Manic trip up North

After spending a good Christmas day at Jane's I felt a bit out of sorts for not trying to get up North to see the relatives.

I decided on Christmas Day to travel up on the 27th Dec. Didn't want to go on the 26th due to the expected amount of traffic and also the fact that I'd had a bit to drink that evening. Also, the immediate family would be at Tracey-Anne's for the evening.

Early on the 27th I set off North. The weather wasn't too bad and I only had to deal with a little bit of traffic.

I finally got to Tracey-Anne's about 1630hrs. Emma's mob was all there as well as Mum, Dad, and Tracey-Anne's crowd. I handed out the large sack of gifts in rather a haphazard way which might not have been the best. As per usual I got rather a lot of good gifts this year. I had actually made the effort NOT to buy everything I wanted so that I could receive it as a gift. Most pleased with all of it.

I think my gifts went down well. I hope so as I had spent a bit of time thinking about them. Trying to get away from just handing out cash!

Despite being tired I didn't get to bed too early.

The next morning we badgered Emma into coming further North to see my Nanan. We set off quite late but still got there about 1430hrs. We all decamped to the living room and were about to settle down when somebody suggested lunch at the Trent Port pub carvery.

The food was good but the temperature was far too hot! We couldn't have stayed for puddings even if we wanted to.

Emma and Tracey-Anne's crowd who had come up only stayed a couple more hours before heading back in the dark. Everybody got home safely. I spent the night in Gainsborough to head off early the next morning.

This morning I woke up about 0630hrs but didn't set off straight away so that Morrison's would be open for the diesel etc.. I also spent a bit of Nanan's money on a couple of Blu-rays.

The trip down was a bit round off track than usual as I decided to ignore the Tom-tom for a bit as it appeared to be taking me further North. Shouldn't have panicked really as I probably went further and slower than if I had just gone with the flow. Eventually I got on track and set off.

The weather was predicted to be foggy and so it was. There were quite a few banks of fog but it didn't slow me down too much. It wasn't quite as bad as it could've been. Only once on the A38 did it start to rain a little bit. Again it wasn't too bad.

I finally arrived home about 1530hrs. I stopped off at Otter Nursery to try and get a present for Jane's which turned out to be a H4H meerkat for the garden and a set of gardening gloves.

Sunny Beam installed

I have received the Sunny Beam equipment for my PV inverter. It came in two bits.

The first piece is a bluetooth transmitter which fits into the inverter. The second piece is the Sunny Beam display unit.

Although the units work perfectly well together they haven't yet got the ability to post my data to a website.

After talking to my fitter I will be able to return the display unit and see how much a more expensive unit called a Sunny Web Box which is supposed to be able to do what I want.

Stuck at home over Christmas!

Feeling a bit of a weed at the moment.

I was supposed to go North over the Christmas period to see all the rels.

The weather lately hasn't been too good though.

First of all there was lots of snow and ice around the Exeter area making the notorious Haldon Hill impassible.

Although the landrover would probably have made it okay, it was the prospect of getting stuck behind jack-knifed lorries or other cars not able to get past.

Although that only lasted a day or so, the bad weather headed North to the midlands, meaning that travel would've been slow and very tiring.

Eventually it came to today, but the problem today are the reports from the news about the excessive traffic already on the road with freezing conditions making it slow.

I have talked to the relatives up North and explained that I'll have to come up during the next leave period. Might actually receive the items I ordered on the internet by then. I have a large stack of presents on the living room floor waiting to be delivered. If I was heading to work a bit later in the new year I might've tried to send them up in a large parcel.

Luckily I have an invite from Jane and Maison to go visit them for dinner etc.

ShelterBox delivered to Indonesia

Some months ago I bought a Shelter Box, after seeing another advert for the good work they do.

I like the whole idea of supplying tangible, usable items not just food. It is not syphoned off by people in country to line their own pockets.

The box contains a wide variety of items. These can also be tailored to fit the location it will be used in. To see a full list go to the website at http://www.shelterbox.org/about.php?page=9

The box number I bought was 55264 which has now been shipped to Indonesia - 'To aid those made homeless after the eruption of Mount Merapi.' http://www.shelterbox.org/deployment_details.php?id=142

FIT plan accepted by E.ON

E.ON have now received the FIT paperwork for my PV system.

This means that they will now be paying me for generating power at The Swamp. This also means that I can pay the fitter the final 5% of the installation fee.

Solar generation numbers so far ......

Well I have finally returned to The Swamp to a very cold snap.

The generation meter showed 198kWh since the installation was completed. This equates to 42 days (appropriate). So far this means we have an average daily production of 4.71 kWh.

The current rate is 41.3p per unit generated, whether I use it or not. Eon have agreed that they will pay me an extra 3p/unit for 50% of what I generate as part of the FIT.

The equation is 41.3p x units generated + 3p x 50% units generated. 41.3 x 1 x units + 3 x 0.5 x units = 42.8p x units

In money terms, given 41.3p/kWh, and that 50% will get an extra 3p per unit, I have generated approximately £84.74 since connection.

If I use this average generation over a period of 365 days this equates to an annual influx of £735.80. This DOES NOT take into account the amount I save by not buying in this energy.

The weather is obviously not the best, as the days are short and the sun is low in the sky.

I have ordered a meter which should hopefully let me post my daily generation levels on the web LIVE!

FIT paperwork

Oops. Very nearly missed out on getting the Feed In Tariff from my energy supplier E.ON.

I had assumed that the solar panel installation company would have taken care of this but apparently they don't. This is due to issues of privacy etc. They don't have my supply detail to hand and E.ON shouldn't just hand them out to anyone who happens to ask.

All I had to do was go onto the E.ON website at the following URLhttp://www.eonenergy.com/At-Home/Products/Feed-in+Tariffs/How-to-apply-for-fit-payments.htm?WT.mc_id=How_to_Apply&WT.svl=8 and then download the form under 'download the application form (PDF)'.

Print that off, fill in the blanks and then send it off with a copy of the MCS certificate to the address supplied.

As there were a few questions I had about the form I simply rang the number 0845 301 4884. The person I spoke to was very helpful.

It should now be all sorted and again goes to prove you shouldn't assume stuff where money is concerned.

Full on !

I have just taken a reading from the inverter in the attic when the sun is in a clear sky and almost (but not quite) perpendicular to the solar panels.

This being Oct though, the sun is not very high in the sky.

The readings were

Time (GMT)	SolRad (W/m2)	E-total (kWh)	h-total (hours)	E-today (kWh)	PAC (watts)	VPV (VoltsDC)	Mode
1325z	439 W/m2	16.6 kWh	18 hours	6.62 kWh	1963 Watts	310 Volts	MPP

The system was commissioned in the afternoon of Tuesday 19th October 2010.

