then it stopped, indicating that it was a fuel problem. Oh you idiot! I had miscalculated the petrol:oil ratio and put far too much oil in the mix.  The problem was easily solved and the engine ran very well after that.

We headed off for the Medway. We decided to motor to test the engines. I had both engines mounted on the transom and we tested them at slack water. We reached a top speed of 4.5 Knots with both engines running at full throttle. It was a little after low tide when we left and, according to my chart plotter, there should have been just enough water for us to make it on low tide. As we approached a deep part of the channel, I realised that my chart plotter was still showing depth in feet, not metres. I thought that I had already adjusted the units of measurement. We did not have enough depth to continue as planned, so we anchored. After a lovely swim (VIDEO), we changed our minds about heading to the Medway that day. Instead, we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and have a calm sail back to Harty Ferry for lunch.  That evening we enjoyed another beautiful sunset on a mooring buoy.

Day 8

We had a wonderful sail this day. Our intention was to sail to Queenborough on the Medway via Conyer Creek. We set sail a little after low tide. The beauty of sailing at this state of the tide is that, if you go aground, the tide will most likely lift you off. We were sailing in quite a narrow channel and had the tide helping us along our way. This was good because the wind was very light. We learnt a little bit here about sailing close hauled in light winds with a strong following tide. The tacks were very short in parts, due to the width of the channel at low tide. Kate sailed us downtide/upwind of a mooring buoy. I dropped the main and she turned us around. We picked up the mooring easily, under the jib alone. It is very funny and a little frustrating how much we change our minds about what we want to do. We decided not to go to Queenborough in the end for reasons explained later.

We went into Conyer Creek in the inflatable dinghy to pick some things up, buy supplies and use a friend's washing machine. I managed to catch up with some friends before we had to catch the last of the tide out. We left just in time to make it out of the creek whilst there was still enough water to motor the inflatable. It was approaching dusk and, despite the noise of the old seagull engine, it was a very serene and special trip. We had another really still and peaceful night.

 Day 9

We woke up very early, before the sun showed its face and at high tide. There was a gentle wind and we set sail back to Harty Ferry. The wind was behind us, we had full sails up and a following tide again. It was a beautiful morning and we had a lovely calm sail. VIDEO. With the wind and tide pushing us along at about 6 Knots (over the ground), we were fast approaching our destination. In fact, we were going to struggle to pick up a mooring buoy under sail alone in these conditions because the wind was too light and the tide was too strong. I pointed Valmik into the wind and tide and, it might be a little hard to understand but, we were actually sailing backwards over the ground. We were moving forwards through the water, but the water was moving in the opposite direction much quicker. It was a calm and peaceful morning. Unfortunately I had to break the silence with my loud outboard engine. It would have been nice to test our skills by sailing onto a mooring buoy backwards, but we will try this another time. We caught up on sleep for a little bit and I had a swim at low tide. VIDEO.

As the tide came back in, the wind picked up. I reefed the sails down and we once again had a really enjoyable sail. We sailed very slowly into the wind and tide to get upwind of the entrance to Faversham Creek, where we dropped the mainsail. Kate did all of the helming and she sailed us nearly all of the way up into Oare Creek. We dropped the jib as we came within sight of our mooring and I took over the helm. Both of our outboards had been in tick over since we entered the creek. It is a very shallow creek and I took my concentration off the game for a little bit, which resulted in us going aground again. It was nearly high tide so we would not be getting any help from the tide to lift us off. I tried reversing, but the engine was not powerful enough. The dinghy was already inflated and the kedge was calling for me to row it out again. A friendly couple on a boat that was moored nearby asked me to throw them a line. They winched our bow around, pulling us off the mud.  mooring easily after that. Some really nice people came to help us, as we needed to pull Valmik through the mud into the mooring because there was a bit of a mud bank in our way.


And here is the update...

Okay, well, we will not be completing a circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland this year, much to my disappointment. Due to financial issues, and the fact that we are getting married soon, it is not really possible. We just have too much going on. It is a shame, but I need to go back to work. Do not worry, I am not giving up, it is just being delayed once again. We will, however, be having lots of sailing adventures this year, regardless of how far we actually sail!

Yes, I know, it is disappointing. Due to the fact that my sponsors have failed to materialise out of thin air, I will have to continue my aspiration to circumnavigate the United Kingdom and Ireland another time. Although if they do show up quickly, we might still be able to enjoy a long cruise.

A Rocky start...

So once again I was rushing about like mad trying to get Valmik ready for leaving. I said goodbye to everybody in the marina and some friends came down to the pontoon to wish us well. Of course I was a little bit nervous about it all, but was very pleased to finally be leaving. For seven years and two months I have owned Valmik. It is hard for me to reflect on everything that has happened over that time because it has spanned so long. I have made lots of very good friends, all of whom are happy for me to be leaving to chase my dreams. Others there may just be happy that I am leaving...

