Wayfarer Cyprus

4 Sept: Jacob & Joseph

2010-09-04T21:03:00.003+03:00

14 Nautical Miles

The weather forecast was for very light wind in the morning gusting to Bft 4 in the afternoon. This is just the weather for new sailors to try their hand and the sport.

I was taking out Jacob (who can sail well) and Joseph (first time) and so as soon as we were off the shore I allowed Joseph to try his hand at the helm.

Meanwhile Jacob is sunning himself on the foredeck. It really is very very calm and a great start to the day.

There is nobody about at the club as there are races in Limassol today. Galini is heavy and it took all our effort to get her in the water - the pebbles are piling up on the slipway again.

First time at the helm is not easy: To steer the boat left you move the tiller right and to steer the boat right you move the rudder left.

First attempts for everyone tend to be a bit of a zig-zag course, but in these light winds its great to try your hand:

'No, these are ripples not waves!'

We sailed past a gas tanker - keeping our distance - she was flying a red danger flag from her port mast yardarm.

Then some wally in a 'self-drive' power boat careers round the bow of the tanker. I didn't even know you could rent 'self-drive' boats. It was painted in big letters along the side advertising, I suppose its fair warning really. I really think they ought to teach them the 'rules of the road' before letting them lose on the high seas.

Jacob took over the helm - the two of them were having fun and I was relaxing. I worked about 70 hours this week I think so relaxing is what I needed.

We chase a MacGregor and quickly overhaul her. She is pottering along and luffing her genoa badly.

'Jacob, you're luffing too!' (That's luffing not laughing)

Joseph is much better disciplined than Jacob and me, remembering to drink water in the hot summer sun and to put extra suncream on. Though our suncream was double the strength of Joseph's.

But... with no mirror to check his face, the suncream got into his eyes and we used up a couple of bottles of fresh water rinsing it out.

With the suncream gone from his eyes Joseph is back to having fun as we goose wing down towards the coast.

On the way we pass one of the glass bottom boats with people hanging out all along the side with fishing rods. Almost no chance of catching anything as these waters are very overfished.

As we pass they stop fishing for a few seconds to wave at us.

Then we are passed and we hove to and eat our lunch.

The wind has picked up during lunch - there are white horses on the wave crests and there are yelps of joy as we race up to 5 knots. Well... racing at 5 knots is not really high speed sailing.

The final picture tells it all!

Rob, Annabella and Laura

2010-08-21T19:54:00.009+03:00

3 Nautical miles

It was hot today... very hot. Here is the Heat Index statistics from http://www.cyprusmeteo.com/index.html for today. It shows that while we were out on the water it felt like 48.9 Celcius (in the shade) and we were in the sun. I still enjoyed it though.

Actually it was hot all day. Here is Cyprus Meteo graph for the last 24 hours:

We got to the club about 10:30 and we left about 2pm. What is slightly strange is that it actually got hotter around 5pm.

When we arrived I found that kids had removed the bungs from the the stern of Galini, which meant that last time I had sailed we had partially filled the buoyancy tank with water. Not a good idea. I looked round for something to block it up with, but since it was so calm thought I could get away with it for an hour or so. Wayfarers will float with the cockpit filled with water and the rear buoyancy tank also filled with water... but only just. It turned out that an hour or so was about all I could get away with.

Rob is a friend of a friend and I took him and his two daughters out for a sail. First time sailing for all of them.

Beautiful calm sea and blazing sun.

The helm moves left to go right and right to go left. Takes a bit of getting used to when someone is used to driving a car.

Because the sea was so calm I let Rob tack without first demonstrating. My mistake. We went round in a circle!

Didn't do his self confidence any good when Laura did it pretty perfectly after I had demonstrated.

Oh well... by the end he was helming fine.

However when Laura took over, the worried Dad was watching every move...

yep... she's doing fine.

What was good was that because the sea was so calm I could let Annabella have a go at helming too.

Too quick for me it was time to head back to the club. However I could feel the water in the buoyancy sloshing about (yes, I know its called the 'free surface effect' that makes the boat less easy to steer with a partially filled tank but this is a blog for normal people, well... relatively normal people) and decided we should not push it too much more.

The wind? Well, when we started it was very low (Bft 2) and was just creeping up to Bft 3 when we finished, which was making it more exciting for the girls. Sorry, without bungs I don't want to risk too much. (Thanks to Windfinder for the info.)

7 August

2010-08-07T19:55:00.000+03:00

5 nautical miles

Chris, Daniel & Becky

2010-06-26T22:20:00.005+03:00

8 nautical miles

I wasn't feeling too good (for me to miss a sail it means I really wasn't feeling too good) so Chris took Becky and Daniel out in Galini. In the process he demonstrated the difference between end sheeting and centre sheeting... in that the centre sheeting block fell off!

Galini really needs some maintenance, she is looking slightly sad, but until King Malu is ready to sail, the yacht takes precedence!

Sailing with Chris - 25 June

2010-06-25T22:17:00.003+03:00

6 nautical miles

The week had been really windy and today was the first day with lower winds. Chris had burnt his knees quite a lot on the long sail on Monday (and his ankles as he forgot to suncream them when he took his socks off) so having a few days without sailing was kind of OK.

Today we went out for a short trip round the bay, but as Chris reminded me my 'short trip round the bay' is longer than he normally sails in Sutton Park at his sailing club!

Trip to Potomas with Chris

2010-06-21T18:49:00.005+03:00

31 nautical miles

My friend Chris from the UK came out to sail on King Malu, however avid readers of the King Malu blog will know we are still waiting for the new electric drive.

Hence... we took out Galini.

Actually the Wayfarer is a nice boat for day sailing and we sailed all the way to Potomas and back.

We went up the Potomas creek and sat under the shade of a tree to eat our lunch. Sadly even that break from the sun was not enough for Chris' legs and ankles, which are somewhat sunburnt.

There was only one thing missing from lunch... a really nice coffee. We had forgotten to take any money and so despite the fact we were sitting beside a cafe, we couldn't avail ourselves.

On the way back Chris remarked 'You know when we get back we will have done the equivalent of a channel crossing'.

Looking at the GPS I realised that in fact we had already done the equivalent of a Dover to Calais crossing as we had, by that point, sailed more than 22 nautical miles.

The interesting thing is that sea miles in a Wayfarer don't count towards sea miles for you RYA certification. So... if a Wayfarer sails across the channel as part of a flotilla of yachts, the yachts can count the miles, but the Wayfarer cannot.

One of the hazards of Potomas is the fish farm just outside the creek.

Not very obvious - there are buoys visible from one side but not the other.

All in all a very good day's sailing.

When we got home we told Sue about the lack of money for the coffee and she said 'What about your emergency money?' and then retrieved more than five euros which would have provided us with coffee!

Sailing - 20 June

2010-06-20T22:12:00.003+03:00

4 nautical miles

This sail was really just to check out Galini before Chris arrives tomorrow.

Sailing - 22 May

2010-05-22T21:41:00.007+03:00

7 nautical miles

Daniel and I were sailing Galini while Tim and Jacob took the new inflatable dinghy round the same route to King Malu. The same route? Well, not exactly, with an outboard motor they took a more direct route, but they also stayed close to land to avoid being blown around too much.

When we got close to the entrance to the marina we called them up on the radio and then decided not to actually go into the marina, but head for home. We had been trying to raise them most of the way, but they had put the hand held mobile in the front of the inflatable and because of the engine noise had not heard us calling!

First sail of the season

2010-04-03T19:29:00.001+03:00

8 nautical miles

OK, so we can only take it so long, we need to get out and sail. (see King Malu blog). When we got to the club there was nobody there. How come on a glorious sailing day was nobody sailing... except us?

Today we put Galini back in the water and took her out for a sail. It was Bft 2 south easterly most of the day and glorious sailing waather. So we tacked down towards the marina, and checked the engine was still working (it was, but the throttle kept slipping, must be grease somewhere it shouldn't be).

We headed towards the visitor berths at the marina and contemplated dropping the main sail, flaking it and motoring in to look at King Malu from the water, however the thought of flaking the sail and then raising it again was too much so we turned and headed for the club.

We had a nice downwind run with the sails goose winged, then a broad reach and another run. All in all a great little sail.

Oh... and the new sail cover for my genoa looks great too.

High wind (again)

2009-12-17T10:15:00.005+02:00

Last night there was another time very high wind and high waves. It wasn't a tornado like the time my Mirror was wrecked, but did more damage to boats in the club than before.

This was the sight that met our eyes as we, that is Tim and I, when we arrived at the club this morning. That's Tim's trimaran on it's side there.

Here's what it looked like from the other side. The catamaran in the foreground normally lives with its mast up in the far right corner of the photograph, about 20 metres away.

Tim came down late last night so had seen the wreck. At that time the waves were piling up into the club itself, coming right through the wire fencing. It's probably the waves that pushed his boat backwards as it floats in almost no water.

Then when the wind took the catamaran in the far corner off its trolley and blew it half way across the club, where it likely as not knocked Tim's on its side and demasted Blue and Baby Blue.

Here you can see the boats back in their correct places, with Blue and Baby Blue looking sad with their broken masts.

Some of the boats were stacked up on top of each other - like this 470.

A number of club members were there to help move them around. From Tim's description I expected worse than the actual sight I saw.

Here's what happened to Galini. She was knocked sideways - maybe the wind. I am not sure.

When we moved her everyone thought she must be full of water as she is so heavy, but I suspect it was her weight that protected her.

By the time we had moved everything round and put the boats upright again, Galini looked fine. Even the genoa looked undamaged.

I will need to bring the keys and take off the cover and see what is inside.

The club was looking more like a club again...

...save for the two boats looking sad and longing for some TLC.

LL13171 (or how to register a small sailing dinghy in Cyprus)

2009-11-17T22:05:00.017+02:00

Yes, I finally have a registered boat!

After the capsize in the summer I was strictly informed by the Department of Merchant Shipping that my Wayfarer Galini must be registered. It has taken from then till now to do so.

Now here is what I understand of the law from going through this process. All small boats over 2.5 metres in lenght that sail on the territorial waters of Cyprus must be registered. The Department of Merchant Shipping [we'll call them the DMS from now on] have an extensive website and a page dedicated to the registration of small vessels. Here's what they say by way of introduction:

All recreational craft should be registered either in the Register of Cyprus Ships (these vessels are permitted to sail in national and international waters) or in the Register of Small Vessels (these vessels are permitted to sail only in the territorial waters of the Republic of Cyprus).
Recreational craft are registered in the Register of Cyprus Ships, in accordance with the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships, Sales and Mortgages) Law 45/63, as amended or the Register of Small Vessels, in accordance with the Emergency Powers (Control of Small Vessels) Regulations of 1955.
Ships that are not registered in Registry of Cyprus Ships are:
(α) ships having an overall length less than thirteen (13) metres, employed solely in navigation on the coast of the Republic or of the Sovereign Base Areas;
(b) ships not having a whole or fixed deck and employed solely in fishing, lightering or trading coastwise on the shore of the Republic or of the Sovereign Base Areas or within such a radius therefrom as may be prescribed.
Under regulation 13 of the Emergency Powers (Control of Small Vessels) Regulations of 1955, failure to register a vessel by its owners constitutes a criminal offence.

The define a recreational craft the following way:

any boat of any type intended for sports and leisure purposes of hull length from 2,5 m to 24 m, measured according to the harmonized standard, regardless of the means of propulsion;

So basically if you have a boat over 2.5 metres, sailing, rowing or power you must register if you are to use it on the sea. If you only want to sail within 12 miles of land you must register in the Register of Small Vessels and if you want to sail further than 12 miles from land you must register in the Register of Cyprus Ships.

So Galini registers in the Small Vessels and King Malu in the Cyprus Ships. If you have vessel capable of doing more than 15 knots under power then you will need extra forms completing and some tests of competency and health. The page on the DMS website describes all this, but it is somewhat complicated to wade through.

The forms needed can be download from the website, but they are not linked to from the description page, but another page under downloads called Small Vessels. I expected links from the description page to the forms so spent ages looking on the site not expecting it to be rather obviously under 'downloads'.

Now Galini is a small sailing vessel so I will describe what I needed to do. I should have used a special Bill of Sale for a Small Vessel when I purchased the boat. I didn't and more of that later. I also need an Application for Registration/Transfer of Ownernship/Deletion/Change of name of a Small Vessel form. Because I have a marine band hand held radio [this is very wise to have if you cruise with a small boat] then I also needed a Declaration for License to install and operate radio equipment on small vessels.

The cost of registration is €34.17 and the cost of license for the radio is also €34.17. Both can be paid by cheque made out to the Director of the Department of Merchant Shipping.

So I downloaded the forms, wrote the cheques and sent them off by Akis Express to the DMS. Then started a long dialogue with a very helpful girl in the DMS by the name of Elena who walked me through the process. First thing she needed was two photos of Galini, which I took and then emailed to her.

Then there was the problem of the lack of bill of sale. Now here was two problems. Firstly I didn't have one, it was a gentleman's agreement witnessed by two other members of the sailing club and secondly the previous owner hadn't registered the boat as he should, so he might get into trouble. However, I had totally forgotten and lost the contact details for the previous owner so he was not going to get into trouble, but that meant I had a boat but no bill of sale.

So I had to write an Affadavit and get it signed and stamped by the Larnaka Court. The wording of this was important to identify the boat clearly and to swear on oath that I had purchased it, that she had not been registered and that she had been kept at my home or the sailing club. I got the text approved and went down to the court house and then sent the duly stamped Affadavit down to the DMS.

The Affadavit had to have so much detail because Galini doesn't have a hull identification number, it is unknown who the builder was and unknown year of build. From the sail number and Wayfarer version I could approximate the year and be pretty sure it was a UK builder, but all this had to be specified in the Affadavit.

Now I have a 2.5 HP Yamaha outboard that belongs to Tim and is on loan to me. That complicated things and eventually sorted it so that it is registered on my boat.

The process proceeded and a final complication arose. Was Galini in Cyprus before Cyprus accession to the EU? I was pretty sure she was as everyone I had spoken to had seen her at the club for years before I bought her. This was all relating to tax and VAT. So I then had to get letter from the chairman of the sailing club to the DMS confirming that the boat had been on club premises prior to Cyprus accession into the EU.

Then the DMS could proceed and eventually I got my registration. I am still waiting for the radio license... What I would love to know is how many of the small sailing boats around Cyprus are registered. I have met none other than Galini myself yet...

Amazing boat...

2009-10-23T21:51:00.005+03:00

OK, this is amazing day! I am now part owner of 39 ft Nicholson... donated to me and I am thrilled.

This post has now been moved to kingmalu.blogspot.com.

King Malu

2009-10-17T23:34:00.004+03:00

Approx 10 nautical miles

Tim and I had arranged to see another ketch at 10am. We expected to spend about an hour or two looking at her and then off for a sail. But... 5+ hours...

The ketch is a Nicholson 39, which is a kind of classy yacht. This one is the third one off the production line and there were only 60 ever made. The Nicholsons are classy all over - Prince Philip owned and sailed a Nicholson. But we're not in that league. This is a old boat, but very well cared for - sailed round the world - the current owner reckons he did more than 55,000 miles in her.

She hasn't been sailed for a few years [5-8] and so is in desparate need of TLC. But in all honesty she is the most beautiful boat I have ever seen. Of course I couldn't rave too much in front of the owner or he would put the price up! The layout of the boat is amazing. She has two cabins, each with en-suite [though the second one needs converting back to working] and a centre cockpit, which means the deck seems to be very much bigger than a rear cockpit sloop.

So, I think we saw every cm of the boat, checked everything out. Stephan, the current owner, told story after story about the boat and we then went for a beer with him and he told more stories about his adventures.

So then Tim and I went out to the club and got my boat into the water... oh yipes, one of the tyres was flat and I only pumped it up yesterday, maybe I over pressurized the tyre... anyway we went out a sail and 'chewed the cud' over the Nicholson. The Morgan we had seen the previous weekend, Sue had wisely reminded me of how much work I had said needed doing to get her in the water... whereas the Nicholson could be in the water a few days after taking her over -- a couple of sea-cocks to fix and anti-foul the hull and she's ready for the water. And with reasonable amount of hard work she would be sail-able next season.

Hmmmm... have to sleep on it. Of course, what I don't have is money to pay for her.

Birthday sail

2009-10-16T20:30:00.003+03:00

Approx 8 nautical miles

SMS Text:

Club competition in Limassol on Saturday. We are thinking of sail at 3pm today. Are you interested?

Well... today being my birthday, of course I am interested. So went down to the club and Neil and Paula and I took out Galini for a sail around the bay. We actually sailed over towards the marina and took a brief look at the ketch that Tim and I had looked at earlier in the week.

Great sail. But saw that the tyres were almost flat so pumped them up.

New jib for Tim's boat

2009-10-11T19:52:00.006+03:00

Approx 10 nautical miles

Tim, Mark and I went down to the club this morning and fitted a new jib. Tim had brought the jib back from the USA when he visited. The old one was sun damaged. The new one had a UV protection sleeve which could be hoisted on a halyard around it. So... we removed the forestay and returned it to a combined jib/forestay.

Tim also bought a Hawk apparent wind direction indicator, which we mounted at the top of the mast. Because the mast is aerofoil and rotating, it turns into the wind. This means that although the indicator correctly points to apparent wind, the reference arms are never showing you something useful! However, it's still useful indicator and while I was sailing his boat today found it useful for downwind runs...

OK, so we then had to sea trial the new jib. We went out, with Tim helming and tacked off towards the port. A very large roll-on roll-off ferry was coming out, with a pilot cutter in attendance. We stayed to the north side of the starboard harbour entrance buoy to stay clear.

In the other harbour a number of yachts and motor vessels are moored and we sailed around them and then into the outer visitors area of the marina... taking a look again at one of the yachts we looked at yesterday and then on to the castle.

Hmmm... yes, the Morgan is a beautiful yacht. Too far away for a photo.

We passed a dive vessel coming into the marina. Tim thought it was more like a dive barge and didn't deserve the name boat!

They dive down to the Zenobia, which is a sunken ship out in Larnaca bay. It's claimed to be one of the best 10 shipwreck dives in the world. The Zenobia was a roll-on roll-off ferry that capsized in Larnaca Bay possibly due to a computer fault making the ballasting system go wrong.

Diving is something that I will never do. I prefer to stay on top of the water... I'm not that keen on being in the water to be honest!

We turned back and Tim let me and then Mark helm Saga. I found it quite difficult helming on a boat where you control the rudder with your feet. A new skill to learn. I was sitting there thinking 'Now what do I do with my hands?'

Anyway, she tacked and gybed quite easily and was a gentle boat to sail. The winds were light [Bft 2 rising to Bft 3 while we were sailing] and the sail a nice gentle trip around the bay.

Beirut sail

2009-10-04T23:10:00.011+03:00

130 nautical miles

I get one of those phone calls... one that you wish happens everyday... 'Richard, how would you like to sail to Beirut with us?' Does Tim need to ask? I leap at the opportunity. Tim's boss and sailing friend Marwan has brought his new Jeanneau to Larnaca and they have one space available for the sail back to Beirut.

I join them at 08:45 on Saturday morning. We cleared customs and immigration at Larnaca and then sailed off towards Nissi Beach at Agia Napa.

Tim and Marwan set the asymetric spinnaker with me controlling lines in the cockpit. Marwan's spinnaker is bright red. 'They will certainly see us coming!' The wind is light and the spinnaker flies... but only just.

When we arrive we anchor just outside the buoys that mark the reserved swimming zone. Tim and I row in to the beach in the tender and the other three swim to the shore.

When I say Tim and I row in, I should clarify that Tim rows and I am passenger. I am thankful as my shoulder is still painful and on the yacht I am very wary moving around as sharp movements to grab something creates excruciating pain.

From the beach SAGA 3 lies at anchor creating an idyllic image of Cyprus life: Sun, sea and beautiful people. We sit and enjoy a freshly squeezed orange juice and a halloumi sandwich. Dance music punches through the air, demonstrating the vitality of this tourist haven. There's movement on the beach... always in time with the rhythm of the drum beat.

It's time to set sail. Tim rows out to the yacht with me and Ziad and then Ziad rows back to pick up Marwan and Jamil.

It's quite a long row with the wind blowing the light tender around.

While they are coming Tim and I stow the spinnaker as we will not use it overnight to save going onto the foredeck in the dark.

Watching the sun set and the moon rise while at sea is one of those glorious times when you marvel at the splendour of God's creation. At the same time thankful to Marwan for giving me the opportunity to be there miles from land and enjoy this sight.

Tim cooks enough spaghetti to feed a crew of eight... and there are only five of us. But with the sea breeze and his spaghetti sauce we sit and do justice to the meal.

