Laid up for Winter 20th October 2011

I recently uncovered the boat and found that the single sheet of plastic tarpaulin had not been keeping the damp from underneath the cover. The green tarpaulin although large is not of the best quality. I have now put in addition a better quality plastic sheet which is made up of several layers. It is not as large but it does cover the cockpit and the cabin. The damp had some damage although it may not be permanent. The damp had allwed mold to grow on a canvas hanging pockets in the cabin which is now going have to be replaced. Mold has also accumulated on the inflatable dinghy cover which was stored outside in the cockpit.

I have now a number of projects for the next season.

Replace and make set of canvas hanging pockets.
Replace the cleat for the jib sheets.
Complete the fittings for a foresail pole out.
Service outboard.

Ashlett Creek to Newtown River 18th - 19th October 2011

Having thought that the season had come to an end an opportunity arose for a final sail in the Solent. The opportunity  was created as a group of Drascombe enthusiasts were going to sail with Stewart Brown of Churchouse Boats to retrieve a Drifter 22 form it's mooring in Newtown Creek for it's annual refurbishment and winter storage at Stewart's boatyard near Andover.

There appeared to be a weather window in the succession of depressions coming in from the Atlantic and so we trailer ed the boat down from Bristol with our camping trailer so that we could spend some time ashore if the weather turned out bad. The sailing group was going to consist of myself and my crew Bill in Moksha, Martin in his Coaster Nonsuch and the converted Gig Hippo with Jim and Peter. Stewart was going to travel in Hippo for the outward journey. We all met at the Ashlett Sailing Club on Southampton Water and awaited for the tide to fill the muddy creek. At 1330 hours there was sufficient  water to launch and we all left promptly at 1400 hours. High Water was going to be at 1540 hours.

The wind was from the NW F4-5. The tidal stream was west going in the direction of our travel. We set off initally under jib and mizzen and we fell to the rear of our small fleet. We persisted until we passed the water intake of the Calshot Power Station. The conditions felt so benign that I decided to raise the mainsail with a reef and we picked up speed. Martin in "Nonsuch" seeing that we were gaining on him also decided to set a reefed main as well as his two other sails.

When we reached the entrance of the Bealieu River the wind had turned more westerly and was beginning to kick up a chop against the west going tide. The shallow Solent can produce a steep chop to the waves and for the next hour we began increasingly to fight heavy sea conditions. The wind speed increased and I was glad of the extra weight of my crew. In order to minimize the heeling effect I turned the boat towards the wind and bore away when I could to maintain progress. I was also glad that I had taken the precaution of putting in the bottom washboard and the top hatch in the companionway. The sea started to break over the top of the boat and on three occasions the boat heeled so much that we took water over the gunwale. The seawater was caught on the side bench and seemed to take an age to drain away through the scupper. On one occasion we shipped a couple of gallons onto the cockpit floor. Bill quickly pumped out all he could.

At one point we caught in irons head to wind and we started to be blown backwards. Bill had the presence of mind to release the mizzen sheet as that sail was keeping us head to wind. We continued to make progress to windward although at times we were spilling wind out of the sails as we were probably over canvassed. The conditions did not make it easy for us to reduce sail and we carried on. The sea conditions did moderate and we put in a couple of tacks to reach the outer marker of the Newtown Creek at about 1700 hours. The marker shot by at great speed and we were glad to reach the shelter of the river. Martin in "Nonsuch" came in shortly afterwards having experienced the same conditions but without the benefit of extra ballast from his crew. He had to heave to in order to reduce sail.

A trip which had given me greater confidence in the boat and the need to ensure that you match the sail area to the conditions. Also the need to keep the inside of the boat as water tight as possible.

That evening we stayed against the quayside and we made sure the boats came down safely onto the mud. We then walked to the local pub at Shalfleet for a good meal. We returned down the pitch black lane to find the boats 5 foot down against the wall.
http://www.thenew-inn.co.uk/index.htm

The return the next day was far simpler although the weather conditions were the same. The tide was with us and with the wind. The sea was smooth and we sailed with a reefed main. we returned to Ashlett in about 2 hours arriving back at about 1430 hours. 

Drifter 22 "Smackerel"

Converted Gig "Hippo"

We recovered the boats back onto our trailers and we left for home. An excellent trip.

