Sea
Poems - Columbus
See our
poetry choice for October
CLICK
HERE
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Travelogue
- Caribbean Sailing
The next episode of Steve Landles' trip.
Here he sails across the Caribbean Sea.
CLICK
HERE
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Sea
Poems - The Wreck of the Hesperus
See our poetry selection for September.
CLICK
HERE
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Travelogue
- The Watermaker
See the next instalment of
Steve Landles' voyage. In this episode he starts on his
Atlantic crossing.
CLICK
HERE
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Sea
Poems - Lassitude
See the August entry of our poetry feature.
This month it is Lassitude by Mathilde Blind (1841 - 1896)
CLICK
HERE
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Travelogue
- Sailing to the Canary Islands
See the next instalment of Steve Landles' voyage. In this
episode he leaves Portugal to cross over to Madiera and the
Canary Islands ready to cross the Atlantic.
CLICK
HERE
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Travelogue
- Shipwrecked
On the 1st August Steve Landles' voyage came to an abrupt
end when he hit a reef and had to be winched off the
stricken "Lamachin".
He describes the moment of
impact as "....I saw a thin white line of breakers,
hardly different to the prevailing swell we were in. At the
same time I heard a dreadful, crunching, grinding sound. I
fired up the engine and dropped the mainsail. But, we were
now in the breakers which hurled us forward onto the reef. A
weight of water went over the stern and down through the
hatch. It was soon clear I wasn't going to get myself
off...."
Thankfully Steve was not injured and we shall be continuing
our regular series describing his experiences up to this
point as well as the full description of the shipwreck and
subsequent air rescue. We also hope to bring you Steve's
thoughts on the process of sorting out an insurance claim
and his future yachting plans.
CLICK
HERE
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Sea
Poems - A Nautical Ballad
See the next entry in our monthly literary feature. The
July featured poem is A Nautical Ballad by Charles Edward
Carryl (1841 - 1920)
CLICK
HERE |
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Travelogue
- Leaving England
See the next instalment of Steve Landles'
epic voyage around the world on his yacht "Lamachin".
In
this update Steve and the crew leave the UK and head across
the Bay of Biscay to Portugal.
CLICK
HERE
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Sea
Poems - Sea Fever
See our new monthly feature showcasing classic nautical
poetry. Our first entry is "Sea Fever" by John
Masefield (1878 - 1967).
CLICK
HERE
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Travelogue
See the first instalment of Steve Landles'
epic voyage around the world on his yacht "Lamachin".
He will be sending us regular updates on his progress, which
will be posted on this site.
CLICK
HERE
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Engine
Winterising Advice
The Boat Owners Association of the United States, known as
BoatUS, has recently conducted a statistical review of boat
insurance claim files they maintain. They have come up with
the six most common mistakes made when winterising a boat.
They sound pretty obvious when you write them down, but we
guess that the same mistakes are likely to be common over
here too if the same research was done. So to help you
protect your no claims bonus here is a summary of the main
findings:
1) Failure to drain the engine block. Apparently this is
common in places that are normally mild and in boats stored
ashore when people think that means out of danger. Watch out
over here if we have a mild winter followed by a cold blast.
2) Failure to drain water from the engine cooling sea
intake as well. A freeze can damage water tight seals, which
is not revealed until launching in the spring!
3) Failure to close seacocks for boats left in the water.
If a through hull opening cannot be closed the vessel should
be stored ashore. The exception is for cockpit drains, which
should be left open. Heavy snow can press a boat lower in
the water than normal and the melt needs to get out.
4) Clogged sub cocks in the engine cooling system. If
clogged by rust or other debris, they can prevent all the
water from draining out, and residual water can then freeze
inside the engine and cause damage.
5) Leaving open boats afloat in the winter - especially in
areas vulnerable to heavy snow falls.
6) Thinking the bimini is an
adequate winter storage cover.
www.BoatUs.com
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Bare
Boat Charter in Turkey
Charter sailing has been on
offer in Turkey for years but it was not until this year
that I went there in late September.
Sunsail and Moorings have had bases there for years too but
ours was a yacht club flotilla doing their own thing
together rather than a flotilla. We chose to use a local
company and Yildiz Yachting in Bodrum. They have a very
pleasant local manager who is English but already an eight
year resident of Turkey and a nice range of privately owned
boats that they charter manage. We had a Bavaria 47 with
four double cabins but for six of us only. Booking at about
75% of the capacity is a tip I have found to be very good in
my other chartering experiences and makes for a much better
holiday.
Bodrum is a bustling port and tourist centre a half hour
taxi ride from the airport. Just before we were due to go
there were a couple of terrorist bomb outrages in Turkey,
which tourists had been caught up in. E mails went around
checking if we all still wanted to go but we figured sailing
is not in the main firing line and a taxi from the airport
to a Bodrum hotel rather than a tour bus seemed pretty safe
(even allowing for the excitement of Turkish taxi driving
and roads.) Not a single dropout from our group of about 35.
