Well I'm finally back online after a manic couple of months readying the boat, business and myself for departure ... I wouldn't want to go through all that again I can tell you. Anyway, Wednesday 20th August was D-Day : we had to be ready for the off as a professional skipper had been booked to deliver Tumi to Guernsey as the final step of the export process. And we were hitching a ride as crew. So Phil & Judi collected us at 7pm and after dinner in the marina bistro and a couple of hours sleep we were off ... 2am on 21st August. At last. Sadly the weather didn't really merit setting off at that time, the upshot being we had to motor-sail all the way to Guernsey. I'll leave the skipper to fill you in on happenings along the way.
So we arrived in Guernsey and moored up alongside another new Jeanneau being exported and delivered by professional crew and we all did the only sociable thing - go out for a drink and a curry. It reminded us of just how friendly the sailing community is. And after a marathon sleep we finally surfaced about 11am the next morning.
I love Guernsey - the right blend of island life and sophistication which make me feel it's somewhere I could happily live one day. We pottered along on a coastal walk in the afternoon and had a lazy night on board. Saturday dawned bright and Sunday so we caught the ferry across to Sark, taking our new folding bikes with us. We put the bikes to good use cycling the length and breadth of this small but beautiful island before returning to Guernsey somewhat saddle sore. We had planned on eating out that evening but felt too bushed to make the effort! Sunday was another lovely day and we walked a more strenuous length of the coast on the south side of the island, passing old German WW2 gun emplacemenrts and lookout towers that look like something from War of the Worlds. Very sinister.
Monday dawned wet & windy and stayed wet & windy but we put the time to good use sorting things out on board. The last few days pre-departure had seen us putting a lot of things on board which rather got stuffed anywhere ... a bit of order has now been brought to bear. The rain stopped late afternoon and after checking the weather forecasts we decided to head off home. Mistake: an hour and a half out of Guernsey we turned around and headed back to port to escape the pounding of beating into high winds and rough seas. We didn't have a deadline so decided to abort what would have been an uncomfortable passage.
Anyway, conditions were slightly better yesterday so we set sail and had an exhilerating first few hours in 35+ knots and big-is seas but made great progress averaging over 8 knots. And then the wind died. Talk about extremes! And we ended up motoring the rest of the way, arriving in Plymouth 10.30pm last night.
Today we have had a series of technicians on board sorting out little niggles. Mum is collecting us mid-afternoon (we are now without a car of course, having left it with a local garage to sell) but I think Paul will need to stay on board tonight to do a few jobs.
27 Aug 2014
[Captains Blog] Final Snagging
We had to sail Tumi over to Guernsey for the export process, officially with a delivery skipper aboard. I am not against skippers per se, but not on my boat. The one we had wasn't as familiar with the boat as we were, and as a result we ended up with some issues. Firstly he wound the genoa car line on the electric winch and kept his finger on the button when the line had come to its limit and the line snapped. Not content with that, he then tried to cut through the eye splice that attached the line to the car block, and gouged a lump out of the gelcoat. Needless to say, we were far from happy, and have had these issues redressed today. I would not hire such a 'skipper' under any circumstances. We take far more care of our boat, simply because we have had to pay out for it, and not treating it as just a piece of work.
So, after officially receiving Tumi outside Europe (in Guernsey) we are now back in Plymouth having the few final fixes done including the above repairs. We had to have the engine checked after some juddering experienced at 2000 rpm a few days ago nearing St Peter Port. An engine check has been done today with a clean bill of health, so to celebrate I did the 50 hour service and changed the oil and oil filter too.
We commissioned the watermaker for the first time yesterday only to find that the sea water feed was not flowing, and the watermaker kept turning itself off. I checked the pipes, made sure that they were flowing, but still no feed through the system. This evening, I sussed it out. There is a 3 stage valve that feeds water from different sources into the primary filter. It didn't seem right that the recommended setting of the valve handle to the right to feed fresh water into the system to flush it only worked in the downward position, so logic got the better of me and I had to remove the handle, set it back 90 degrees to the left, and bingo! We have a watermaker that works.
The other thing that hasn't been operational is the Pactor modem for the SSB radio to convert radio signals into emails. A few exchanges with the services providers and we now have communications! Still some fine tuning to get it fully operational, but we are nearly there.
In terms of the sea trials, we are extremely pleased with the way Tumi sails. We achieve much faster sailing speeds and greater stability than Jay Jay in the same conditions, and so journey times should be much shorter and more comfortable. More time for enjoying the ports of call with a beer or few....
The Biscay crossing starts on Sunday, weather window permitting. Can't wait!
So, after officially receiving Tumi outside Europe (in Guernsey) we are now back in Plymouth having the few final fixes done including the above repairs. We had to have the engine checked after some juddering experienced at 2000 rpm a few days ago nearing St Peter Port. An engine check has been done today with a clean bill of health, so to celebrate I did the 50 hour service and changed the oil and oil filter too.