Southampton Boat Show 23rd Sept

We attended the Southampton Boat Show with a complimentary ticket from Premier Marinas. They charged £12 per head to park the car at Bursledon marina and for a minibus to take us to the show. I know they want to sell me a berth in one of their marinas but I am still impressed with their service. I have already explored the possibility but it is too far expensive. I will probably continue to use their facilities on a day by day basis and get the most out of the boat trailer I bought last year.

The show seemed to be less well attended and from speaking to stand holders sales were poor. The first stand I visited was the Churchouse Boats stand with a Drifter 22 and a Lugger. We had a closer look at the Drifter 22 which was well thought out and spacious. The twin lifting keels and no bridge deck provide spacious living quarters and easy access to the cabin. The boat received the approval of my wife. The cockpit seats are comfortable and the higher freeboard gives a feeling of security. The disadvantages are a towing weight of 1800kg which would require a larger towing vehicle.



The second boat I looked at was the Baycruiser 23 on the Swallow Boats stand. Matt Newland spotted me straight away as a potential time waster but I do admire these boats a great deal. The 23 is a definite 4 berth boat with a cabin table on top of the centre keel box. There is ample room under the bridge deck for my inflatable dinghy. No lavatory was displayed on the show boat there was space in the middle of the V berth. Matt told me there were a number of other options which included a plumbed in sea toilet. Access into the cabin is not as easy as you have to negotiate the keel box. Your access is also obstructed by the height of the sprayhood when it is raised. The sprayhood is ample and provides a lot of cockpit cover. With a tarpaulin over the boom there would be no requirement for a cockpit tent at all. There would be no need for anybody to sleep in the cockpit as you have 4 berths in the cabin. The Drifter 22 can only sleep 2 in the cabin. The 23 has a comfortable cockpit with an outboard well in the floor. I would like to know how intrusive the engine noise would be in comparison with the Drifter 22 where the outboard is in a well at the stern. The 23 with it's water ballast would be lighter tow with I believe an all up weight of 750kgs . The 23 is a more sophisticated sailer with a fully battened main, areofoil centre board and water ballast which can be removed for faster sailing.



Both these boats are beyond my reach but if I was to win the lottery which one would I go for.

The Bayraider Expedition made it's first showing at the Southampton Boat Show. I did not take any pictures myself of the boat and my first impressions were that the accommodation was rather basic and less than the Drascombe Coaster. Matt has compromised in placing something between the Coaster and the Bayraider 20. I have posted a link to a French site with some photographs.
http://www.nauticaltrek.com/12633-presentation-du-bayraider-20-expedition

I purchased a new lifejacket at a good discount. Included is a spray hood, light and full harness. For the price it is well finished with a zip enclosure to the jacket. The jacket fits well with the jacket sitting higher on your chest. The crotch straps are standard and fit well as they are the right length for me. It may look a little OTT for Drascombe use but what price for personal safety.




http://www.nauticaltrek.com/12633-presentation-du-bayraider-20-expedition

Solent Cruise 22nd to 31st August 2011

I was planning to attend the Marchwood Drascombe Rally on the 26^th August and wished to extend my sailing experienceby sailing to the rally rather than just launching there. My planwas to launch at Chichester Marina and sail to Marchwood at the top of Southampton Water. Having attended othersouth coast rallies I had been included on an E-Mail list of those interested in sailing in the Solent. I contacted Dick who I knew would be sailing from Chichester. He told me of his plans to go on an extended Solent Cruise starting on Monday 22^nd August. He knew of a number of other owners who wereplanning to cruise also. The plan was to sail independently but in company to Christchurch in Dorset and then to Marchwood. I jumped at this opportunity and quickly changed my plans for that week.

Sunday 21st August.

I took the 3 hour drive from Bristol to Chichester in thelate afternoon in order to make an early start on the Monday. The plan was toset sail about 1200hours to catch the west going tide at the mouth ofChichester Harbour. The drive down from Bristol was not trouble free with heavytraffic on the M4 and the M3 due to an accident and the usual heavy traffic atthe weekend. I arrived at the marina atabout 1930 hours and slept aboard the boat in the car park. One of the reasonsfor using Chichester Marina was the secure car park and the excellentfacilties. I felt the price was justified in knowing your car and trailer weregoing to be safe whilst you were away. The slip is of a modest gradient andwith the tide controlled in the Marina launching is trouble free.