I have been building this adventure up over the years with this blog and a few magazine articles. Just before Kate and I left, a very good friend said something to me that took a lot of that pressure off. He said "just by starting this adventure you have already triumphed". Cheers Pete, and a special thanks to you all at Conyer who have helped me so much over the eight or so years since my arrival.

So we left, and here is a detailed description of our first five days out.

Day 1

I spun the boat around on the outgoing tide to face into the unknown. I pushed off, jumped aboard and asked Kate to steer whilst I quickly hoisted the Jib. We gracefully sailed all the way out of the creek. This was a perfect start. To sail out like this after just over seven years of Valmik's restoration was something very special. Once out, we began to test Valmik's handling ability by tacking and seeing how high she points to the wind with the foresail only. After a calm and enjoyable sail we picked up a mooring buoy for the night. A friend was out checking his boats were strongly anchored, because there were severe gales forecast for the next couple of days, and he joined us on board for a cup of tea. I carried on with the sewing of our cushion covers and Kate cooked us a lovely meal. We had a very peaceful first night on a buoy.

Day 2

We both slept in and had a very yummy eggy bread breakfast. I managed to scrub the topsides, the deck and the cabin structure clean of the Conyer mud. Then the winds increased up to around 45 miles per hour. We were sheltered from any big waves as the wind was coming off the land. Although the wind was across the tide, there was still a sort of wind against tide chop coming through. The waves were no bigger than a metre but were coming from behind us and slapping the transom. Valmik has a long keel and because of this she was mostly facing into the tide. Only when the wind reached its peak, did she begrudgingly turn to face it for a very short time. This meant that when the really big gusts came through, instead of facing up she heeled right over and tried to sail the mooring buoy up tide. So it was like we were sailing, heeling right over and slapping into a short and steep choppy sea. It was good to see how Valmik behaved in this wind across tide situation with these little waves. Kate cooked the yummiest pancakes (BEST so far, she is trying to perfect them) on our cooker which gimbals very well. We do eat very well on board Valmik.

I had my dinghy lashed alongside Valmik in case she slipped her lines. The wind direction was such that we would have gone straight up onto the mud bank of Fowley Island. I did not want to go aground there again, so I kept my dinghy ready in case. I was down below when I heard a crash and saw a shadow flashing by. I stuck my head out and found that the inflatable dinghy had landed in the cockpit. I quickly evicted the frightened little boat. As soon as she hit the water, she flew up again and I instantly found that she rested well on her side and lashed to the life line (railing). My batteries were staying well topped up by the wind generator and solar panels. I set a very short anchor dragging alarm on my chart plotter to test its accuracy. I got up every two hours, and every time the alarm went off, to check our position. The tides were springs, so we touched the ground slightly as the tide reached its lowest.

Day 3

We awoke this morning to Valmik heeling right over, aground again on the low tide. There was another severe gale due (Force 9), with a negative tidal surge. We received this news as part of the shipping forecast over the VHF radio. The wind picked up again and was stronger than yesterday. The dinghy managed to get a few flips in before I lashed her to the rail again. The day passed quite uneventfully, as one would hope in winds of 50 mph. I clamped down my sewing machine in the cabin and did some more work on our cushions. Kate had cut out all of the patterns whilst ashore and I was doing all of the sewing. We are doing really well making our first set of cushions. We are a good little team.

In the evening, we heeled right over onto our side again at low tide. Every time this happened over the two days, I prodded the bottom of the sea bed with an oar to ensure there were no nasties that might damage the hull lying in wait. At about 10pm Kate and I were trying to sleep. We were against the hull with Valmik at a heel of about 45 degrees. We both heard the water lapping up over the deck and what seamed like little wavelets hitting the cabin side. I was up in a flash because there was a little trickling sound mixed in with the outside water sounds. I quickly found that some water was coming in from the topsides beneath the sheerstrake and in a few other spots. I redirected my manual bilge pump and Kate and I started removing the water. It was not working too well as the water was very shallow against the hull in this area. I got out my 2000 GPH bilge pump, which is easily removable from the bilge (it is on a really long hose), and this made very short work of the water ingress. So it was not a massive issue and in fact it did well to highlight a few areas where I might be able to stop a little bit of leaking. As this negative tidal surge only affected us at slack water, we were upright again within an hour or so. We have almost all of our important items and food in waterproof containers and bags, so the leaking did not cause a problem on this occasion.

