Marica goes clockwise
| Vessel Name: | Marica |
16 December 2017 | Slipper Sailing Club
Epiblog
I met fellow Westerly Centaur owner Tom Bedford in Milford Haven. As it turns out we also share a fondness for real ale and the band Steely Dan. Tom is a freelance journalist and when I got back to Emsworth he suggested writing an article about my trip. I agreed without too much reticence and he sent [...]
08 November 2017 | South coast
From Shoreham
I checked the live wind at Chichester Bar this morning on the Chimet web site. Force 4 northerly. Hey! we could go somewhere, Little Hampton (LA) or even further. I might just make it for the 9 o'clock lock out. I called them and they said I would be going out of the smaller Prince George lock. I had [...]
07 November 2017 | Newhaven
From Newhaven
On Tuesday morning we wake to a southerly force 6. The sea state was expected to be 'moderate' and waves were crashing over the harbour breakwater. George and I had porridge and reviewed the situation. He decided caution was the better part of valour and I walked him to the train station.
06 November 2017 | Beachy Head
From Rye
My dad joined me on a frosty Monday morning for our leg from Rye. His name is George so he is the original George according to my sister, or he is George V for this trip. I thought Eastbourne would be a suitable port to make for, and could be completed in daylight hours. Dad had suggested Newhaven so [...]
05 November 2017 | Rye
More water problems
I started the engine this morning, whilst Marica was afloat, to check the repair on the throttle linkage. It was fine but there was no cooling water flowing through the engine. I assumed that mud was stuck in the inlet pipe. All the boats settle in this soft smelly stuff to the top of their keels. So [...]
04 November 2017 | Rye
Bailing Out
This morning (Saturday) I found the cutlery drawer full of water. It's just underneath the cooker. I was wondering where the water had come in last night. The boat had obviously been heeled over at a bigger angle at the top of the tide. There had been water in the washing up bowl, that I had not tested [...]
From Kytra
I knew the route to Fort Augustus. When I got to the top of the flight of five locks there were about 10 boats waiting. They included a large fishing boat, Just Reward, that I had moored next to me at Fort William. They squeezed seven of us into the lock, STF were not moving. I ended up being rafted to a Kingfisher motorboat. The couple on the Kingfisher did all the work, pulling the two of us through the locks and lowering warps as the boats went down. I stood on deck and tried to look important.
At the bottom of the locks I tied up on a pontoon. It was after 1 pm, and we wouldn't make Inverness before the canal shut. I decided to leave tackling the notorious Loch Ness until the following day. It looked like Seeadler were doing the same.
I found perhaps the only place in Fort Augustus with wifi. There was very poor phone reception and I wanted to get weather forecasts and update the blog. The Caledonian Hotel bar was small but friendly. Chris, the barman, apologised that they only had one real ale on instead of the usual three. It was Stag, a 4.1% bitter from the Cairngorm brewery. A rather tasty beer, I note they also have another ale called Sheepshaggers Gold. Chris was a sailor and ex dinghy instructor. We discussed sailing the Corryvrecken and other places. He also advised me on the wind shifts in Loch Ness.