Monday 22^nd August

I did not have a good night’s sleep aboard the boat due tothe bright security lights and the change in environment. I launched with noproblem and moored on an adjacent pontoon. Departed the marina and was joinedby an another Coaster and a Cornish Shrimper. The entrance was calm and we tooka short cut over the sands at East Head. The wind was from the North East F2-3.We motored and turned west towards the main passageway through the submarinebarrier. We motor-sailed and after a while I was able to turn the outboard off andmaintain a good speed of about 5 knots.

Initially I put a reef into themainsail but found this was unnecessaryand took it out again. The time taken in sail handling left me at theback of the fleet. Langstone and Portsmouth Harbour entrances passed by and weapproached the Isle of Wight with the intention of spending our first night atCowes. On entering Osborne Bay I became aware of a large tanker approachingfrom the stern and steaming west in the main shipping channel to wardsSouthampton. I kept a bearing on the ship and found that it’s bearing wasconstant and so altered my course to the north hoping that it would overtake meon my port side at a good distance. The ship did slowly overtake me and thenwhen it was abeam it gave a single blast on it’s horn. This indicated that thevessel was going to turn to starboard and I presume into the Thorn Channel forSouthampton.

On approaching Cowes the wind strength increased and I madegood progress to Cowes. In Cowes Road off the Shrape Mud I furled the sails andmotored into the Medina River where we moored in East Cowes Marina on one oftheir pontoons. I arrived at approx 20:30 hours having left Chichester at approx. 15:00hours. The longest time I had helmed Moksha on a passage.

Tuesday 23^rd August

The planned destination was the Newtown River and we leftCowes at approximately 1000 hours. The wind was still from the NE F2-3 and sowe were able to sail the whole distance with jib, mainsail and mizzen. The tripwas straightforward and we arrived at about 1200 hours. We motored into theriver and turned to starboard and as it was midweek and the end of the season,the anchorage was quiet. We met another two Drascombe Coasters who whereanchored in the entrance to the Western Haven arm of the harbour. We rafted upand had some lunch.

The tide was rising and so it was decided to explore the harbour. We all motored slowly up the Clamerkin Lake where there were a lot of birdlife, Canada Geese, Curlew, Oystercatchers and a Seal. The National Trust do a wonderful job of preserving the tranquillity and beauty of this place. We latersailed up the Western Haven on the now full tide and going as far as we couldgo, to a road bridge. The channel was narrow and shallow with sunken stakescoming out of the water. Some of us landed on a small beach and took a shortwalk in the woodland.

We later moored against the wall of a small boatyard afterthe National Trust warden had finished work. The plan was to get ashore to goto the pub and not to be neaped in the morning by the tide. A good dinnerat the New Inn at Shalfleet which specialises in seafood., after which we all returned to our boats in completedarkness along the track, using the light on my mobile phone to find the way!The boats were dried out when we returned and we found that they were five feet downfrom where we had left them!

During the quiet periods of the wet night I heard the clinkof the anchor chain as Moksha rose and fell on the tide. The tranquillity was onlydisturbed by the plop of jumping fish andthe calling of geese and oystercatchers.

Wednesday 24^th August

At about 0700 hours we moved the boats back to the WesternHaven anchorage, before the boatyard and the National Trust Warden returned towork. We had a leisurely breakfastbefore departing at about 11:00 hours to catch the tide at Hurst narrows atslack water. The intended destination was Christchurch Harbour. The wind wasagain from the South West about F3-4 initially. We motor sailed to the narrows andcould see that the Needles Channel was still disturbed with the tide and a fewof the leaders decided to divert to Keyhaven. I and one other pressed on into theNorth Channel and could see that the sea was less disturbed. We pressed on andthe others decided to follow. My mainsail was not furled properly and wasflapping in the wind, so I released the gaff and laid the mainsail and gaffin the cockpit where I could keep it under control.

It became apparentthat the wind was a great deal stronger than had been forecast and was morelike a F6. There was a swell of about 3-4 feet and the waves were breaking,producing white horses. The Coaster coped with the conditions well and took little water on board. The waveswere being taken on the front port quarter. There was only one wave which threw a large amount of water onto the cabinroof. I foolishly had not put on my waterproof trousers and my bottom half wassoaked through by the end of the trip! I kept the engine running to maintainprogress against the south west wind.