We flew Turkish Airways from Heathrow at a convenient time
Friday night via Istambul to Bodrum Milas airport. Then a
half hour taxi ride to a Bodrum hotel with a swimming pool
and pool side bar. Just the thing to slow down and meet up
with everybody.
The hotel was right by the marina and next morning the
luggage was taken to the boat for us, whilst we had plenty
of time for a morning swim, relaxed breakfast and the ship's
store shopping ahead of the 2.00pm take over time for the
boat. A good tip for how to start a charter holiday the
right way.
Bodrum is also home port to a vast array of traditional
Gulets for fully crewed sailing holidays or just days out.
Lazy sailing, never pull a rope or drop an anchor, just
enjoy.
What struck me most was how unspoiled the sailing places
were. You can still sail to a deserted bay and be on your
own. Next to bays where there is a jetty for half a dozen
boats moored stern to and one restaurant. Then to historic
sites like Cleopatra's Island where the beach is made from
sand imported from Egypt. There are a few marinas and more
planned, but for now Turkey is in a sort of time warp in
sailing pleasure, like Croatia was when it first opened up
again after their war but has since been marina concreted
over I think.
Turkish food is basic Mediterranean and the menus at all
restaurants we sampled were pretty standardised but good,
fresh and local produce. Tasty spicy meatballs, lamb kebabs
and mozzarella salads with lashings of olive oil. Raki is
the local pastis spirit used to start or round off any meal
it seems. Local wines are limited to a few brands but both
red and whites were very acceptable. Dinners out cost about
£ 20 a head for food and with lots of drinks included.
Good weather, nice winds up to 20 knots but mostly around
10 knots. Nice swimming and diving and still unspoiled. Go
there before it changes.
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Boat
Theft - Boat Recovered
At Weybridge Sailing Club
(Surrey) we were all taken aback when member Roy Hatherway's
Seamaster 23 foot drop keel sailboat stored in our field on
a four wheel trailer was stolen in August and towed away on
its own four wheeled trailer. Here is the story with a
mostly happy ending and a few lessons from it.
The club was secured by gates with combination locked
gates. We had some eye witness evidence of when it happened
so asked the police to check CCTVs in the area.
Unfortunately they said this was not possible as they didn't
have the time. We offered to do the viewing but apparently
members of the public are not allowed to see the footage due
to some sort of data protection regulation.
One of our members happened to
have a contact in the police and we had a good idea of the
time span so he was able to to get a look and saw the boat
going over Chertsey Bridge (only a mile away) and we were
able to see the number plate on the vehicle. We saw it again
on the M25 so began to have an idea where it might be
heading.
The boat has a distinctive paint job and inside a unique
engine for this model. Roy put info onto the Seamaster
owners website as owner enthusiasts will often notice a new
boat in the moorings area and pop over for a chat.
Eventually the police obtained
a search warrant for the vehicle's registered address and
someone has now been charged. He
claimed he had paid cash to "someone at the club"
for the boat but was unable to remember his name. But he did
confess where the boat was - on a mooring in the Southsea
area and the boat was eventually found sitting on it.
Information from the Harbour
Master revealed that the mooring had been booked by the
culprit in his name but not paid for. So he would not permit
Roy to recover his boat until Roy, the owner not the thief,
had paid up all the as yet unpaid dues. It was in a state,
obviously recently occupied as a live aboard and took a lot
of cleaning up.
Unfortunately the four wheel trailer has not been found so
with no cheap way of bringing it home Roy decided to keep it
on the mooring and do a bit of sea sailing as a nice change
from the very limited scope of the Thames at Weybridge.
It turned out the culprit had been a club member so had
access to the number codes. Bad news! The club has now
changed to a high security key system. Weybridge SC is a
very relaxed recreational boating club rather than a racing
club but even we have now had to introduce a more rigorous
process for accepting members - and then for making sure we
continue to know everybody as a result of this incident.
The other lesson learned is be
insured. Roy was not so he is pretty relieved to get his
boat back at all. Like many others he thought that being
laid up in a locked field with difficult access on a dodgy
trailer and a fairly old boat under an old blue tarpaulin he
was safe enough. Roy told me "Not a likely target for
thieves I thought. I read a Yachtline Newsletter once, which
reminded us that laid up did not mean no need to insure, but
I just didn't believe that meant me. I have taken that
advice now".
Lessons learned:
1) Better securing for the vessel in the yard.
2) Be insured. If it is stolen
do not expect the police to do all the hard work.
3) Do your own forensic work
and follow through, finding witnesses and even getting
someone to look at the CCTVs for you.
4) Get onto the appropriate
Owners Association and spread the word.
5) Get the local press to
cover the story and make sure you have a recent photo
available for such an eventuality. We got his story on our
local radio station. What
we were after was anyone who had noticed a boat on the road
and to prompt local people's memories.
6) Ask around everywhere, in
clubs, pubs along the route for any newcomer and anyone
selling a boat of your type or boat bits cheap.
7) Don't let the police drop
the case. Keep chasing them because these cases are
important to us and not a high priority for them.
"Oh well", says Roy. "Off sailing on the sea
now. So it's an ill wind......"
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