I’m a professional semaphore operator

April 21st, 2013 Alasdair
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20th April Chichester Marina.

At last, a sunny weekend to get on with the much delayed maintenance on Sumara. There is ice on the deck but that should burn off soon. Yesterday I got on with “opening up the wounds” by sanding back all the little areas of damage to the varnish so that the patches can have a good build up of coats before one or two full coats get applied.

The reason everything is so late is because my broken arm is still not in full action. I am normally very lucky as it makes no difference to me if I use my left or right hand so I never get tired sanding or varnishing. I simply swop hands. Working with only my left hand is seriously slow. Every hour or so it gets very tired and needs a change of tasks.

I have had to pull out of the Maldon Mud Race on strict doctors orders which is a huge shame. All my general training has gone out the window, I can’t ride a bike or go for a swim but I have started some gentle running again.

When you meet the doctor after a breaking bone they ask you what you do. I said that I could carry out most of my work tasks because they involved mainly sitting at a desk. I’ve since been told that was a bad move as they are liable to repair you quicker if your work depends on your arm. Its too late now, but next time I going to say I’m a professional semaphore operator. To be fair on the NHS, they have been pretty good and I have loads of physio excersises to do each day so hopefully by the end of the summer I’ll be able to get back to normal.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments » |

Some Notes on Sweden

February 24th, 2013 Alasdair
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Isn’t this just the best thing ever!

Semla cake and coffee – heaven

Power lines with snow attached at 400 kg per cubic metre!

Bike rack at Umea Station

Swedish Precision


We know the Swedes make the best adjustable spanners in the world. This precision can also be found in everyday life. English Charlotte had put out the wheelie bin at the end of the road as the Dustmen were due in the morning. Sadly this task was very poorly performed by Swedish standards. When Svarte saw the jaunty angle of the bin he stopped the car and went about rectifying the dire situation. The bin needed to be 600 mm out from the kerb, any more and the postman would not be able to turn his van around, any less and the Bin Men will not collect it. The hinge on the lid must be at a tangent to the main house and the lid must open up with the hinge nearest the house. Charlotte’s sloppy jaunty angle simply would not do. That’s why we buy Swedish made Bahco spanners.
 Swedish and the Cold Weather


Here the Swedes really excel. Just a quick glimpse at their doors will give a good indication of life in a Swedish house. The doors are thick, strong and, of course, precise. I’m not sure what the Swedish word for “draught” is but it wouldn’t surprise me if it didn’t exist. On arrival at a Swedish home it is customary to remove nearly all your clothing. This lets cold cold clothing air out and dry off in the proper area allocated to it. Wandering around in thermals is perfectly acceptable. If you come from England you will be amazed by the fact that the entire house is at a perfect temperature. There is no need to draw the curtains and move away from the draught coming under the French Windows. There are no draughts at all, anywhere!
Next to the entry door you may find a useful gizmo to warm up your boots. It is basically a fan heater with four flexible ducts which you shove down your boots so they are warm and dry when you next use them. There will probably be a big area with proper racks for coats and boots plus skis, sticks, gloves, hats etc rather than the tiddly couple of hooks allocated for such duties in many English homes.
Roof insulation is pretty important. Any hot air should be vented away from the underside of the roof as this can cause the snow to melt from underneath. The melt water will get to the gutter and then freeze. If repeated, the gutter will fill with ice and then the water will be able to flow back into the house. Some old listed houses may suffer from this trait and it is a lot of work clearing ice from a roof.
Svarte was telling me about one bad year (1988 I think) when they had a bad winter with snow, then rain, then freezing and thawing, etc. Snow normally weighs 400 kg per cubic metre but during that year it weighed about 800 kg per cubic metre. By the time they realised what was happening it was too late to save many roofs in Umea which subsequently collapsed under the weight.
Other little tips I learnt regarding keeping warm were:
1) The Ski Doos have a little heater to heat your thumb whilst operating the throttle.
2) Some Ski Doos have heated seats.
3) Birch bark is the best thing to get a fire going so it is stripped off logs before they are tossed onto the fire
4) Don’t shower in the morning as it will take essential oils away from your skin which will suffer in very cold temperatures
5) Cars are plugged into the mains at night to keep the engine warm

Some No No’s


God help you if you are responsible for allowing the lingonberry jam to run out – especially if the main meal was going to be Palt (? Dumplings with a little sausage meat inside). The horror of the discovery of an empty jar caused a slight quivering of the lower lip before turning pale with shock. Thank goodness there were more berries in the larder and with the addition of some sugar and a tiny drop of water a new brew was soon underway. Very nice it is too. I’m not sure what the British equivalent would be, maybe a bacon sandwich with no HP sauce?
Don’t forget the accurate wheelie bin placement
Swedish Food


Well, we did eventually have the Swedish meatballs which I was looking forward too. Made by Charlotte under close supervision by Svarte. I suspect the recipe is secret but I heard the word “caper” being whispered. Excellent they were too. There is of course much more to Swedish food than the meatballs. Here are some of the delights we tried in our short weeks stay:
1) Semla cakes. Wow, these were seriously good buns with cream and almond paste. Normally eaten on Shrove Tuesday.
2) Moose meat. We had a lot of this courtesy of Svarte’s rifle. It’s was great in stew and served cold.
3) Bread knives are made of shaped wood.
4) Smoked Reindeer meat. Perfection but quite hard to get hold of.
5) Kanelbulle. More yummy cakes
6) Kaviar. I didn’t go for this as there is something about food that comes out of tubes which worries me. However this pink fish egg paste was available to spread on our toast if you dared.
7) Punch. This is a powerful rather sweet dessert liquor which was very tasty and morish. Dangerous stuff.