We arrived at about 14:30 hours at Christchurch and passedthrough the narrow entrance called “The Gap”. I rapidly found that the harbourwas quite shallow as I had to raise the centreplate. We found a place to anchorin the south west corner of the harbour under Warren Hill. Initial attempts toanchor were difficult as the holding was not very good. We all stayed on board forrest of the day, later cooking dinner and retiring to bed.

Thursday 25^th August

Again we planned our departure late in order to time ourarrival at the Hurst Narrows at the optimum time. Our departure was planned tobe about 14:00 hours. In the meantime Dick blew up his inflatable and we all took awalk on shore up to Hengitsbury Head. The heathland was in full bloom with thegorse and the heather providing a wealth of colour. Hengitsbury Head was minedextensively for iron ore, so much in fact that it threatened the coastline. Welater returned to the boats and set off and we took a trip up to Christchurchon the rising tide. The Priory and the riverside houses looked fine in thebright sunshine.

On leaving Christchurch Harbour we passed the crowds crabfishing off the harbour wall. The wind had reduced although there was still aswell. The wind was still from the SW as best as I can remember and we had agood sail to Hurst. The passage through the narrows was without incident andthere was only a large popple on the water from the overfalls. As we entered the Solent the sea became muchcalmer and the wind strength reduced a little.

We sailed to Yarmouth and the Harbourmaster placed us on apontoon against the quay. Everyone took the opportunity to have a shower, replace oursupplies and top up our water. We left within an hour and a half and theharbourmaster did not charge us.

We sailed on the east going tide and calm water maintaininga steady 3 knots to Newtown, a most pleasurable sail. We moored again at theentrance to Western Haven and cooked dinner.Here we met up with another six Drascombeswho were on their way to the Marchwood Rally There was gentle rain and so we all sheltered under atarpaulin in the cockpit with a gas lantern, passing the time drinking beerand put the world to rights!

Friday 26^th August

We left on the first of the east - going tide with a westerlyF3 wind. I gibed across the Solent in order to make best use of the foresailand to keep it out of the wind shadow of the main. The journey passed withoutincident and we turned to starboard to travel up Southampton Water. I soon foundthat I should have shortened sail as I was now over pressed, but still maintaineda speed of about 7 knots past Calshot and approached the moored oiltankers at Fawley oil refinery. I waspassed by another Coaster whose main was reefed and a couple of rolls in theforesail was making just as good progress as myself. I was spilling the wind andtrying to control a large angle of heel - I later discovered he had reefed earlyat Newtown and so was well prepared for Southampton Water.

I sailed past Southampton Town Quay where preparations werebeing made for the Southampton Boat Show, later arriving at Marchwood SailingYC and mooring on the pontoon.

A barbecue was later held on the quayside. The sailing club isa short distance from a large container port and the passing ships provide alot of interest.

Saturday 27^th August

First day of the rally and there are a total of about adozen boats who have either sailed to the Club or who have launched there. Theplanned sail is down to Warsash Harbourmasters' pontoon for lunch in the RisingSun PH. Sail with a northerly past theliners and the tugs.

Sunday 28^th August

A beat up the river to Eling where we anchored for lunch.There were some short sharp showers and gusty winds around the container ships.

Monday 29^th August

A sail down Southampton Water to Ashlett Creek where we metfor a barbecue at the Yacht Club Social Club. Ashlett is very tidal with accessonly possible for 3 hours at High Water. The Creek dries out completely withacres of deep mud. We moored alongside a pontoon and settled into the deep mudat low water.

Teusday 30^th August

Dick and I left Ashlett to make way back to Chichester with a possibility of stopping off at either Langstone or Portsmouth. Nick left to return to his mooring at Warsash. Conditions were not good with no wind and an adverse tide. After a few miles I attempted to sail and could barely maintain a knot. I started the engine again and we pressed on to Portsmouth. I then decided that it was going to be possible to reach Chichester that day and so pressed on for the passage through the submarine barrier. The tide was going to be slack at about 19:30 hours in Chichester Harbour entrance, so there was no hurry to arrive early.
Once through the barrier I again set the sails and was more successful in sailing, maintaining a steady 3 knots. We arrived at the harbour entrance at about and the last of the ebb was still flowing. As it was Springs I still needed a great deal of throttle to get through the entrance.