Marwan, Jamil and I take the first watch and Tim and Ziad take the second watch. Marwan and Tim had agreed to two long watches rather than the more normal shorter ones. It meant we stayed up till 03:30 and Tim took over then. Actually this works better for people that are naturally late or naturally early people. Each watch is optimized for the body clock of the people concerned.

Marwan has a very nice Raymarine E series plotter and integrated radar system that allows you to set warning zones and track radar targets. So through the night we monitor approaching vessels leaving the autopilot to actually steer the boat. He had the system mounted at the back of the deck table. Initially when I looked at it and I thought it was strange place, but Marwan chose well and it is a great location for pleasure sailing in good weather in the eastern Mediterranean. You can sit on the stern seat comfortably between the two wheels monitoring radar or plotting waypoints.

After a few hours sleep I get up to find the rest of the crew on deck as we sail into the rising sun. The sea is smooth and we are motoring along gently. Tim has communicated with the UN warship patrolling off the Lebanese coast and with 'Oscar Charlie', the central Lebanese shipping control.

As we arrive at Beirut, the sun is glistening over the water and the city is draped in mist, at peace with itself and the world. Long may it stay that way. We motor into Beirut marina to pick up fuel, and finally motor round to the Movenpick marina for a champagne breakfast. The prefect end to a delightful voyage.

Sailing back at last!

2009-10-01T21:48:00.015+03:00

17 nautical miles

Yesterday, back home in Cyprus, today, out sailing again! (BTW the title should have been 'Back sailing at last!')

I took Jacob and Marie out today for a sail. We did about 16 nautical miles and had a great time. Of particular note we sailed without a rudder for a while... well... we lashed the rudder amidships and then by Jacob moving from port to starboard or vice versa we steered the boat. Then we tried tacking. That was more difficult. First attempt failed. Second attempt worked: I pumped the main when it looked like we were going to get stuck in irons.

Made a short video...

Oh... and Jacob wanted you to know that he was the cameraman (in some of the shots that he is not in and one of them that he is in!)

And while we're on the subject of videos... for those people who have not seen the Marine Band radio conversation between the USS Montana and a lighthouse in the Irish Sea... here goes.

It is of course fictitious!

5 September 2009 - Last sail before UK trip

2009-09-05T20:35:00.003+03:00

14 nautical miles (AM - yellow, PM - cyan)

This was my last sail before 3 weeks in the UK, and I am not expecting a sail there sadly. Tim is away in the UK/USA so could not make it a long sail which would have been great, but delivered on my promise to Lukas to take him out... so... the morning (yellow track) was Lukas, Katie and their mum Shiela.

Lukas is keen to sail, but is about the same age as the 'boy Roger' in Swallows and Amazons and Sheila is reading it to him. Katie is younger, but obviously picking up the jargon as sha asked 'Is the genoa OK?' when we were sailing even before we had mentioned it. Sheila is still feeding their youngest Helen so a one hour sail was about the longest we could manage... but next year I think she would like to learn to sail in earnest.

We sailed out to wards SEAGAS - one of the LPG gas carrier ships and then I handed the helm over to Sheila to let her sail for a bit. Lukas and Katie kept thinking that SEAGAS was turning round - rather than realised we were sailing around her!

In the past Lukas has got restless, and Katie managed about 10 minutes... both did extremely well this time, I don't think Lukas got bored at all and Katie managed about 45 minutes before saying she wanted to go back to the shore. Obviously Swallows and Amazons is working!

I took back over the helm for the downwind run back to the club, brought Galini round, tacked and took her in on a broad reach, which is safer than running straight in to the beach.

Then a break for lunch and Neil and I went out in Galini (cyan track) for a fun sail. I was helming all the time and was really enjoyable. First tack out from the club I had pulled in the main sheet as much as possible to bring us close to the wind and then had considerable weather helm, which is why the track is wobbly. Neil noticed this and when I slackened off the main sheet she sailed much better and the weather helm disappeared... but didn't get very much further off the wind than we had been. Tim always says to me when sailing 'when in doubt, let it out' [as far as the sheets are concerned] and I was pinching again and sailing slower.

On the downwind run we couldn't get her to plane all the time (Neil's boat Blue, being a Laser 16 probably planes much more easily than my Wayfarer) but she surfed the waves beautifully.

I have Holt swivel leads and cleats for the genoa sheets but the fairleads on the cleats bring the angle of the cleat up slightly. That 'slightly' is enough to make the release of the genoa sheet somewhat tricky... not for slow cruising like in the morning, but when Neil and I were pushing her a little more then releasing the sheet was difficult.

So I think I will try removing the fairlead and just have the rotating lead on the swivel as a first step and then put on an over fairlead if that works. Having the swivel cleats without tracks certainly makes the boat better for cruising as there is more deck space to sit. Neil and I talked about moving the cleats to the seats - which is where many racing Wayfarers have them - but the seats a great for non-sailors when I take them out so I think I prefer to keep the cleats on the decks.

All in all a very enjoyable days sailing.

29 August 2009 - Finikoudes and back

2009-08-29T21:26:00.003+03:00

10 nautical miles

This was going to be the longer sail we were preparing for a couple of days ago, but then Beth felt slightly sea sick and Miriam decided to come instead and then there would be four adults in the boat which was too many and so would make two short trips and then... Chris went with Neil and Paula so could be longer trip... but Chris and Judith and Miriam didn't have packed lunch so couldn't make it longer trip...

Eventually we headed out and as soon as possible I handed over the helm to Judith so she could have a chance sailing. We tacked back and forth a little and then met up with Blue and decided to sail to Finikoudes and back.

Judith was doing very well, in fact so well Paula, who was helming Blue, thought that I was helming expected me to sail round her on approach to Larnaka port, but we were on starboard tack and leeward boat, so we were stand-on and got close and then both of us tacked off...

I took the helm past the port and marina and then Miriam took the helm for a bit as we sailed in towards the old fort.

I took over just before we turned into a downwind run back towards the club. We managed to get the whisker pole out and were running well, but the waves were increasing so we were rolling slightly and Miriam began to find the motion upsetting, so we changed to broad-reaching back and met up with Blue on the final reach back to the club.

An enjoyable morning sail.

2009-08-27T23:15:00.001+03:00

12 nautical miles

Today was a sort of afternoon training sail for Saturday. I took out Chris and Judith first and then Beth and Bob. Chris was my best friend at school and Beth his daughter... the rest of the names just complicate it. Oh well...

The track is just from the second time out with Bob and Beth... or should it be Beth and Bob? Slowing getting everything back to normal on the boat [like the GPS].

Then photos of Judith are not flattering, so you'll have to make do with the youngsters! Judith sailed Galini. She had sailed a Norfolk Broads yacht some years ago - but the broads are flat and the boats slow and not so lively as a Wayfarer.

Anyhow, I took Chris and Judith out first and then came back and took out Bob and Beth. The wind was light [Bft 3 dropping to Bft 2] so I let Beth try sailing Galini. She has coxed a rowing boat at Oxford University, so the left right reverse steering of a rudder is not toally new to her.

Then... the clip on the rear buoyancy holding the main sheet to the hull broke. It had broken when we went over, and obviously the repair wasn't as good as I hoped. So I took over the helm, put is hove to and sorted it out.

Then it was Bob's turn. Bob had never sailed before or coxed a rowing boat so he was at a disadvantage, but did really well.

They were both doing so well we goose-wing ran downwind [with me helming now] and gybed her round, tacked back and brought her out of the water. A great afternoon sail.

And I was trying out the new camera that Chris and Judith brought out after the other one was lost after the capsize. Here is some of the video recorded this afternoon.

Teaching sailing in Galini

2009-08-25T20:40:00.001+03:00

Through the summer I have been teaching four kids to sail. I've written a little about it... and will write some more when I can get the booklet I wrote for them uploaded for others to use... but anyway Tuesdays and Thursdays I have had two kids in two Optimists. This week, however, the two older ones were away on a camp leaving the younger ones. But... Jacob fell out of bed 4 days ago and cut his face really badly needing steristrips to hold the cut together.

So I decided for two reasons it would be better for them both to come out with me in my boat. One of the reasons [maybe obviously, but maybe not after the capsize] is that my boat is dryer and safer and less likely for Jacob to get the wound wet or reopen it up.

The other reason is that Nicole is having problems sensing where the wind is. For the last week or so whenever anyone is about we say to her 'Nicole, where's the wind coming from?' She then points and indicates where she can sail and where she cannot.

What we could do on my boat was discuss wind direction while we were sailing. I also discovered a new exercise that worked extremely well... getting them to sail with their eyes closed, just feeling the wind. Nicole was great at that and sailed better with eyes closed than open. Of course, not something to do sailing alone!

Nicole admitted she prefers sailing in a bigger boat - being a social person like me she prefers the group interaction. You can see it on her face!

Finally back on the water

2009-08-22T22:27:00.001+03:00

Approx 5 nautical miles

I went down to the club in the morning and Tim joined me to try and fix the last few things on the boat. Last Sunday Tim [my son, not the Tim I sail with] brought out a some things I needed for the boat to repair it - a couple of cleats with fairleads and a bow plate were the main things. The bow plate got damaged in towing I would guess since it doesn't have the strength to be towed by...

During the week I had been down [with Tim] a few times doing repairs. In the process I had removed the floor boards and found the cleat that had come off the track, but having ordered new one I didn't replace it. The holes from the old track needed filling. I did it initially with gelcoat filler, but that didn't go off properly [too old] and so used some of the glue Tim's daughter brought back from South Africa. That worked very well, and in fact when it came to bolting in the new cleats I found I couldn't get the nuts on the end, so glued the bolts into the hull itself.

The amazing glue was also used to repair the tiller. But when we came on Saturday to refix the uphaul for the rudder, the rope wouldn't go through. Tim and I must have spent an hour or more trying to feed it through till we realised that the centre plate of the rudder had moved and the rope would never thread through... some gentle persuasion and the plate moved [and was then screwed in place] and the rope went through easily!

Tim decided that my 'There's only one more thing to do...' was nearly as bad as my 'I won't be long...' cry to my wife. There were many 'only one more things' to do. It took us all morning to get the boat back into a sailable state.

Then we were too dehyraded to sail so went off the club for a drink. Cool refreshing water melon also helped and we went out for a short trip round the bay. We tested everything and checked the boat at all points of sailing from close hauled to goose wing running... and even checked out the motor. Hmmm... motor... now that was expensive to get repaired... very expensive.

Post mortem

2009-08-09T18:59:00.002+03:00

Chatted with the skipper of the Dhekelia rescue boat that came out to right my boat and found that with a fresh crew they attempted and failed three times to right the boat and eventually towed it to the shore capsized, so it would have been highly unlikely that we could have righted the boat in that sea state. He therefore felt I had made the right call.

Sadly the camera has been lost, as has been my hand bearing compass. One of the cleats for the genoa is also lost [that is strange, they are almost impossible to move] and the bow plate broken so the standing rigging is no longer secured.

Other than that the boat is in pretty good shape.

Saturday 8 August 2009 -- Mayday!

2009-08-09T09:29:00.014+03:00

22 nautical miles

Not my favourite experience to recall, but I must say the emergency services were excellent. I wish it had been an exercise rather than 'for real'. Here's the report to the Marine Accident Investigation Division of the Department of Merchant Shipping:

Incident relating to open boat Galini: a 16 ft Wayfarer. Saturday 8 August 2009.

Skipper: Richard - 4 years sailing experience, approx 1100 sea miles mostly in open boats in Cyprus waters. In 2009 studied for and passed RYA Day Skipper theory and practical.
Crew: Skipper, crew A and crew B all adults and crew C 11 year old son of crew A, who I have been teaching to sail during the summer of 2009. Crew A has diabetes and knowing him well understood this to be under control. Crew B was a friend of crew A and this was a day sail as a gift for crew B. All the crew were wearing 50N buoyancy aids appropriate for open boat sailing in inshore waters. I was also carrying a serrated safety knife on a lanyard attached to my buoyancy aid.

We left Larnaca Nautical Club at approx 10:00, two open boats Galini and Saga sailing to Cape Pyla and back. Both boats had marine band handheld radios and we were using channel 11 for inter-boat communication. Conditions were moderate and crew C helmed for most of the first 1.5 hour towards Capy Pyla. During this time I noticed a sluggishness in crew A that concerned me and I asked if he was OK. He tested his blood sugar which was very low and he then ate some fruit which he said would replenish his blood sugar.

I took over the helm as we approached Cape Pyla and in communication with Saga we decided to turn back and find somewhere to beach the boats and have lunch. We turned just after the Pyla 1, 2, 3 buoy line. There was further deterioration in the condition of crew A and so I placed him in the bottom of the boat where if he did pass out he would be safe. I looked at Romanzos as a safe haven but decided that getting in there with the sea state as it was would be unwise and then proceeded to Dhekelia Sailing Club, where I also knew there would be medical back up if needed. Crew A started to vomit, which I assumed just to be sea sickness, but later discovered was related to his diabetic condition and not sea sickness.

I tried to make contact with our partner boat, but was unable to. I later discovered they had a battery problem with their marine band handheld radio. We tacked back a couple of times and then ran into the Dhekelia Sailing Club bay, gybed and came round and picked up the tripping line. I got the crew on shore and crew ate lunch and in particular crew A recovered, he re-tested his blood sugar, which I was told was then OK.

The wind rose from Bft 4 to Bft 5 over lunch and I watched the wind gauge at the club, and also watched carefully a smaller Laser dinghy from Dhekelia Sailing Club go out. The conditions appeared to be very similar to those I have sailed in before, in particular the conditions of the previous Saturday. I therefore decided it was OK to sail back to Larnaca. Crew C and I reefed and prepared the boat for the sail back. As is my normal practice when the wind is more than Bft 3 I attached my marine band handheld to my body, so that if we get into difficulties the radio would be with me and not the boat.

The wind had moved to South-South-West, so we would have to sail close hauled into the wind the whole way. As we tacked back I had problems with crew B. Firstly wanting to relieve himself and then having problems understanding the basic instructions to change sides of the boat when we tacked. Repeatedly I was getting 'Where am I supposed to go?'

At approx 16:00 we were at our final or near final tack to get back to the Larnaca Sailing Club and as we tacked we caught a wave and went over, within a few seconds the boat went 180 degrees. In previous sailing experiences in Bft 5 with experienced or inexperienced crew even if we have taken water on board we have not capsized. Generally the Wayfarer has proved itself a very seaworthy boat.

I later heard from crew A that on this particular tack crew B had remained in his seat on the wrong side of the boat and had not changed sides at all. When we started to capsize because of the wave his extra weight on the wrong side of the boat and even then not moving his body exacerbated the problem and took us over to 180 degrees. Crew A grabbed crew B who was in danger of being trapped under the boat and dragged him free.

I have a 'masthead buoyancy' system as recommended by the RYA for open sea sailing and this should prevent or reduce the possibility of going 180 degrees. Because it appeared to have failed and bringing a boat back from 180 degrees can be difficult I tried to get assistance by first calling Larnaca Nautical Club on channel 16 and Dhekelia Sailing Club on channel 8. Neither responded. After a few minutes the masthead buoyancy did work bringing the boat to 90 degrees. I therefore tried to right the boat by climbing onto the hull/centreboat, but slipped and went under.

I realised that having been sailing for over 5 hours the entire crew were weary and that being in the water everyone was using up energy. Because of my concerns for crew A, and being unable to make contact with my partner boat or either sailing club I decided to make it a Mayday call: I was worried that if crew A did use up too much energy his blood sugar would drop and he would become unconscious, where a buoyancy aid would not help him. I therefore called Mayday on channel 16 and RCC answered almost immediately. The marine police arrived within approx 15 minutes and they rescued crew C [child], crew A [diabetic], crew B and finally me. They were very professional and very good.

Dhekelia Sailing Club then sent out their rescue boat and righted Galini [showing that it was possible if the crew were not tired] and beached her north of the Lordos Beach Hotel, where we later recovered her with the Larnaca Nautical Club rescue boat.

Things learnt from this event:
1) Inexperienced crew (crew B) who fail to follow simple instructions can become a significant liability in sea states that might otherwise be sail-able.
2) Masthead buoyancy did eventually bring the boat back to 90 degrees, but took a few minutes to do so. Had the crew been less weary then we might have been able to self-rescue.
3) The bright orange 40 litre balloon of the masthead buoyancy assisted the emergency services in locating the boat.
4) Having the marine band handheld radio attached to my body made it easy to call for assistance.

This is the Secumar Masthead Buoyancy unit inflated with a 30cm ruler alongside to show size.

It took a few minutes [difficult to estimate but probably between 3 and 5 minutes] to bring the boat to 90 degrees, which would have been too long had a crew member been entrapped below the boat inverted. However, the Wayfarer does have a significant air pocket when inverted.

This photo shows the masthead buoyancy unit deflated, also with a 30cm ruler, which shows it has little impact on the sailing ability of the boat.

There was very little water entered into the rear buoyancy tank of the Wayfarer - maybe half a litre - which showed the seal on the tank still to be good. I don't have test gear for this seal, so it was kind of a baptism by fire, but the Wayfarer did stay buoyant throughout.

The wind was Bft 5 for the afternoon and gusting, but pretty similar to normal wind conditions for Cyprus in August and very similar to the week before. I would have had to wait till approx 19:00 for the wind to drop below Bft 5 and I didn't have the masthead lighting with me.

Other non-safety related things we found out were: The 'dry box' was not as water tight as anticipated. Possibly the lid had not been screwed tight, but there was significant water ingest into the box [maybe half a litre again, but significant in a dry box!] which damaged and possibly destroyed my mobile phone. Strangely the matches also in the dry box were still dry! Probably the mobile phone should be in an AquaPac as well as in the dry box, which is what Tim does.

Because of untying the bucket to let crew B relieve himself [we went 'hove to' and he used the bucket as the sea conditions were not possible to go over the side], some items had not been re-secured to the bucket, eg camera in waterproof case, hand-bearing compass etc. These were all placed on the shelf under the foredeck, but I haven't found if they floated off or not.

We will have to get the outboard motor serviced/cleaned out as soon as possible as it was under water for quite a length of time.

1 August 2009 - Afternoon and night sailing

2009-08-01T23:23:00.022+03:00

16 nautical miles

The intention had been for an afternoon sail leading into a night sail, since the wind looked good for that. In preparation for the night sail I had put in a few more waypoints on the GPS - about 7 cables off shore for the club, Cape Pila and Potamas. You don't really want shore based waypoints for night sailing! [A 'cable', by the way, is 1/10 nautical mile or 185 metres. Just as a piece of useless trivia, it is the length of a anchor cable on a British man-of-war... back in the days of sail.]

We [Tim, Mark, John and me] got down to the club at about 3pm since the wind should be picking up around then. John and I rigged my boat and Tim and Mark rigged Tim's. Tim wanted to modify the furling system for his genoa, which worked very well, and I wanted to check out my new night sailing navigation light.

There had been a long discussion on WIT [Wayfarer Institute of Technology] about what navigation lights were appropriate for sailing by night. The common understanding was that the ColRegs for sailing boats under 7 metres required very little - a torch to shine at the sail or passing ship or a lantern to be hoisted into the rigging.

Well... I had found this led 'anchor light' which had a visibility range of 2 nautical miles and was designed to be hoisted on a 6mm halyard. So I built a small cradle for it which allowed it to be hoisted above the main sail on the main halyard and would give all round visibility from above the top of the mast. It worked very well... much better than a lantern hung from a halyard would.

Anyhow... we started out... and just as we were starting out James, Neil and Paula arrived... I think to wave us off into the sunset, but they didn't get their boat out [we had invited them to join us].

Few cables distance and the first problem became obvious... the furling line was too taught and the genoa would not fully unfurl leaving it luffing most of the time and somewhat difficult to sail.

Then sudden graunching noise... 'What was that?' Neither John nor I could see what had happened... few cables further I realised that the boom clip for the kicking strap had slid along the boom and the main sail is now bloated and very over powered... at this point the wind is bft 5+ and gusting and sailing getting very difficult... though John liked the ducking and diving through waves.

The predicted wind had been Bft 3 dropping to Bft 2 at sunset, so you can see from the chart we got a lot more that that. With the main sail bloated and the genoa not fully extended we did end up with the gunwale under water at one point. But Galini always comes up laughing and enjoying the ride.

As we near the harbour a cruise liner leaves the port. Apparently the port will eventually be converted into a cruise terminal, so this is to be expected more and more I guess.

