Castor Sailing Stuff

Vessel Name: Safe Return
Vessel Make/Model: Westerly Vulcan
Hailing Port: Debbage in Ipswich
Crew: Andy Smith (McSmith) & Ian Sheldon (Shelly)
About: Andy & Ian have discussed Sailing round our independent Island since Andy retired from The Fire Service in 2011. Ian turned 65 last September and Bought Safe Return. The trip an begin
31 July 2017 | Off Wicklow
28 August 2016
28 August 2016 | Castor
27 August 2016 | Tobermory
25 August 2016 | Iona
23 August 2016
23 August 2016
19 August 2016 | Rutland Water
20 July 2016
20 July 2016
19 July 2016
04 July 2016 | Arbroath
04 July 2016
02 July 2016 | Anstruther
01 July 2016
29 June 2016 | Blyth RBSC
29 June 2016 | Seaham marina
Recent Blog Posts
31 July 2017 | Off Wicklow

The trip continues

Andy joined Safe Return on the Caledonian Canal while I was cruising up and down with Jane & Charlie. Eric Joyce a friend from my teen years joined us in Oban, with Andy we set sail for Tobermory to meet Leslie, John, Jack and Anne who were due to visit on a cruise ship, the weather was rough and they [...]

28 August 2016

Professor Plankton

In case you think I was joking.

28 August 2016 | Castor

Ed of another Adventure

Yesterday we knew we weren't leaving Tobermory until after lunch because of the tides to Oban. In the morning I spoke to Proff Plankton who I have seen before trawling a sample net off the pontoons. He explained that understanding the plankton enables the company he works with- Sea Life Surveys-to know [...]

27 August 2016 | Tobermory

Anchor problems and trip to Tobermory

Last night on Iona we returned to Safe Return to find my anchoring skills are dire. A large sight seeing vessel we anchored a respectable distance away from was a few meters off our bow after the tide had changed, also,our anchor was under her hull so no way of moving. I started cooking a spagbol then [...]

Return to Safe Return

19 July 2016
At last Andy and I are back on board.
Hugh Nicholls delivered us to Peterborough Station in good time to catch the 07:06 to Edinburgh. We had a couple of hours in Edinburgh, then caught a local Scotrail service to Arbroath.
We were expecting it to be cooler up here, but it has been a glorious afternoon. We set too re-sealing a couple of fixing screws in the coach roof that have,sprung a leak, Andy spent some time in the locker giving it a good tidy while I removed some old graphics and applied the new boat name to,the transom
The new graphics were created by Ceri of Graphics Uk, I am very grateful to Mike Pepper for finding the time to get them done for me, I know they are very busy at the moment.
When we arrived, we found a sail training boat moored next to us, she is a 70 ft yacht called Faramir of the Cirdans Sailing Trust. I instantly recognised her as she is based in Ipswich and I moored next to her in Harwich a couple of months ago. The skipper kindly lent me a heat gun to make removal of the old graphics easier.
The "disadvantaged" youngsters on board all seem very pleasant and it is great to see such enthusiasm. Trouble is there is only one bathroom serving this marina and Andy felt the call of nature and found a queue of girls waiting to have a shower. He had to invest in a can of coke in a local pub so he could use their facilities.
We had fish and chips for supper and again we didn't agree about fish and chip etiquette. Andy ate his with his fingers on a seat overlooking the harbour while I laid a table and ate mine in the comfort of Safe Return's saloon with a glass of wine. We did both agree they were nice "fish suppers". In Scotland they are fish suppers even at lunch time.
Tomorrow we hope to have the new sails to bend on and will fit the refurbished steering gearbox I had rebuilt by a specialist company in Surrey. Tomorrow the forecast is rain most of the day unfortunately.
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Safe Return's Photos - Main
Safe Return sailing
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Created 20 June 2016

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