In which Sid and Doris wait out gales and do more planning.
This marina is in a well sheltered bay but when we woke up the wind in here was gusting up to 33 knots, the top end of force seven. No snow today but the rain has ambitions.
Walking back from the shower Sid was thinking about Conveyance of the Day. He was originally taken with a mobile home that slots into the load bed of a Dodge Ram diesel pickup.
That was until he got talking with the owner and builder of Bunty B, whose fascinating blog on his boat building project is here.
Bunty B was built at home, though this home has large sheds, stores, workshops and, for lifting and turning the boat over, a digger.
The whole boat is immaculate with fabulous joinery. As Doris joined them on the pontoon and admired the details of the gaff neck, he said yes I built that out of an ash tree that fell down in our garden. Ash ply?! said Sid. Yes, he said, I layered it up and steamed it and bent it and shaped it, usual stuff.
So now you know you really must click on his blog link above. He and Lynn have had a holiday from here, trailering the boat up from Cumbria and sailing this twenty foot boat in more weather than they bargained for. Chapeaux, yes, I know: more than one hat.
Lurching back to Flyer down the rocking pontoons and looking at the wind instruments S and D quickly worked out neither of us wanted to try a new boat in unknown waters in these winds, even if you could just put three reefs in the main and drizzle out a few square metres of headsail.
We spent the afternoon using the impressively comprehensive set of charts, pilot books, almanacks and other information that Alba Sailing provide on all their boats, working out that it would be over-ambitious for your rusty duo to try to go to the Outer Hebrides or all the way around Skye. Rather we are looking for short days and stops in small towns. If the weather improves we may go further or stop on a mooring buoy in a quiet bay.
For now the log book entry for tomorrow reads ‘Towards Tobermory’, a town (with pontoons) which we know and like. It is in the direction the wind is blowing and when we go we will have favourable tides.
Bon voyage.
This comment pertains to yesterday’s entry, but no comment section was attached there. I simply want to note my disappointment that the cross-stitch tapestry was not purchased. As you know, I consider decorative chart pillows as critical navigational backups, to say nothing of their various uses in maritime emergencies. Just sayin’…