Eventually Tim calls me up on the radio. One of their pontoons is filling with water and not wanting to pitch pole the boat they head for the club. We follow suite. Channel 16 is full of a prolonged discussion between the Israeli navy and a ship about telexes that have or have not been sent by their ships agent. Why they have to carry this on over channel 16 beats me... just clutters up airspace for possibly emergency communication. They must be pumping out a lot of power to be coming in on our hand-held radios over the horizon. Sorry... that's my pet peeve... abusing channel 16 for unnecessary communications.

Back at the club we discuss reefing. Both Tim and I had considered it, but I was not sure about the nav light if I had reefed. Hmmm... that's a disadvantage to the system, reefed we would not have for'ard facing nav light.

We then pack the boats and wash the sails and Tim and Mark leave and John and I wait for the sails to dry. While they are drying we notice the wind has dropped now to about Bft 4. Whereas night sailing with an inexperienced crew in Bft 5 didn't appeal Bft 4 is much more manageable so we re-rig the boat and go out again.

In between I had also re-tensioned the standing rigging and Galini is sailing very much better. This is great fun sailing. We beat out towards the harbour/marina as there is a simply huge masted sailing yacht there we would quite like to see... well I would and I was helming! The wind direction had shifted somewhat and I was saling conservatively since the light was dropping.

Ooops... graunching noise again... hove too and sort it out. This time I really hope it's tight enough!

Watching the sun set over Larnaca from the water was simply beautiful. Hove to again and we turn on the new masthead light. Yes, bright light all round but not down on us to ruin our night vision. The moon is about 1/2 full and gives plenty of light to sail by and looks gorgeous reflecting off the water across the bay.

We tack up towards the marina, but the wind picks up as we clear the harbour wall and I turn and broad reach back towards the club. Also there was a very big ship arriving at the harbour and I didn't want to argue with that on my first night sail in Galini!

The wind is dropping a little more so I gybe and do an eastward broad reach out towards Cape Pila. There are no lights to steer by so I am using the compass. The compass has a light stick which goes in the front of it to illuminate it. Well... just about illuminate it, it was pretty difficult steering by this very dimly lit compass. Really using a hand bearing compass with chemical light stick is not adequate as a steering compass.

I turn back towards the club and a couple of tacks later and the wind has almost dropped to nothing, but we arrive back at the club.

Nickos is there with some guests so we find out how the Lasers have done at the competition in Limassol today. One of the young people came 6th out of 17, which is pretty respectable. With Nickos being about we can use the winch to pull Galini out of the water, which is much easier than using my 4x4 to do it.

What I need to find is a better way of securing the battery pack. I have two gel batteries in a waterproof box with terminals for the nav light. The problem is that it slips and slides all over the place under the foredeck. I thought about putting it just for'ard of the centreboard case. That would put the weight lower which would be better but it would get much wetter in that position. But maybe since the case is waterproof that doesn't matter.

Well... that's over and a very enjoyable sail. Will have to do this night sailing more often.

25 July 2009 - Run down to Meneou and back

2009-07-25T17:42:00.006+03:00

16 nautical miles

The forecast was interesting. One forecast said winds from north/northwest in the morning dying off at mid-day to nothing in the afternoon and the other said at mid-day the winds would turn and be southerly. As it happened the second forecast was correct. This made for a very interesting sail. We had downwind runs and broad reaches down to Meneou and a broad reach and downwind run back to the club.

I was taking out friends of mine, Brian and Ruth with their son Oliver. John, a colleague, went with Tim in his trimaran. I had an extra 5 litres of fuel for the outboard so that had the former forecast been correct we could have motored back, towing Tim.

We all started out quite well, enjoying the sail, but the winds were low and because we were mostly running it was a bit difficult for new sailors to helm. Mind you I accidentally gybed a couple of times myself on runs. Tim had suggested a route closer to the shore to pick up the shore winds. It helped a little but meant we were gybing from broad reach to broad reach all the time. Not a bad exercise I guess, since its not something we do very often.

The motion of the boat was strange on these runs, rolling quite a bit in the very gentle swell, which is not the best for people liable to seasickness and sadly Ruth succumbed, and when we got to Meneou Brian and Ruth jumped ship and took a car back to Larnaca!

We sat down in Meneou and I had a frappe and Tim and John had english breakfast. The first english breakfast John had in his life and he was staggered at the sausage, bacon, two eggs, fried bread, toast and beans... he claims he will not need to eat for the rest of the day!

Then the wind turned. As we sat watching the flags dropped to no wind and then picked up 180 degrees from the original direction. A quick race out to Galini to move her buoy since she had swung round onto the beach. Good job Andreas was not watching, he would have been appalled since anchoring in the Day Skipper course is supposed to teach you not to get into that difficulty!

Finally its time to sail back. Oh no... now there are swimmers in the way, and a powerboat dropping people off... which means I do a somewhat inelegant take off from the beach and tear my swimming trunks in the process.

Oli and I sail back. It gets hotter and hotter. As we sail we eat all the lunches... I had brought lunch for John and we no longer had Brian and Ruth with us. Amazing what a 13 year old boy can eat. Well... actually we didn't quite manage to eat 5 lunches, but we had a pretty good try!

It gets hotter and hotter still, by now I am helming as we are on a downwind run. The suntan lotion I had put on my forehead [I had burnt it on Friday morning so was being extra careful] managed to melt and drip into my eyes. We have no towel on board. Boy, does suntan lotion in the eyes sting!

Goose-wing running most of the way back was a bit of a roll, roll, roll, ride, so it was a good thing Ruth did jump ship as she would not have enjoyed the sail back.

Tim calls up on the radio reckoning we should have a fast run back, but the GPS reckons about 2 hours. The GPS is correct!

I have bought Admiralty charts for the area now and so were following our route on the chart. Interesting to see how it correlates to being out there. There seem to be quite a lot of discrepancies with the charts for our area, I think I will have to log the changes. Anyhow... so can you work out how I put the GPS plot onto the chart? No, I didn't do it by hand.

19 July 09 - Off round the bay

2009-07-19T22:19:00.003+03:00

22 nautical miles

The plan had been to take Henri and possibly his kids out for a sail around the bay. Today there were Optimist races taking place and so were rescue boats and Optimists everywhere. So we arrived at the club early (9:30) but found people already there... and Nikkos saying 'Tomorrow I switch off my mobile and sleep all day!'

We were getting ready to get out on the water and away from the madding crowds when Christos came over and asked if he could come too and the club were not allowing any club lasers out today. Yes, of course he was welcome.

We motored out, set the sails and headed off towards Dhekelia. None of the Dhekelia dinghies were out so sailed on towards Romanzos. Kiriakos suggested we should go there next weekend and have lunch there. Sounds like a good idea.

Just passing Romanzos a power boat comes out and asks us to help look for someone who has fallen in the water. We join the search. Apparently they are wearing a life-jacket. There are about a dozen boats out looking and eventually they do find the person alive. It appears to us that probably the person was being towed on an inflatable behind a power boat and that the power boat had only the driver on board. So when the person fell off they didn't notice and had no idea where they were! Not a great safety idea at all. We saw he power boats heading for the shore so presumed they had found the person... then one of them came back out to tell us that yes they had found the person alive.

We sailed on towards Cape Pila for a while then hove to and had lunch. We sailed back towards the eastern shore of the bay and the wind begins to pick up. Yes, that's spray over the camera lens!

Eventually I take the helm and we sail back towards the harbour. I plan to pass the club and then do a downwind run in to the club. See if we can get Galini surfing.

I expected to find all the optimists in by now as the waves are quite high, some out where we were about a metre high. But as we get to the club we see a whole regatta of optimists. I later find that closer inshore the conditions are easier... anyway we turn earlier and downwind goose-wing run towards the coast... up to about 8.6 knots surfing some waves.

Finally back in to the club, but find the furling line for the genoa has trapped and we cannot free it on the water. Great day sailing - enjoyable with both Henri and Christos.

14 July 09 - 3rd Lesson

2009-07-14T20:01:00.002+03:00

Today I had Jacob starting as well as Josh and Marie. The club was using lots of the Optimists for training so used only two and kept swapping people. In some ways they liked the breaks, but meant they didn't keep at it.

So... for first lesson: tacking back and forth on beam reach. Second lesson: tacking back and forth on beam reach, close reach and close hauled. Third lesson: beam reach, tack close hauled, turn into run, tack back to beam reach [a triangle]. Fourth lesson (next week) add gybe and complete basic racing course.

10 July 09 - Second lesson

2009-07-10T20:57:00.000+03:00

Second sailing lesson went much better. I now had idea what I was trying to do and simple started them off on the two original buoys and then got them tacking back and forth to three buoys: one 90 degrees to wind, one 60 degrees to wind and one 45 degrees to wind, so they would do beam reach, close reach and close hauled and feel the different angles to the wind for each tack.

7 July 09 - First sailing lesson

2009-07-07T20:42:00.001+03:00

First sailing lesson for Marie and Josh in Optimists. James is also coming to help rig and advise.

Interesting experience.

I put my boat in the water with outboard rigged as saftey boat [I am not licensed to drive the club safety boat] and use it almost immediately when Josh capsizes!

I had set them off tacking back and forth between two buoys, quite a distance apart at 90 degrees to the wind. My mistake...

The buoys I had chosen were too far apart and they kept drifting too far into the swimming area. Then when they had problems I had to go sort them out in the swimming area.

Not a good idea.

Nikkos then suggests two much closer buoys, and although not as exciting is much easier for first lesson.

Closer in you can shout advice more easily and keep them learning better technique.

Standing in the water there is salt water all over the lens of the camera, which I try [unsuccessfully] to remove. Still, you get the general idea of Marie and Josh tacking back and forth.

They pick up technique and Nikkos suggests coming back tomorrow...

but I'm off to on a short trip tomorrow so will have to be Friday.

Nikkos is out by the safety boat doing leg exercises - he had an accident playing football and they operated a few weeks ago.

What I learnt was that teaching sailing you don't need voice exercises - you get enough of that anyway!

5 July 09 - first sail for the real 'baby blue'

2009-07-05T20:38:00.004+03:00

3 nautical miles

I came down to the club this morning to take Kiriakos out for a sail. He motors her first around the bay just to get a feel. We then rig the sails and I go out with him and Demetris [his son]. Demetris is silent but grinning ear to ear... happy as could be. This will be father and son time in the future I think.

As we are sailing the wind gets up a little... no, the wind picks up a lot. But the boat feels safe and sails well. We head back to the shore to wait for Kiriakos wife and other kids to come and admire their new family member.

I had been hoping to do a first sailing lesson for a couple of the kids in the afternoon. But as you can see from the chart its now Bft 6 gusting 8+. Not first lesson wind and not even wind I would sail in with light or inexperienced crew.

So I have lunch and watch the daughter of one of the club members keep going to Nikkos... 'Ella, Ella' she calls and drags him off to put her on the club safety boat.

We start them young at our club!

Eventually time to head home.

4 July 09 - New boat at the club

2009-07-04T20:26:00.012+03:00

14 nautical miles

I tried a few people as crew for today, but all could not make it. So I went down to the club anyway thinking I would single-hand it. The forecast was pretty strong winds, but I hoped they would be lighter than forecast. As it turns out they were not.

James was sailing his optimist in the afternoon, so was free and crewed for me in the morning. The winds were pretty strong. Neil reckoned 3 gusting 5. The combined weight of me and James is not quite the same as me and Tim! Anyhow, we tacked out into the wind towards the harbour then goose-winged back at great speed - we touched 8.9 knots.

James was not quite sure about trying the goose-winging, but it felt safe and in control. I always start on a broad reach, feel how the boat is behaving and see if she will be comfortable and safe goose-winging before actually doing it. Sometime I guess a spinnaker is called for.

After lunch we wait for Kiriakos to bring his new boat to the club. Its a laser 13 - the little sister of Neil and Paulas boat.

Theirs was called 'Baby Blue' renamed to just 'Blue' but this really does look like Baby Blue!

Lunchtime comes and goes...

3pm comes and goes...

Kiriakos eventually arrives at about 4pm towing his new boat, takes it off the roadt trailer and then pushes it on the hard to check it out.

People gathered around to admire...

make comment...

and help rig...

feel the hull...

give advice...

check the rig tension... whatever.

Kiriakos like a proud dad after the birth of a new baby is keen to show her off and all together we rig the mast, standing rigging and sails. She is in really good condition.

One vital rope missing: Downhaul for the centre-board. This had also been missing from Neil and Paula's boat and made things more difficult when they went over. Neil helped Kiriakos add this extra rope. She's now ready to sail... but we will wait till tomorrow for that.

Finally it's time for pictures of the family together - three generations plus the new daughter!

2 July 09 - New rig on the trimaran

2009-07-02T20:24:00.001+03:00

Afternoon sail with Tim in his trimaran. We're testing the new rig [tightened] and his repair to the sail [better than the sailmaker]. The boat sails very much better despite light winds, more responsive and faster.

I also suggested a downhaul on the sail to the boom rather than just outhaul. Its loose footed. I cut some of the rope from the outhaul and use that. I stood up to fix it and the boom swings.... with me hanging on... landing on one of the pontoons!

Yes, she sails better still with the sail better shaped. The only problem being the downhaul doesn't run along the boom. Tim suggests the balls used for rope ties... later Neil suggests just small bits of plastic tubing to make it run easier.

Tim's off to UK on Saturday for two weeks and he suggested we plan a mini-cruise for when he comes back. Two days, about 30 nautical miles per day. There are two options - east to Fireman's Bay or west to Limassol. East looks better as there are many bolt holes [bays] to run into if we don't make it or weather not good enough. Only plus to going west would be the look on Andreas [True North Yachting] face coming into the marina in a 16 foot dinghy sailed from Larnaca!

So, we need to order the charts for this - its a bit more than I would like to do on ready reckoning, but should be great fun.

20 June 09 - What a blow!

2009-06-20T21:37:00.008+03:00

22 nautical miles

Today was a pleasure cruise for the family who are staying with us right now. When they arrived I mentioned the possibility of a sail and David jumped at the idea. At least two members of the family get very travel sick so declined, but we all went down to the club - the shore based part of the family intending to swim and sun bathe.

The wind in the morning was gentle Bft 3 - Bft 4... the cyan track shows the route we sailed. This was mostly helmed by David and Anna except the downwind run back to the club which I did.

After lunch the wind had picked up quite a bit [yellow track]... really quite a bit so we reefed the main sail and I took out David plus daughter number 3... he has four daughters.

Sailing in Bft 5 - Bft 6 was very much more trying even reefed and to start with I was helming. What made it more trying was the way the wind changed direction and speed as we closed in on the shoreline. We followed roughly the same route as the morning but at significantly greater speed.

As we turned back I set the boat on a broad reach, intending to reach all the way back, I gybed once and then went about and found that I could in fact goose-wing back. Now that was great fun... we were really surfing the waves. David was calling out the numbers from the GPS... 7.5... 7.6... 8... 8.2... eventually on one tremendous surf down a wave we hit 9.1 knots! This is probably the fastest I have ever sailed Galini. That was 9.1 knots surfing while reefed on a goose-wing run!

Later Neil reckoned Blue was doing 9.2 knots surfing and I can well believe it... Blue always likes the heavier airs and outsails us in those conditions... or maybe it's just that Neil outsails me!

As we came in towards the club I found the wind abated somewhat so decided to let Christina and David have a sail.

We headed off down towards the Power Station for a few minutes letting them both helm. Christina was a study of concentration. Well, it was blowing pretty hard even still.

Since the wind was up the kite surfers and sail boarders were out enjoying the blow... though they were all inshore not enjoying the real blow a couple of miles out!

Yes, that's water all over the lens... there was spray blowing all over the place as we climbed over the waves.

She passed the helm back to her dad... now you can see the look of pure joy on his [and her] face. This is sailing and David is thoroughly enjoying it!

I took the helm for the track back to the club and the squiggles are where I am showing David how to back the genoa when going about in waves that tend to push you back. The trick is to allow the genoa to back for a few seconds, almost hove-to, and that blows the bows round making going about easier. The timing for that is important... so we did it till we got the timing right.

Well... that was a really enjoyable sail. The afternoon particularly.

19 June 09 - Sailing Tim's trimaran

2009-06-19T22:16:00.005+03:00

5 nautical miles

The track pretty much shows our route around one of the Petrolina tankers.

Strangely most times the tankers are not in the same place as the Google Earth image... but today it was spot on.
Tim and I were sailing his trimaran.

He had been hoping for stronger winds, but they were very light today. Just as we passed the tanker on the starboard side the wind drops even more so we head back to the club as we didn't have the motor with us.
This was my first time out on his trimaran.

Tim had said recently that it seemed in light airs the boat was sailing slower. Back at the club we tightened the forestay and the leading edge of the jib and then had a quick out and back to test and it seems to be significantly faster and more responsive.

16 June 09 - 3pm phone call "Quick sail?"

2009-06-16T22:09:00.002+03:00

Approx 7 nautical miles

Phone call with Tim around 3pm... 'Quick sail?' well do we need to be asked?

So... down to the club and out for a quick sail. The batteries for the GPS were flat so there is no track. The most notable thing about this sail was that we were sailing so fast on a goose-wing run downwind that we were overtaking the waves. Wish I could tell how fast it was.

13 Jun 09 - a very different morning and afternoon

2009-06-13T21:23:00.005+03:00

25 nautical miles

Kind of busy weekend. Tim couldn't do a whole day today, but could do the afternoon, so when I was round at Sheila's house yesterday evening I offered a morning to take her and her friend Peggy out sailing.

And that's how it happened. I let Shiela take the helm first and then got about to sort out the boat... which involved climbing out on the foredeck to sort out the roller reefing which was jammed.

Peggy and Marie started off as passengers. Marie asked to helm, but this is Peggy and Sheila's treat so we held her off for a while.

Since the wind was really calm and waves low I then passed the helm over to Peggy.

Now that was interesting. I have about 6 words of German and Peggy, who is German, has not many more words of English. So Sheila or Marie interpreted.

Then when we got back to the shore, we took out the kids in about 3 short trips. I really could do with some children's buoyancy aids!

Then at 1pm Tim and Mark showed up so we started a longer trip out around the bay and back pask Dhekelia. The wind picked up and it was great fun sailing. Really really enjoyable.

8 June 09 - Larnaca Kataklismos Regatta

2009-06-08T21:07:00.016+03:00

11 nautical miles

Today was the Kataklismos Regatta, where the whole club sails round to Finikoudes and has a McDonalds lunch to celebrate after the races yesterday.

Did I say races yesterday? Well... I had planned for the races to be today, like they were last year... hence why I was taking Sean and Co out yesterday and then found they were yesterday and today was just regatta.

Oh well... never mind. The Optimists were out on the water first and we followed them.

I felt like a mother hen following her brood... they were so small and fragile looking compared to us.

One of the Optimists [not this one] got very behind so we stayed around to look after it. The two rescue boats were out chasing around having fun and burning fuel.

Actually when we stayed behind we had to motor too... I tried sailing on just genoa but couldn't hold same course as the slow Optimist... then I tried just main sail, but couldn't spill enough wind to stay with it.

Best was motor sailing with genoa and 2 HP Yamaha where I could regulate the speed with the motor.

The Optimist sailors ranged from very experienced, like James, to youngsters who had only been sailing a month. For them this was a great adventure, sailing 11 nautical miles rather than just back and forth in front of the club.

Sadly Nickos, the sailing instructor from the club was not with us today. A week or so ago he damaged his knee in a football accident and had it operated on last Friday so was sitting at the club with binoculars.

Jacob was particularly miffed about not racing. Talk about competitive! He just wants to race everyone.

Well hopefully I will start him on Optimists soon and will get a chance to learn to sail a small boat himself and then race. The club loves youngsters who will compete and with a will to win.

We passed a pleasure boat anchored fishing right next to a great big tanker.

Now that I did not understand at all. Why there? There is all this great big sea to fish in... why next to a great big tanker?
Well... actually two great big tankers if the truth be known.

Josh and Jacob were particularly impressed with the size of the anchor. Somewhat bigger than the boat we were sailing in.

I cannot think sailing those great hulks around the world is very exciting. and the fear of explosion from the fuel oil being carried would keep me awake at nights.

Josh also had a chance to helm Galini.

We had a meal this evening at the Offshore Sailing Club at the marina. Petros asked why I was taking so much... no, I spelled that wrong I mean tacking so much!

I think he thought I should have been awarded the prize for most tacks. He said I looked like a British 'man-o-war' the way we were tacking back and forth. Some of this was looking after the extra Optimist... some was getting too close to the marina and trying to avoid boats coming in or out... and some was crew training! Well... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

But I must admit this is the strangest track I have had ever when I looked on Google Earth.

The Optimist fleet certainly looks a grand sight sailing across the bay.

