Captain's log - preparation - continued

So far it's been a very disjointed blog (my posts that is). I'm starting to think that because of the very nature of preparation - non linear-ish - that it's going to remain this way. Maybe it's that very fact that's made it easier than usual to not post.

Anyhoo...very quick update on the plan. Am in Budapest (BP) but tomorrow (Friday) I ride the Goose to Vienna for a leaving party in Charlie P's with my friends. On Saturday Alicja and I drive to Brighton and then onto Fareham to drop boaty stuff off (kaks etc) before driving back to Vienna. Then we (my fabulous bird and I) head to BP for another leaving party at the Embassy and then Champs. A day or two of packing before heading back to Vienna for my final flight to the UK - 23rd Jan. A night in Brighton with a good mate before heading to sunny Basingstoke for my last leaving party. On the 24th the crew of the good ship Catweasel head to Cowes and on the 25th we're racing in the RTI. Although we're using the RTI to kick off the circumnavigation I actually have to get Catweasel back to Fareham to do some last minute work (self draining cockpit & windvane fitting). That means that the actual departure is currently set for the 5th July. Oh, and I also have my VHF license course on the 2nd.

So..what has preparation included so far? well, whilst I'm expecting to be primarily single handed that's only because I'm not waiting around to find crew. If they turn up, they turn up, if they don't..ces't la vie. So far I have a Lithuanian to roughly Plymouth and my brother until Spain. A "may join" in August that I met last night (a lawyer even - so when he shouts Starboard you'd best move).  Crew makes everything cheaper so I'm open to suggestions and may even post on YBW once I get going.

What else? Electronics. I've ordered a McMurdo PLB (£216) (fingers crossed I never that), a hand held GPS (£65) (a Garmin eTrex) which is primarily for the grab bag (which reminds me to get a large scale chart or 3 for the bag), I've yet to order, but will, a Horizon HX280e hand held VHF.  The Catweasel has a fixed VHF so this one will also go in the grab bag. I got it as it'll take a battery pack that uses "normal" batteries (easier to buy and carry AAs etc and thus no need to recharge when in a life raft). In addtion I decided to order a SPOT GPS tracker. That's going to get used to send re-assurances to friends, family and loved ones that the Catweasel and her crew are still on track and OK. It'll also backup the PLB. On top of these toys I'll add my two laptops, my iPhone and my iPod. I'll charge these from the 2 x 85ah batteries. That leaves an open question as to how to charge the batteries. I was pretty close to ordering a wind gen but the techie guy at Marlec reckons I'll be better off with solar. I'm waiting to hear his "whys" before I place my final order.

Navigtion - currently it's based on large scale charts, a pilot book, Open CPN plus the CM93 maps, 2 x GPS units and a compass. I can't afford a plotter or rather decided not to afford one. Long live working out CTS (course to steer).

The Catweasel herself is, I hope, pretty much ready but I'll use the sail to Plymouth as a stress test (for both boat and crew) and then repair on the fly. Am also waiting to get the RYA sail numbers on the sail, the SSR need to get their arse in gear a bit, a few dodgers need making, the chart table needs fixing (I *embarrassed cough* sat on it). I need to make her "batten down-able", fat arse proof and brother proof (if you recall he's already set her on fire, run her aground (twice now) and stress tested the forward hatch beyond its breaking point). I see a lot of duct tape in my near future.

Personal stuff - I'm burning as many of my movies as I can onto HDD, I've packed most of my stuff into storage boxes (am hoping a few of my friends will help out with storage). I'm selling everything I can't carry (tables, sofas, chairs, my *weep* 50 inch plasma, my blu-ray, and white stuff). The other type of personal stuff - the leaving parties, are arranged. My parents are coming down to see us off on the 25th so that's gonna be pretty cool. That leaves Alicja and I. It's going to be pretty hard to be apart I reckon, maybe even the hardest bit of the whole thing but I reckon it's going to strengthen our relationship and that's all I have to say on that subject :)

So...16 days of preparation time left.

Talk later peeps.

Windvane Frolics

It seems that the last 2 days have been exhausted entirely on trying to get the fitting of Catwesel's new windvane sorted in time for the first leg of the journey on July the 4th or 5th.

What had seemed a simple task of getting the windvane's designer/builder and the shipwright in the same place at the same time turned into an epic struggle but one that is hopefully now done. Everyone was fully co-operative but, as is probably going to be the case quite a lot in these early days, Donald Rumsfeld's "...things we did didn't know we didn't know..." reared up to bite proverbial behinds.

