That was the year that was... 2011

Last year I did a review of my 2010, I enjoyed putting it together so much I decided to do the same for my 2011...  it's a good excuse to review and read all the posts, video and pictures from this years logs....and brings next summers sailing a little closer! Like a spider dipped in blue ink...

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Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas to anyone who pops in here hoping for moments of maritime marvel...  trust there are plenty of sailing goodies under the tree, and don't drink too much - spring is on it's way and there's a work list to get through first ...

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Enjoying my moment of glory..

..while I can...  look at that position! ...ah well - normal service will be resumed when I hit that low at about 2 in the morning...

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Not much going on....

..but that's the nature of the beast... ...the downside is that it's now got cold so painting, gluing, and all the rest of it will take far, far, longer - the upside is that the boat is ashore and this week alone was reason enough to welcome that....  ...this is from Bramblemet on Thursday.. Yup......

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Misty Emsworth...

Just beautiful... Taken on my cycle ride to work yesterday morning (22nd)......

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I've finished! Transat Jacques Vabre...

...well....... in the virtual race anyway....   14,345th out of 40,000+ entries... ....it's curiously addictive - I've been playing for almost 3 weeks now so it's not surprising I suppose...  For this race I was sailing a virtual IMOCA 60 monohull (you had the option for the multi-hull...

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Tender.....

With the weather still not slowing down on the sun and warmth front, I thought I'd take the opportunity to get the first coat of paint in the tender this weekend... the instructions on the paint said it would only dry if it was over 10'C and it isn't going to be like that for very much longer, and...

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Keels & moorings....

Last year [click here], in an effort to delay the inevitable effects of seawater on metal I had given the bilge keels (which are made of uncoated/non-encapsulated steel plate) a coating of Hammerite (other rust inhibitors are undoubtedly available, but I haven't used them so no idea if they work or...

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Lift out completed - first jobs done..

"Papillon" is safely out and sitting on her trailer in the club yard... Went OK - went very OK if I'm to be honest... I have a 'thing' about raising and lowering the mast, especially since the dis-masting [click here] but with the discovery of the A frame [click here] last season many of these fears...

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Looks like I've run out of time....

....to get to that 200 mile target I set myself for this season... only 7 miles off it but "Papillon" comes out of the water this weekend (Sunday) for the winter lay up, so no time for sailing... ...I'll be going down today to take sails off,  stow the boom, and fit the mast crutch, then tomorrow...

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Self Steering... almost....

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Prinstead perambulate..

...sometimes you can take alliteration far to far..   ...to be totally honest I wasn't expecting much when I set out; if I'm totally honest, if it wasn't for the fact that this was the penultimate opportunity for a sail this year, I'd probably have stayed at home and got on with some other stuff...

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Round the Island ... Redux!

So yesterday the guys and I got together for another attempt at the Round the Island trip that we had all so looked forward to on the race day earlier this summer.. Brilliant day had by all, but a long one, and only four of us as one of the Dave's had to duck out due to work commitments, still the...

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