Azores or Bust

https://louisa-invicta.blogspot.com here ends part 1...........

Very please to say that Mischief has found a new owner, someone younger and a club member. This great news as he has plans to refurbish her and she'll stay in the club.

A combination of crewing for other club members, work and family commitments have kept me away from Mischief. To be honest, since she stopped being part of my plans going forward I have lost interest. Phase 2 of Azores or Bust is about to start, watch this space.

Having given it some thought and sought various opinions I am going to pass Mischief on to someone who can make better use of her than I can. I need more space and comfort. While I feel confident that Mischief would be a safe enough boat to make it to the Azores with minor modifications (see Job List ), she isn't the boat for me. My plan is to see if Mischief is of interest to a prospective Jester Challengers and discuss options for sale / transfer. The bare hull and rig owe me nothing but the gear I have added will be needed for my plans going forward.

I have posted a cruise report for my recent JBC 2019 adventure. Three themes are prominent; firstly a sense of de ja vu when compared with three years ago, the weather and conditions were very similar. Secondly that Mischief probably isn't the boat for my longer term plans and thirdly, need to work on my motivation. I'll update this report as I complete the trip.

Not my finest hour so I'd prefer not to dwell on the event. Here are the details from my perspective. Mischief crossed North of the western TSS on Wednesday PM as the wind was veering from N F5 to NE F6, I attempted to seek shelter in IoS through NW Channel but couldn't make progress against wind which was now E F7. The forecast was still saying NE F5/6 at this point. Tried again for St Mary's Channel but couldn't get near it. Forecast was now for an extended period of E F8. Around midnight I changed plans and decided to heave to and consider options. I discussed the option of drifting across the TSS with Falmouth CG but they were not happy and wouldn't issue a Securitie message or allow me to. There was a lot of shipping indicted on AIS but I couldn't see any of it. At this point heaving to was the ideal option and Mischief behaved impeccability. I got some rest but kept drifting into the TSS so had to tack north. Only starboard tack was viable due...

Last weekend was the boat club rally to Ramsgate. Only five boats this year. First night most anchored in Stangate Creek and then set off early to catch the tide to Ramsgate. Mischief sailed well despite the new heavy load of a liferaft in the cockpit and cover along with the engine in the well and the bulk of 5 weeks worth of stores. The self-steering worked until the wind dropped then it was time to have a play with the spinnaker. The kite is a bit small and the pole too short but it is fun to practice. Ramsgate was the usual mixture of seaside and yacht club. On the Monday I set off early and headed out to the Princes Channel to try the self-steering again. With the wind on the nose and against the tide we made some progress and the self-steering stood up well to the conditions. Towards the end of the trip the tide turned and I limped back to Stangate creek to moor up against Arctic Smoke who was at anchor in the creek. It was quite late but after 4 hours sleep I was off aga...

Racing, not successful :-(. I came last in two race only avoided last place in the other race because another boat missed a mark. On the up side, I think I would have been more competitive with the engine stowed and the cockpit plug in. Also, I managed two spinnaker runs. The first was very successful, the second had mixed results. I managed to trap the spinnaker sheet in the genoa furling when I furled the jib, this resulted in a lot of drifting around but nothing major. During the run I kept up with a faster boat, the one that I collided with! The collision was was a combination of my inexperience and the other boat's fault. Anyway, new nav light and bow roller repair have been added to the job list. Mischief doesn't do well in light airs with the engine in the cockpit BUT in light airs I need the engine available in case a ship comes along. Steering system, while the wind wasn't suitable for making progress being light airs and variable direction I did get the vane set...

A break through on the self steering, it works. I managed about 30 mins upwind and used the system to tack the boat which was a massive relief. I was beginning to think that it was a lemon. I then managed 30 mins down wind and it held the course +/- 10 degrees which is fine. Next I need to finalise the develop rig as there are multiple adjustment devices that need to be made static. The next day there were a couple of races so I and a friend who has just got his boat back in commission after a 2 year refit join in. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and finished mid order in both races.

We took part in our first race a couple of weekends ago. The local clubs on the River Medway have a fairly full racing calendar and Mischief and I needed some sailing time so we joined in with the Red Sands Race. This is a 28nm course and usually takes in excess of 7 hours to complete We came last on elapsed time but 2nd last out of 5 on handicap. Everyone finished within 5 hours and we all spent the majority of the race at hull speed with a northerly force 4 / 5 wind putting us on a beam reach. More racing next weekend and I won't be so timid now it looks like the mast step is fixed.

Had a reasonable sail over the weekend, due to various things I got going on Sunday and the force 6 easterly and cooler weather meant I only made it to Stangate Creek. The mast step seems to have stood up well; the rig remained tensioned and the internal measurement hadn't changed. Less positive was the pool of oil under the outboard so everything was done under sail which actually worked very well. The other set back was the halyard winch which let go under tension! Hopefully a bigger and thicker washer will fix the problem.