Aground the morning of the third day before the severe gale

Day 4

We set sail down wind under foresail only and enjoyed a nice little sail towards Harty Ferry. I only expected it to take us just under an hour to reach the anchorage. The wind started picking up again and boat speed increased. We were flying along against the incoming tide and the wind kept increasing even more. We were experiencing much more than was forecast. To enter Oare Creek we needed to head straight into this wind. We were not sure if my little 4HP seagull outboard engine would have the power to get us in against the 20 to 25 Knot wind. We did a test run before we reached the creek and I thought it looked like we could make headway against it. As we entered the creek we were not making any ground at all. There was another boat coming out of the small creek and I had to turn quickly around in front of them to avoid being pushed onto the mud spit by the increasing wind. So we turned our tails and rushed downwind.

We raised the foresail again and started sailing back into Harty Ferry anchorage, where it all started getting a little bit hairy. I had wanted to run Kate through all of the reefing systems before sailing in a strong wind. It was all very fast paced and in close proximity to moored boats and mooring buoys. We needed more control, so I raised the mainsail fully. It instantly started flogging pretty badly so I quickly pulled in the first reef. With the first reef in, we were still overpowered so I put in the second reef just as quickly. That was still too much, so I reefed the foresail (thanks Ben Kelly for designing such an awesome sail and letting me make it). My foresail is a bi radial hydranet Genoa which reefs down to a nice working Jib. So I had this down, reefed, then back up quicker than most sailors can change sails. Once it is up I can tie the reefing pennants in at my leisure, which is really good because I had to drop back to help Kate.

During this we had spray coming over the foredeck and I realised that my non-skid coating on the deck was near to non existent. We both really should have been clipped on and had our life jackets on as well, but this all happened so quickly. With all of the reefs in we were still flying along. We were tacking and the jib was getting caught on things as it came around, then we struggled to winch the sail in tight quickly. We navigated out of the busier waters and headed up wind to get away from the lee shore. We dropped anchor and backed the sail (to ensure the anchor set in deep). This was the third time I had anchored Valmik. The first time was at the Swale barge match of 2012, where my anchor had dragged and Kate went out to save Valmik (this is how we met). So I was a little uneasy about the anchor holding. I had lost faith in my 12kg CQR anchor, but was keen to give it a fresh chance. It held up really well and my faith in it has been restored. The conditions had slowly started to ease off a bit and gave us time to relfect.

Notes and things to improve on.
We need to have strict rules about when to wear life jackets and clip on.
My instructions to Kate need to be much clearer and precise.
I will be looking for more effective sheet winches.
Need to improve on tacking the jib and remove things that it can catch on.
I need to repaint the decks with non-skid paint.
Need to consider getting another engine which is more powerful.

Apart from the above, I am really happy with the speed at which I can reef my sails and I think that Kate and I did really well overall.

The early evening was really special. The wind died right down and the water was like a mirror. We had beans and eggs on toast and had the most relaxing sleep. It was worth all the hassle of the gales, groundings and the day's events.

Day 5

We got up quite early and had a tasty porridge breakfast with nuts and raisins. The wind was very light and coming from the east today. We decided to set sail and I let Kate do everything. This is the sort of sailing that I wanted us to start with: really calm, slow and in full control, with lots of time to think out our next move. Kate sailed us up to a mooring buoy which was close to the creek, where we waited until the tide came in. The wind was sporadic and light when we left the buoy to enter Oare Creek. We cast off and were motoring at full throttle when I looked back at the mooring buoy. It had not moved. OH no! The engine was not even powerful enough for this. The tide was quite strong. We needed to motor sail to make it into the creek. When we got upwind of the entrance, we dropped the mainsail and turned downwind to sail into the creek. I had only been into this creek in a small dinghy, so we really had to feel our way in watching the depth sounder as it is quite tricky. I quickly worked out that my chart plotter did not actually know where the centre of the small creek currently was. We dropped the jib to get a better view of where we were going because it was quite shallow and poorly marked.

In Faversham Creek about to go into Oare Creek

We had the engine in tick over and knew roughly where our prearranged mooring was. As we got close to the boatyard, we went aground gently. I tried a few things quickly, but we did not budge. I knew we had another hour or so of tide which would lift us off, but wanted to get off sooner in case we went aground again. I jumped in the dinghy with a big oar to test the depth and Kate passed me the kedge (a smaller anchor) and a small amount of chain and rope. I found the channel with the oar and threw the anchor out. I rowed back to Valmik and stepped on board with the big oar in my hand ... hmm. Did I forget something? I usually step onto Valmik from the dinghy with The DINGHY LINE in my hand. I looked behind me and saw the dinghy floating away. 1 metre away: I got ready to jump. No. Too far and bad jumping position. 1.5 metres away: I quickly moved to a better jumping position and scanned the creek for boats. 2 metres away: I leaped into the dinghy and quickly grabbed to oars to row back. I looked over my shoulder to see where I was going. OH NO! Valmik was afloat and the wind was pushing her towards the other side of the creek. I asked Kate to quickly pull the kedge line tight, but not to pull the anchor up. I got on board  and quickly started the engine up again. Kate lifted up the muddy anchor and line and we were off. Shortly after, we were safely in our mooring and having beers with Chris who had been helping us with advice over the last five days.