We commissioned the watermaker for the first time yesterday only to find that the sea water feed was not flowing, and the watermaker kept turning itself off. I checked the pipes, made sure that they were flowing, but still no feed through the system. This evening, I sussed it out. There is a 3 stage valve that feeds water from different sources into the primary filter. It didn't seem right that the recommended setting of the valve handle to the right to feed fresh water into the system to flush it only worked in the downward position, so logic got the better of me and I had to remove the handle, set it back 90 degrees to the left, and bingo! We have a watermaker that works.
The other thing that hasn't been operational is the Pactor modem for the SSB radio to convert radio signals into emails. A few exchanges with the services providers and we now have communications! Still some fine tuning to get it fully operational, but we are nearly there.
In terms of the sea trials, we are extremely pleased with the way Tumi sails. We achieve much faster sailing speeds and greater stability than Jay Jay in the same conditions, and so journey times should be much shorter and more comfortable. More time for enjoying the ports of call with a beer or few....
The Biscay crossing starts on Sunday, weather window permitting. Can't wait!
18 Jul 2014
[Captains Blog] Sea Trial Progress
We have been out in all conditions testing the seaworthiness of our lovely new boat. On one occasion we were drifting along in 7 knots of wind one moment, only to have 45 knots over the bows a minute later. Tumi took all of this in her stride, and didn't even heel over in the sudden blast that took us by surprise. It wasn't forecast, but then they rarely get it right these days do they?
Performance-wise, Tumi is a fast boat. For some reason we keep overtaking other boats that are ahead of us, much to the chagrin of their skippers and crew. The other day we were returning to Plymouth from a trip to Fowey when a navy warship was also returning to port and was crossing our bow. We altered course to go through the East entrance, but the warship did the same and we were still on a converging course. I assumed they would be going faster than us, but we picked up speed to 9.2 knots and the gap closed. Fortunately they were far enough ahead to avoid any mishap, but the sail into the Plymouth Sound was exhilarating to say the least.
We have had a couple of glitches that need to be ironed out -- the in-mast furling system has been an issue and we have been struggling to make it work properly. There is a sliding mechanism on the boom that is used to pull the mainsail out from within the mast and this should run freely along the track on top of the boom allowing the sail to be pulled out by hand using the outhaul rope. The slider design has been pulling the sail downwards instead of outwards which has damaged the block itself and made setting the sail difficult. This has been brought to the manufacturers attention and we are getting a replacement unit which works on roller bearings instead of a slide system. Watch this space to see how we find the replacement performs.
Time is moving on and we are getting very close to our departure date of August so we are getting the last few bits and pieces that we will need for our trip. In the wake of the Cheeky Rafiki we have bolstered our safety equipment - we have just acquired a second EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) and have ordered a second liferaft, an Ocean specification in a canister which will be deck mounted with an automatic hydrostatic release mechanism. We are not compromising on safety. This second EPIRB combined with the original will give us the capability of sending a distress signal for a period of 8 days should we ever need it (hopefully never).
I will need to wrap the spreaders with some insulating foam to prevent chafe on the sails before we go, so a trip up the mast for me will be the order of the day soon, (thankfully, we have the electric winch to do the work of getting me up there) and a few internal attachment point fixings will make it a safer place in the galley when the galley strap is attached. I wouldn't want anyone to get thrown about when we are at sea and cooking our supper.
Performance-wise, Tumi is a fast boat. For some reason we keep overtaking other boats that are ahead of us, much to the chagrin of their skippers and crew. The other day we were returning to Plymouth from a trip to Fowey when a navy warship was also returning to port and was crossing our bow. We altered course to go through the East entrance, but the warship did the same and we were still on a converging course. I assumed they would be going faster than us, but we picked up speed to 9.2 knots and the gap closed. Fortunately they were far enough ahead to avoid any mishap, but the sail into the Plymouth Sound was exhilarating to say the least.
We have had a couple of glitches that need to be ironed out -- the in-mast furling system has been an issue and we have been struggling to make it work properly. There is a sliding mechanism on the boom that is used to pull the mainsail out from within the mast and this should run freely along the track on top of the boom allowing the sail to be pulled out by hand using the outhaul rope. The slider design has been pulling the sail downwards instead of outwards which has damaged the block itself and made setting the sail difficult. This has been brought to the manufacturers attention and we are getting a replacement unit which works on roller bearings instead of a slide system. Watch this space to see how we find the replacement performs.
Time is moving on and we are getting very close to our departure date of August so we are getting the last few bits and pieces that we will need for our trip. In the wake of the Cheeky Rafiki we have bolstered our safety equipment - we have just acquired a second EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) and have ordered a second liferaft, an Ocean specification in a canister which will be deck mounted with an automatic hydrostatic release mechanism. We are not compromising on safety. This second EPIRB combined with the original will give us the capability of sending a distress signal for a period of 8 days should we ever need it (hopefully never).