The wind was light - Bft 2 all day which was good for the youngsters but would have given us more fun with a little more.
Well... even the more experienced Optimist sailors like James could do with more. But having people like James along meant there were coaches alongside almost everyone who needed help.

And when James got bored because of the calm?
Well... he stood up, rocked the boat and made his own waves!

After lunch at MacDonalds on Finikoudes it was time for a sail back. Jacob wanted to race Blue of course...
We did sail back together most of the way. Both of us goose-winged with whisker poles out. Because the Wayfarer is chined hull Josh, Jacob and I sat on the stern buoyancy tank to lift the front of the boat and make it plane slightly better. There was not really enough wind for that though.

I found a new move in sailing too... Neil came around and threw 'dirty wind' to me while running [I didn't know you could do this while running] forcing me to bear off toward the tanker. So that's what racing is about eh? OK, we're not racing really.

A very enjoyable time.

7 Jun 09 - Airport and back

2009-06-07T16:45:00.004+03:00

17 nautical miles

This was a day cruise with Sean, Ronan and Kara... so it depended on the direction of the wind where we went to. The wind meant we could have a beat up towards the airport and a broad reach followed by a downwind run back. And I forgot to take any photos.

Today was races at the club. It had originally been Monday for the races, but was changed to Sunday. Tomorrow will be the regatta.

We got down to the club by 9:30 to be out on the water and away from the racing space before they started. In fact I motored out for a cable or so to get quickly out of the way. The wind was light, Bft 3-4 all day which made for a gentle enjoyable cruise. Sean also has his day skipper so we split the helming between us and let the kids have a go too.

There were a couple of inconsiderate power boats that passed us about 50 metres away at high speed. I suppose we should be thankful that they did give way to us at all, but causing a 1 metre bow wave for us to climb over was pretty unnecessary as if they had passed further away it would not have been such a wave and reducing speed would only have cost them a few seconds. Oh well...

We hove to a couple of times - once for a 'bucket and chuck it' break and once for lunch. As we were approaching the airport a 747 came right over head. We were approx 3/4 nautical mile from the end of the runway and didn't get any significant jetwash, so I wonder how close you would have to be to be dangerous. Not covered in the Day Skipper Course!

The broad reach followed by down wind run was good fun and enjoyable. We then gybed out of it into a beam reach back to the club. Was pleased with the gybe out of it - it was a textbook smooth gybe while bringing in the whisker pole at the same time. I suppose having two Day Skippers on the boat, so it should be!

Only issue, one of the snap shackles holding the masthead buoyancy up has lost its spring so it no longer works. Will have to replace that.

6 June 09 - Pila & Dhekalia

2009-06-06T17:33:00.008+03:00

19 nautical miles

Originally I had been going to sail today with Tim, but having broken a rib sailing on SAGA III, he was still having pain and decided, quite rightly, that discretion is the better part of valour.

So late yesterday evening I SMSed to friends and then took their kids out. Here's Jacob again at the helm... happy as can be!

We sailed over to just past Pila 2 buoy, turned, hove to and had lunch. The water was really beautiful and sitting in the out there to eat lunch a real blessing.

Marie also took the helm some of the trip, but having turned and made for Dhekelia she developed a bit of a headache. Best thing for that was to get her head out of the sun so she rested on the leeward side of the boat with her head in the shade of the main sail.

How much was rest and how much was sleep was difficult to tell, but the net result was she felt better!

We passed close to Dhekelia Power Station. Closer than I think I have sailed before.

You cannot quite see the new power building they have constructed hidden by the main sail.

We then headed on towards Dhekelia Sailing Club, but all the boats were in - no bosuns to chase around like we sometimes do!

Turning back for Larnaca, the wind came up a bit as you can see from the graph below, from Bft 4 to nearly 5, with waves to match. This was much more exciting sailing back to the club.

Jacob wanted to splash through the waves, but Marie had a gentler hand on the helm and didn't splash so much. When we got back to close to the club we practiced tacking in higher waves which was a useful exercise.

All in all an very enjoyable sail and the start of the kataklismos weekend.

3 June 09 - Happy Birthday Jacob!

2009-06-04T19:51:00.004+03:00

5 nautical miles

This was a birthday surprise for Jacob!

He'd been saying for some time 'What I really would like for my birthday is to sail the boat alone with Richard'. We kept making no comment and Wedneday is normally a full work day for me, but I left work early and then went round to Jacob's house and said 'Like to come for a sail?' His face was a picture!

So, with his Dad to help get the boat in and out of the water [Neil and Paula also helped get it out] we went down to the club for a quick sail.

The wind was light to start with. We sailed after Neil and Paula who were out sailing themselves... and then the wind dropped... and Neil and Paula sailed right into the calm too.... and stopped.

But actually it was turning. The late afternoon offshore wind picked up and was really nice, though gusty which Jacob found a little difficult to deal with, so I hove to, reefed the main and everything was better.

Coming back to shore was interesting too... see how many tacks I did to try to keep within the boat lane.

28 May 2009 - Regatta training

2009-05-28T20:00:00.003+03:00

15 nautical miles

OK, so here's the buzz... having done well last year in the Regatta, of course I want to do well this year. So... there are two new youngsters in the area - Josh and Jacob - one the son of a friend, the other son of a colleague. Both of them are interested in learning to sail. Today I took them both out together as my trainee crew. One of them in particular is very competitive ['We have to win'] which is not a bad attitude to start racing with.

First order of the day was to practice tacking - so that we can do it smoothly and quickly. Also control of the genoa for best speed [having a GPS that tells you if your SOG is improving is a definite help] and opening bailers etc.

Then move on to running before the wind... goose winged... which requires the crew to get out and rig the whisker pole. Now that is trickier, especially as it requires going from beating up to the buoy, rounding the buoy as a broad reach into a run and at that point getting the genoa to the other side and rigging the whisker pole. Similarly coming out of a run, removing the pole has to be learnt.

I was surprised we did as many miles as we did - 15 in total. Some of the runs were great - we were surfing down the waves. The GPS says we maxed out at 8.6 knots, which was surfing pretty well.

Good day. Hopefully one more training day before the regatta. I suppose I should go by my middle name of James, then the story will be the three Js go sailing!

16 May 2009 - Second family sailing

2009-05-16T20:44:00.013+03:00

14 nautical miles

This weeks family was seven - two adults and five kids, though the littlest one being a baby was too small to go out.

So Neil and I each took an adult and two kids so that they could all come out together. Galini and Blue sailing in formation - what a wonderful sight.

Katie (she's the little one in the photo) was thrilled that the wind was light enough (Bft 2) that she could come out with her Dad (Jörn). She was worried she would be left behind.

However, five minutes out and she was wanting to know when we were going back and one trip was enough for her. I think she was happy to be back on dry land.

I let Jacob take the helm and having handed over the helm it was difficult getting him off. I think we've found another sailor here!

During the day we swapped crews around... but every time we went out Jacob wanted to go... and wanted to helm.

When Jacob spots Blue just ahead with Marie at the helm, family rivalries come out and he is desperate to beat her.

The winds are light so it is possible for Galini to beat Blue in light winds - when its stronger the planing hull of Blue lets her pull away. The sense of competition is high - I think Jacob will make a great race crew... and maybe eventually a great helm too.

But Blue holds her own and keeps ahead.

Never mind, we're not really racing... and if you look at the tracks on Google Earth you see how wiggly the helming is anyhow!

We did let the adults have a go too. Jörn loves the water, Sheila the mountains. But both were keen to try this sailing thing.

Of course, we had to put up with cries from the one member of the family desperate to do more of 'Can I take the helm please?'

Yes, buoyancy aids and Crocs really do help you to float! No, this wasn't a man overboard, this was just floating around in the surf.

In the afternoon the wind came up a little to Bft 3 gusting 4 so I took out Sheila and Jacob to show them what its like with stronger winds.

Oh, and I've discovered a new photographic effect. Its called the salt filter, and creates a slight glow around highlights and a softening of contrast ratio. You try to get an even coating of salt crystals over the front of the lens - too little to entirely stop the light, but enough to create the effect. You can see this in the photos of Jörn at the helm and Jörn and Katie together. Actually I'm not sure I like the effect.

9 May 2009 - family sailing

2009-05-09T21:19:00.005+03:00

6 nautical miles

It looked like a gentle sailing day - Bft 2 - so I invited the family that are just joining us at work out for a day sail. There are three kids in the family so took them out in two relatively short trips.

These photos are from the second trip.

It turned out to be a little more lively that Bft 2 - the chart showed Bft 4+ later when I got home. Still it was great fun sailing and a good way to introduce people to the fun of sailing.

If you get cold from the spray, the best thing to do is snuggle up under the deck with some cushions for padding... and sleep?

I gave David, Nicole and Josh a chance at helming... Josh seemed to really get the hang of sailing and enjoyed it.

Have I found a new crew to train this season?

18 April 2009 - Larnaca to Patomas and back

2009-04-18T22:39:00.012+03:00

30 Nautical miles

Tim and I had planned for a long sail today and so depending on the weather would sail out towards Cape Pila in the east or south towards Cape Kiti in the south. The forecast for the day was northerly for the morning turning easterly winds in the afternoon. So the Cape Pila route was chosen, giving us a beam reach towards the cape, followed by a close haul up to Agia Napa... if we got that far and a reach back to Cape Pila followed by a run back to the club.

We started rigging the boat soon after 8:30am and were on the water by approx 9am and got past Cape Pila within just over two hours so after discussion decided to try and make it to Agia Napa - it would have been a long day, but we were up for it.

The forecast proved to be correct and as the windfinder graph shows we had significant gusts in the morning. But Galini handled them well, bearing up into the wind rather than having to change the main sheet.

I was getting a little cold - Tim was helming most of the way across the bay and I had on a sweatshirt which was getting wet from the spray and the sun was on the wrong side of the boat to warm me up and dry me out. So we swapped helm and I began to dry out, but was still a little cold.

However, the wind turned early. When the wind turned it was very strange... I was helming at the time and had to head more southerly to keep us sailing... then the wind went back to the original direction and we were heading towards Agia Napa again. There was a fish farm close to where we were sailing so deciding whether to go shore side or sea side of the farm kept changing as the wind changed.

Then the wind dropped so we made for the alternative location of Potamos under power. We'd already checked the engine close to the club when we set out to make sure it was working reliably. Having a topping lift means we could drop the main, lash it to the boom and keep space for us in the boat. No, we don't have lazy jacks... maybe another time?

I had been to Potamos before and the entrance is a little confusing - you have to enter from the north-east to get around the shallow shoal water on the east side of the entrance. No, we didn't sail along the shore, that's the inaccuracy of the GPS compared to Google Earth...

Since we were under power this time [last time I sailed to Potamos I sailed in and moored close to the entrance] so we motored slowly up the creek to have a look around and then back and moored alongside a cafe and stopped for coffee and chips - very healthy late morning snack ;-) Also, more significantly they were hot and warmed me up after the getting cold out on the water.

We need some fenders for Galini, mooring alongside without fenders is dependent on the rubbing strip... better get the fenders!

By the time we had finished our 'snack' the wind had changed making it an easy run back up past Cape Pila and across the bay to the club.

It was a wonderful sail - extremely enjoyable. Galini was handling like a gem. Sailing back the sun was on us the whole way so we stayed warm and comfortable. Must remember to pack lightweight cagoul to keep dry in future.

We still have the problem of water coming in the bailers, and on the broad reach/run across the bay from Cape Pila to the club the wind had dropped a little and we didn't have the speed to keep the water out. So a couple of tacks back and forth in front of the club with a bit of speed that was easily emptied out.

Had we got the spinnaker maybe we would have had sufficient speed to keep the boat empty of water. Hmmm... do I get the parts needed for a spinnaker? I have a new unused sail...

There was a little surf close to the shore, so the aim had been to sail in on a run, come right round 180 degrees into the wind to stall and then sort the boat out. We had dropped the genoa early to give us less too do, but when we got close to the club there were kids playing with a surf board in the boat lane, so we turned, tried to drop the main sail and then use the motor to come round in the surf.

We kept away from the kids, but the motor was now short of fuel and we hadn't topped it up... and the rudder was up since we were close to shore, so the motor kept stalling and because we were short of power and in the surf, the rudder came round more than we would like so there are now gouges in the rudder needing sorting out. Reminder: check fuel levels on the motor so that its ready for use when you want it!

When we got back to the club since it was still warm we did a little work on the boat - specifically I wanted to change the reefing method. I had bought Cyprus stainless steel clips for the shock cord for reefing [more of that later] but it wasn't terrible successful and I read of the reefing clips getting caught on the standing rigging, which would definitely be a bad idea.

So I changed the clips for plastic balls, clipped to shock cord. This appears to work very well and is quick and easy to do - will test it out on the water sometime.

Tim [who was sailing with me] likes the idea and says he will try it on his trimaran.

Maybe I will use the same technique for holding the sail after flaking it too...

However... the stainless steel clips weren't [stainless that is] and so I have horrid rust stains over the main sail.

I read online that the best way to get rid of these stains is oxalic acid... so now I need to find where to get it from.

Chatted with Nikos about the sailing... Tim and I had been discussing club events during the year, maybe need to encourage a few BBQs at the club... Nikos bemoans the lack of racing, so I mentioned my idea for a 'Larnaca Cricket Race' - no nothing to do with a game involving balls and bats, but my idea for a handicap race from Larnaca to HMS Cricket [a sunken wreck] and back. It would be a longish race [approx 15 nautical miles] across the bay, not just a short 'round the buoys' race and using the Portsmouth yardstick for handicap should make us all roughly equal.

11 April 09 - Longest Single Handed Passage

2009-04-11T17:42:00.005+03:00

21 nautical miles

The wind looked like it was going to be gentle today... and it was the Windfinder graph below shows it was between Bft 2 and Bft 3 for the whole time I was sailing.

It was a spur of the moment sail, so I texted Tim to see if he wanted to sail but he was otherwise occupied. So, since the wind looked light I decided to go out single handed. As it turns out the wind was light and so this became the longest single handed passage I have done.

Neil and Paula helped me into the water - the only problem with a Wayfarer single handed is she is just too heavy to get in and out by myself. The wind was gentle enough I could put the tiller into the shock-cord and do things around the boat... then starboard tack off towards Dhekelia... 4-5 knots most of the way, the self bailers working on and off. None of the Dhekelia Sailing Club boats were out, which is sad as the wind was really lovely for sailing. Then further up the coast towards Cape Pila.

We turned and broad reached back... doing 5-6 knots the whole way... and time for some lunch while we sailed. We then turned along the coast past the port and marina... and a ship from Middelburg in Holland. The crew came out to the bridge wing and waved and yelled... I was tempted to stop off for some nice strong Dutch coffee...

I had managed a gybe single handed, doing it the yacht way, by hauling in the main sheet letting it gybe and then letting out... but when Neil and Paula did a dead run in to the club I decided that trying goose-wing with a whisker pole single handed was past my level of competence, so sailed past the club so that I could broad reach back in.

All in all a very enjoyable sail.

Repairs to Galini

2009-03-28T21:05:00.004+02:00

No sailing today... just winter repairs. Last season I put Sadolin on the seats, so I took them out, rubbed them down and put a new coat on for this season. There were also some repairs to the hinges and supports to do. Amazing how long a simple task takes. Galini does look smarter though!

Not dealt with the leaking self bailers yet... must order some parrel beads/rope stoppers to replace the rusting 'stainless' steel clips.

25 March 2009, Wednesday - a public holiday especially for sailing?

2009-03-25T20:50:00.005+02:00

9 nautical miles

Just a morning sail out with James as my crew again. In the afternoon he sailed his Optimist. We went out with full sails and rapidly decided that we were over-canvassed and went back in to reef the main. Then... although the gusts were strong... I was in control. Actually the wind conditions felt similar to the day that Blue had her accident [although the waves were very much lower today], but I am much more comfortable in stronger winds now.

Sadly the 'stainless steel' clips for the reefing are not! So I have rust stains over the main sail and so since this sail have spent time trying to find out how to get rust stains out of sails.

7 March 2009 - Hobie 21 in the Philippines

2009-03-09T17:17:00.010+02:00

19 Nautical Miles

I was out visiting my son whose ship is in the Philippines, so decided to take him sailing for the day. I pre-planned this, but was particularly pleased to do so as Manila is so noisy, you can barely hear yourself think. Manila has a population roughly the same size as Cairo, but whereas Cairo is busier and more crowded than Manila, it is quieter and less chaotic. A day on a 21 foot catamaran is just the answer to such noise and chaos.

It takes approximately two hours by car from Manila to Taal Lake Yacht Club. I had found the site through Google and Ronnie, the secretary at the club, arranged the transport. I had decided to charter the Hobie 21, partly as its a bigger more stable and partly because I wasn't sure if Becky [Daniel's girlfriend] or Pat [current captain of the MV Doulos] might join us. As it turned out neither of them did, but having a large stable boat was what we needed for a really gentle sail away from the noise. Both the boat charter and the car with driver for the day each cost about 66 euros.

We left the Doulos at about 07:30 in the morning and wove through crumbling streets up to the volcano... yes, Taal Lake is a volcano.

As we came over the final ridge we were greeted with the most amazing sight of the lake. 150 square miles of gentle quiet water, with a lake within a lake. From the water the countryside almost looked elf-ish, save that the trees were too young for a truly elf-like environment.

The second lake on the volcano itself is slightly acidic, so there are warnings about not bathing too long in that water or it may damage you skin! You cannot quite see the second lake from this photo, although if you are there its somewhat clearer.

You can see more clearly on the Google Earth image above what I mean.

We wound down a winding road to the club and were greeted by Jose, one of the staff at the club. We signed the disclaimer, then Jose rigged us out with life jackets, got the boat in the water, explained about the vegetation problem [weeds growing in the water that make getting out and in more difficult] and then we were off.

Daniel liked the bigger boat than the Wayfarer I normally sail as you can stand up and walk around. The Hobbie 21 also has wing seats. The only thing missing was some kind of bimini for the sun.

The wind was very light and I found it more difficult tacking the Hobie with very light winds, even backing the jib there were a couple of times I had to skull her round with the rudders. When I say very light I mean by the middle of the day we were almost becalmed... doing 0.4 knots or less at times.

But, its a really beautiful place to be becalmed. The only thing we forgot was food. The club has drinks and we bought cold drinks and they lent us a cooler and ice to keep them cool, but I can tell you that by the end of the day Daniel and I were mega-hungry.

Helming was interesting for two reasons - firstly I was unused to a cat, but learnt how she handles fairly quickly, but mainly because the tiller extension is just sooooo long! You can see it in the photo going behind me.

When you go about the tiller extension has to go behind the main sheet. The technique I used was to put her about, then walk across the trampoline with the tiller extension almost vertical behind the main sheet. Felt very weird till I got the hang of it.

The other strange thing that took me longer to realise is how the main sheet and traveler worked. To start with I just locked the traveler in the middle and sailed on the main sheet. But the sail shape was not really good, since the Hobbie doesn't have a kicking strap. Eventually I realised that for tacking into the wind, you pull down on the main sheet, treating it almost as a kicking strap and then release on the traveler to get the angle to the wind you want.

Goose-wing running is also strange... the sheet for the jib is on a traveler which doesn't come for'ard enough to really get a good shape on the jib, especially since the battens in the jib also hold it somewhat strangely [for those who are totally unused to Hobie's that is].

In the afternoon, Peter, who describes himself as the 'benign dictator' of Taal Lake Yacht Club came out in a laser to see how we were doing. Yes, I like this... coming out in a sail boat... in other clubs it's a noisy rib with an outboard. He then gave a lesson to a couple on another Hobie and a third came out, so we were sailing around in a small fleet.

Apparently next Sunday is the last race of the season. Although you can sail all year round in Taal Lake, the reliable racing winds are only through the winter.

Finally we paid before leaving. There is immense trust in the Philippines over some things. We also paid the driver at the end of the day. I gave him the money, he didn't check it, just took it assuming I had paid the right amount. Apparently this goes all the way down to even trips in a Jeepni... the money is passed all the way along the passengers to the driver you puts it in a pot assuming you have paid the correct amount!

Second time on a multi-hull and am I converted to multi-hulls? Well, in light wind they will do much more in the way of speed than a mono-hull [we were nearly up to 10 knots at times] but no in general I still like mono-hulls better.

Day Skipper Day 4

2009-02-08T22:05:00.010+02:00

25 nautical miles

Again the day started off with maneuvering, again useful. Building confidence. There was an easterly wind which made the bow swing round and maneuvering with the bow swinging was very much more difficult.

In the marina there was the really beautiful ketch we kept passing when we were turning. Something about her lines... can you say a boat is sexy?

OK, before I become all goey about a boat rather than my wife, I take True North out from the marina and we sail a few miles out and then hove to.

