11 April 09 - Longest Single Handed Passage

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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.