I will need to wrap the spreaders with some insulating foam to prevent chafe on the sails before we go, so a trip up the mast for me will be the order of the day soon, (thankfully, we have the electric winch to do the work of getting me up there) and a few internal attachment point fixings will make it a safer place in the galley when the galley strap is attached. I wouldn't want anyone to get thrown about when we are at sea and cooking our supper.
30 Jun 2014
[Captains Blog] Tuning the rigging
The other day when we went out for another test sail in 25-30 knots we had a little difficulty rolling out the mainsail from inside the mast. This was never an issue on Jay Jay where I could roll out the sail by hand. On Tumi I needed to use the winch which wasn't right. The furling system needs to run smoothly. I had noticed that there was quite a rake in the mast (it bends towards the stern at the top of the mast) which I suspected was causing the problem. You can't have a straight pole rotating smoothly in a bent casing, and I reckoned this was causing the problem.
The riggers were out yesterday to look at it, and after some discussion with them they re-tuned and re-tensioned the rigging so that we have a straighter mast now and it seems to allow the furling mechanism to run freely. We will test it out for ourselves in the next couple of days. It seems to me that Jeanneau don't expect too many in-mast furling systems to be sold, and their rig was primarily designed for slab reefing where the sail is dropped onto the boom and secured to reduce the sail area. They need to have this information fed back to them as they might want to take it into consideration for the future. We will be talking to Richard, our Jeanneau dealer about it so he can let them know.
The riggers were out yesterday to look at it, and after some discussion with them they re-tuned and re-tensioned the rigging so that we have a straighter mast now and it seems to allow the furling mechanism to run freely. We will test it out for ourselves in the next couple of days. It seems to me that Jeanneau don't expect too many in-mast furling systems to be sold, and their rig was primarily designed for slab reefing where the sail is dropped onto the boom and secured to reduce the sail area. They need to have this information fed back to them as they might want to take it into consideration for the future. We will be talking to Richard, our Jeanneau dealer about it so he can let them know.
20 Jun 2014
[Captains Blog] Shakedown Sailing
We took Tumi over to Fowey this week to stretch her wings a bit. The weather was OK for the outward journey and we headed off westwards in 15 knots of wind, making a good passage. Tumi sails really well, and she is a very balanced boat that requires little or no steering. We are getting familiar with the sheets (not the ones you put on the bed, but the nautical term for the ropes) as they are all a designer grey colour with different colour flecks to identify them apart from their neighbours. Whoever thought that sailing needs to be designer focused needs their heads testing - at night time, grey looks like grey and the different colour flecks won't show up in the cockpit too well, so we have to know which is which instinctively.
What pleased me about this trip is that the power management system appears to be working well. With the wind generator and the solar panels active, we suffered no real degradation in power levels even with the fridge, freezer, navigation instruments, lights, and TV being used. No need to fire up the generator to boost the batteries. So far so good.
We did have a slight glitch as we were approaching Fowey harbour, the chart plotter went blank and we had to switch everything off and back on again to sort it out, the GPS taking a little while longer than we thought healthy to rediscover the satellite signals and register our position. We will be keeping a close eye on this in case of a recurrence. We had just been using the port-side electric winch when it went off, but that might just have been coincidence.
The other thing we have to be aware of in the UK is that we are a long boat - with the davits and dinghy on the back, we measure over 50 feet and not many moorings are available to accommodate our length. We had to ask our neighbours to swap moorings with us to allow enough swinging room (we didn't realise we were swingers, isn't sailing fun!). They kindly obliged, and we were able to rest easy from that point.
The trip home was mostly windless, but we did manage a small amount of sailing, much to my delight. Flat seas and a nice breeze, and it was a real pleasure to be out on the water again!
What pleased me about this trip is that the power management system appears to be working well. With the wind generator and the solar panels active, we suffered no real degradation in power levels even with the fridge, freezer, navigation instruments, lights, and TV being used. No need to fire up the generator to boost the batteries. So far so good.
We did have a slight glitch as we were approaching Fowey harbour, the chart plotter went blank and we had to switch everything off and back on again to sort it out, the GPS taking a little while longer than we thought healthy to rediscover the satellite signals and register our position. We will be keeping a close eye on this in case of a recurrence. We had just been using the port-side electric winch when it went off, but that might just have been coincidence.
The other thing we have to be aware of in the UK is that we are a long boat - with the davits and dinghy on the back, we measure over 50 feet and not many moorings are available to accommodate our length. We had to ask our neighbours to swap moorings with us to allow enough swinging room (we didn't realise we were swingers, isn't sailing fun!). They kindly obliged, and we were able to rest easy from that point.
The trip home was mostly windless, but we did manage a small amount of sailing, much to my delight. Flat seas and a nice breeze, and it was a real pleasure to be out on the water again!
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