So over the five days, we have averaged 1 nautical mile per day. We have gone aground four times (albeit briefly), one of which caused leaking. Our dinghy learnt how to fly and do flips. We have learnt a lot about living on board together and discovered that Valmik still needs some improvements before she can be as safe and easy to sail as possible.
At our current average distance sailed per day we have calculated that it will take us until 25 October 2020 to finish the circumnavigation.  We will need to pick up the pace...
8700

Off we go

Well we are nearly ready, actually we nearly left today. It was a bit windy and rainy, so we put it off and got some more work done. I put up some nets for storing vegetables and kitchen ware. I finally got around to putting some shelves in behind my cooker for pots and pans. Things are really starting to find their places. Kate has been cutting out patterns of fabric, so we can finish the cushions off at anchor somewhere. I tuned the rigging this morning and it all looks very good. I fitted my radar reflector up as high as possible last week, yes we have been very very busy.

The Swans really like my rowlocks. Or maybe they just want some more food.

We now have 24 five litre water containers on board which have filled the bilge up completely. This should keep us going for a little longer than a week. We have filled nearly every available space with something and Valmik has gone down in the water a inch or so.

Kate and I getting some Tips from the pro!

Radar reflector going on

Me cutting the foam for Valmik's cushions.Thanks Natalie and Fiona for the foam!!

Our Rough Plan.
Leave on tomorrows tide.
Anchor or pick up a buoy in South deep for one or two nights and finish off some jobs.
Sail the short distance to Harty ferry and anchor for a night.
Go into Oare creek to meet up with a mate.
Go into Faversham creek for fresh veg and fruit.
Anchor in Stangate creek
Sail up the medway and find a mooring.

All of the above might get compressed slightly and we may skip some.

Kate and I are considering then cruising the Black water before heading off down to the South coast.

Fully loaded with equipment

I have finished work and have been living back on Valmik now for two weeks. The progress is going a little slower than expected but do not worry we are on track. If you were wondering how much stuff I can fit on a 26 foot yacht check out these two pictures, And the stores are still to come.

Can you see the monkey?

There is definitely a floor in there somewhere!

 So In two weeks I have managed to filter out/edit a lot of this stuff. At this stage I have everything nicely organised and tightly packed away and there is actually still plenty of room for food and water in the bilge. Consolidation is essential in a small boat! What I had trouble with is relinquishing my supplies of equipment that I may need. But as you can see in the above pictures there has to be a limit. As I find the confidence in my boat I might even be able to do away with even more. But I have found a nice place for my sewing machine which I really want to take with.

 Also in these last two weeks I have completed my VHF DSC short range marine radio licence. I made some sail covers which I have been trying to get around to for ages. I have fitted two solar panels and worked a little bit on improving my bilge pumps. Kate came down for a week and started making some new covers for my cushions. I had four outboard engines onboard, but only one worked. I might be getting one more, maybe

Valmik's First Mate!

I have some good news to announce, my lovely fiancée has handed in her resignation and will be joining me for quite a lot of Valmik's Adventure this year. We have been planning this for some time and now it is official. We are both really excited and also quite scared because we know that some of the trickiest sailing in the world is around the United Kingdom!

And to prove this, here is a summary of something really scary that I read last night:

Pentland firth can be very dangerous for all craft. It should only be navigated with medium strength wind, no swell, good visibility and a neap tide. In this area the tidal stream can reach 12 knots, with 18 knots being the highest recorded. Some of the tidal races that can occur in this area are extremely dangerous for small craft. Very careful planning is required!!!

Just looking through my Almanac proves that the UK has a number of these tidal races around headlands and such like. These can really punish a boat if it's caught out in them and should be avoided, especially in wind over tide conditions. And I have been told that some of these nasty conditions create massive standing breaking waves. Basically these are waves that are stationary on the Earth's surface, they have a strong tide flowing past them and a strong wind causing them to break. The sea bed also has an effect similar to rapids in some locations.

So on a lighter note, and because of the dangers listed above, Kate and I are off to look for safety equipment at the London Boat Show tomorrow.  I will be giving Kate a lesson on how to barter/haggle and not be swindled (hopefully).


We are after amazing deals on the following:

• Liferaft
• Lifejackets
• Epirb (emergency position indicating radio beacon) and Plb (personal locator beacon)
• Flares
• Lines/Rope

There is lots more that I would like to have on board, but unfortunately I am restricted by a tight budget. I would love to be able to afford things like forward facing sonar and an AIS receiver, but they are not on my list.