Rather than having to go up the ladder to the attic every time I want a reading I'll now have to investigate the possibilities for getting it posted to the WWW.

Scaffolding down today

The scaffolders came back this morning and dismantled the scaffolding. Didn't take too long at all. About 1 hour. Now have to reconfigure the garden deck to what it was before they came.

Day 1 for The Swamp Electricity Generation Board

Woke up early this morning (before dawn). Not exactly sure why. As I was up before the sun I decided to see what would happen on the inverter as the sky brightened up.

I was hoping to correlate the readings from the inverter with the solar radiation readings from the weather station. For some reason the station has stopped updating. Will need to check that.

The following is a series of times with readings from the inverter. It is quite dry but is mainly to act as a reminder. Will only update information if it changes from time to time.

Woke up early this morning (before dawn). Not exactly sure why. As I was up before the sun I decided to see what would happen on the inverter as the sky brightened up.

I was hoping to correlate the readings from the inverter with the solar radiation readings from the weather station. For some reason the station has stopped updating. Will need to check that.

The following is a series of times with readings from the inverter. It is quite dry but is mainly to act as a reminder. Will only update information if it changes from time to time.

0740h	All 3 LED's are lit on the inverter. No backlight or data on the LCD screen.
0741h	Back light for the LCD screen has come on. The LCD screen itself is blinking, looks like it is trying to show data.
0744h	LCD screen has settled down and is showing the following. Sunny Boy 2500 WR25 - 026
0745h	Green LED is now flashing, others have gone out. PAC 0W VPV 243V E-total 1.4kWh h-total 2h E-today 0.00 kWh mode = waiting, the system is waiting until the power from the panels is enough to start pushing power to the outside world. It needs to detect the levels and phase of the incoming power to match it.
0749h	VPV 270V
0756h	VPV 290V
0800h	VPV 297V
0801h	VPV 305V
0803h	Green LED started to flash v. quick VPV 310V mode = offset, this means the system has detected the incoming power cycles and found there is an offset between this and the on-board generator.
0804h	Green LED back to normal flash at about 2Hz. VPV 312V mode = waiting
0806h	VPV 320V
0810h	mode = grid mon, the system has enough power to start generating but needs to be sync'd to the incoming supply.
0810h	VPV 329V mode = waiting, panel output dropped below minimum
0813h	VPV 330V
0817h	VPV 331V
0824h	VPV 340V
0825h	VPV 243V PAC 35W mode = APP
0826h	VPV 238V PAC 43W

Towards the end we can see that as the voltage drops the power goes up.

After this is I left it to get on with it.

Initial reading 19th October 2010

At the end of today the meter down in the garage is reading 2.5. I think this reading is contaminated by a small amount from the factory. Also I'm not entirely sure of the units. I think it's kWh but can't confirm that until I get the manual and certificates on Thursday.

I'll assume this as the zero point for the future.

I was going to read the values from the inverter in the attic but as it's dark it has no power to work.

The Swamp Electricity Generating Board

Well that about does it. I am now generating electricity from my panels installed on the back of the house.

Just some clearing up to do and they're off. I also authorised another 25% payment today. I am holding onto the final 5% until the electricity people are happy with the installation and willing to pay me for juice.

I am very happy with the installation. Andy and his chaps from New Generation Energy http://www.newgenerationenergy.co.uk/ have done a good job so far.

Obviously I will need to monitor the situation from now on. I will attempt to get generation values on to my website and keep things updated in this blog as and when I remember.

Installation started

The long awaited solar panel installation has started.

The initial thing was to mount the metal brackets to the joists. They removed a number of tiles to get access to the joists underneath the felt. They simply screwed a metal plate to the joist from the outside. No need to go into the attic for this bit. Because the metal bracket sticks out a little bit they needed to grind down a small bit of the tile so that it sits flat when put back in place. Looks fine.

After the brackets they installed the long metal runners on which the panels would sit.

When the van turned up this morning they unloaded the panels into the garden. When they'd finished there were only 10, not the 12 I had agreed on. A quick phone call from Andy confirmed that he'd sent the wrong type out to the house. The ones delivered were 235W panels which had been on the initial quote for 10 x 235W panels, equalling 2.35kW. What we had finally agreed on though was for a system of 12 x 215W panels instead, equal to 2.85kW. We couldn't go ahead with the 235W panels as they are a different size and they wouldn't all fit on the roof.

Andy has asked for the correct delivery to be made direct to the house in the morning. Not sure when they are due to arrive. If they're from the same company as Lerigo then it could be about 1000hrs.

Towards lunch time, Andy turned up to help with the actual electrical installation. An armoured cable was lead out of the garage up the front of the house into the attic space through the soffit board. In the garage there is a new meter and a big isolator switch. In the attic space there is now a large inverter mounted on the gable wall.

During the day, I got online and authorised another deposit of 35% (running total now at 70%) into the company's bank account.

Before leaving, the guys made sure that everything was tidy, even picking up all the little wires which had been removed from the armoured cable.

Tomorrow we're expecting the 215W panels to be delivered. Once they arrive it shouldn't take too long to get them connected.

Here's hoping for clear skies.

Sailing with more people than ever before!

Saturday comes but once a week.

I wasn't planning on doing much today it has to be said. The weather hadn't promised much so in the morning I was moping around the house waiting until the regular social gathering at QAB for lunch.

I needed to buy some oils for the car so set off to the diy stores in plenty of time to get back for lunch. On my way out I looked at the weather and thought it was excellent for sailing. I made the decision to go out sailing after lunch and sent out a text asking if others wanted to come.

Only reply straight away was from Webster saying they wouldn't be able to make it but would see us at lunch.

As usual I arrived before everybody else. Not sure how I do it. Mind you by the time 1300hrs comes around I'm feeling pretty hungry.

The usual crowd turned up but the Ghengis clan said that the traffic was so bad in town they'd meet me at Mountbatten instead of coming to QAB first. I left about 1430hrs to get over to the boat. Mel said she might turn up with her son Billy.

Despite leaving QAB some 10-15mins after Al's phone call I arrived there first. I started to get the boat ready while I waited. Once Al did arrive he helped me launch the boat. Much appreciated as it's always easier to launch with more than one. I got the boat onto the MBC pontoon while Al, Ro and Sam had some lunch and we waited for Mel & Billy to turn up.