The reason for this is to do some bearing work...

But the visibility isn't great actually today.

Nevertheless, out come the hand bearing compasses and we take bearings on targets we can see and match with the chart. The cement works chimney... silo at the new port... water tower in Limassol... and so on.

At times we bring out binoculars to check to see it the targets are what we think they might be. Maybe...

Then we transfer the bearings to the chart. They pretty much all come together - only a very small cocked hat.

Then we check that position with our GPS and check the chart depth... yes... the GPS confirms we are where we think we are.

We try goose-winging, but the wind is so low that the sails just flap and the wind indicator just rolls around. We couldn't get the spinnaker pole down to be used as a whisker pole as the end should come down a runner in the mast... but it jams and so won't move.

So we carry on sailing, just practicing boat handling. It's good to just be out on the water. I wish we could carry on... sail to Lebanon or Syria for starters. The wind is pretty fickle... sometimes one direction, sometimes another. We hove to for lunch.

Then everyone goes down into the cabin to warm up. No, the crew aren't invisible... if the photo included the crew then you would not see the interior of the yacht!

I sit in the companionway and keep watch to see no other boats or ships are about, and warm my hands round a hot mug of coffee. Then we sail on.

The easterly wind is picking up now. Not really strong, but would make mooring the boat difficult when we finally return. However, we try goose-winging again. Without a whisker pole, holding the genoa is pretty difficult in the gusts and lulls.

Finally, it's time to head for home, clean up the boat and leave. We sail back to the east of the marina, turn into the wind, which is away from the marina, drop sails, turn and motor into the marina. At which point Colin takes the helm as mooring could be very difficult. In fact before we left Andreas had said we could leave the boat bows to if it was really too much from the east.

Yes. Now I have the certificate for Day Skipper Practical. If you like to try yourself... True North Yachting in Limassol.

Day Skipper Day 3

2009-02-07T20:16:00.005+02:00

39 nautical miles

To start off we did some maneuvering round the marina - you can almost never do too much of this when you start skippering.

We had another instructor for the next couple of days - Colin from Coral Bay Sailing. Colin's a Brit who has been sailing most of his life bringing his boat out here and setting up another RYA sailing school.

Colin is a quietly spoken sailor with a ready smile and way of encouraging everyone he teaches. A fountain of knowledge born out of many years sailing single handed and with crews, he sits and imparts words that help us all.

Sophocleus and Colin looking up at the wind indicator. Slowly I'm getting more comfortable feeling the wind in the yacht now but still checking up to the indicator. The electronic one is knackered. Apparently the Medium Wave transmitter off Potamas killed it - so its no longer possible to calibrate so that the main unit and repeater read differently. Very confusing.

Then we just sailed out and round the bay towards Limassol New Port. Michalis [wearing yellow in the photo] had to work later in the day and we were to meet the pilot cutter which would take him off to the port to work. That was an interesting extra maneuver not in the Day Skipper syllabus... transferring a crew member from a moving boat to a pilot cutter!

From there we went south and did some more man overboard practice especially for those who didn't do it last weekend. Then I had a go at picking up a man overboard using sail rather than power. Strangely it was almost easier... but... you have less backup options that way.

From there we sailed in to Ladies Mile and anchored up and rested waiting for the sun to set. We worked on charts and chart plotter planning a route back. We fixed three way points - one just north of the fish farm that is south of the new port, one almost due east from that to take us away from the port approach and a final way point south east of the marina.

Time for life jackets and safety lines as its now dark. And... the anchor winch is a pain, with the chain jumping off the winch. Oh well... then motor north round the fish farm observing the cardinal buoys. The south cardinal is [still] not fixed so you have to guess where the southern end of the fish farm is.

We turn east at the waypoint and then hail Limassol VTS on channel 9. I confirm our route to them... "Thank you, captain, you are free to proceed." But there is also a large merchantman coming out of the port at the same time. So, since they are larger and faster we turn south to avoid any possibility of colision, wait for them to pass our bows and then return to the new path to our second way point, having used the GPS to calculate the new route.

Final turn to home. Although we had plotted our bearing to way point, the sharp eyed helmsman spots the marina lights six miles off and so steers towards the marina itself, till we get close and then bear off to the way point and then round and into the marina.

Passing the munitions ship the marine police flash us with their search light. So I hail them on VHF explaining who we are and route. They ask me to spell the ships name. I start, and then my mind goes blank on the phonetic alphabet. I had memorized the letters for my Wayfarer Galini, but True North... yipes what is U in phonetic... fortunately Colin is on hand and knows it backwards so I confirm our boats name to the marine police. Again a polite 'Thank you, captain...'

I don't know what it is about the phonetic alphabet. I have worked on this to try and learn it, but cannot seem to lock it into my brain. Maybe because I don't use it very much. I'm sure I could remember it to pass a test... and then forget it 24 hours later. I think I will type it up and stick it to my VHF handheld so I have a reference.

Back in the marina I park the boat - which is interesting coming stern to the jetty after dark, somewhat different to the same manoever in daylight. Then its off for a drink with a friend, a bite to eat [cooked up on the boat] and sleep in the for'ard cabin.

Mast pin and anchor drum

2009-02-05T19:15:00.004+02:00

Winter repairs should be considerably less than last year - there are three agenda items [apart from an extra coat on the seats] - firstly fix the mast pin and sort out the anchor warp, secondly sort out the launching trolley and thirdly see if I can get a spinnaker working.

The previous owner had put an aluminium sheave on a bolt as a mast pin. The aluminium was wearing badly. Alongside this, the anchor warp was difficult to handle.

So... my intention was to make a new mast pin and extend it to take a drum for the anchor warp.

A friend of mine, Ken, is a great mechanical [and other] engineer. He managed to get a new pin made out of stainless steel. The diameter of the mast pin is smaller than the extension for the drum. It was turned down to be the right diameter. There are then all the obligatory washers etc to pack the mast and space the drum away from the mast.

The drum, which is plastic sits on the extended mast pin. There are nylon bushes to stop it wearing and a piece of floor tread aluminium to strengthen the drum to take a winding handle [which has not been made yet].

This looks fabulous. I am really thankful to Ken for this. It's wildly better than I could have made myself.

1 Feb 09 - Second day practical Day Skipper

2009-02-02T00:26:00.021+02:00

29 nautical miles

Day two the weather was much kinder to us - some rain to start with but really nice sailing weather for the rest of the day.

The first exercise Andreas showed was maneuvering the boat in the marina - both turning and coming alongside a fuel pontoon. I had been really looking forward to this as controlling a yacht inside a marina was something I had no experience with. The propwalk behaved exactly as described in all the books I had read, and with little wind affecting the hull I would be confident to control a yacht around the marina now.

When we got out from the marina to start with we sailed with full main and genoa, but then changed to fully reefed main and half genoa after about 45 minutes.

The first exercise on the sea was man overboard. Andreas made it look so simple - first we put the boat into 'hove to' position, start the engine, head downwind for eight boat lengths then come up toward the man overboard till we are alongside.

For the exercise, we were using a rope tied to a fender - which meant we had to come exactly alongside to pick up with the boat hook rather than a few metres away for safety and use a line to the man overboard.

To the right you can see Andreas example of how to do it.

Next Michalis did it and looked almost smoother than Andreas. His attempt is shown on the left. Smooth and clean.

OK, so how difficult is this... I was about to find out! My turn was next.

My first attempt, we 'hove to', no problem with that, I have done it many times in the dinghy, then furled the genoa, started the engine and headed downwind...

No... I didn't quite head downwind... in the thinking about the man overboard I was forgetting tiller/wheel and steered the wrong way for a bit in a broad reach rather than downwind run. Then I came up too fast to the man overboard, so went round for another attempt.

The second attempt was much better and would have be possible to rescue the man overboard if it had been a real man overboard as we were about 2-3 metres away and could have thrown an line. However it was too far for a boat hook so we went round again and picked it up correctly this time.

As Andreas explained, a lot of this is related to boat handling as much as the picking up a man overboard.

Both True North and True North 2 were out today - were were on True North and this is a photo of True North 2, a larger boat than the one we were on and made by Bavaria Yachts and... very new... just a few weeks old. Its main job is to be available for charters whereas the one we are on will be maintained for RYA training courses.

The aim for the rest of the day was to go through all the points of sailing and to practice tacking and gybeing... but it turned out to be a mini-race between the two yachts. A little competition never hurts to make people keen to do it better!

Just being out on the water, helming a 40 foot yacht was so wonderful. I think Andreas must be blessed to be paid to spend his time in such and enjoyable way. I think I might have had a different choice of career if I chose now!

The recommended way for gybeing is to bring the main to centre, gybe and then let out again. On the dinghy I would just hold the main sheets near the boom to control the gybe. However, I have both centre and end sheeting on the boom so controlling is not that easy. This seemed a better technique even for a dinghy so I will try this when I am on on Galini next.

We sailed past a ship with a fast deploy life boat. Now those do sound fun to be in... not! Andreas thought it was the munitions ship that the Americans had apprehended and suspected of arms running to Gaza. Now sitting 'under arrest' or something like that, in Limassol bay. There is a lot in the news about this, but here is one link: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1589136

But I have a credibility problem... you see... some friends of mine took a 30 foot catamaran to take medical supplies to Gaza. They were stopped by the Israeli navy. How on earth could a ship the size of the one in the photo ever get into Palestine without the Israeli navy knowing? Even a small 20 motor yacht was rammed by the Israeli navy taking in aid supplies. It just doesn't make sense. Something is very strange about this story!

But the race is still on... as we grab a bite to eat, True North 2 comes up and overtakes us.

There are shouts between the two boats. Most in Greek so I didn't understand. Of course they are a bigger boat so they should go faster... and of course we are taking a lunch break... and of course they might be cheating somehow...

It is beautiful sailing weather. Tacking up close to the shore we manage to overtake them.

This course is reminding me very much of my TV Conversion Course many, many years ago at the BBC. I had worked in radio and was confident in my abilities in radio - that didn't mean I was perfect and I knew I still had loads to learn, but then I moved to TV and so did a TV Conversion Course. Mostly it was the same but... different. Well that's how I feel about the Day Skipper Course. The yacht behaves the same as the dinghy but... different.

I know that sailing the dinghy I still have a lot to learn, but I'm confident to get us from place A to place B without any problems... but I spend my time kicking myself on the yacht when, because I am so used to a tiller, I move the wheel the wrong way, or when I just cannot seem to feel the wind in the same way I do on the dinghy... or cannot read the leech of the sail in the same way as the dinghy. What I need to find is a tame yacht owner who will invite me out to spend days with them on the yacht.

One thing that was strange was coiling ropes. Actually it was coiling ropes that first made me think of the TV Conversion Course similarity. I have been coiling ropes and cables for maybe 35 years now. At times coiling more than 50 cables in a day. More than 99% of the cables I coil are right handed lay, like right handed lay ropes, so back all those years I was taught to let the lay fall under your thumb... in other words a right handed lay rope would be coiled with your right hand.

Now modern synthetic ropes don't really have a lay so you can coil them either way and for most people, I gather, who are right handed, coiling as if they were left hand lay would be easier. Ah... but... not if you have been coiling right handed cables without having to think about it for 35 years. My hands just refused to do it as they should and so I still coil ropes as if they are right hand lay, much to Andreas horror, but he's tolerant of my idiosyncrasies.

Then I thought about all the little conversion things... I'm really enjoying this course, but I frequently feel like a total idiot, not able to do easily what I can confidently do in the dinghy... much like I felt 30 years ago on my TV Conversion Course trying to operate a TV boom. Of course it came with time and practice as I am sure it will with the yacht sailing.

Finally we turn and broad reach all the way back, gybeing on the turns. In theory it would have been almost a deadwind run, but we were reefed on main and genoa so broad reaching and gybeing is much safer. Here's Michalis at the helm. Just from his face you can see how enjoyable this course is.

Want to join us? True North Yachting RYA Training Centre.

31 Jan 09 - First day practical Day Skipper

2009-01-31T23:36:00.005+02:00

12 nautical miles

This is the navigation station from the 40 foot Juneau yacht that Andreas of True North Yachting uses for the Day Skipper practicals. The left hand panel is fuses and switches for power. In the middle is chart plotter/radar and VHF radio and then on the right is Navtex.

The SOLAS [Safety of Life at Sea] Convention has a chapter called GMDSS [Global Maritime Distress and Safety System] and part of that system is the Navtex system. Navtex provides text messages to boats within 250 miles of a coastal station. In our case the coastal station is on mount Olympus in the centre of Cyprus.

You can also download many of the Navtex messages from the Internet. Looking forward to the course all week I had been watching the weather forecasts and reading the Navtex messages. Navtex gives out many types of alerts - one type being 'Nav warnings'. Mid January there was the following series of warnings about a sunk yacht to the west of Cyprus that was still partly on the surface and so a danger to shipping and in the south-west of Cyprus.

ZCZC MA02
100200UTC JAN 2009
CYPRUSRADIO NAV WRNG NR 02
FOLLOWING RECEIVED FROM CYPRUS PORTS AUTHORITY

QUOTE:
YACHT 'JOHARA' HAS BEEN SUNK IN POSITION 34 54N 032 02E WITH HER PROW NOT COMPLETELY SUNK AND CAUSES A DANGER TO NAVIGATION ALL SHIPS ARE REQUESTED TO BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN AND IF THEY ARE PASSING THROUGH OR NEAR THIS POSITION.

UNQUOTE

CAUTION ADVISED
CYPRUSRADIO/5BA
NNNN

They updated it to show the drift a few days later. Note how the Navtex reception for this message was not perfect, but still understandable.

ZCZC MA31121200UTC JAN 2009
:6047'4-$89 ,-= 24,& 4 03
FOLOWING RECEIVEDFRO CYPRUS PORT AUTHORTY

QUOTE:
YACHT '9#-4-' WHICH HAS BEEN SUNK IN PSN 34 54N 032 02E NOWDRIFTED IN POSITION 4 31.12N 032 44.59E WITH APAT OF HER OF APPROXIMATELY 1,5 MTRS ABOVE TH SURFACE OF THE WATER AND CAUES A DANGER TO NAVIGATIO. ALLSHIS AND VESSELS ARE REQUSTED TO BE VERY CAREFUL WHN AND IF THEY ARE PASSING THROUGH OR NEAR THIS POSITION.
UNQUOTE

CAUTION ADVISD
CYPRUSRADIO/5BA
NNNN

There were also Navigational warnings about the UN force in Lebanon doing live firing exercises off the coast of Cyprus. These were about 40 nautical miles east-south-east of us.

ZCZC MA08
241200UTC JAN 2009
CYPRUSRADIO NAV WRNG NR08=
FOLLOWING RECEIVED FROM NOTAMS:
UNIFIL NAVY WILL CARRY OUT LIVE ARTILLERY EXERCISE
FROM: 07:00 UTC 25TH OF JAN 2009
UNTIL 17:00 UTC 31ST OF JAN 2009
BETWEEN CYPRUS AND LEBANON
AT AREA BARBARA 1
34 37,00N 034 00,00E
34 25,00N 034 20,00E
34 00.00N 034 08,00E
34 10,00N 034 00,00E
EXERCISE WILL BE CONDUCTED THROUGH FULL COORDINATION WITH NICOSIA
ACC. SFC - FL200 JAN 25TH 0700-1100 UTC, 1300-1700 UTC, 26TH 0100-0500 UTC,
28TH 0700-1100 UTC, 1300-1700 UTC, 1900-2300 UTC, 31ST 0700-1100 AND 1300-1700 UTC
AT AREA BARBARA 2
34 23,00N 034 24,00E
34 15,00N 034 36,00E
34 00,00N 034 33,00E
34 00,00N 034 14,00E
EXERCISE WILL BE CONDUCTED THROUGH FULL COORDINATION WITH NICOSIA
ACC. SFC - FL200 JAN 28TH 0530-1030 UTC, 1200-1500 UTC, 29TH 0700-1000 UTC,
AND 31ST 1300-1700UTC
CAUTION ADVISED
CYPRUSRADIO/5BA
NNNN

I plotted all those onto Google Earth to see how relevant they might be to sailing in the course. Actually we would be nowhere near the relevant areas, but it was a good exercise.

The weather forecast for the first day was questionable, [Navtex forecast shown below] but we did manage to get out for a couple of hours sailing.

ZCZC ME62
311600 U.T.C. JAN 2009
CYPRUSRADIO WEATHER FORECAST
FOR THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

PART 1 : NO GALE

PART 2 : SYNOPSIS OF SURFACE WEATHER
CHART 311200 U.T.C.
BAROMETRIC LOW 1006HPA OVER TURKEY FILLING

PART 3: FORECASTS FOR 24 HOURS
311800 TO 011800 U.T.C.
WIND IN BEAUFORT SCALE

SOUTHEAST KRITIKO:
--------------------------
RISK OF LOCAL SHOWERS
WEST TO NORTHWEST 4 TO 5 LATER 4
SLIGHT TO MODERATE
LOCALLY MODERATE

DELTA:
--------
LOCAL SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
WEST 4 TO 5
MODERATE
MODERATE

CRUSADE:
-----------
LOCAL SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
SOUTHWEST TO WEST 4 TO 5
MODERATE
MODERATE

TAURUS:
----------
LOCAL SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSORMS
WEST 4 LOCALLY UP TO 5
SLIGHT TO MODERATE
MODERATE
NNNN

We could not do many of the exercises needed for the Day Skipper course since the conditions were too inclement. But just being out there and feeling what its like steering a much bigger boat than mine in a blow was worth it.

Everything on a yacht is much slower - she responds slower and so all movements of the helm must be slower and anticipate how the boat will move before she does. I found the wheel steering somewhat more difficult than a tiller.

It was interesting to see how she sailed up and down the swells. I tried steering like I would on the dinghy, and the way Daniel [my son who is lifeboat cox] recommends - turning into each approaching wave and back on course down the back of the wave, but that made us zig-zag more than would maybe be necessary on a yacht compared to a dinghy.

During the time we were out sailing there was a Navtex Search and Rescue alert about an EPIRB set off about 80 nautical miles to the south-west of us. And that is plotted onto the chart above too.

ZCZC MD01
31 1245 UTC JAN
CYPRUSRADIO URGENCY SIGNAL NR1=
THE FOLLOWING RECEIVED FROM RCC LARNACA

QUOTE
DISTRESS ALERT HAS BEEN RECEIVED FROM UNKNOWN SOURCE ON FREQUENCY 243MHZ ON 31 JAN 2009 AT 12:29 UTC AT POSITION:

33 30.0N 032 20.6E

ALL SHIPS SAILING IN THE AREA ARE REQUESTED TO KEEP A SHARP LOOKOUT AND RENDER ASSISTANCE IF NECESSARY INFORMING CYPRUS RADIO AS APPROPRIATE

ALL SHIPS SAILING IN THE AREA ARE REQUESTED TO CHECK THEIR EQUIPMENT AND IF ACTIVATED TO SET IT OFF, REPORTING TO CYPRUS RADIO SOONEST WITH ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
UNQUOTE
CYPRUSRADIO/5BA
NNNN

18 January 2009 - first sail of the season

2009-01-18T16:43:00.006+02:00

9 nautical miles

This is the first sail of the year. Yesterday I fitted new shrouds to Galini and Tim fitted a bow plate to enable him to re-fit the furling drum to his trimaran, and then he suggested we went out for a sail today. Since the weather looked good... we went.

I know for hardy English sailors who wear wetsuits et al, Cyprus winter is just like English summer... but for us its quite cold. I'm even wearing a sweatshirt and Tim wished he had worn one!

The sailing was great and Galini looks much nicer with her new shrouds. The old shrouds had thin electrical ducting around them to protect the sails, but the new ones have clear plastic tube and it looks much better. This being Cyprus... the chandler didn't sell the 3mm stainless steel wire, but did to the ends. So I bought the wire and tubing elsewhere and took it to him for fixing. He was not impressed with the idea, saying he had tried before and it was impossible to thread 3mm wire through tube like that. So... I squirted WD40 into the tube and let it run the whole length as a lubricant and than the wire went in easily. The chandler was amazed.

We sailed down to Dhekelia and and back. Dhekelia club had a few boats out but we arrived just about lunch time and they were heading in for a bit to eat just as we arrived. It was interesting how the trimaran and the Wayfarer were fairly evenly matched in these conditions.

The sailing was wonderful. About 5 knots all the way out and back. On the way back the main sheet block broke away from the centreboard case so much of the time I was holding the mainsheet just in my hand. It wasn't very blowy but my arm ached by the end of it!