Having lined up Trenchard, from Neptune Windvane's, and Ian Foster, the shipwright, for an installation on June 28th, all that was needed was to arrange for Catweasel to be lifted out of the water the previous day. I say "All". Wicor Marine, Catweasel's current home, is nestled in the relatively shallow waters of Portsmouth Harbour's north west corner. As it turns out, this means that getting the boat close enough to the slipway to be lifted out of the water can only be done around high water. Couple this with the fact that the Wicor's staff, quite understandably, don't work 24 hours a day and we're left needing a high tide that falls between 8 and 5. This is also complicated by the fact that the lower level of water around weaker, neap tides aren't up to it. Consequently the 28th fell by the wayside.

One chat with the very friendly chaps a Wicor later and a provisional date of June 30th was pencilled in, with the work to be done on July 1st. This suited both Ian and Trenchard but just as I thought we were in the clear, Trenchard asked whether Ian was a welder. Another phone call confirmed that not only was he not a welder but that the resident welder at Wicor was unwell and wouldn't be able to assist.

Thankfully, Wicor maintain a list of approved service providers on their website and a company called Fabtech came into view. Another phone call and we were there! The tide, Wicor's crane, Trenchard and the windvane, Ian and Fabtech are now all lined up to leap into action and, subject to a lack of further complication, Catweasel should be back in the water and sporting a beautiful new windvane in time for the scheduled departure date. Here's hoping!

Crew's Log: Stewart, 01-04/06/11

What do you know - all was well and good after all. Well, mostly.

Thomas and I met Philip at Hornet as planned and after a quick run through of vital systems we'd waved farewell to him and were chugging into the heart of Portsmouth harbour with Wicor on our mind. No massive problems on the way other than another yacht being on the mooring we were supposed to pick up, and we spent the rest of the day getting familiarised with those finer points that hadn't seemed significant enough earlier in the day to bother Philip with. Oh, and the wind caught the forward hatch while I was getting the dinghy out, slammed it into the the deck and did for the hinges. Nothing major and a repair ought to be a simple enough thing. Honest Tim!

The following morning we visited the local BP station to stock up on fuel and then headed out into the Solent. With a light but steady wind we decided to get the sails up and in no time were approaching Cowes. We anchored in Osborne Bay, just to the east of Cowes, for lunch and Thomas promptly decided he was going to suffer from a bout of seasickness. Luckily it passed as soon as we were under way again and he was untroubled for the rest of our time aboard.

Having returned to the mooring that night we decided to putt down the river in the dinghy and see what we could see. The answer? Not much - we'd got about a mile downstream and ran out of petrol. I had it in my head that I'd filled the tank but all I'd done was drain the fuel can. We, or rather I, had to row upstream so I did not row gently, neither did I row 'merrily merrily merilly merilly' and life was certainly not a dream - particularly after I let the painter slip when we got back to Catweasel and watched the sodding dinghy slowly drift away. I leapt back to the cockpit for the boat hook but by the time I was back on the bow and trying to catch the dinghy she was gone. Shorts off, shirt off, Stewart in!

A strong northerly blew all night and was still at it come Friday morning so I decided it would most likely not be a sailing day. We motored out and I had my first experience of why Portsmouth harbour can be such a sod. Well, actually my first experience (aboard a yacht at least) of why a sod can be such a sod - As we came through the relatively narrow harbour mouth we had a gin palace bearing down on us at a rate of knots as he came in from the Solent. I looked about to make sure we were in the right place and all was well but this chap just kept coming. Time ticked slowly by and it became obvious he had no intention of moving to pass on out port side so I heaved the tiller to my left, lurched to starboard and then had to straighten up again before we had an altercation with the harbour wall. The helmsman on the gin palace seemed amazed by this as he looked down from his flying bridge and slammed his vessel into reverse. A member of their crew was despatched to the foredeck to demand an explanation and as I yelled (with perhaps a little too much help from Thomas) "We should be passing port to port, what are you doing!?!?" she yelled "Your supposed to pass on this side of us!", pointing to their starboard beam, "It's the rules of the road!". I was too stunned to reply. I kind of hope they learned from it after a "You'll never guess what happened to us today!?" conversation with a wiser skipper but know that there will be a hundred more out there with the "If it's got a steering wheel I'll drive it like a car" approach.

So that was Friday. Saturday morning was a time of tidying up, locking down and heading home and so we did.