When Mel and Billy turned up it meant we'd be 4 adults and 2 kids in a Hawk 20. I had thought we might be a bit squashed up but in actual fact there was plenty of room for everybody. I did have to sail from the same side of the boat no matter what tack we were on but it wasn't too bad at all.

Due to the number of people in the boat I decided we should head for open water before getting the sails up. Once the engine was started and we had cleared most of the trots I gave the steering over to 4 year old Billy. He did a sterling job and managed to get the hang of the tiller steering quite quickly. I guess this might be because kids that young have no preconceptions about what should be correct. They try something, if it doesn't work they try the opposite.

Once on the South side of Mounbatten breakwater we got the sails up and set off. There was a general consensus that we should go around Drake's Island before heading home. As you can see from the track we left The Sound from the Western entrance past the lighthouse.

Before exiting it did look as though there might not be enough wind on the outside of the breakwater. Needn't have worried as there was plenty.

We had a great sail, across the breakwater, in the Eastern entrance and then back across The Sound to go around the back of Drake's Island.

We got back to the pontoon not long after that because young Sam was getting extremely grissly.

Total distance 15.3km, total time 3h 26m.

I couldn't be bothered to get the boat out tonight as I will sailing with the Lerigo clan in the morning.

Scaffolding up

The scaffolding has now been erected at the back of the house in preparation for the solar panel installation on Monday next.

Despite being delayed a little bit due to some weird GPS issues, the guys who did it were quick and professional. It took just over 3hours to complete.

The solar installation chap had requested a 2 lift scaffold but the scaffold guys erected a 3 lift instead as 2 would not have been enough.

Certainly getting closer.

Scaffolder not in contact

Having a bit of an issue with the scaffolder who is supposed to be erecting the framework for the solar installation which is due to start early next week.

I spent the day in today waiting for some sort of communication from the scaffolding bloke to arrange a time. Nothing.

Not a peep. Not impressed with that one bit. I have been in contact with the Solar installation fella and he assures me I'll have something by lunch time tomorrow.

I have other things to be getting on with.

Shock horror ? Kayaking

I actually witnessed a rare show of common sense from two powerboaters today.

I was out in my kayak to do a bit of exercise for a change. As I have a membership for MBC I thought I'd launch from there and use the showers on site after recovering. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my neoprene shoes and was unwilling to go without them. This meant that I had to go back home and get them.

Rather than go all the way back to MBC I settled for launching from my usual place at Oreston Quay.

The wind for today was from the East at about 5-12knots. The tide was dropping when I set off.

Initially I had planned only to do a quick run to Drake's Island and back. As I headed down river I felt good, which was probably due to the help afforded by the wind and tide. As I got clear of the Mountbatten breakwater towards Drake's Island, the sea got a little choppier. This required a bit more concentration to prevent a capsize. The chop looked like it was generated by the two river outfalls colliding.

After leaving Drake's Island I didn't really want to head straight back and thought of heading to Picklecombe Fort on the SW corner of Plymouth Sound. As I rounded the back of the island however I didn't think it was a good idea as I was feeling it in the shoulders. Straight to Fort Bovisand then.

As I got near the narrows the sea got extremely confused. The chop was coming in from at least three directions at once. Took not a little bit of concentration.

On my way across The Sound I had to shimmy round a tug, which had decided to go from an alongside tow to a short tow astern right in front of me. For a while I was concerned I was going to get a barge in the face. Luckily the wind was keeping the barge alongside the tug, rather than pushing it away, and I managed to get round it without incident.

As I neared my usual haul out beach near Bovisand, I was feeling pretty good so kept on going to Jennycliff beach instead.

Listening to the VHF I heard Longroom tell somebody that the marines were practising on the beach but that there were no restrictions. As I looked around I saw a large landing craft with what looked like a Swedish flag on the stern? This was acting as a mother craft to a couple of small inflatables and a larger jet driven boat going in and out from the beach. I had a small period of doubt as to whether I would hear "You in the yellow canoe" again, but decided to carry on until somebody told me to go away, as I was getting quite cold in the legs.

I kept in quite close to the rocks at the edge of the beach to avoid getting in anybody's way. No screaming. As I was sitting there I caught the odd bit of talking and it did indeed sound like a Scandinavian language. Swedes they are then.

On the way back to base I went via the Barbican and Mountbatten. As I hadn't been out for very long I headed up towards Laira bridge to get up under the rat racers. That is such a good feeling no matter how knackered you might be. The tide was nearly out all the way so I couldn't get any further. I don't like going into water which is too shallow as it makes it harder to get out of the kayak should anything go wrong.

When I got towards the slipway I noticed that a couple of lads had just launched their small powerboat. As I approached them, their engine died and they drifted towards the moored boats. Rather than grabbing hold to prevent them drifting further, they just fended off while they tried to get it started.

I paddled towards them and offered some assistance. I helped them back towards an empty trot to avoid damage to other boats.

Not unexpected they weren't wearing any form of buoyancy. They were perfectly amenable to accepting an offer of assistance. This was a bit of shock to start with as other people I've tried to help normally bite me head off. We had a look at the fuel system which they had admitted had been left a while. As it was a two stroke engine I didn't know too much about it. We managed to get it started for a while and they looked like they were ready to go out as per plan. Unfortunately the engine wouldn't keep going for anything longer than a few seconds. i left them to it.

Not long after getting to the slipway, I saw that they had decided not to go out after all. The reason they stated was that they didn't want to risk it. Good plan.

6th Oct 2010 - Sailing

Quite a weird day today.

I woke up at bout 20mins past 4 this morning. Couldn't get back to sleep so just read a book.

Later in the morning I decided that the weather was looking excellent for sailing. I didn't find out that the pond was out until I got down to the boat. It would've been a bit of tricky launch round the corner on the West slipway with the amount of weed. I was worried that the front of the landrover might slip sideways and end up on the wrong side of the pole.

Luckily Mr L. needed to use the tractor to recover a powerboat and he kindly agreed to launch mine, but only if I was quick. I was a little too quick.

The wind was a little stronger than I was used to and it took a little while to get onto a mooring buoy to set up ready for sailing. After initially setting up I set off.

Unfortunately the weather was windier than I had thought and I needed to get back onto another buoy to get some waterproofs on. Doing this single handed was quite a challenge today for some reason.

Round two was a lot better and I decided to head out in to The Sound. The weather was quite choppy but the sailing was excellent. The weather was from the SouthWest so I headed towards Cawsand. As I hadn't done it in anger yet, I got into some clear space
to practise putting a reef in single handed. It went swimmingly and I learnt something else.

