Sailing Again - Briefly!

The Solent - very empty in February!

With the windows back in we just had to go sailing. Just a short hop to Cowes and back but it was great to have BV sailing again after over a month and a half stuck in port.

New curtains finished and fitted

The reason for such a short sail was twofold.  We wanted to get some more preparation jobs finished, plus the weather forecast was for strong Force 7 winds from the NE. Great for going west but not so good for getting back on Saturday in time for a social engagement on Sunday. So we sailed as far as Cowes and did our chores there.

The time we spent was very productive. We were able to finish refitting our new curtains. We have made them with a black-out material as the liner which we hope will help prevent me from waking up the moment dawn breaks. It's much thicker material too so that should help if we need to shut out the sun to keep the cabin cooler in the summer or indeed retain the heat better when it is cold.

Bow protector fitted

We have also managed to finish a few other ongoing projects. When at anchor with wind against tide we have often found that the chain rubs the stem and scratches  the gelcoat. Sadly a blue hull shows those scratches quite clearly. Perhaps polishing out all of the scratches when BV was ashore has given us the impetus but we have finally got around to finishing a padded and shaped bow protector. So, whilst onboard over the past few days we have spliced on the securing lines and put whippings onto them to mark where we need to tie the lines to the stanchions. It seems to fit well and will hopefully stop the anchor chain from damaging the hull in the future. Bundled up though, it is quite large so we will need to decide upon a location to store it.

We did, however, decide upon where to lash the passerelle. You can just see it between two stanchions on the port side in the photo at the top of this blog. We have now spliced on most of the securing lines; just one more line to make up to support the end of the passerelle and that too will be another project completed.

Fun with string

Ropes have been a bit of a theme this week as I also spent some time splicing the shackle onto the new halyard. It has taken a bit of research to decide upon the best splice to use as the cord is Dyneema which needs a different technique to the braid-on-braid I am more familiar with. Aside from the core taking all of the strain, which is the primary difference, the mantle on this brand of Dyneema is particularly tight so, after several attempts, I have concluded that there is not enough space to tuck away the short mantle flap neatly inside. Fortunately, we have manged to find instructions for a splice that works with the flap sewn and then covered with a couple of layers of heatshrink tubing. Not quite as neat but much better than the alternatives which leave the core exposed to damaging UV light.

With the main halyard completed there are still the other halyards and the topping lift left to do before the running rigging is finished but, having now confirmed the splice to use, they should be cracked in a day's work.

Whilst I was playing with splicing the halyard, Nicky was busy starting the packing. The big pile of spares has been moved onboard from home. They were definitely a bit of a concern as we wondered where they would all fit. As a result, a major part of our work over the last few days has been working out a much more efficient use of our storage space. Through that work and repackaging the larger spares we have managed to find space for all of them. We have even brought back a couple of boxes of maps, books, spare linen and other gubbins that we have been carrying around onboard but just don't use. From being worried about space we now, very pleasingly, find that we have several empty lockers. The challenge will be to keep that space clear and not to fill it up with new pieces of superfluous kit as we move on to packing clothes, books and food.