20 Dec 2008 - Beach picnic

2008-12-20T17:04:00.007+02:00

10 nautical miles

Today I sailed with Sophocleus - one of the guys from the Day Skipper course in Limassol. Tim took out his trimaran and the two boats sailed together down to Mackenzie beach. Water spots on the lens... sorry!

The wind was very fickle in the morning and it was a broad reach out and then a straight run down to the beach. The wind... well... to say fickle was an understatement... all over the place... coming and going. Trying to keep the sails filled with air meant we were sailing, well roughly in the right direction, but only roughly. The only time it was really consistent sailing was on a goose-wing run to the beach.

It times Tim's trimaran really flew through the water... then stopped dead when the wind dropped. He has changed from roller furling for his jib to a hoisted jib. The aim of this being to mean that the jib can be removed when not sailing. Last week when we rigged the new blocks we found his jib had been perished by the sun and was torn all along the seam. It was, after all, the aim to stop further sun damage... the sail-maker in Limassol had done a brilliant job and the repair was excellent.

On the water he rigged the reefing line for the main, having realised that if the weather front came through, as it looked possible, he could no longer shorten sail by furling the jib.

Then we brought both boats into the beach and had a picnic on the beach. Tim had made some amazing oxtail soup. No, it wasn't just amazing because we were a little cold, it was truly amazing soup. That and fresh french bread from the baker... feast for a king!

Tim has no chain for his anchor and it was dragging on the line. Mine dragged a little then held when I buried the anchor in the sand.

While we were on the beach the wind changed direction about 180 degrees... hmmm... a dead run back? No, it changed again... but not till we were out on the water.

Coming off the beach I suddenly found myself with excessively heavy mainsheet... I looked round and the block on the mainsheet was no longer attached to the bridle. I don't know what happened, I guess it must have broken as all my shackles are moused with stainless steel wire. This is a reason I keep a few short lengths of rope handy... a quick replacement for a shackle to get us home,

Anyway the wind had come up a little and was steady so I gave the helm to Sophocleus and we sailed back towards Finikoudes. It got shallow just before the fort [I didn't know that shallows just south-east of the fort] and so we just touched bottom with the centre board, so I took us out and round again.

Tim had left the beach a few minutes earlier than us since he was tired of his dragging anchor and by now was up by the marina. The wind lightened and lightened till by the time we got to near the port we had no steerage way. So I furled the genoa, flaked and lashed the main and we motored back to the club.

2008-12-14T21:27:00.008+02:00

6 Nautical miles

I went out for a sail with Tim today. Both of us had heavy work weeks and needed a 'blow the cobwebs away' time. Tim's daughter was arriving later in the day but she gave him permission to miss picking her up at the airport to have as a sail.

Maybe she believes her Dad is somewhat like me. My wife says that I am somehow a nicer person to have around after I have been sailing... well... something like that.

Anyway, her plane was late and we got back early enough that both happened - Tim had a sail and he managed to pick her up at the airport!

The change to the twisted shackle made the mainsheet run better, though the wind was very light and fickle. There was still some breakers on the shore, so we motored out for a few hundred metres and then started sailing.

This is part of my ongoing 'chart all the buoys in Larnaca Bay project'. We sailed past the large yellow mooring buoy and grabbed that as a waypoint.

There was another buoy we didn't log/photograph that used to be a yellow mooring buoy very similar to the one on the left except that all the paint has worn away and so now its just a rusting mooring buoy!

Then more black rubber tubes... as you can see these do have a couple of buoys to make them slightly more visible but as the photo shows they are not very clear.

Tim reckons that this is all dangerous information to publish for terrorists. No, I don't think so - anyone with Google Earth and Admiralty charts can get 90%, just not so easily.

We discovered a new 'how to annoy the coastguard' game. Not that we were playing I hasten to add, nor would we. While we were sailing Cyprus Radio announced a 'Pan Pan' all ships alert for a ship in difficulties somewhat south of Cyprus.

After the announcement an unidentified station came on the air asking them to repeat the position of this ship in difficulty. Actually all they said was 'Repeat location please'. Cyprus Radio politely and clearly repeated the location and then asked the calling station to identify itself. Silence. Repeat by Cyprus Radio to identify ship name. Silence again. Again request by Cyprus Radio [you could hear the frustration in the voice by now]. Silence again.

Coming in we started hauling the boat out with the winch and the front jockey wheel broke... at roughly the same time the centreboard dropped onto the jockey wheel and I now have a centre-board repair to do again. Tim reckons he's jinxed on the centre board, but it wasn't anything to do with him - I had cleated it, but obviously not fully up and it would have cleared the ground except for the jockey wheel. Oh well...

Leaking self bailers and anti-slip

2008-12-13T17:41:00.009+02:00

No crew today, the wind low and the surf high... so no sailing. Also a very high tide. 61cm above chart datum in Port Said which is our standard port for the area. Yes, I know 61 cm high tide is absolutely nothing for most of the world, but for the eastern Med its a pretty high tide. In Larnaca sailing club the water was over the grill and up on the concrete of the launching ramp.

So with time to kill I set about trying to find why I get water coming in. I masked off the self-bailers with sellotape and then filled the bilges with water. No leak... till... it started coming through the sellotape on the port bailer. Then when the water came up to the level of the centre-board pin I started getting in from the centre-board case. Lifted the front so that the pin was out of the water and the leak stopped instantly.

That was excellent news. Basically it means the leaks are from the self-bailers and the centre-board pin. My fear had been there was a hidden crack at the stern of the centreboard case which would have been pretty well impossible to get to. Or... that my fibreglass repair to the centre-board case was not holding. Having seen [and hopefully fixed] the horrible bodge someone else had done to the centre-board case I was dreading that possibility. But no... just self-bailers and centre-board pin.

So why and how to fix? Last winter I had replaced the rubber seals on the self-bailers and when I had re-bedded the bailers into the hull I was not happy with the fix, and had then used silicone to 'seal' them in place. I thought silicone was the ideal sealant. Everyone I spoke to said that was what they used, except... Sue gave me Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual for my birthday this year and he had said that silicone was a fairly hopeless sealant [which is what I had now discovered myself] except under compression. Probably, had I bedded the self bailers into silicone, let the silicone cure and then at least 24 hours later tightened the nuts to compress the silicone it might have worked.

The centre-board pin was something others had suggested was where the leak was coming from but I had been not sure about. I suspect what has happened is that over the years the hole for the centre-board pin has worn and enlarged so that the pin itself is no longer a good seal. So how to fix it? I think I will make a washer for each side of the centreboard cased out of silicone. Then by compressing the washers with the nut on the pin, I should get it to seal. Silicone does reputedly seal quite well under compression, but it is not an adhesive seal and '...it should not be used below the waterline.' Apparently leaving it at least 24 hours to cure/go off before compression is the clue to an effective seal.

So on Don Casey's recommendation I went round the shops looking for polysulphide glue. All of them had either silicone or polyurethane. Polyurethane is apparently a very good adhesive seal, but permanent - like impossible if you ever wanted to change the self-bailers. Many of the glues had only Greek descriptions so I had to get assistants to translate. And sometimes they were not sure of the English so had to find other containers with both English and Greek on them to work out that the word was the Greek equivalent of polyurethane. Anyway I shall try during the week to find polysulphide and fix them later.

What I did get was a strip of aluminium for each end of the anti-slip. Tim had bought me a present of anti-slip tape from South Africa when he came back and although it adhered well to the thwart the ends looked ugly and one started to ride up. Not good news after only one month of doing the job. So, again at Tim's suggestion, I bought some aluminium strip which I have pop riveted to the thwart to both fix the ends down and give them a much smarter finish.

I also changed one of the twisted shackles for one of the mainsheet blocks. Last year I had bought two sizes of twisted shackle not knowing which would be right. The blocks were just too big for the small ones so I had used a big one. This meant the block was hanging about 2-3 cm lower than I wanted. So today I filed off the edge of the block to make it just slightly narrower and managed to fit one of the smaller twisted shackles which I then moused with the stainless steel wire I still have from the spring.

... demonstrated a knowledge of theory up to the standard of RYA Day Skipper

2008-12-06T19:55:00.005+02:00

50% there... I now have a certificate to show that I have 'attended a shorebased course of instruction and demonstrated a knowledge of theory up to the standard of RYA/MCA Day Skipper/Watch Leader'.

Now for the practical [the other 50%] which will be sometime early next year. I must admit I am looking forward to the practical more than the theory. But... this course has given me the confidence on a lot of the navigation and other aspects of yacht sailing.

The course was taught by Andreas from True North Yachting in Limassol. The course has been interesting.

Andreas not only has many years of experience as a sailor and yacht delivery skipper and trainer... he also enthuses about sailing... and... more importantly has patience with everyone - encouraging them through the course.

As you can see Andreas loves the whiteboard. Which is great, 'cos so do I. 'Remember... always allow 20% more fuel than you think you need for a passage.'

I have now mastered the mag/true variation, ignoring the mnemonics [though I use them to check] and use the scale on the Portland Course Plotter... set the magnetic against the east/west variation and read off the true... or set the true and then read of the magnetic against the east/west variation. No arithmetic! Why is that relevant? Well a couple of weeks ago I managed to add 7 to 99 and get 105.

So, if the magnetic compass reading is 121, I set that against 7 West and read the true as 114 degrees. Much like the slide rule I used as a kid at school. Actually very like the slide rule, but that was used for multiplication and division not addition and subtraction.

Quote of the day... well, we were discussing wind and talking about Beaufort scale. In passing I mentioned that I was often more concerned about the gusting than the static wind. Sailing in Bft 2 gusting 5 is often more difficult than Bft 5 gusting 6. Andreas' comment 'there speaks a dinghy sailor'. True.

2008-11-30T17:57:00.014+02:00

8.5 Nautical Miles

Morning (Bft 1/2): Tim came out with me in the morning and we took a southward leg from the club. The wind was very light indeed. Since I'm on the Day Skipper course I was concentrating somewhat on the navigation aids.

We photographed and plotted positions for some of the buoys.

The green starboard buoy for the main harbour is pretty weathered so only a small part is green - the rest a black mucky colour except for the top which is white. The white cap makes the shape appear almost like a can [which is port/red buoy] rather than the conical green/starboard buoy.

Actually its clearer that its a starboard buoy in the photograph than in reality on the water.

The next buoy is yellow - either a mooring buoy for large ships or a oil take off buoy - I'm not sure which. It's big! I wonder if this is what is referred to as a 'super buoy'... it certainly appeared to be over the 5m size for a 'super buoy'.

The light on the top has no solar cells so one assumes the power is coming from the shore line - maybe along the oil pipeline.

The next buoy was topped with cormorants and just a rusty box that is used for mooring.

The cormorants are very nervous and always fly off before we get near.

Next was the floating black pipes. These are the hazard I most fear.

Tim said he had nearly sailed into them as well. With any kind of swell they are almost invisible.

The final buoy was a rusting cylinder. Also used for mooring ships. You can see it was originally yellow, though there is almost nothing of the original paint left.

There are more buoys in that area and I will try to chart and photograph them all over time.

Afternoon (Bft 2/3): The afternoon sail towards the north was sailing single handed. I enjoyed that too... although I prefer a crew.

The wind was higher and we [that is Galini, me and God] were sailing along between 5-6 knots SOG which meant that I could open the bailers and empty the boat of water.

It was enjoyable to see that I am now comfortable sailing her alone in light winds - locking the tiller into shock cord and sorting out the boat as we sail. It would be fun to have a autopilot/windvane to allow me longer away from the tiller, but on a small boat its not really necessary. I cannot seem to balance her to sail with tiller locked for more than 15-30 seconds though, she tends then to bear up into the wind. Balancing her slightly off the wind doesn't help as she then bears off with risk of gybe. I guess with a dinghy everything is so closely balanced than very small changes of wind/rudder make significant changes to the balance.

I took her off the mooring buoy [very small red cylinder nothing like the buoys in the morning!] from the boat and sailed off from the buoy. Enjoyable to see I had mastered everything enough to do that single handed without being blown back onto the shore.

16 November 2008 - Short Sunday Sail

2008-11-16T18:56:00.007+02:00

14 Nautical Miles [approx]

Raed couldn't find the GPS so I assumed that we had left it behind... we found it after lunch! The cyan AM track is through Dead Reckoning and the afternoon Yello track from the GPS.

The morning sail was very quiet - not the predicted Bft 2/3, but more like Bft 1/2. Finding fickle wind when there is almost none is pretty difficult. It was a nice gentle sail.

After lunch we helped Tim do some work on his trimaran - he was replacing the furling jib with a wire so that the jib [which is not UV proof] will not get damaged staying up all the time... the jib will be hoisted when he needs it.

After that we went out for a quick sail as the wind had come up. Still not very much but more than the morning - at least Raed was hiking out which is his preferred sailing position, though likes it even more when the waves are splashing over him too!

As we were coming back there were a couple of lasers and an optimist out sailing too. So... because the sky was picturesque we took pictures. The two lasers sailing together looks really nice. The optimist picture is still good, but somehow doesn't have the poignancy of the lasers.

Day Skipper Course - Day 2

2008-11-15T18:55:00.003+02:00

I was soooo.... tired... I have worked about 70 hours this week and it was showing in the course. Included in what we went through in the morning was the lights on boats. There are many many combinations of lights to mean many different things. You need a copy of the regs in the boat to decipher them! Andreas had a simple guide: Learn the common ones and for the rest... if it looks like a Christmas tree... stay clear!

We dealt with some chart navigation in the afternoon. Because I was so tired i made a silly mistake on LAT/LON misreading the LON scale by a minute. I know LAT/LON and have used it for years even writing translation algorithms for converting DCW into other formats, so I was kicking myself for making such a stupid mistake.

Then we went on to Mag vs True on compass/GPS. Now, I knew the idea and was hoping for some help in understanding exactly how it worked but Andreas likes mnemonics and I don't remember mnemonics so got totally confused till in the break one of the other guys on the course suggested an alternative way of remembering. Though his way isn't really mine, it will help me to work out a way for me to remember it. Actually for me to remember things I need to know how they work, not just remember the mnemonic... so I need to figure out what the chart actually shows in the compass rose and then it will all makes sense.

Next week should be easier at work so I will be less tired on the course.

8 November 2008 - Day Skipper Theory - Day 1

2008-11-08T18:14:00.005+02:00

I started the Day Skipper Theory Course today [5 Saturdays] with True North Yachting, which meant I couldn't go sailing today. I had hoped to get out sailing tomorrow, but don't have any crew.

The course is good - Andreas is pretty experienced and explains well. I had been worried that I didn't have enough experience for this course, but that is not so. Some of what we covered today I knew already - like most of the rope-work I had known since I was a teenager, some 35+ years!

But some was new and very useful for filling in holes in my knowledge. One of the topics today was especially interesting - that of anchoring. For instance... what to do when wind and waves are not coming from the same direction... the rule that he who arrives last gives way to those who anchored earlier regardless of the sanity of doing so... if you have to drop your anchor, leave a fender on the line and come back for it later.

And what has become my 'tip of the week' on anchoring... if you really want to make an anchor hold [because of strong winds], shackle your secondary anchor about 10 metres after the main on your anchor chain. That is such a good idea and so simple.

I'm really looking forward to this course and doing the practical course after it in January.

1 November 2008 - unexpected night sail

2008-11-01T22:22:00.010+02:00

3o nautical miles

The day started out with light-to-no-wind-at-all and then a safety hiccup that lost us half an hour. The safety issue was that one of the two hand-held radios had not been charged and was low on battery. Galini was doing a long trip and Blue just pottering around for the morning, so it was important that the fully charged radio was on Galini, but it wasn't... so we had to double back and swap radios.

Since the wind was almost non-existent and I was keen for a longish sea trip we motor-sailed for the first 30 minutes then got enough wind for a gentle sail.

Our first waypoint was Cape Pila. This little Garmin etrex is a wonder. You can interface with Google Earth to put in waypoints [probably frowned upon in navigating circles, but I find it pretty accurate]. And then do ETA, ETE calculations on the fly.

I love it... and all $80 or something like that.

The only thing to remember is that sailing to bearings means using the compass not the GPS as the GPS will steer you round not allowing for sailing leeway, tides, currents etc. But on short hops and keeping in mind the potential problems it's a great tool.

The Volvo Ocean has all those sexy mast-top pictures... using no doubt expensive remote controlled cameras.

So... when the winds are light and the sailing fun but not taxing inventiveness comes into play. I took the camera out of its waterproof case, attached a lanyard, removed the topping lift from the boom and used it as a halyard for the camera. No remote control, just a 10 second timer. Quite a few attempts to get one good picture.

Mentioning the Volvo Ocean cannot go without being amazed by the boat/team I'm following on this race - Ericsson 4 - who this week broke the world record for the greatest number of miles sailed by a monohull in 24 hours. The distances was just over 600 miles, which makes an average speed of 25 knots. I'm doing well if I can keep up 5 knots, so they are sailing 5 times the speed of my Galini. Their boat length is 70 feet which means on a displacement hull their maximum speed would be just over 11 knots... so they must have been planing the hull to get that speed.

As we pass Cape Pila the winds get up. This is the sailing Raed loves, bouncing through the waves with him hiking out holding on by his toes. The waves are steep and choppy and reduce as we get away from the cape. Actually it's not as windy as all that, maybe Bft 3 only. But fun fast sailing at last.

The most dangerous thing is all the fishing stuff... many of the fishermen don't do their buoys very well so you are bound to nearly hit a bamboo cane sticking up form some invisible [black] buoy. Occasionally they might also have a [nearly invisible] black flag on the end of the bamboo cane.

Eventually we reach our destination... well, the backup destination. Had it been Bft 3 all the way we wanted to try to get to Agia Napa, but with light winds we made it to Potamos.

Potamos is a lovely little fishing harbour. We moored in a bay overlooked by a restaurant, which was closed since its out of season.

Yes, I know I should have flaked and lashed the main sail to make it 'Bristol fashion' but we only had time for a very short break to eat half of our lunch as we were running late already. We'd eaten the first half just before the cape.

The entrance to the harbour is very shallow - a MacGregor started to come in then thought better of it and reversed out. He obviously had a depth guage - we don't! We scraped an underwater rock with the end of our centreboard on the way out. Yes, its very shallow!

I set a course that was as close to the cliffs as was safe. Sailing close to the cliffs would mean we had less miles to sail... the shortest possible route. It was interesting to see how the waves had eroded the cliffs so there were caves and overhangs all the way up to the cape.

The wind was dropping as we sailed back to Cape Pila so I had to motor sail the last mile. I hoped as we turned the point I could sail the rest of the way as it should be a direct run and have more speed.

As we turned the point we set the waypoint for the club and the bearing was such that a direct goose-wing run would be ideal. But sadly the wind dropped so we motor sailed. Eventually the wind dropped totally and so we furled the sail, hoisted the boom to the mast to and then lashed it there to get it out of the way an motored back.

What this all meant was that I had misjudged timing and we had the most beautiful sunset over the sea with Larnaca in the background. Yes God does make some really beautiful sights. I'm sure He must enjoy them as much as we do.

What threw me was the hour change from summer to winter time so sunset was an hour earlier than it was the previous week. That having been said, it was still later than I had planned.

But... after sunset... night. So we topped up the engine with fuel while it was still light and got everything ready for a night motor back to the club.

Navigating by night with the etrex is not too difficult. It has a 20 second illumination setting so holding it in your hand you can check your course. And just to make it easier you can set it up to tell you where to steer for the waypoint... Right 7 degrees... Left 4 degrees and so on.

Just in case you are thinking about the stupidity of using flash photography to ruin the helms night vision let me explain the photo. It was taken with flash before it was actually dark. The flash makes the foreground comparatively lighter and the background simulated night. So... no I would not be stupid enough to ruin my night sight for 15 minutes just to get a photo.

You can actually see which lights on the shore are roughly on the correct bearing and then sail for that, just checking with the GPS. In the case of Larnaca Nautical Club there are a number of oil storage tanks about half a mile south and these are very well illuminated so sailing to the club from about 5 miles out is pretty easy.

Night motoring was really fun. It would do it again, but would prepare the boat for it... have torches ready and preferably navigation lights on the mast. But... it was very enjoyable and something I would like to do again.

28 October 2008 - following the offshore racing

2008-10-28T17:30:00.019+02:00

14 nautical miles

I set out in the opposite direction today - south rather than north or east. The wind was light - very light - Bft 2 much of the day.

Almost nobody from the nautical club was out sailing. As we arrived the kayaks were just coming in, but it looks like we were the only people out sailing today. We... that is Raed was my crew again today.