The next part of the plan was to go out of the Western entrance and head back in the Eastern side. First I had to avoid getting run over by the large grey boat exiting as well. I couldn't make it out on the tack I was on so had to head back West. This seemed to upset the escort boats and I got a little visit from the RIB guys.

After avoiding the frigate I managed to get out.

The sail across the outside of the breakwater was fantastic.

I came a little unstuck in the gybe back into The Sound. The main sheet swiped across my face taking my hat and glasses. Bugger.

This wasn't something I had planned on. Sailing blind. I had to call Long Room on ch14 to ask them if anything was coming out. Yup. Another grey ship to avoid. Not easy with my atrocious eyesight. Generalities are all I could deal with. Keeping it to the East I headed towards Mountbatten breakwater. I brought the gear down in Jennycliffe bay to avoid any hassles in amongst the trots.

First instalment for solar due on Friday

I am now getting the deposit ready for my solar installation. I have agreed to pay a deposit of 35%.

We are now waiting for the scaffolding men to agree a date. Hopefully this will be either the 18th or 21st October 2010. This is going to be quite close to the next trip at work. As it should only take two days to complete it should be sorted.

Updated weather software

I'm writing so much in my BLOG lately that I'm losing track of what's occurring to my brain next.

I have just found an update for my weather software, Cumulus Weather Station Software. I am now able store the Solar radiation values in a file for later. I am currently sending the data to http://www.zippys.f2s.com/Cumulus/index.htm

As long as I can find a solution for monitoring the voltages from the inverters, this should enable me to correlate it to my solar panels.

Unfortunately the new patch has written over the hmtl files I had created for my particular website. Will have to remember that for future updates.

The disco is gone.

I have finally made a hole on the drive by getting rid of the rotting Landrover Discovery. L580WAC is no more. I was planning on moving it this trip no matter what. Either it was being sold or scrapped. I only got £150 for it but it's better than nothing.

I could probably have got more for it by taking it to bits but I just didn't have the inclination to do it. I would have to get it on the internet for each bit, organise shipping etc. and then I'd still be left with the remains. At least this way it was driven out on a trailer. It's gone in one go.

The space now created can be used for me to work on the Defender and Astra. The Defender particularly needs some work as the roof is leaking. More space now.

Solar system agreed

I have now agreed in principle to a solar system for the roof. I will be getting 12 x 215W panels fitted to the roof, making a capacity of 2.58kW. These will be in 3 rows of 4 in a landscape format, which is different from the normal portrait format. It is not using my first choice of 10 x 235W panels but it is slightly bigger in capacity than I had initially thought of at no extra cost.

I am trying to find a system whereby I can monitor the output remotely and store the data on a computer. I would like to be able to correlate this data with my weather station which is stored at approx every 10mins.

More updates when I get them.

Start of my solar panel installation.

Today I have had a visit from the man most likely to install my solar panel arrays. I will be attempting to log the process in this BLOG.

I had thought about photo-voltaic panels in the past but only for the green considerations. In the past it would've taken almost the full life of the panels to make it pay.

It has all come to a head recently, when I heard about the Gov't Feed-In-Tariff. Up to 4kW systems are considered as a micro-generations and are eligible for the scheme. For each kWh generated the user gets 41.3p. This is paid regardless of where the power goes. If the user exports the power they get an extra 3p per kWh. With these incentives the system could actually pay for itself in under 7 years. As the panel are guaranteed to still be 85% efficient after 20years this looks like a bargain.

This morning I visited a gentleman who had already had a system installed in June 2010. After talking with him I was much more happy about employing the person I had in mind. The installation looked very tidy. The owner was very pleased with his installation.

Andy Metcalf from New Generation Energy came around this afternoon to do some checking. He had a look in the attic space to check on where the inverter would be sited and then how we would get the power from there to my meter.

After measuring the interior roof (5.05 by 5m) Andy will go away and check the layout possibilities for using 235 Watt panels as well as 215 Watt panels.

It now looks like the project will go ahead quite quickly from this point on.

I will include numbers for cost etc as the project goes ahead.

Part 2 of 3 - Really cooking now.

Upgrading the exterior lights on a landrover defender to NAS. (Part 2 of 3) -

1 more step to go.

Posted new Instructable for Landrover lights

I have decided to include my new Instructable posts in this BLOG.

Previous efforts can be found here http://www.instructables.com/member/bunglesmate/

This new effort concerns my upgrade of the small exterior lights I replaced on my defender. The window below will only show the main idea of the Instructable. To see it properly go to the Instructable's website.


Upgrading the exterior lights on a landrover defender to NAS. (Part 1 of 3)

I'm still working on the other two parts. Stay tuned.

Tamar adventure

Yesterday was quite a day.

Previously I had decided to see how far I could get up the Tamar from Mountbatten.

Yesterday seemed to be ideal, wind from the Northwest and the tide would take me up as well.

By three I was ready to go and set off from the pontoon under sail. The echo sounder seemed to be working in it's new position.

The wind stayed reasonably constant all the way up to the Tamar bridge. I found out that my rough charts don't go up the river past the bridges! Oh well, at least I shouldn't get lost.

The echo sounder was very useful in working out where to tack. I did work out that the position is a little too far to port. When on hard port tack heeling to starboard the return gets a little flacky. Have to move it to a more central position at some point.

I got past Holten Quay at 1815hrs before deciding to turn around and head back.

Unfortunately the wind took that moment to die completely. Most of my speed down river came from the dropping tide. As I passed the old Spaniard's Inn I started the engine to head back. Just shy of the Tamar bridges it started to get cold and I hove to, to add some more clothes.

While dressing, the engine died on me. It was now about 2030hrs. Sunset was about 2100. Got a little concerned as there was no wind and the one paddle wasn't going to be of much use. I called Mr. Lerigo, thinking at the very worst he could bring a boat up and tow me back. Thankfully after describing the symptoms he managed to talk me through draining the carb on the engine and get it running again.

The dinghy wasn't really set up for night sailing so I had to bodge using light sticks and torches to at least have something. I was quite nervous about the trip across The Hoe in particular, due to all the background lights from the fair etc. I eventually arrived at the MBC pontoon again at about 2215hrs. Took about 30mins to get the boat tidied and ready for a night on the water.

All in all quite a good day as it showed up a few points which needed to be sorted.

I fully expect some piss taking to come my way but what the hell at least I'm doing something.

Sailing to Looe for the first time.

After the disappointment of last Sat and the blow out on Sunday, I decided that today would be my first attempt at getting to Looe and back.

I had actually got up early and was attempting to get down to the boat by about 0830hrs. This would be a little before high tide, enabling me to catch the outgoing current to the West, by the time I got round Rame Head.