Dick and I now parted company as he found a mooring for the night and I was anxious to get to Chichester Marina in order to be ready to haul out on to the trailer in the morning. I arrived at the marina channel at about 19:30 hours to find there was not enough depth to get into the Marina! I put out an anchor and made a coffee. At 20:30 hours there was sufficient water in the channel to get into the marina. Sunset was at 20:00 hours and I entered the lock in the last of the dusk.

And so ended a very enjoyable 10 days sailing in which I learnt a lot about both the boat and myself. I had covered 130 nautical miles and visited a lot of different anchorages and ports. It has given me greater confidence to attempt similar passages in the future.

Total Distance 134.9 nm

Drascombe Rally at Poole 1st-3rd July

Friday 1st July 2011 drove down from Bristol to the annual Poole Rally which this year had been moved forward from the usual August Bank Holiday. This allowed me to attend as it was away from the annual family commitments at that time of the year. The last Poole Rally that I attended was at Hamworthy. The harbour is one of the finest in the world with its collection of islands, river estuaries and wildlife. I would have liked to have made a passage to Poole in order to make more use of the capabilities of the boat and the fine weather we were experiencing but because of the lack of time I reverted to Plan B which was to launch at Redcliffe Farm campsite.

I arrived at about 04:30pm on the Friday to find the tide was falling fast, but there was still sufficient water to launch. With the help of a couple with a motor boat I launched without a problem into the River Frome and also noticed that a number of other Drascombers had already launched and their cars and trailers were in the car park.

I set off down the river with the centre plate half down, occasionally dragging in the mud. With the help of the depth sounder and the chart plotter I found the deepest part of the channel. I know good seamanship, common sense should keep you in deep water but electronic navigation aids do place a lot of information at your fingertips. I have found my Garmin 451 a great aid in providing accurate tidal information in the cockpit rather than leafing through an almanac and working out tidal differences. This of course does not preclude good planning.

Once in the estuary the beauty of Poole Harbour came to the fore, with a seal seen in the entrance to the river searching for fish. It's head just looked like a football or floating marker buoy. I motored into Arne Bay amongst the drying mud banks with the sound of oyster catchers trilling into the sky. I was alone except for the occasional fisherman.

This is what Drasombing is all about. Leaving nothing behind you but a slight ripple as wake.

I continued to motor as the wind was light and on the nose. I approached the moorings at Hamworthy and found a fairway through into the main part of the Harbour. I used a chart to find a stake marked channel to Pottery Pier off the western end of Brownsea Island. The tide was still falling but I calculated I would still have enough depth to navigate the channel and find a way around the island into Blood Alley Lake where the Drascombe Fleet was assembling. They were moored in one large raft anchored approximately 100 yards from the shore. I made three attempts to come alongside but there was a strong tidal stream with an adverse wind which made coming alongside very difficult and so decided it was better to anchor off on my own rather than display my poor seamanship and maybe appear to be anti- social in not joining the raft.

After cooking myself some dinner I settled down for the night.

On Saturday 2nd July I awoke to the sound of seabirds and in particular the sound of Oyster Catchers. We were a few yards from Brownsea Island and you could see the Scout camp. A few Drascombers used their tenders to use the facilities on shore. The plan was to be self sufficient for the whole weekend. The tide was close to low water and I suspected that I had been aground overnight. I lifted the keel plate and Moksha swung around to face the flood tide.

I had thought about bringing my inflatable dinghy but had decided quite rightly that it would have been a drag oon the boat and hindered it's sailing.

Drascombe time applied and it must have been nearly 11:00 hours before the raft broke up and we made for the entrance for a sail to Studland Bay. I kept the engine running to negotiate the busy harbour entrance. A combination of the chain ferry, Brittany Ferry "Barfleur" and other boats was not a location to be under sail alone. The wind was coming from the west and therefore was not favourable. Stewart Brown, the rally organiser, advised to keep going until you ran out port hand mark buoys in the fairway.