Going south from the nautical club always concerns me somewhat as there are a couple of plastic pipes floating in the water among the buoys for taking off oil/gas/petrol. The pipes do have marker buoys, but the pipes are black and not very visible so I am always concerned that I will miss it and sail into one of them. I'm not sure if I will do Galini or the pipes more damage. Either way I don't want to find out. If the pipes were white or orange they would be much clearer to see and less dangerous.

As we passed the port entrance light to the commercial harbour I noticed that the port light was protected by an inordinate amount of barbed wire, yet the starboard light appeared almost unprotected.

Changing the bulb for the port entrance light would be a major task - getting over all that barbed wire.

Passing the harbour breakwater I remarked how many yachts there were out sailing today.

The wind was pushing us along at about 3 knots... not exactly exciting sailing, but the water was smooth and it looked like it would be a very enjoyable sail. We swapped helming back and forth so it was good experience for Raed. I remember a couple of years back - what you need is just many many hours of helming.

Coming alongside the first yacht [which was obviously the back of the fleet] we found that there was a race for the Larnaca Offshore Sailing Club... 'We're number one', they told us. So we tagged along to see where they were going.

Strange... we overtook them with no trouble, yet they are a much bigger boat than us, but Galini has always sailed well in light winds. Now I see she sails faster than yachts double her size.

Leaving 'Number One' in the distance we caught up with Summer Wine, a Moody 38. Now this is a beautiful yacht. Modern, but classic.

She wasn't quite as easy to pass, but we did and then for the next few miles it was interesting watching where she tacked and where we tacked to stay clear of the airport. We were slowly pulling away from her.

Looking at the waypoints on the GPS I wondered if we would get to Cape Kiti - we got to about 4.5 miles from the cape but the wind was so light it would have taken us nearly two hours to sail there... two hours back and...

Over the airport a dark cloud base was forming. I thought I heard a murmur of thunder, but it could have been a jet taking off. I keep a careful eye on the clouds.

I get a phone call from a friend at the airport saying that he had driving though showers coming up to Larnaca from Limassol and wondered if we had any rain yet. No, not yet...

We head on south taking a big tack out to see if we can get a line down to the cape.

We are overtaken by our first yacht - a Beneteau First 31 - another terrific looking yacht. Small and sleek. That is something about the size I would like.

As we tack in towards the coast we see the clouds creating an amazing stripe effect with the sun over a dredger working at the southern end of the airport. Today is 'Ohi Day' - a public holiday so its slightly strange to see people working today.

On the tack back out I start the Japanese assistant - we have not had enough speed for the self-bailers to take the water out. So I motor sail for about 10 minutes to get up enough speed to clear the water out from the bilges. I think I could do with a manual bilge pump for next year.

We'd heard all the race chat on channel 72, but since neither of us speak any Greek it was all incomprehensible... the only words understood being 'committee boat... committee boat...'.

But, we spot the marker buoy they are all turning around so guess what is happening from that.

Don't ask me why the yacht on the right is sailing so far past the buoy! I know there is a penalty for hitting the buoy, but that is being a bit over careful.

A ketch motors up to past the buoy - getting closer to us than I would like - we're sailing, they're motoring, we have right of way! The skipper [sailing solo with no crew] yells something about playing with the other yachts and gets his jib up, but a few minutes later takes it down again and motors back.

The other yacht launches its spinnaker. I'm not sure how experienced they were with spinnakers - it collapses many times and the pole doesn't look set right - but I cannot talk I have never sailed with a spinnaker!

Sea Quest on the other hand has a beautifully set spinnaker. However, goosewinged we overtake her. Time to put on a waterproof as I sense rain might be on its way and its easier to put it on under the buoyancy aid while the sea is calm and sailing easy.

I phone Roy [who has a flat on the sea just north of Mackenzie Beach] and Raed waves to him. He goes for his binoculars and then tells me I need a shave!

In the middle of the call, the wind changes, backing the genoa which is goosewinged, so I quickly close the call and tend to the boat.

We hear a thunder clap and see lightning over the airport. Definitely time to make for home. No, we didn't manage to catch the lightning in the photo. And no, it didn't hit the plane!

The Beneteau is also goosewinging it back - I kind of like their idea for holding the boom out to stop an accidental gybe... but I'm not sure how safe it is! I would have thought a line from the end of the boom to the pulpit would be safer.

When goosewinging I try to keep it so that the main is held out solid and the genoa is on the edge, so I watch the genoa for any signs of luffing as an indicator to bear off very slightly.

We overhaul them slowly. Of course I have an advantage - I have pulled up my centreboard, which they cannot do with their keel.

The light is really strange by now - thunder and rain on one side, light overcast where we are and sunshine in the distance.

The rain eventually catches us and out come the waterproofs on the yachts. With the rain, we get an increase in the wind and suddenly we're doing 5 knots or more... goosewinged... gusting and the whole rig rattles with each gust... back through the plastic pipes which are now very close to invisible in the darkening sea!

I must find out what to do with gusts when you are sailing goosewinged. You cannot easily bear into the wind or spill wind...

All in all it was a very enjoyable sail.

25 October 2008 - Larnaka -> Dhekelia -> Pila -> Larnaka

2008-10-25T17:44:00.011+03:00

25 nautical miles

Wind... what wind? It started off with almost no wind so... sunbathing on a sailboat weather. The water was almost like glass, with just the faintest ripples on the surface.

We motored out for about half a mile to get clear of the kayaks that were practicing at the club and then... while I slept with my hand on the tiller... Raed sat on the foredeck and took pictures.

Actually we tried sailing without a rudder as this is something I wanted to try... we failed...

We just went round and round in circles... and then sailed backwards! When we got back I talked with Nikos about this - apparently you need to put more weight on the leeward side to come up to the wind and more weight on the windward side to bear away from the wind.

When the wind did come up a little we sailed off towards Dhekelia sailing club. Raed was helming most of the way - he helmed about one third of the sail today. We did about three knots on the way over there, and it was really enjoyable sailing.

But almost nobody was out sailing from Dhekelia Club save one lone bosun. We really liked the bright blue sails of the Bosun...

Apparently the Bosun dinghies were designed for the British navy. The crew sailing her explained this and said they were very heavy. Heavy means sturdy and sturdy means the navy probably cannot break it!

Heavy? Well... without much difficulty we could sail around it.

As the wind was increasing we then sailed off towards Pila - my target had been to get round Cape Pila and into Potomas. But the wind was too light for that.

Since the wind was light and Raed was helming I played with the GPS and learnt how to set complete routes - not just navigation to waypoints. Also to set the fields to display things that are more helpful for sailing than the default fields.

En route we passed an absolutely massive mooring buoy for the tankers that come in to the power station.

We saw PILA 1 buoy in the distance and it looked like it was close to Cape Pila, but in fact its at least a mile or more from the Cape.

There are three PILA buoys in a line on the southern side of the cape. I would like to have a chart so that I can see what they are supposed to indicate.

We passed Cape Pila and could see Agia Napa in the distance. It was about 5 nautical miles, so on a day with good wind it would be just about possible to sail to Agia Napa and back in a day.

But time was against us today [it being after 2pm] so we turned and made for home, passing PILA 2 buoy on the way back.

I wonder what the little entrance is for. Could someone sleep on the buoy?

Memo to self... remember to clean the lens of the camera case with fresh water. The salt water smears are what makes some parts of these photos less than pin sharp.

Whenever I am out on the water I am inspired by the beauty of it. I think God must really like water - two thirds of the earth surface is water.

I look at the sun glistening off the water and my mind is taken to the Son who created it all. God you are amazing!

22 October 2008 - Happy Birthday Raed

2008-10-22T20:24:00.006+03:00

6 nautical miles

It was Raed's birthday today, so I decided to take him out for a sail in the afternoon. The birthday lunch went on a bit so we only got there about 3pm but got about two and half hours sailing. Raed has been mainly crewing, but the wind was light so I gave him a helming lesson.

I say the wind was light - it was - but because of the thunder storm in the morning the surf on the beach was quite high. I ended up using the Japanese assistant to help us get through the surf before sailing.

We kind of pottered around a bit - giving Raed a feel for the wind and then saw a Hobbie in the distance, so with a longish downwind run, which we goose-winged, we gave chase.

I took over the helm as goose-wining is a still a bit tricky and probably not for a beginner. Actually in very light winds with a fair swell it was a little difficult for me not to be pushed around by the waves.

The Hobbie had four people on board, which meant that we had speed over them - normally it would be the other way around!

We found out they were from Finland and said they were beginners at sailing... so [they said] keep clear, they couldn't guarantee where they would be!

The Hobbie had come out from one of the hotels and was not in a very good state of repair - there was a rip in the sail and the masthead buoyancy was hanging from the top of the mast - not secured as it should be.

We sailed back along the coast - strangely this is not something I had done before - seeing Hotels like the Palm Beach from the sea.

Getting back in through the surf was interesting. A new experience.

All in all a very enjoyable sail.

18 October 2008 - Divers hazard

2008-10-19T00:54:00.006+03:00

17 nautical miles

My Crew today was Peter. He's apparently pretty cool sail boarder, has swum the English channel and normally prefers catamarans. But we had a really great sail, despite the fact the wind was extremely light.

I've moved the bridle for the mainsheet back and that was certainly a better place for it.

We sailed to a different part of the coast on the north side of Larnaca bay today. It was interesting to find out exactly where Romanzas is [labelled the Fishing Harbour waypoint on the Google Earth map].

One hazard I had not seen before was free swimming divers. Well, actually they seem to have had motorized swimmers, but what I mean is that there were not boats around to give warning. They did have little tiny flags and floats that they towed, but they were very small and I am not sure how easily a power boat going at speed would have seen them.

There were three of them all together, but had there only been one I am not sure how easily I would have noticed them.

Neil and Paula kept company with Blue. At times the wind was so light we used the motor. At one stage we even furled the main sail - it was good having the topping lift as this made it easier.

All in all a very enjoyable sail.

11 October 2007 - Not quite what was expected!

2008-10-11T20:25:00.010+03:00

11.5 nautical miles

One of the things that I have wanted to do is to make it so that I can 'cruise' with the outboard attached and not get the main sheet tangled in the outboard. So I added an extra line about 15 cm back from the front of the rear buoyancy tank which would take the end block for the main sheet... as per the photo. This would also have the added advantage of allowing us to point slightly better without having to move the car on the rear traveler rail. That worked well.

The line is not what we will use eventually, as its not 'pre-stretched' in other words feels a little bouncy on the main sheet. I changed the mast head buoyancy halyard to cheaper line so will change this to better quality line this week.

We did find one problem with this arrangement though, and that was the tiller extension kept getting caught in the line. So I will move it further back by maybe another 30 cm. That should be a good compromise position.

Moving the outboard to a cruising position mounted permanently on the back of the boat will give us more space in the boat.

The aim of today was to see if we [Tim and I] could sail round cape Pila into Potamos. Sadly we were thwarted by two problems. The first was that as we started sailing at about 11am the wind was either very light or non-existent. The wind came from almost every direction imaginable... well... not quite but within a 90 degree range! When it dropped totally we used what Tim called 'Japanese Assistance' ie the outboard.

Neil and Paula, who were also out sailing towards the cape looked like for some of the time they had better wind than us as they were closer in to the shore. At one time sitting becalmed we saw them racing along the shore. They don't have an outboard so couldn't resort to extra help. They turned back to be with James for lunch - we had our on board.

As we got to about 6 nautical miles out from the cape we were greeted by a dark cloud which then started thundering and lightning. The lightning was about a mile and half away from us. Lightning isn't fun on a boat with a tall metal mast, so we decided to turn and run for home.

It was a long beat back across the bay. But a really enjoyable one. The wind came up and sailing was glorious. The forecast came on from 'Cyprus Radio' - the Larnaca coastguard, saying the the wind would be force 3 gusting 5. It wasn't as bad as that - more like 3 gusting 4. But that meant the sailing was really fun. The sea was pretty smooth so the wind just carried us across the bay. Tim takes over the helm to see if he can get us to plane since that would be good fun.

Then the rain came and we were pelted with rain. I haven't sailed in rain before and it was really enjoyable to see how the rain drops created thousands... no millions... of tiny holes in the sea as they hit it. It was really beautiful.

The approach to the club is sighted by a big round white gas tank just to south of the club. There is a second gas tank slightly more south still of that one, but its silver not white. In the rain its not so easy to see exactly where it is, but can be sighted nevertheless.

Just as we are about to get back to the club the wind drops and starts to be fickle again. We go about to tack up... you can see how excited Tim is with the fickle wind! As we tack again the wind drops totally again, so we resort to the Japanese Assistance again to get back.

As we arrive... the sun pops out.

5 October 2008 - the skipper is still the skipper!

2008-10-05T17:54:00.004+03:00

9.7 nautical miles

Had a wonderful 11 nautical mile sail with Tim today. Tim was helming almost all of it. It was gentle breeze [Bft 2] and nice to sit there, enjoy the sea and occasionally sort out the genoa halyard or the whisker pole.

When we came in to the club Tim called for a small amount of centreboard to help with the final turn into the wind. Which I duly provided... then leapt out of the boat to hold her.

The club were off racing today in Limassol so we used my 4-wheel drive to pull her in. Half way up the slip ramp I noticed... the centreboard was still down and was now beautifully planed flat on the bottom and gouged into the axle on the other side.

So... as skipper I should have gone through my normal checklist coming into shore and then bringing her up the ramp. One part of that checklist is... 'centreboard up and cleated'. So whoever is helming... the skipper is still the skipper and responsible for all checks etc. Oh well... we live and learn.

4 October 2008 - Optimist racing in Limassol

2008-10-04T19:36:00.009+03:00

14 nautical miles

Today was national Optimist racing in Cyprus taking place at Limassol, just off the Famagusta sailing club. James [my old crew from last year] was taking part so I chatted to Chrysis and we took his Congor down to watch.

The wind was very very light to start off with, so we used the outboard to get out from where he moors it, and then slowly started tacking down to where the racing was taking part. OK, so it was going to take forever, so we cheated and used the outboard again for a little while and then, of course, turned it off so we could sail into the club - couldn't bear to be seen motoring in after all!

Then Chrysis gave me the helm and I took out Neil and Paula to do a photoshoot of the racing. Now... I had changed the batteries on my camera last weekend. But they had run flat. So, that's what comes of buying very cheap batteries. Waste of time. Neil and Paula fared slightly better in that their batteries lasted a little longer than mine. Oh, well... next time buy reputable make batteries from a decent shop!

We tacked back and forth at the start line, but being there we were going to get in the way so we tacked up to the turn buoy and then tacked in to the shore, went about and went into 'hove to' so we gently drifted back to the turn buoy and could both eat lunch and watch the boats. We did that three times and one time we sailed along the tack line of the racing fleet and back again... taking photos as we went. Neil will let me have some to upload later.

The wind was light. The chart opposite is from Acrotiri which is just up the coast, but slightly more exposed than Limassol.

You can see that sailing up in the morning, the wind was barely Bft 2 and it claimed to reach Bft 4 late afternoon. It didn't feel like that to me. Felt more like Bft 2 ish most of the afternoon. Chrysis was asking about the Beaufort scale... which I thought was invented by Beaufort but standardized by someone else. Wikipedia says this:

The scale was created in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort, an Irish admiral and hydrographer. The scale that carries Beaufort's name had a long and complex evolution, from the previous work of others, to when Beaufort was a top administrator in the Royal Navy in the 1830s. In the early 19th Century naval officers made regular weather observations, but there was no standard scale and so they could be very subjective - one man's "stiff breeze" might be another's "soft breeze". Beaufort succeeded in getting things standardized.
The initial scale of thirteen classes (zero to twelve) did not reference wind speed numbers, but related qualitative wind conditions to effects on the sails of a man of war, then the main ship of the Royal Navy, from "just sufficient to give steerage" to "that which no canvas sails could withstand." At zero, all his sails would be up; at six, half of his sails would have been taken down; and at twelve, all sails would be stowed away.

The scale itself [courtesy of the WIT site] is shown below. From the 'Description of sea' column it would have been Bft 2 most of the afternoon.

One good thing for me to learn was that while 'hove to' the boat will yaw, but self correct. You can see the yawing on the track at the bottom left. I have put my Wayfarer into 'hove to' a few times before but always been wanting to correct when it started yawing. This time with Neil telling me it was normal I just lashed the tiller and got on with eating lunch and trying to see if I had any batteries for the camera and... well whatever you want to do hove to... like chatting to Nicos when he came over in the rescue boat.

Eventually we sailed back to Famagusta club when I dropped off Neil and Paula and picked up Chrysis and sailed back to the Limassol Sail Board Club where he moors his boat. A really wonderful day. Thanks Chrysis.

Oh and Chrysis said they will start the Day Skipper course in Limassol within the next month so I will try to sign up for that to do this winter.

How to... make the Google Earth images on this site

2008-10-04T19:12:00.005+03:00

I've had a couple of people ask about how I made the Google Earth images used on this site.

I use the cheapest, most basic Garmin eTrek GPS unit which I bought in Singapore for not very much. I gather this is now discontinued, but there are other Garmin cheap replacements which will work. Image courtesy of the Garmin website. I also got the serial port cable that goes with it. I gather there might now be a USB port cable, but I'm using the older serial port cable. I use a mac iBook G4 computer... and though it's a brilliant computer, there is no software I have found that runs on it to download the data. So I use my wifes Windows 2000 machine.

The software I use is DNR Garmin which is written by the Department of Natural Resources at Minnesota University in the USA. Download and install this using the link above.

Connect your eTrex or other GPS unit to the computer using serial or USB cable and then start the DNS Garmin program. By doing it this way round DNS Garmin should automatically find your GPS unit. Then select track and download. With a little bit of luck the program should start downloading all the track data from your GPS.

It can take quite a bit of time to download the data if you are using the serial cable as the transfer is only 9600 baud. So be patient, especially if there is a lot of data to download.

When its all downloaded select save to Google Earth. The option you need is 'Line', not point or polygon. Wait for a while and it will eventually say its saved to 'My places'. The in Google Earth open and, if you want, edit the track. Simple as that... but remember to clear the track data from your GPS otherwise next time it will downlaod the track again.

You can also export points from Google Earth and import into DNR Garmin as Waypoints... which I use. But I'll let you experiment doing that yourself.

28 September 2008 - Sailing over HMS Cricket

2008-09-28T17:29:00.009+03:00

19 nautical miles

On the way to the club we saw a mast for what looked like a pretty big yacht - actually I should say really big yacht. So we went hunting, but it was in the commercial harbour so we couldn't see her. So, I thought, lets take a look by sea. The aim then was to sail out from the cub and then tack across in front of the harbour and run back to the club by 11:30 to help Sheila into the water.

But... the wind was too light, so we got out to about the place to tack across to the harbour by 11:00, which meant there wasn't time to even sail back by 11:30 - the GPS was showing over an hour sailing back. So we flaked the sail and tied it to the boom, brought out the outboard and motored back in 30 minutes. The outboard runs really well when the sea is very calm. Which is what I want it for - running back when the wind drops and motoring into difficult places like Potamos.

After helping Sheila into the water the aim then became to try for Cape Pila or Potamos as it felt like the wind had come up quite a bit. However, we were still sailing at only 3-4 knots so there was no chance and diverted to sail over HMS Cricket. Which we did.

Had a bite to eat on the way and then went about and sailed back. The wind was a little fresher, so thought we might be able to get over the commercial harbour and see the yacht, but didn't happen again, so came into the club.

Pity not the see the really big yacht, but it was a very enjoyable day sailing. Windguru said it was Bft 1 in the early morning, Bft 2 late morning and Bft3 in the afternoon. The new position for the topping lift worked much better, meant we could easily [relatively] flake the sail out on the water and motor in... and unflake and sail off from a buoy back at the club.

Oh, and... yes, those are my feet in the first picture - I'm sitting our on the foredeck with my right foot locked under the kicking strap treating it like a hiking strap. But having the weight that far forward makes Galini dig in a little, so not recommended for long periods of time!

And... you can just see the engine in its sailing position - with the screw suspended under the front starboard seat and the engine itself secured under the thwart. It makes is slightly more difficult for the crew going about as the handle sticks out a little. I shall have to think about the engine position in the future, but having the screw suspended means that its away from the hull, where it could damage the hull and not sitting on the floorboards where it could damage to the screw itself.

27 September 2008 - Gale warning?

2008-09-27T17:38:00.012+03:00

10 nautical miles

Today I went sailing with Ruth - the table shows what Windguru predicted. Yes, that's pretty blowy for a small dinghy. So we made an early start, hoping for the early morning inshore calm, being down at the club just after 9am and having helped Sheila on the water we got out ourselves.

We tried reefing on the water and failed. Actually we broke a block fixing to the boom! It almost worked, but the extra stress with the reefing line going through two eyes made it impossible to get enough tension on it. So we sailed back to the club, reefed while attached to a buoy and then went out again.