In the previous few days I had been installing electrics onto the boat so I could charge my VHF equipment and also run an echo sounder. The installation of the transducer hadn't gone exactly to plan but I was still hopeful it would work.

After launching and putting the trailer away, I got the boat ready. The echo sounder transducer worked fine when dangled over the side of the boat. Lerigo then suggested I try leaving a bit of water in the forward compartment and see if it would work through the hull. Apart from reading a little shallow (no bad thing) it seemed to be working fine. All I have to do now is figure out a way of fixing the transducer to the hull.

With a good guide to avoid the problems of getting too shallow I set off.

The wind wasn't very much at all but I was hopeful the sea breeze would kick in and get me going. Leaving The Sound went okay. I even overtook another Hawk 20 heading towards the Eastern entrance. For some reason they were running without a jib sail? As I left the Eastern entrance their sail disappeared completely. Maybe they gave up and decided to use the motor.

The trip out to Looe was fairly slow, approx 3.5 knots the whole way, and consequently fairly dull. I did hear a few things on the VHF but nothing exciting really. Somebody was transmitting on CH16 every now and again wiping out everybody. The blue tooth headset works like a dream. I must work out a way of attaching it somehow so I don't lose it if it gets knocked off my ear.

Using the charts, I noted when I passed Portwrinkle, Downderry and Settle before finally arriving at Looe harbour entrance at about 1400hrs. It was quite a slog but I finally made it. I decided that I would anchor up for a small snooze. Using the echo sounder I found a shallowish spot to settle down for about 20-30mins.

I didn't take down the mainsail, but did furl the jib. This wasn't enough to stop it being uncomfortable when the boat swung from side to side. I was more concerned about the anchor pulling free and me ending up on the rocks. Next time I'll lift the centerboard and rudder which will hopefully help. Still learning this cruising malarky.

By the time I lifted anchor and set off, the sea breeze still hadn't kicked in. This was probably due to the fact that it was overcast most of the time.

On the way back I struggled back to just shy of Rame Head, before finally giving in and resorting to the motor. Getting the motor started I gave myself a terrible clout on the side of the head with the end of the boom. I obviously hadn't lifted the boom high enough when putting the mainsail away. Ouch.

I still hadn't got round to topping off the fuel tank since I got it from Jones. I had a little more in a reserve tank but didn't want to risk running out before getting back. It took me just over and hour to return to MBC from Rame Head. The fuel tank felt just as heavy as it did when I started. Excellent fuel economy so far.

When I recovered the boat this time I decided to try the break back function on the trailer. It actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would. I must remember to prepare the trailer strap beforehand though.

The next day I tested the batteries in the forward compartment and found they were still at 12.54V even after 10hrs with the echo sounder on.

Landrovers at Newnham Park, Plympton, Plymouth.

Today we were off to see the Landrover trials at Newnham Park. It was myself, Ken, Anne and Maison who made it up in time. Caitlin decided not to go due to the damp weather. She did make us bacon sandwiches though, while we waited for the rain to stop.

At approx 1000hrs we decided to head out in the defender. We chose this vehicle as it was probably best suited for carrying all the stuff we'd buy at the stalls etc. I was looking for another roof rack, to replace the one I tore off by hitting a tree (another story from long ago).

As we approached the site we saw that there was also a VW camper van festival or something going on in the same park. I didn't realise how big this site was. Until coming today I didn't even register it as being there.

At the final left turn down the public road to the site, were some people in yellow tabbards trying to stop the traffic to talk to them. As I was being followed by quite a queue of traffic I decided to drive straight into the left turn. This one girl got most upset that I didn't stop, and I saw her in the mirror pointing at me and obviously shouting at somebody higher up the food chain. Sorry love but it was a public highway and you've no right to hold up the traffic, even if you think you do.

The lady at the car park however was a different matter. Wouldn't ignore her even if she was on the public roads. Not a lady to be trifled with. It cost me £20 for the car parking, which covered the Sat-Mon.

After parking in the very uncluttered car park we headed up the marquees etc which had been set, up in the hope of seeing the vendors for all our land-rover needs. How disappointed we were. No stalls at all. All we had was a couple of burger vans, a beer tent and a couple of people showing systems for upgrading a few small bits. Oh well I thought, never mind, at least the RTV (Road Taxed Vehicles) trials will be good.

The RTV competition consisted of small little stages dotted all over the forest. Each course had its own features. Some had extremely steep descents/ascents, very adverse cambers, lots of trees and/or water hazards. All of them had some very narrow gates to get through.

Unfortunately even these were not as exciting as I'd initially thought. There were some very tricky conditions and some excellent drives by some of the competitors. There were no maps showing where the stages were, even roughly, which meant we wasted quite some time just trying to find them.

All through this, the drizzle get on coming down. In amongst the trees this wasn't really noticeable but once back at the refreshment tents did get a little annoying.

Towards the end of the afternoon we went to look at the team recovery event. We had to stand at the top of a steep incline to look down at the pit where the event would take place. As the viewing area looked quite narrow we decided to go in early to stand at the front. They were at least 45mins late starting. What time they actually started I have no idea, as by this time the land owner had turned up in his D3 wanting to park where we were stood. At this point I decided I'd had enough and went off to head home.

I decided I was too tired after dropping off the guys to head over to Jane's for dinner and went to bed early.

If I ever go again it'll be on one of the other days which offers a bit more excitement.

All in all a wasted day really.

Mablethorpe

Bingo could be so addictive.

I'm up North visiting with my Gran.

I had originally planned to go to my Mum's today after spending the night in Gainsborough, but as she doesn't get to see me often, I agreed to go to the coast with her and my uncle for the day.

Mablethorpe, on the East coast, is a weekly day out for her, which she thoroughly enjoys.

We set off just after 10, to arrive at their usual cafe, for lunch.

Despite the heat I went for the steak and stilton pie which was excellent. Well worth the boasting. After lunch my uncle and I dropped Nan nan off at her addiction centre, one of the amusement arcades for the weekly bingo fix. Normally my uncle just sits outside with a laptop, but as I was here we went out.

The weather has been glorious all day. I hope factor 50 is enough. Merv needed some more bits for his pond so we went out of town and visited an aquatics centre. They had a display of some massive fish, including carp and some sturgeon.

After that we went back to Mablethorpe.

At the beach front car park we got a ticket with about an hour left on it. Not long enough for a walk anywhere but enough for a cup of tea.

Found the first of many fridge magnets for the collection we're starting on the Vespucci.

