A Fishy Tale

Nicky and I escaped for a few days sailing (plus a bit of technical work along the way). We listened to Solent Coastguard's warning about lots of debris from the rivers which had been washed down by heavy rain, and we noted the brown water and lots of floating sticks when we stopped at Lymington. At 0400hrs when the fridge (which is water cooled) woke me up making some unhappy noises, I assumed that the pump had sucked up some leaves or rubbish so switched it off and left clearing it until the morning. Once we were up in the morning, after a quick bit of testing, it was clear that no water was getting to the cooling pump; debris in the inlet... must be. Yes the inlet was blocked, but not by debris.  Surprisingly, a fish had got completely jammed inside the inlet and stopcock. The only thing we had onboard of the right dimensions to push it out was the handle of one of our wooden cooking spoons. Not ideal but it worked and we now have cool wine and beer again...bliss! Important enough I think to add a dedicated long piece of doweling to our shopping list to have onboard in case it ever happens again.

We had one very misty day with no wind and so used the time usefully to get out our storm sails and set them up so that we know how to get the correct sheeting angles.

Storm jib and trysail

They look the part and are very strongly made but I dearly hope that we are never in such bad weather that we have to use them in earnest.