The main problem with the wind was the gusting - in itself it wasn't very strong, but the gusts were very powerful indeed. I think the red bar in the Windfinder chart shows the gusting at one point - which shows Bft 2 gusting Bft 5+. Which is about what it felt like, and being cruisers we had reefed for the gusts not the average, so were underpowered while sailing normally.

Regardless of what the chart says, the wind was mostly directly offshore from the club ie westerly or nor-westerly... except when it was playing with us and at almost any other point of the compass. So the game was, we could see the gusts coming, but we had no idea from which direction the wind would appear to be when it hit us!

While we were out Cyprus coastguard put out an 'all ships' gale warning so we sailed for home. Having the radios really helps to hear what is going on and communicate with others.

The wind was changing direction pretty dramatically too. So sailing back to the club we were only making about 3 knots. Still it was a very enjoyable sail.

As normal we got pretty wet with all the spray coming off the waves and Ruth's comment to that, 'At least the water here is warm'. It certainly is still warm at this time of the year.

We had three problems today:

The main halyard has been catching in the topping lift. I had put the block for the topping lift just where the mast starts to taper. However, this meant that the main sail while being hauled up or re-hauled up after shaking out a reef tends go get caught in the topping lift. So later in the day we moved the topping lift to the very top of the mast. Hopefully that will fix the problem.
We repaired the block for the reefing line which was the second problem (as I already mentioned). That's still not good a good solution and I will have to think of a better one later. What I really want is something that is relatively easy to do while on the sea and sailing... especially when its blowing hard and you need the reefing.
The third problem was the reefing line when pulled in dangled and got caught in the genoa sheet. I will add a bag to the boom for the reefing line.

20 September 2008 - Wind... lots of it!

2008-09-20T20:48:00.008+03:00

4 nautical miles

I went out with Stuart today - only the morning for a couple of hours as he couldn't do more. In fact since he had a operation a little while ago, it proved a couple of hours was about right.

The forecast was for Bft 2 in the morning gaining to Bft 4 in the afternoon. So I expected a quiet and pleasant sail. As soon as we got going I handed the helm to Stuart and crewed for him. The wind was brisk and I was hiking out as far as I could go... my calves being more used than normal they will show how underused they normally are in the next few days!

It was a really fun sail. To me the wind seemed good, but not that strong. When we got back there was discussion about the wind. I still thought it was about Bft 2/3, but Neil and Stuart both thought stronger. They were right! It was actually metered as Bft 5 most of the time we were sailing, rising up to Bft 6 in the afternoon.

BUT... looking at the Beaufort scale [care of the WIT site] I'm really not sure this description matches what we experienced:

Fresh
breeze

17-21

Moderate waves, taking a more pronounced long form. Many white caps, some spray

Light dinghies have to ease sheets in heavier gusts.

Delight

Neil and Paula reefed their Laser 16, but we had full main and genoa and I was able to hold her level by hiking out almost all of the time. Maybe it was Stuart's experience as a helm [though he claimed not to have sailed for 12 years]. I would have said the sea conditions as 'Large wavelets, crests begin to break. Perhaps scattered white caps' which is Bft 3.

What was interesting about the wind was that although it was strong it was not that gusty and the waves were pretty small. There have been times when I have been out before when the conditions where a lot more turbulent, but the wind speed lower.

In the afternoon I came back and watched the end of the Larnaca Sailing Club offshore yacht race [had been offered a place crewing on this, but couldn't do it as I had something on later]. I saw the 'tail end charlies' go through. Interesting to see how they sailed, and really wished I could have helmed a yacht to see how well I could do. One of them seemed to be not pointing enough so was leaning well over and looking over canvanced... and another seemed to have its genoa out of control so was not using the extra power as much as it could. Since it was Bft 6, I would have expected a lot more speed. Of course its much easier to say all this from dry land!

16 Sep 2008 - Captain Chrysis and the case of the dragging anchor

2008-09-16T19:20:00.006+03:00

7 nautical miles

This afternoon I had a simply glorious sail with Chrysis in his Congor. We set out about 2:30. He gave me the helm straight away. I hadn't sailed a Congor before and the first thing to learn was that the mainsheet locks by pulling up and releases by pulling down - the opposite to other cleated mainsheets I had used. Clever German engineering. Very clever and very simple. But like having the indicator and windscreen wiper on the opposite side when you drive, many mistakes happening when I wanted to release and actually locked the main sheet!

To start with I was making no headway at all against the wind as the track shows. Oh and I had the helm for most of it even though the pictures are all of Chrysis. They're nice pictures so I include them anyway.

It felt to me like the waves were heavy but the wind light. Not really seen conditions like that before but... well, this is Limassol not Larnaca. Seemed like Bft 2 or so. Pretty calm, but the waves pushing us about a little.

We kept going and I slackened the jib and main - to try to go faster rather than make more direction to windward. Strangely this seemed to allow us to go more to windward too. So we began to tack up the coast.

Every time we went about it was ever so slowly. So I showed Chrysis backing the jib to make us go round... but even that seemed to happen in slow motion.

The Congor as a lovely boat - almost a mini-yacht in some ways. There is a small cuddy at the front with almost two berths. Plus loads and loads of very accessible storage. The engineering for the jib is also very clever German stuff, with loads of extra wires and ropes... which all do their stuff.

Suddenly, the wind starts to drop so I immediately bear off and head for home. We use the spinnaker pole as a whisker pole on the jib and goose-wing it. Up comes the centreboard [which is lead weighted by the way]... and still she is sluggish. I put all the sluggishness down to heavier boat with weighted centreboard, weighted rudder etc.

But then we spot it. All this time the anchor chain with grapnel anchor attached is off the port site about 2 metres below the surface. We have been sailing all afternoon dragging an anchor through the water!

As we get back to the shore, Chrysis takes over the helm and I get a chance for some photos. All in all a very enjoyable sail.

13 September 2008 - Almost no wind

2008-09-13T23:19:00.005+03:00

17.6 nautical miles

The wind was very very light today. We sailed from approx 10:30am till approx 16:00 pm. Windguru reckons we were Bft 2 when we started off, but the sea was actually almost like a mill pond... barely steerage way. I actually hooked the outboard up and thought about motoring out to start with. We picked up a little and go about 3 knots speed. But the sea state was still very very flat.

My target had been to get round Cape Pila to Potamos. But with so little wind there was no chance. It was also slightly misty, so I was sailing off the GPS with waypoints for Cape Pila and returning off the club. Looking at the track you can see a curve. I am thinking that I really need to find a way to mount the compass and sail off a heading and monitor the direction to waypoint rather than sailing directly towards a waypoint.

Cyprus Meteo shows a similar but maybe slightly lighter wind speed. Certainly the 10:00-11:00 is credible for what we experienced.

My crew for the day was Micalis. He has never sailed before but just 'liked being out on the water'. It was a great day. I really enjoyed it.

I had also fitted a topping lift to the boom. This made getting the main sail up much easier as the main was not getting caught by the tiller. When we came back we flaked the main sail over the boom and tied it. Not something to do in a blow as the dinghy moves around quite a bit. It was not as neat as my normal method for flaking it. I will have to try and work out new method for this. Doesn't really behave like the main on a yacht!

We then tried out the outboard, since it had come back from being serviced. It ran much better and pushed Galini along at approx 3-4 knots with throttle at 50-70% into the waves. Increasing throttle increased noise but not speed. It was maybe 1/2 knot faster going with the waves, again increase in throttle made no difference to speed. I locked the outboard and steered with the tiller/rudder.

30 August 2008 - Beautiful sail to Dhekelia

2008-08-30T21:15:00.002+03:00

11.5 nautical miles

This was a really really cool [as in enjoyable, rather than cold] sail round the bay up to the British Army base at Dhekelia.

I was sailing with Adrian. Adrian is a Maori from New Zealand. He's a water lover - never been sailing before, but regularly goes out on a power boat fishing.

He also owns a kayak which is 2 foot longer than Galini and which he enjoys in the surf and 'builds up the upper body muscles' [so he says]. He described it as a closed hull kayak which you sit on top of rather than 'in' like the sort of kayak's we know. So sounds strange and interesting.

Adrian took loads and loads of photos on his camera, to show his kids where he had been [hence the pics of the bay at the top].

The track only shows the morning sail. We went back to the club for lunch and then went out sailing again after lunch.

The wind picked up a little after lunch, but the batteries went flat on the GPS so there is no track. Trying to get us both in the picture, while Adrian held the camera proved to be quite tricky.

24 August 2008 - Billiant wind

2008-08-24T18:41:00.012+03:00

5.6 nautical miles

Totally, totally different sailing conditions to yesterday... couldn't be more different [unless it would have been too much wind to be sail-able at all].

This is the wind graph from cyprusmeteo.com - with scale in metres/second. Converting 7.2 m/s (multiply by 1.944) you get pretty close to 14 knots (13.9968... but I bet the wind was never exactly that!] which is quite a bit less than the 19 knots that windfinder.com showed. But I suspect from the webcam that cyprusmeteo.com is inland whereas I suspect that windfinder.com gets airport readings which will be coastal... and more what we experienced.

This is the wind graph from windfinder.com - with scales in Beaufort and Knots. I went out at approx 15:30 which means we were Bft 4-5 at that stage and Bft 5-6 for most of the time sailing.

The sailing was exhilerating and fun. Tim was my crew and we really enjoyed the sailing. He remarked that my Wayfarer was more fun sailing that his trimaran.

I learned a new technique - surfing along the breaking side of a wave. I suppose it's like the surf-boarders do on the really big ocean waves, but this was new technique for me. You needed to do it on a bigger wave and the closer in to shore the less possible it was. I did the first by accident and then Tim pointed it out to me and I kept trying on other waves and tried to find how to get started. Really exhilarating.

Galini is wonderfully stable - today we were sailing and went about and Tim slipped to the leeward side of her which caused her to heel even more so the leeward deck was in the water and then I slipped and fell face down with my chin hitting the leeward side deck, cutting my chin and wrenching my neck/back. When we had sorted ourselves out we noticed the French girls [I must get their names fixed in my brain sometime] had capsized. I decided we would go in as I didn't want to damage myself further.

On the way in we saw Nicko sailing out on a laser... and then capsizing... twice. When he got back on the club he told us he had capsized 6 times! So... shows how gentle Galini is - we didn't capsize at all... just a cut chin to show for the blow.

Tim is up for capsize drill when he comes back from his next trip so I look forward to doing that and seeing how Galini handles when deliberately capsized. We will test the Secumar mast-head anti-inversion system at the same time. We have the 40 litre version.

23 August 2008 - New outboard (borrowed)

2008-08-23T20:23:00.007+03:00

5.4 nautical miles

Started off the morning by helping Sheila get her boat afloat and then waited for Tim to come to the club. He brought with him a 2 HP Yamaha outboard which he is lending me. Thanks, Tim!

We checked it working in a bucket of water and then went out for a sail. There was very, very little wind, but Galini sailed beautifully and we backed the genoa to go about. Tim sails well, so doing this manoeuvre with him was useful to see. I had been advised to do this in strong winds when the waves push you back, but Tim said it was useful in light winds too... and so it was.

We then sailed over towards the marina to look at some of the sailing boats moored outside the harbour. There was quite a nice looking gullet - or sailing trawler, not sure which there, plus a number of modern plastic boats.

Tim needed to get off about lunchtime, so I sat and watched some youngsters who have just been given a boat clean it out and get it ready for sailing.

Then I took the outboard and put it on the back of Galini to try it out on the water. My first attempt was to use the outboard to steer and keep the tiller central. This worked... kind of... but pushed water at the tiller in an unhelpful way and was not really easily controllable. Taking the rudder off would have worked, but that would not be easy out on the water.

I had read that its often better to lock the outboard and use the tiller for steering, so my second attempt was to do that... but the outboard wouldn't start. Tim had suggested that it really needs a service as the fuel/air mixture is not quite right and I think he is correct... maybe also a new spark plug too.

16 Aug 2008 - Power boat 'sail' round Cape Pila

2008-08-16T22:24:00.005+03:00

Well, I was going out if I could find a crew. Yesterday I phoned Tim about a sailmaker in Cyprus that he needed. He said he would come if his back was up to it. He had been out on a trapeze earlier in the week on a Hobie cat and had problems as a result.

But... his back wasn't up to it. So I went out with Sheila in her 18 foot motor boat... plus a couple of her friends. She is new member at the club and I have been helping her in and out the water with her boat. An 18 foot motor boat is pretty heavy.

The wind/waves were force 2/3 when we left and force 3/4 when we came back. We originally stopped for swim/lunch in Potomas bay, but the chop was making one of the crew feel sick so we went into Potomas fishing village to have more peaceful lunch.

Motoring back, the waves were approx 1 to 1.5 meters at their highest, which was pretty wet if taken straight on so Sheila went at an angle to the waves - hence the rather indirect route back. Actually I think a motor boat can be a lot wetter than a sailboat as she seems to push through the water faster rather than sail over it.

I was keen to go as I had sailed to just past Point Pila in July, but didn't know what Potamas was like and whether there was anywhere to moor/take Galini onto the shore - but having been there it does look like an interesting place to sail to, so maybe should try this.

The total distance was approx 29 nautical miles. Although I would like a small outboard as 'auxiliary' I think my experience for a day on a motor boat has shown me why I like sailing boats! [Sorry Sheila] Hearing the cost of fuel only made this a doubly sure .

10 August 2008 - repairs, but still cannot find the leak

2008-08-10T20:51:00.005+03:00

4.5 nautical miles

Raed and I went back to repair the bullseye and take Galini out for a quick trip out and back. I had a bit of a headache so didn't want a long sail.

We also tried to find the leak [small leak coming in, which is taken out by the self bailers, but irritating nevertheless]. I sort of hoped it was the self bailers themselves leaking, but it looks like its the centreboard case - which I had repaired over winter, so I am not sure where the leak is exactly.

We also tried 'backing the jib' [genoa in our case] to help push us round, didn't seem to work. However, when we were on the hard looking for the water leak we had the sails up to wash and clean them and I showed Raed what I meant and he said he had still been letting go to early, so we will try again sometime. Pity Raed has to go back home this week.

9 August 2008 - mainsheet traveller problems

2008-08-09T22:35:00.011+03:00

16 nautical miles

A very nice enjoyable and quiet day sailing with Raed, John and Sarah. The water was pretty gentle which is why four up in Galini was possible.

John and Sarah are recently married... you can tell, can't you... cool dudes in sunglasses!

What did happen today was I broke a bulls eye for the line for the mainsheet traveller which meant that the traveller car was difficult to hold in position - the traveller car was over the wrong side of the boat so the main sheet would never bring the boom over the boat. Absolutely no chance of getting close to the wind. This is what actually determined our rather early time for lunch!

When I got back to shore I found I could loop the traveller line around the stern and so we still sailed her in the afternoon. It was good to know, as out on the water I had struggled to work out a good solution - pulling on the cam cleat in a strange direction, which held but I would not have been happy in a blow. Actually I think it should be a very small turning block rather than a bulls eye at the end of the rails, but I cannot afford to replace them yet.

Raed kept hoping for more exciting sailing - by which he meant more wind and bigger waves - he would love to try trapeze and was saying how he would like to do like the French girls in the 470. However, John and Sarah had not sailed before, so this was really just pottering about the bay and staying close to the club, where we went for our lunch. We had been thinking of taking lunch with us, but I found that the cool box was really too big to fit in the boat.

Well, in the way of things there was another award ceremony for the regatta while I was away... yes, a real cup this time. Nickos collected on my behalf and then we had a mini-award ceremony today. I think its the first award I have had in my life for anything at all sporty.

Actually I'm not really that competitive. However, if I do compete I like to win. Very, very much want to win. But generally I prefer not to compete in the first place. That way we are all winners. It's because I like all to win that I don't want to compete... and change personality to this 'I want to win' character who I don't really like. Daniel, my son, takes it one stage further - he likes other people to win and tries to help the opposition... except at board games, where he tries to let others win and somehow ends up winning himself!

I met a new member - Sheila - she has an 18 foot motor boat. She thought someone had siphoned out fuel, but Raed and I opened her tank and found that it was just the fuel gauge stuck! There is no tractor at the club, so later we helped her move her boat to her place on the hard. Not sure what would have happened otherwise.

12 July 2008

2008-07-12T02:07:00.004+03:00

estimated 8 nautical miles

Well, this as a short morning and afternoon sail with Bob and Nigel again. We had a very good lunch at the club and watched and sailed around the Optimists who were racing.

I squashed my finger and its bruised and developed a blood blister under the nail from when I was putting on the rudder. Bob said something and I looked up and the rudder swung round and squashed my finger. Must remember to concentrate and not try to do both things at the same time in the future.

I also lost the nut off the rudder bolt while sailing today. I will try to get a new slightly longer rudder bolt with a locking nut.

I really wish I'd had the still camera [which Sue took to the UK] as the Optimists would have been great to photograph.

No more sailing for 3 weeks now sadly as I am off to the UK.

11 July 2008

2008-07-11T22:00:00.004+03:00

24 nautical miles

Well, this was my longest trip so far - approx 24 nautical miles - out to just past Cape Pila. I wanted to have a look round the cape to see about sailing to Potamas or Agia Napa some day.

I was travelling with Nigel and Bob. Bob sails and was taking the helm from time to time. Galini was sailing wonderfully, it was a really enjoyable trip. I'd like to find a way to mount my sighting compass so I can use it as a steering compass too.

I didn't have Cape Pila as a waypoint set and so headed off in roughly the right direction till we could see it! The sky was so hazy visibility was down to about 4 nautical miles.

New boat at the club

2008-07-06T20:23:00.007+03:00

A new boat has arrived at the club - a Conger dinghy - a 'conger segelboot' in German. And a strong class like the Wayfarer with a class association.

She will live next to Galini, my Wayfarer and is an interesting German dinghy. I don't have pictures of her sailing, but the one on the left is from Wikipedia. [The one at the club has a brown or orange coloured hull.]

She's an interesting boat, approximately the same size as the Wayfarer, but with a cuddy for two people to sleep in - but only sleep... no other amenities! She hasn't been sailed for a few years so suffers from all the lack of TLC that Galini suffered from before I acquired her.

Her owner, Chris, is from Limassol, but hopefully we will see him most weekends of the season sailing here.

High tension at the club today - one of the Lasers nearly sank! Somehow the bung for the buoyancy was removed/left out and the boat was getting lower and lower in the water, while one of the club members was sailing her. Fortunately they came into the land before she totally sank!

5 July 2008 - new place in the club

2008-07-05T23:17:00.004+03:00

9.5 nautical miles

Final sail with Matt today before he returns to the UK. It started gentle and I let Matt sail her, but then got a bit more blustery and I took over the helm. Nice sail.

And... Nicos said they are rearranging the boats on the hard and so instead of a long haul across the stones/pebbles which is a pain with a relatively heavy boat, we are now at the edge of the tarmac and from there straight to the slipway! Oh, so nice!

Christos has found the club racing 470 and was busy working out how to rig her. I looked at how they rig the spinnaker and found what looks like the best sort of turning blocks for the spinnaker guys at the stern [Harken 2026]. They use ratchet blocks for controlling the guys, which seems like expensive, so I am not sure I will do that though.

28 June 2008

2008-06-28T22:12:00.004+03:00

11.5 nautical miles

Planned to go out with Trevor [someone I met at the club] but he cried off on Thursday, so took Alec and Aaron instead. Alec had been before and the forecast was for nice gentle Bft 2 winds, so I hoped he would get a bit of trying sailing. As it was the wind was Bft 3 and gusty so no chance. But we had a nice sail. Didn't go very far, but fun roller-coaster and wet.

21 June 2008 - learning about the traveller

2008-06-21T14:28:00.008+03:00

8.7 nautical miles

We have friends staying downstairs in our guest flat so I took them out sailing today. Paula as off doing something else so Neil took two of them in Blue and I took 3 of them in Galini... that is we each had one adult and I had two children and Neil one.

The forecast said the wind would kick up pretty high by lunchtime, but in fact it stayed low and so for new people sailing the conditions were ideal. We had a really gentle sail around the bay and then in for lunch. After lunch [cyan track on the image] I took Galini out single handed and did way better than last time when I felt somewhat over-stretched.

One thing I tried today was to pull the traveler over to the windward side of the boat and then bring the main sheet in till the boom was running along the centre line of the boat. The leech seemed to run straighter this way [which is what Christos was concerned about last week for himself] and Neil said I was pointing about 5 degrees closer to the wind than he could...

However... in the afternoon trying to change traveler position and genoa sheet at same time while tacking and sailing single handed proved to be a bit of a feat!