After waking around the cheap stores for a bit we went back to the arcade where my Gran was sat on her favourite stool. To keep her company I sat down next to her and put in some money for the game.

Such a simple idea and so easy to mess it up, by not moving the correct slide or moving the wrong one. It's this idea of trying to do a simple thing correct which makes it addictive. The cost is only 10p for 2 cards so it doesn't seem to bad. When you're playing for about 4.5hours though it soon adds up.

Thankfully my Gran was satiated by about 1700hrs so we left for home.

Swings and roundabouts - Sailing

Well it's been quite a day today.

At the BBQ last weekend I had (carelessly) invited Caitlin and Khan out for a sail today.

My original plan had been to leave at about 0700hrs and go as far as I could to the East. Not going to work with teenagers, that plan. I saw them yesterday afternoon and agreed to meet them at The Quay at 1000hrs.

I stopped at Morrisons to buy some sandwiches for lunch, and just happened to check my phone. There was a message from Caitlin saying she'd had a bad migraine and wouldn't be able to make it.

Less hassle for me as I could leave the slipway and go straight out to the Sound rather than motoring up to Oreston first.

I eventually left Mountbatten at about 1030hrs. I had to get a replacement key card as mine had stopped working for some reason.

The weather was very changeable today. The weather forecast was for WNW winds, but I don't think I saw anything from that direction at all, all day. I think the sea breeze effect must have blasted it out as the predominant direction was Southerly.

To get across the Sound I had to tack, but once I got near the Eastern entrance it turned into a reach.

Just as I left the Eastern Entrance I remembered that I'd left my boat cover hanging on the railings near the trailer. A quick phone call to Mr. Lerigo had it secured. Excellent.

I had thought about going up the Yealm, but as I seemed to be going quite quickly I decided to see how close I could get to Burgh Island in Bigbury Bay. As I rounded the headland however, I saw other boats heading West and they seemed to be punching the waves a bit. So as to make sure I didn't get stuck, I altered my plans and started heading back. It was about 1230hrs by this time.

As it happened, my speed actually increased to just over 6kts. Oh well decision made. I then made a decision to head into the Yealm to see how far I could get before the low tide stopped me.

The trip up the Yealm was quite easy, as it turned out, as the wind was being funneled up stream, so most of it was on a run. There were little blank spots every now and again. I started the engine just as a precaution, because there were a lot of very expensive boats closely packed together.

I just kept on going. It was very scenic, and well worth the effort. Next time I might go up and anchor there for lunch or something. I went past a few guys turning the baskets of cockles. Not long after this I had to turn around as I noticed that the centerboard was touching bottom.

This is where my troubles started.

As I was now heading into the wind I had to tack out between the lines of boats. Because the tacks were quite short and sharp the jib sheet was getting caught on all sorts of things around the mast. At one point the sheet actually lifted the jamming cleats for both the sails lift. Needless to say this caused both sails to drop at once. Not a good situation in close quarters. Luckily there was a free anchor buoy right next to me which allowed me to stop and sort it out.

The engine was restarted again as a precaution.

As I was tacking I noticed that the tiller seemed to be stiffer and stiffer and was having less of an effect than previously. Unfortunately I couldn't stop to check it out. It got worse and worse. As I neared the entrance the quick release for the jib came off, meaning I suddenly lost a lot of steering.

Nothing for it but to use the engine.

I got to the sand bar and put the anchor out to try and sort everything out. It also gave me a chance to have some more lunch.

I managed to check the rudder. It seems that it wasn't only the centerboard which had hit bottom. It looks as though the rope for the rudder down haul has given up the ghost. It won't stay down on it's own.

Getting out of the Yealm entrance back towards the Sound was quite a long haul as the rudder was causing extra strain on the tiller so I had to take it easy.

Thinking that I might put too much strain on the tiller tube, I decided to drop the sails, near to the Shag Stone, and go back home under engine only.

The swell was coming in from the SW and made the steering difficult. The engine only has a small rudder effect but I couldn't use the main rudder.

It took me about 40mins to get back alongside the pontoon, arriving at about 1640hrs.

After such a long day it was quite an effort to maintain some calm when trying to get the boat back on its trailer on the slipway. I think I've got a few more gouges in the anti-foul again.

So a good days adventuring but broken kit. Swings and roundabouts!

Total time afloat - 6h 31m

Distance - 23.59nm/43.5km

Gardening

Time to get busy in the garden.

After getting back from work last Friday I saw I'd completely missed the tulips flowering. All I got to see was the colourful petals on the ground around the empty stems.

Other than these, the garden was looking a bit dull. I'd already cut the grass last week but I needed to get some more colour into the garden before the BBQ on Sat.

I needed to buy another compost heap as the grass cuttings had completely filled the first one. I got the plastic heap cover at Totem and later found it was very over priced as it was cheaper at Otter by nearly £20.

At Otter I bought a few colourful plants to add spots of colour around the garden. Still cost a packet though. It would obviously be cheaper to grow my own but being away fro 5 weeks at a time I'm not able to tend them, prick them out at the various stages etc.

After getting home I started by putting the second compost cover next to the first. As I opened the lid to move the contents over a cloud of steam escaped. I know compost heaps are supposed to generate heat but it wasn't that cold outside? As I grabbed a handful of the grass I'd put in there, only 3 days earlier, I had to drop it again quickly, as the heat was quite a lot more than I expected. I estimate at about 40°-45° C.

Generally the garden looks a little dryer than I expected. I thought people had said it had been raining a lot, but I misunderstood as they said it had been cold, not wet.

Busy old day.

On Saturday it was a very busy day indeed.

My mate, Ken, gave me a lift to get the Landrover back from James Tennat's after a hefty service. It was going to be an early start because as well as the Landrover, we needed to get some wood for Ken's building projects, and all before they closed at lunch. The weather was looking a bit cloudy and a lot colder than I expected. Getting off the ship in Norway it was cold, but here it felt a lot worse.

Nearly 600 quid for the service. Still it means I don't have to worry about it and I can just get out there enjoying it.

We got back with the wood just before lunch. After dropping it off at Lower Oreston we picked up Jane and Maison and went off to the hideaway for lunch. I had been looking forward to a cooked breakfast ever since leaving fro Spain. Taking this into account I went for a #4. Lovely.

During lunch, everybody was taking the piss over my new promotion. Yes chief, certainly chief....Grrr!

Maison suggested we go sailing in the Hawk after lunch. I was a little dubious as it was already after 1300hrs and I wanted to be back in plenty of time for the Australian Pink Floyd Show in the evening. He finally convinced me to go for it.