In the fairway traffic was heavy with assorted power boats, ribs and sailing craft making out of the harbour for the day and most of them heading for Studland. A large "Gin Palace" power boat overtook me in the fairway coming within 10 yards of me and certainly did not appear to understand the collision regulations, i.e the need to keep clear when overtaking. Power craft seem to have little understanding of the effect of their wash on smaller boats. I do not know how many small boats have been swamped by such large craft and I am sure that plenty have been given an uncomfortable time for a few seconds.

Three ribs from the Royal Marine Boat Squadron overtook at high speed with passengers in civilain clothes. It looked like a day's "jolly" for a few lucky friends and family. The ribs passed by at such a speed that they did not create a great deal of wash and I got a friendly wave from the helmsman of one of the ribs. This did give a good impression and acknowledged your existence rather than my previous experience with the motor yacht.

We sailed into open water and I set all the sails. Moksha sailed on a beam reach towards Studland at a steady 3.5 knots. I turned about a couple of times to enjoy sailing on this beautiful day with a light but steady breeze. Visibility was reasonable with the Isle of Wight and the Needles just visible. The fleet of approx 20 boats were visible all around the horizon.I later discovered that there was a Cornish Shrimper rally in Studland also and so there were plenty of tan sails to be seen. The Marines were playing in their ribs creating a lot of wash and excitement for their civilian passengers. They were far away and did not cause any problem to us sedate Drascombes.

We all anchored as a raft in Studland for launch although we were not too comfortable with the swell, which did knock us together a little bit. At about 15:30 hours we set off back to Poole downwind. An hour of flapping sails and attempting to goose wing we got there. The tide in the entrance was on the ebb and there appeared to be a good 4 or 5 knots of tide. I furled all the sails and opened the throttle of the outboard and achieved a good 2 to 3 knots of headway. I was pleased with the performance of the Honda BF5. The rudder was hard to handle in the stream and you needed a certain amount of concentration to prevent a collision with everybody else in the Channel and always keeping an eye on the chain ferry to see when they were going to cross next.

We returned to Blood Alley Lake and I again anchored off the main raft to enjoy some privacy and not to have the hassle of mooring ropes and squeaking fenders. Dick Pizey was kind enough to collect me in an inflatable and bring me to the main raft for the community singing.

I awoke at about 0500 hours on Sunday morning to find Moksha at a strange angle. I looked out to find the boat was aground. I went back to sleep and woke later at 07:00 to find that we were afloat again. Strange tides in Poole.

Drascombe time applied again and it was after 10:00hours that the raft split up again. It was just as well as there was a decent height of tide to sail around the island of Furzey and Green Island. The winds were light but sufficient to sail the whole way. The Garmin chart plotter gave me a tide profile with which I was able to calculate the depths for passages between the islands. I sailed around a private island with a draft of less than a metre. With the depth sounder and the chart plotter I was able to keep in the deepest part of the channel.

We stopped for lunch near Spitsall Point close to the shaly cliff of lovely colours of red and orange.

Mid afternoon what remained of the fleet split up to go home. Some had already left to make the passage back to the Solent. The wind had died away and so four of us motored up the River Frome back to Redcliffe. We tried hard not to arrive back at the same time.

Recovery was straightforward and all too quickly the boat was packed up and ready for the road. Goodbyes were made and a I drove back to Bristol in about two and half hours.

A fine weekend with good weather and making the most of the boat and its accomodation.

Llandegfedd Lake 26th June

This was a new location for a very small Drascombe Rally. It is a lake owned and run by Welsh Water near to Pontypool.

Llandegfedd Reservoir is a large reservoir north of Newport. It is run as a country park and supports a sailing club and windsurfing school with rescue cover provided by the park wardens. Not surprisingly, with the upkeep of this service there is a charge for sailing on the reservoir, payable as either an annual fee or a day ticket (special rates can be negotiated for groups.)

There are limitaions in that sailing craft are not allowed to use engines and there is a restriction on length to 20 feet. Moksha shrugged her shoulders and managed to convince the warden that she was under 20 feet. She would not be so lucky next time!

Sailing without a motor certainly hones your sailing skills and other than a little difficulty in starting off from the shore we had no problem sailing. A fresh breeze came up in the afternoon and we had enjoyable day achieving speeds of up to 4 knots. There is an active Sailing club with facilities. The launching area is rather restricted for a large boat like a Coaster.

We will go again but probably take a smaller boat such as Topper Topaz.

