In a conversation on a sailing forum recently, someone told me that ‘DIY boat time’ is unrelated to ‘DIY time at home’. On Saturday I
Category: Boating
Good Mood #9/22
Friday 13th August. The purpose of today’s trip was a shakedown for the newly-fitted Raymarine ‘B’ class AIS transceiver, and the equally newly-fitted Raymarine Axiom
Good Mood #8/22 More firsts
On the evening of Thursday 6th July I attended the LaLa Rally Briefing, in the headquarters of the North Wales Cruising Club, Conwy. The LaLa
Good Mood #7/22 A night of firsts
The four-day Bank Holiday weekend and the sailing club combined to offer me a four-day singlehanded passage to/from the Isle of Man. This didn’t happen,
It’s three hours away
One of, if not the biggest bugbear in my life these days is the amount of time it takes to travel to Deganwy. Although I’ve
Good Mood #6/22 Bobbing about
This is going to be an odd entry to write up into the ship’s log. Yesterday we left Deganwy at 11.00 and motored down the
Good Mood #5/22 Bobbing about
What was a very spur of the moment decision the day before, led me to Deganwy on Sunday 8th May. I calculated that my sailing
Good Mood #4/22 The Shakedown Cruise
After more delays than the 8.42 from Bristol Temple Meads to Swansea, the boat finally had its shakedown cruise yesterday. There’s been a lot of
Good Mood #3/22
Because I’m Covid-negative again, I spent Monday in Deganwy having another non-sailing day on Good Mood. I pulled up the list of outstanding jobs and
Good Mood #2/22
Today’s objective was to go sailing and have Arthur drill me on reefing; a method of reducing the area of sail to keep the boat
Good Mood #1/22
Went up to Deganwy yesterday to crack on with some more pre-season jobs on Good Mood. When I arrived I emptied all the ‘boaty’ things
Blogathon 09/22: AIS
This week I am extensively RTFMing. Technogeekery is moving ever rapidly forward, and the world of marine/maritime gadgetery is no exception. A few years ago
Blogathon 07/22: The reckoning
Well, yesterday was the final weekend of the car crash that has been my performance in the RYA course. Three and a half weekends of
Blogathon 03/22: Bak too skool
This week is a revision week. That’s right, I’m revising. I wish revising for exams had been this easy when I was a nipper; I
Sailing jobs (some more done)
A couple of days ago I legged it up to Deganwy and cracked on with some more jobs. The boat is looking very shiny, the
Sailing jobs (some done)
Despite some pretty shitty road traffic in both directions of the round trip, I had a very productive day on the boat: Sails off (and
Sailing jobs reprioritised (2)
Continuing a detailed look at what needs to be done: Sand-down and oil the external woodwork Actually, this one is quite straightforward, though possibly the
Sailing jobs reprioritised (1)
The Good Mood joblist has been largely static for the last six months. An unsatisfactory situation, obviously. Every opportunity to get up to Deganwy has
Do it (for) yourself
I’m temporarily on sick parade after an episode at home which led to a trip to hospital in a big yellow/green taxi. That whole story
And she’s out
Good Mood has been lifted out of the water and is now sat in a cradle waiting for things to be done. The joblist has
Captain’s log #3*
Kite! In a change to the planned programme, on Saturday Arthur and I were joined by a pal of his. Keith (for that is his
Captain’s log #2
Becalmed. Tides and gate times meant another longer day on the water, and this time I would be singlehanded. To be honest, I sat at
Captain’s log
Because of tide times and the marina gate closing at 12.56 and not reopening until 19.11, the planned daysail on Saturday 4th September was going
Going up! (v1.0)
These are peculiar times, my friend. Global pandemic restrictions and the Brexit fallout have combined in a perfect storm to make foreign holidays an uncertain
Sailing properly
After a long session on the boat carrying out essential maintenance, I’m a bit chuffed to say that I’ve fixed the jamming mast gate issue.
Sailing Good Mood: the joblist
*edit* This is an unprioritised list of jobs, but split across the calendar year(s). Some of these jobs are trivial, some are not. General jobs:
Not sailing twice
The week before last we (two dogs, two humans) went up to Deganwy and sat on the boat. We didn’t get out of the marina,
Bobbing about
Last Saturday we (my own-boat instructor and I) sailed out of Deganwy, up the River Conwy and out into the sea again. Unbelievably (but true)
Not working
Today is a not working day so I’ve: Walked the dogs Been out on the Ninja for a quick shopping trip Arranged for the boat
Whatever floats your boat
We (two adult humans and the two spanners) had a weekend in Wales! Well, we had an overnight stay rather than a full-on weekend. We
Powered by electrickery?
On Saturday I went up to the boat and cleaned. While I was belowdeck I heard the Coastguard put out an alert in my immediate
Weapon Of Choice
We started the Easter break in fine style – the dogs permitted us a long lie-in until almost 8am. Bliss. There was a long dogwalk,
Jobs on land/jobs afloat
The boat has been lifted out of the water. She’s now sitting in a cradle on the marina hardstanding. I went up to Deganwy on
X-Ray Spex
You know the comics we used to read when we were kids? Superman, Batman, Green Lantern (my favourite)? You know the adverts? Turn your black
Blogathon 27/21: Swallows or Amazons?
One of the most formative books of my early years was Arthur Ransome’s sailing adventure for children of all ages, ‘Swallows and Amazons’. I read
Gone sailing
Yesterday I spent the day sailing on the Humber. We left Hull Marina on the ebb tide and sailed down towards the estuary mouth. We
Blogathon: 10/18
We (the family) are having a major clear out. It’s not quite ‘everything must go’, but we are looking at everything and asking a ‘keep
Must. Not. Spend. More. Money
I bought a dingy before I hit my teens. It was an 8′ GRP; I used her on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, in the