Had a bit of an issue finding the boat keys and I had even tried calling Lerigo to see if I'd left them with him. Eventually I had to resort to taking the spare set instead. I hadn't got all my thermals as I'd left some of them onboard the vessel. Still it was only for the afternoon. When we got down to the boat I couldn't find a spare key for the wheel clamp. Bugger, THAT was the key I left with Lerigo in case he needed to move the boat. Maison had already started to remove the cover. Oh well I thought, that's the end of that plan then. As I was preparing to get on back home I looked under the cover to see what sort of state the boat would be in after 5 weeks away.

Oh look, over there on the opposite gunwale.... the bloody keys.

Very surprised they were there after 5 weeks. Launching was a lot easier with two people certainly. It was a bit chilly but the wind was great. Maison did all the actual sailing while I did some small maintenance bits with ropes etc. Maison was making suggestions all the while about how to improve the handling and performance of the hawk. Some of them I'll take onboard.

We didn't get too far as we needed to be back for my concert. I also needed to get some supplies in as I hadn't even got any bread and milk in yet. Jane and Maison were also going to the Selwyn's for takeaway dinner. After putting the boat away I headed to the supermarket for the basics. Just before leaving there I called for a taxi to the pavililions in 30mins time. It would mean that I wouldn't have any more time other than for a quick change, a quick sandwich etc. Sure enough the taxi was early but I was ready, if quite tired.

I made it to the concert in time to get 1 pint of Guinness to go with my apple. At least I'd get some calories from that.

The amount of promotional material, such as T-shirts, mugs, key-rings etc., at the door was actually quite pathetic. Not cheap either. £22 for a t-shirt and I only had a choice of 1!

The actual concert more than made up for it. It started at 2000hrs and I didn't leave until about 2245hrs. One thing that did annoy me was the people who were late coming in. It distracted a bit from the show. Luckily I didn't have too many near me.

Last year they did the whole of 'The Wall', but this time they chose to do a selection of songs from various albums. Before the interval the projection showed Bruce in his bedroom listening to music and then getting up to choose an album from his collection. The cover shown indicated the album from which the next few songs would come. There were quite a few I'd not heard before. Oh by the way Bruce is the cartoon kangaroo that the 'Australian Pink Floyd Show' use. After the interval Bruce took out a walkman with a cassette titled 'Floyd Mix'.

Part of the encore is posted here...

Snow Patrol in Bangor - June 2010

I've just signed up to go to Northern Ireland to see Snow Patrol in Northern Ireland in June this year.

I was listening to them on the radio and thought I'd like to go see them. The only date available for me was in June in Bangor, Northern Ireland. I was a bit concerned about accommodation as I'd seen a post on the ticket site that all the places were fully booked in Bangor for the concert. I had a look on Google maps to see what other options might be available. There were a few in a place called Donaghadee which isn't very far from Bangor and I thought I'd give one place a call. There was a nice lady on the end of the phone at a place called Pier 36, who said they were fully booked due to the concert, but she'd give me the number of the local tourist board.

A quick call to them had me sorted in no time with a contact for a B&B in the same town.

Excellent.

All coming together.

Now to sort out the transport. The only flight I could see would be from Exeter to Belfast City with FlyBe. I am a bit wary of these cheap airlines, as one foot wrong and they've got you by the short and curlies.

Also would I be going with anybody? I tried to contact a few people who might want to come but the cost and travel put them off. Bummer. Would I bother after all?

Yes damn it. I don't want to end up a lonely old fart who never leaves the house.

Spent a good three hours or so booking flights (with Flybe), calling the B&B place and organising car hire.

Looking forward to a few days away now.

Good but tiring days sailing

General weather - Sou'westerly 2-3/4, couple of dead spots where wind died.

Bit of chop later in the day once the sea breeze kicked in.

Total time afloat - 09:20 hrs

Distance covered - approx 40km

Crew - none. Still making sure I can sail and do everything single handed.

Yesterday was an excellent day for going out and messing about in boats. Plenty of wind but also some sunshine to go with it.

Sunday was the second day of some Laser championship or other and I had initially offered to help out with safety cover. As it was going to be such a good day I decided instead to be a little selfish and go out in me boat like.

I finished loading the car and got down to the slipway for about 07:45hrs.

The slipway was chocka with Laser dinghies, trailers etc. and my boat trailer was blocked in. Not a happy bunny, but decided to get the boat loaded and changed, by which time there might be people around to move them.

Finally managed to launch at about 08:30hrs. There wasn't much wind at this time and there was a definite chill in the air. As usual I backed the trailer into the water and parked the car. The boat came off the trailer easy enough and I motored it to the pontoon to moor it while I recovered the car and trailer. During the brief period away the lasers had started to fill the gap again. The didn't have any concept of the phrase 'public slipway'. Luckily driving a defender landrover has its advantages. With the trailer and car parked, I went down to the boat to get going.

Just as I was setting off the committee boat for the lasers came steaming past barely giving me room to move. These guys were not making any friends here.

As is usual when I'm single handed I decided it would be easier to rig up while swinging from one of the buoys in front of the MBC. This is okay at the moment as a lot of them are clear. When the season progresses I'll have to try rigging on the move or anchor somewhere. I'll worry about that when it becomes an issue.

Once rigged I started to drift slowly out across The Hoe. Not a lot of wind in evidence to start with. After about 20 mins I decided it would be better if I motored out a bit and see what would happen. I couldn't find the kill cord for the engine. Thinking I'd lost it I had to improvise using a piece of string. Luckily this worked fine and I set off. I didn't want to go to far as I hadn't brought any more fuel and the can was only about 1/4 to 1/2 full. This early in the game I haven't yet worked out how far I could've got if I needed to.

After a relatively short boost I managed to find a bit of wind to get me going. I decided to head for the Eastern entrance of The Sound as it seemed like quite an easy straight(ish) run. Just as I was about to get through a grey funnel vessel decided to come through at the same time as the wind died. All I could do when I received 5 or so blasts on the horn was to turn around a couple of times.

I came up behind them and exited The Sound into quite a large swell from the SW. As the original plan was to go past Rame Head I headed in a westerly direction. As I got near West Tinker the wind died completely. As I sat there waiting for it to reappear, the bottom of the sail was whip-cracking over my head. It got really annoying.

It looked like there might have been a bit of wind nearer Penlee Point and Rame Head, so I decided to have another go on the engine.

Once I got out of the wind shadow, I set off for the headland again under wind power alone. Lovely and peaceful. The wind by this point had picked up enough for the gunwales to get wet.

I only stayed on the West of Rame Head for a small time. Due to the fact that I was single handed and the wind was from the SW I couldn't do anything other than have a quick look. I did find a small beach which might be nice to visit in the summer.