Beale Park 10th June 2011

Top:- A diagram of a proposed new boat based on a Swallow Boat Bay Raider. The idea is to include a crawl in and die cabin and keeping as much as posssible the sailing qualties of the open boat.

Bottom:- Bay Cruiser 23 sailing in a breath of wind.

Sailing at Newport, Parrog Beach, Pembrokeshire

On the 28th May 2011 we attended the Camping and Caravaning Boating Group meet at Parrog, Newport, Pembrokeshire. This is an annual event which we have been attending every year for more over 10 years. Newport Bay is located just North of Dinas Head giving an interesting sailing area with beautiful scenery of the headlands and the Presseli mountains. Unfortunately the Nevern River at Newport is very tidal with the river entering the sea over a large sandy beach. Access is restricted by a sand bar which is only passable two hours either side of HW. Moorings are drying, but are cheap at £20 a week. You need a dinghy to get to you mooring or you can wade over the beach and get wet before the tide rises too high.

The weather at the beginning of the week was windy and made the bar impassable. The tide times were poor with high water late in the afternoon or in the early hours.

I did not get out until the Wednesday evening when the wind had died down and managed a few hours sailing in the Bay. I sailed the next morning leaving at 07:30 hours but the sea was like a mill pond. I motored to Cwm yr Eglwys, anchored and made a cup of coffee. By the time I came out of Cwm a slight breeze had come up from the North and I had a nice sail back to the River Nevern.

Chichester Rally 29th April 2011

On the weekend of the 29th of April we attended the Drascombe Association Rally at Chichester. It was well organised and the berth at Chichester Marina was excellent with good facilties. Unfortunately the weather was blowy although it was dry and sunny. As a result we only got out sailing on the Saturday. We sailed to Dell Quay and then to Bosham where we stopped for lunch.

First outing of Moksha this season. I took her to Bristol Docks launching at Bristol Marina the old Albion dockyard.

Engine started first pull.

Repair to rudder bearing seems to be watertight.

Tiller Hand steering lock works well.

The only fault seems to be a flat battery

and so it would seems that my large solar panel is not working properly.

I had a motor about the docks and enjoyed the sunshine. The bars and restaurants on the dockside were busy and the water was busy with other pleasure craft and rowers.

Recovered the boat back onto the trailer with no problem and went back home to sort out the battery.

Rudder bearing repair

When I first acquired Moksha she suffered from a leak which resulted in water under the cabin floorboards. Initial investigations were made in the bow area of the boat such as the forward keel bolts and the screws fixing the band on the bow area of the boat. These proved to be inconclusive and so I took a radical step in order to discover the area of the leak.

I flooded the interior of the boat with water and tipped it forward thinking that the leak was going to be in the bow are of the boat. What happened was that as the boat filled and reached the stern locker with the keel box that water started leaking out of the boat. It became clear that the problem was in the stern of the boat.

I carried out some research on the Drascombe forum and the NKDE (Dutch Drascombe website and I found the likely source of the problem.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~veronica/tom/#mozTocId873807

The bottom rudder bearing is fixed to the GRP hull with 2 stainless steel wood screws. The assembly is covered by the keelplank.

It is common for damage to occur when the rudder is lowered through the trunking and the bottom bearing is hit by the rudder. The photograph shows that the bronze is bent and when it was removed the two crews were detached and loose. The keelplank was keeping the bearing in place.

The second photograph shows that the GRP around the screw holes was cracked and broken and that the fissures went right through the GRP structure around the rudder casing causing a leak. When I came to drill through there could not have been more than 2 or 3mm of GRP. I carried out a repair using 6mm screw bolts and an amount of expoy to seal the cracks on the underside and to surround the tops of the bolts and to strengthen the whole area. It will remain to seen whether it will remain leek free.

This is a blog of the exploits of my Drascombe Coaster "Moksha".

She was bought in 2010 from an owner in Devon who had her for her 5 years and as far as I know I am the fourth owner. The previous owner have included a carpenter and a priest.

The name was I believe picked by him and always causes comment and enquiry.

According to the dictionary "Moksha" is a noun derived from Buddhism,Hinduism,Jainism meaning freedom from the differentiated, temporal, and mortal world of ordinary experience.

This might aptly describe the "Drascombe" experience.