A great couple of days working on the mast step. Time will tell if this has worked but it looks good so far. A fuller account is given in the page 'Mast Step Repair'.

Just totted up the costs so far and I have spent as much on ebay as I did on the boat. I expect that the final figures will be 1/3 on the boat, 1/3 on the refit and 1/3 on key equipment (life raft, batteries etc).

A good friend of mine is very craft capable, he taught woodwork and still helps a group once a week. He and I both like whales, he prefers sperm whales (his boat is called Ishmael) and I prefer hump back whales after my encounter with them in 2017. I asked him if he could etch a design into some brass so here is my design. My friend has made me a tie dye pennant and I am considering a T shirt.

I took Mischief out for a sail on Friday but ended up drifting down river for three hours and then motoring back. Insufficient wind for a trial but the rigging and retrieval of the gear worked OK. On Saturday there was more wind but too gusty to get any proper results. The gear does steer but not a very straight line. More damping on the vane is required along with  other things.

Last weekend I, with a couple of friends from the boat club, attended a Jester Symposium at the Royal Harwich Yacht Club. A fabulous location over looking the Orwell. One of the presenters showed a quote about the Jester Challenge. "Finding the weaknesses of boat and skipper" With this and other comments about structural issues I decided to carry out a more critical inspection of Mischief. The deck around the mast has a distinct dip in it and the rig has lost tension. At this point I am fearing the worst which is that the support under the mast step has rotted and compressed. The mast needs to come down and the deck beam removed so that I can excavate the deckhead under the mast. Depending upon what I find I think I'll install oak or teak packing and the re-build. I'll add a new page for this project.

The key to winter sailing is the weather and keeping warm. A couple of weeks ago I had a lovely sail after chipping the ice off the deck and softening the lines enough to allow them to travel through blocks and round cleats. There was a brisk F6 from the west and the temperature didn't get above 0C. The outboard well make a nice ice bucket! An absolute must is to keep warm. I had five layers on; thermals, vest, fleece, jumper, coat and my new super marigolds as recommended by a chap that had sailed to Svalbard. I didn't get too cold but could have been warmer. So improvements were planned. A chap at the club has some Finnish window cleaner (Joka) gloves and my aunt bought me some real wool (Perilla) socks. The gloves are great and with the large size I can get my thinsulate gloves inside them. The socks are wonderful, not only do they keep my feet warm but they don't need changing for up to a week, well that's what their web site says! Back out last weekend...

Between buying Mischief in August 2017 and returning from the Azores in 2020 I am at the half way point in my preparations. It seemed appropriate to try a sail out of the River Medway so I set off for the Red Sands forts. This was hopefully going to be a good practice run for the club race at the end of April. After loading up a bit more kit at the club dock I set off just after high tide. With a southerly F1 to 2, I had a gentle sail to Garrison Point and then set off alongside the deep water channel out into the Thames Estuary. I met a couple of chums from the club who were out fishing. Visibility was about 2 miles and I reached Red Sands forts after 5 hours sailing. The boat was behaving very well and I managed to install my AIS and VHF units on the chart table. On the way back I finished off the wiring and then I came across my chums again. They were going into Queenborough for the evening so I decided to join them. After a fun evening in Queenborough and an excellent breakf...

I have been on a mission to reduce the power consumption and cost of getting Mischief ready for adventures and to this end I had a success. I have made a GPS module that draws 60mA, cost less than £20 and feeds GPS NMEA info in a format that my VHF can read. This module also works on my laptop. My previous GPS feed was a Gamin 72H which draws over 100mA and cost around £100. One attempt at this resulted in a spare GPS module for my AIS unit. I bought a GPS receiver through ebay that cost £2.92 so I wasn't expecting much. It turned out that the GPS receiver didn't have a UART and the USB connector had no power connections. I tried removing the USB plug and pressing the bare wires against the GPS connector on the Matsutec. Within 30 seconds I had a GPS fix. After fitting a TNC connector I now have a back-up GPS unit. The official Matsutec GPS units cost £45!

WOW, she sails like a dream. Gusting force 7 and Mischief didn't miss a beat, I wish I could say the same about the engine! After loading up some more gear I set off from HNYC and moored up overnight on a club mooring then sailed to Stangate Creek on Saturday where I anchored for the first time. After dragging due to a rock caught in the flukes I had a calm night despite the f6 westerly. My chums from HNYC anchored nearby but it was too rough to raft up. The next morning I tried to weigh anchor but it was too shallow so after some towing and shouting I left the anchor on a fender and set off for lunch.  We had a good lunch in Queenborough at the Flying Dutchman, I didn't make it last year but did win blunder of the year award instead :-(. Engine cut out twice as I was approaching the ATL at Queenborough but wind and tide plus a helping hand from the chap on the dock made it look like I knew what I was doing. After lunch I returned to the anchor and retrieved it, it was v...