6th June 2014 - Salcombe, Visitors, Wind
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:19 am
I'm sat here at anchor in Dartmouth with Towser's stern about 15m from the side of a £3M super yacht. Strong Easterlies (25 knots in the gusts atm), forecast to increase, are trying their hardest to close the gap; and they've got a good chance of doing so because the riverbed slopes downwards east to west making it much harder for the anchor to keep hold. As if to prove my point, a yacht 100m away has just dragged its anchor - all hands on deck!
And another one! Just rowed over to tell a solo sailor he'd dragged his across the mid-channel chain (which holds the big ship mooring buoys in place). Fortunately he got free. Unfortunately he's just dropped his anchor again way too close to us, within our swinging circle. We shall meet again!
Hehe it's great fun anchoring. And to think, most boat owners pay a small fortune for a mooring and don't get to experience this excitement!
However, I'm not massively worried. We've got 40m of chain out in water about 7m deep (a very high ratio of nearly 6:1 which ought to be fine in a storm) and I've deployed our bridle arrangement which keeps the loads off the bowsprit (not designed to take much load in the directions the anchor pulls it) and effectively lowers the attachment point a couple of meters too - helping to increase that all important depth to chain length ratio. It also has three rubber snubbers in-line, and uses stretchy rope, which greatly reduces the forces on the anchor as we move around in the current and gusty wind.
Meanwhile, we had a lovely trip to Salcombe and back last week. Sailed all the way there in lovely weather. Spent three nights at anchor and three days with Nina slowly transferring every grain of white sand from the beaches into Towser - no idea where she was hiding it - she'd have been a brilliant tunneller in The Great Escape.
The trip back, despite being rather crunchy underfoot (sand), was in poor visibility and it was cold. What a difference a wheelhouse makes! And I got to use the radar properly for the first time. Very impressed. A very useful bit of kit indeed.
-
A couple of days of sand removal and then we had a last minute visit from Rose's parents. Managed to take them out for their first sail and despite my best efforts, failed to get Sue to turn green.
-
On returning to anchor a small boat came alongside. The skipper shouted over, "hi Jeff, I read your blog"! Fabulous! Nice to meet you! And thank you for coming over!!
-
And finally a technical note...
We've got a hydraulic steering system with a header tank which isn't translucent, so the only way to check steering fluid level is to use some kind of a dipstick. But the lid to said tank forms an airtight seal, so to leave a decent amount of airspace (for expansion) above the oil level requires a level below which our homemade dipstick can reach. So I was forever overfilling. I've solved this with the addition of a bodged, transparent header tank in the form of a bent pipe. I'm very pleased with it. It cost me nothing and a regular chore is now replaced by a quick glance.
Some pictures:
Sailing to Salcombe
Sailing to Salcombe
The In-Laws
The In-Laws
The In-Laws
Superyacht Behind Me As I Type
Yacht Dragging Anchor
Our Anchor Bridle
My Free Hydraulic Steering Header Tank
And another one! Just rowed over to tell a solo sailor he'd dragged his across the mid-channel chain (which holds the big ship mooring buoys in place). Fortunately he got free. Unfortunately he's just dropped his anchor again way too close to us, within our swinging circle. We shall meet again!
Hehe it's great fun anchoring. And to think, most boat owners pay a small fortune for a mooring and don't get to experience this excitement!
However, I'm not massively worried. We've got 40m of chain out in water about 7m deep (a very high ratio of nearly 6:1 which ought to be fine in a storm) and I've deployed our bridle arrangement which keeps the loads off the bowsprit (not designed to take much load in the directions the anchor pulls it) and effectively lowers the attachment point a couple of meters too - helping to increase that all important depth to chain length ratio. It also has three rubber snubbers in-line, and uses stretchy rope, which greatly reduces the forces on the anchor as we move around in the current and gusty wind.
Meanwhile, we had a lovely trip to Salcombe and back last week. Sailed all the way there in lovely weather. Spent three nights at anchor and three days with Nina slowly transferring every grain of white sand from the beaches into Towser - no idea where she was hiding it - she'd have been a brilliant tunneller in The Great Escape.
The trip back, despite being rather crunchy underfoot (sand), was in poor visibility and it was cold. What a difference a wheelhouse makes! And I got to use the radar properly for the first time. Very impressed. A very useful bit of kit indeed.
-
A couple of days of sand removal and then we had a last minute visit from Rose's parents. Managed to take them out for their first sail and despite my best efforts, failed to get Sue to turn green.
-
On returning to anchor a small boat came alongside. The skipper shouted over, "hi Jeff, I read your blog"! Fabulous! Nice to meet you! And thank you for coming over!!
-
And finally a technical note...
We've got a hydraulic steering system with a header tank which isn't translucent, so the only way to check steering fluid level is to use some kind of a dipstick. But the lid to said tank forms an airtight seal, so to leave a decent amount of airspace (for expansion) above the oil level requires a level below which our homemade dipstick can reach. So I was forever overfilling. I've solved this with the addition of a bodged, transparent header tank in the form of a bent pipe. I'm very pleased with it. It cost me nothing and a regular chore is now replaced by a quick glance.
Some pictures:
Sailing to Salcombe
Sailing to Salcombe
The In-Laws
The In-Laws
The In-Laws
Superyacht Behind Me As I Type
Yacht Dragging Anchor
Our Anchor Bridle
My Free Hydraulic Steering Header Tank