New Mainsail

Today I confirmed the order for a new main sail for Galini. The old one is decades old and is somewhat blown out which makes it difficult to sail in anything but very low winds as it is overpowered. While on the phone to Andy at Crusader Sails he told me a Wayfarer joke I had not yet heard... When Neil Armstrong step onto the  moon he was surprised... a Wayfarer hadn't made it there before him! Oh well...

Crusader sails make all the sails for Malu Marine. They are a great sailmaker and A few years back Paul and Vicky Lees came out to Cyprus to teach us the tricks of the trade for measuring boats for new sails. So... if you need one... give us a call at Malu Marine.

New cover

We replaced all the wood on the cover for the wayfarer today... Well we'd painted them beforehand, this was fixing to the frame.

2 days closer... to re-launching

Well, Galini is looking more like a sailing boat again. We spent the weekend painting the floorboards (2 more coats of paint left to do)... Putting Hammerite on the strengthening bars for the launching trolley... finishing sanding the seats (varnishing to be done this week)... attaching the name sign and number sign... bilge painting... attaching new standing rigging (which took a lot longer than expected)...

Tomorrow the new genoa should arrive. There is loads of little detail things to do, like fixing the handles in place, attachments for the bridle, guides for the roller furling... but with a little bit of luck should be finished by next weekend!

Some people came to ask how we had got such a nice finish on the hull. Answer - loads and loads of preparation before painting. Others asked if we were going to sell her now. Answer - very unlikely, we want to sail her, not sell her. But everything has it's price. I was offered and refused £2,500 in the UK a couple of years ago, so highly unlikely anyone would offer enough to make worthwhile. Still more people said they look forward to seeing her on the water. So do we!  

Another step forward... third (and final) coat of blue on the deck and undercoat on the inside surfaces. Removed the drop cloth and she looks really grand!

Deck second top coat

Yes, the first coat looked much better than I expected, hence the smile!

Today, we put the second, and hopefully final, coat of Mediterranean Blue paint on the deck.

Tim cut off the wood from the frame for the cover. You can just see the cover in the background of the photo. I describe it as a soft cover designed by an engineer... in other words, solid and very strong!

Then we spent the rest of the day removing the final paint from the floor-boards and some of the varnish from the seats.

Welding and first top coat on deck

Paul had welded a new handle to the launching trolley while I had been away a few months back. But in using it we had found that it wasn't strong enough when pushing the trolley over the pebble beach which is the hardstanding at the Nautical Club. So this morning he came down to strengthen it. He wanted as early as possible. I don't like early so we compromised on 7:30 AM. Now, though, it is really good and strong.

After that I put the first top coat on the deck. Sadly I was not as pleased with it as I had hoped to be. The paint colour was slightly thin and the grey undercoat was grinning through in many places. Hopefully, the second coat tomorrow will cover it well. Then there is just the white bilges to do and the hull is ready!

First undercoat on Galini's deck

First undercoat on Galini's deck.

Reinforcing the foredeck

One thing I had noticed while sailing Galini was that the foredeck tended to bow if you sat or stood on it. While we had been painting the hull the foredeck had been supported on a tyre and had flattened a little. Overnight it had returned to its normal shape but today we decided that the best thing was to reinforce it with a couple of layers of thin marine ply from the inside. 

Back the right way up

Having returned from sailing from Mykonos to Cyprus we came down to turn Galini the right way up. We laid tyres beside the hull with towels over them so as to not mark the newly painted hull, then it was up on to it's side, and lowered onto the launching trolley. It surprised each of us how easy it was. But that's the way we do things. Plan, plan, execute. Each time the plan is to see if we can do it with least amount of effort - not because effort is wrong but the simplest and least stressful way is usually the safest.

Galini renovation

We have started the real renovations for Galini at last. After 3 days of sanding down inside, and one day of sanding the outside of the hull it was time to start painting.

We put on one coat of undercoat and two coats of top coat (we're using International Paints that we brought over from the UK).

Now it's time to leave it to harden while we go off for a sail in the Aegean Sea.

Restoration part 1

It's time for the long overdue maintenance for Galini!

Last weekend we removed all the rigging and floorboards and started sanding and sanding and sanding to remove all the old paint.

By the end of three stints at this the hull was looking reasonable so we did a further sand yesterday (after this photo was taken) cleaned out and then turned over to do a quick clean of the hull.



One thing that was getting really bad were the handles, so we manufactured and varnished new handles out of teak.

We took the handles down to Galini to see how they would look. Obviously the painting of the deck will make them look even better!

Olympic sailing... 24 years ago

Over the last month I have been teaching a friend to sail in my Wayfarer. Today was the chance for her to 'go solo'. So I decided to take out one of the club 470s to sail alongside. She would have to make all the decisions, I would be close but not in the boat!

Well... she sailed off, with her oldest daughter as crew (I taught her daughter to sail a couple of years ago) while her oldest son and I took out the 470. All the sails on the 470s at the club had rips of one size or another on them and Tim and I had repaired them. The best sail, from a material point of view had a long rip along a batten and then perpendicular down to the next seam. We had stitched in two lengths of kevlar tape to repair it and although it will never be a world beater it is now the best sail we have for the 470s.

I should add that this is only the second time I have sailed a 470, which is a very lively dinghy and in even moderate winds needs the crew member to wear a harness and 'hike out' which means clip onto a wire from near the top of the mast and lie out horizontal with your feet on the side of the boat to balance the boat and keep it upright. (see 470 website to see what I mean)

Jacob and I were chasing the Wayfarer when a guy from our club sailing a Finn starts shouting and gesturing across the water. I had chatted with him some time ago, but never really got to know him. So we tacked round and when we passed he shouted 'That was my sail...'

Not knowing what he meant we tacked again and came alongside, when he explained that the sail we had just repaired and were sailing with... number CP500... was the sail he had used 24 years ago when he had represented Cyprus at the Seoul Olympics! The club had kept this sail (which was a beautifully cut and a high quality sail) only for top races so the material was in good repair, it was only last year that somebody ripped it capsizing and so ended up being repaired and now sailed by us.

Of course, sailing away on a 470 for only second time (I normally sail the Wayfarer) under the eye of an Olympic competitor was slightly nerve racking. But that is what Sheila said she felt sailing the Wayfarer without me onboard... oh and she and her daughter thoroughly enjoyed it, said it wasn't good, 'it was GREAT'.

Sail to Dhekelia and back

16 nautical miles

4 Sept: Jacob & Joseph

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

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

5 nautical miles

Chris, Daniel & Becky

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

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

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

4 nautical miles

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