I decided to head for Cawsand bay to have a quiet period at anchor. Took me a little while to get there though as the wind died off completely under the headland. I had to resort to the engine once again. It's certainly useful to have onboard.

I didn't stay too long at anchor, because it was a little chilly sat still. As it was it was, just enough to see how the anchor was working, set up the day signal for anchoring etc.

After leaving the bay, the wind looked excellent for a tack over to Shag Stone at the eastern side of the Plymouth Breakwater. For a little while I was tempted to go through between the Mewstone and the mainland, but after looking at the charts I decided against it as I don't have an echo sounder. It was also time to head back. I thought it'd take me an hour to get back and then a further hour to get everything put away.

I packed the boat away and moored to the pontoon. As I walked away to get the car one of the powerboats from the Laser event was going to go past at quite a speed. He slowed down but only after I asked him to. Nonetheless a wake still caused the boat to roll quite a bit. Thankfully I'd put enough fenders on.

Once I got to the trailer I found that the slipway was again blocked by Laser trailers being recovered. They were quite ready to move when asked however. One vehicle had been left on the slipway itself. When I asked if it could be moved for me to have a clearer run with my trailer stating that it was public slipway one guy said 'Well there's been an event'. Yet again showing

a complete lack of understanding of the phrase 'public slipway'.

As I brought the boat onto it's trailer I got an offer of help from a couple of jet bikers. I thanked them kindly but said that I was trying to do it on my own as practice but may call on them should I fail completely. Fortunately it went relatively smoothly, and I only had to take the landrover out once, to re-align the boat.

It would be a big bonus to have some guide arms on the trailer though.

Once on the hard the two jet bikers commented to me about the awful load of rubbish that had been left by the Laser crowd. I myself have been to lots of events round the country with PYSC at NSSA events, and when we left a camp site we always did a sweep to clean up after ourselves. It didn't look as though anything had been done here though. It was a case of 'Why should I do it?'

After putting the boat away, I went around and picked up most of the rubbish. Not impressed.

Apart from the hassle with the Laser crowd it was all in all a great day out practising. Only thing to do now is get further and further.

PYSC website updates

Now trying to get the Plymouth Youth Sailing website up to date to reduce the large amount of attacks and vulnerabilities in the old Joomla system.

It's taking me a while as I'm not the most savvy computer person and am relying on a friend of mine for the steps while I do the actual donkey work.

Hopefully I'll get it finished soon. Maybe before I go away to work even?

Sailing around The Sound

General weather - Southerly 3-4, 1-2m swell in exposed areas. Good visibility.

Total time afloat - 03:41 hrs

Total distance taken from GPS tracker - 20.5km

Today was another test day to see if I could launch and recover without assistance, as well as test out other things on the boat.

Launching -

I used the defender to launch at the east slipway at MBC. This is the shallowest of the slipways but I had taken so long to actually get ready the tide had gone out too far for me to attempt the west slipway.

After getting the trailer in the water, launching was relatively easy, although I did get a little water in the wellies as I jumped aboard. I had to put the boat on the pontoon so that I could recover the landy and trailer from the slipway. This didn't go quite as planned as I still have to get used to driving the boat with the small outboard. Oh well that's what fenders are for I guess.

Getting ready -

At the moment I still like to raise the sails and get ready for actually sailing on a swinging mooring where there is less chance of doing damage to me or anything else.

I tried to lower the centreboard, but it seemed to be stuck. After trying to waggle the recovery rope and consulting with Mr Lerigo, I had to take the cover off and try to figure out what was wrong. It turned out to be a problem with the pulley system, in that the rope had jumped off a wheel. A little fiddling and it was sorted. May have to look at replacing the rope if it happens too often. The screws holding down the cover don't seem to be very well secured.

As the wind was a little higher than previous sails, I decided to test out the reefing system. I needed to put some small ropes in the sail but it worked as expected.

At 1230hrs I finally set off for a tour of The Sound and environs.

My first plan was to go to Picklecombe, Bovisand, Jennycliff and back home. As it happened I ended up in Cawsand bay.

While being rocked about by a good sized swell I let out the anchor, after first making sure the lines were all attached to something.

Wasn't too bad sitting at anchor even in the swell. I think it was made better by making sure the line was attached to the D ring at the bow rather than on top of the deck.

The sail back was uneventful.

Recovery -

Recovery was wetter than the launch. A lot wetter.

The tide was now rising and there was a stiff breeze across the slipway. Neither of these conditions made for a dry recovery. After getting the landrover and trailer in position I drove the boat round using the outboard.

I tried to put the boat straight onto the trailer but of course it was having none of it. I eventually had to stand on the trailer to try and pull the hull unto the correct alignment. Unfortunately the side wind was making this unrealistic and I had to get into the water way above the top of my wellies and indeed my underwear.

I managed it okay but will definitely be using my dry trousers from now on.

All in all though a good days sailing and I expect to go further once I have more and more sorted out.

Testing the Hawk.

For the last few months I have been hankering for a sailing boat of some description. Something which was small enough to handle on my own but large enough to be comfortable and could take crew if they wanted to come along. The Hawk 20 seemed to fit the bill, and one was going to be available soon.

My good friend Maison tried to convince me that this wasn't the only boat on the ocean and maybe something with a cabin would be more appropriate.

As usual I wanted instant satisfaction of some sort and wouldn't be swayed unless something was desperately wrong with it.

Finally in Mar 2010, a Hawk 20 did indeed become available.

Mr Webster helped me check it over and pick it up from Bovisand on Sat 13th Mar 2010. There were a few things we noticed but nothing major. Either they didn't exist or we missed them. The original plan was for me to get it launched at MBC in the afternoon and go for a good test sail.

Thankfully Mr Lerigo was on hand to help me out. As he's the bosun at MBC and has dealt with their Hawks for a number of years now he's the ideal dude to turn to. As we went over the boat, and discovered various things which needed doing, we decided that it would be best to test sail it on the Sunday morning, as there would be safety cover for the Laser series, available in case anything went wrong.

Simon, Gill and Fin were down for the weekend so we broke for lunch at the Mountbatten pub.

Sunday morning came around and I was up early. Took me a little while to rig up but I was soon ready to go.

Mr Lerigo helped me launch. The weather wasn't too bad in the morning. Not a lot of sunshine and not a lot of wind. I wasn't planning on staying out too long, as the safety cover would disappear at about noon. It was just to be long enough to see if anything was obviously wrong.

Thankfully I couldn't see anything immediately obvious and considered it a success.