The North South Divide


It’s not quite the same as the British North South divide because the Southerners and the Northerners both have a slight distaste for the people from Stockholm. It is more a “Country People” versus “Town People” type thing. Apparently there is an accent which gives it away. My friend, Anders, who lives in Stockholm but was brought up in the South, says he will tend to use his Southern accent more when he is touring in the country to avoid being pigeon holed as someone from Stockholm.
Swedish Forestry


There are a lot of trees in Sweden! From what I understand, and I could be wrong, most of the forest areas are privately owned and looked after in manageable chunks. Half of these private forests prefer to sell their wood through co-operative groups which ensure a regular fair price for the timber. The co-operative also own their own saw mills. Others will sell their timber direct to private mills. The forests are managed to produce good straight tall trees. Most bent trees and those which are growing too close to a stronger tree are felled. This small diameter timber is used mainly for firewood. In the Umea region it will take around fifty years for the trees to reach maturity. It is a proud moment for the forester to be able to fell trees that they can remember planting. Forestry is a long term occupation and the foresters like to know there will be a stable future to ensure that their high investment will be worthwhile over such long periods.

 

Posted in Skiing, Sweden | No Comments » |

It’s the big ski race day!

February 18th, 2013 Alasdair
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My Broken Arm after the Swelling had gone down

17th February 2013

As usual before a race I tend to detect little pains in my body and I noticed a nagging little ache in my knee. I rubbed in a bit of Ibruprufen gel and packed a few pills in case it played up. Last night we were shown by Svarte how to race wax our skis. This involved stripping the old wax off with a paraffin like liquid and sanding the grip area with some 80 grit sandpaper. The glide wax was applied hot in blobs then smoothed with a hot iron and once hardened most was scraped off again. A final addition of liquid speed gel was applied to make the skis super slippery. The temperature was predicted to be minus 10 and rising to minus 4 so a very sticky grip wax was applied to the grip area and heated with the iron. Then two more layers of cooler temperature wax were applied and cold smoothed and finally a liquid grip wax was added. This took a good few hours. Waxing is neither an art or a science according to Svarte but a religion!

Our taxi arrived to take us to the start. Embarrassingly the “English”  contingent were announced to all. We signed in, got our bibs, grabbed a coffee and headed up the hill to the start line. Charlotte was in for a chance but statistically Grit and I didn’t really stand a chance of finishing in day light and that probably meant we would get timed out (hence we were the only ones carrying rucksacks with sandwiches, water, belay jackets and torches!).

The start banner was raised and off we went. Cleverly we started at the back and I was the last over the start line. Soon the main fleet of skiers were leaving us behind and it wasn’t long before they were out of sight – and that included Charlotte. We plodded on and were thrilled to see number 116 around the next bend. The early part of the race was quite hilly. I felt that I had mastered some of the techniques (in a naff amateur way) including the diagonal stride and double poling. Even the double pole kick was doing ok and I have always loved going uphill. My problem has always been going downhill with cross country skis. I feel pretty much at the mercy of the tracks. It wasn’t great news when we reached the prow of a hill that looked like it was going to be very fast indeed. I suppose most of the racer would love it but not me. So off I pushed and accelerated to a speed well in excess of my skill level and eventually the inevitable happened and I crashed. Sadly it wasn’t a nice soft crash but a rock hard one and I realised I had done something not good to my arm. It really hurt and I thought that just 4km in I would have to pull out. However I found that if I left my right arm dangling I could make some progress with just my left pole. So Grit and I carried on even slower than usual. At 10km we got to the first drink station and hobbled on. The countryside was truly beautiful and with fine weather it made a great day out.

Then an amazing thing happened. We saw 116 in the distance and started to catch up. Finally we overtook our first racer! Very late we arrived at the second drinks station at about 18km. They were keen that we stopped but after some persuasion we managed to get clearance to continue. Now here is a funny thing. You would have thought it was not possible to get lost on a cross country ski marathon because you simply follow the tracks. Grit called out “Do you recognise this?”. As it happened I didn’t I didn’t so we continued. Then I saw the unmistakeable sign of my old ski tracks – going straight into the soft snow at a sharp corner. We were doing a loop! There wasn’t much option but to continue. Now my arm was seriously hurting and without my second pole I would occasionally fall causing a shriek on pain. We plodded on into the evening and eventually the organisers ski doo arrived behind us clearing the track. It was harder now because the beautiful tracks had been destroyed with ski doos out on their Sunday runs. The organiser seemed happy to slowly hang on behind as we picked off the miles. With about three kilometres to go to our third drink station I fell right onto my arm again and the pain was pretty bad. I decided to call it a day. We had made a good go of it ad you can’t do better than your best. The kind ski doo driver got us into his trailer and we sadly made the last few kilometres under power.

Now, we thought we were arriving at the third drinks station at 28km and I was surprised the see Charlotte there. I asked her how she got there and indignantly replied “by skis!”. We had arrived at the finish but seemed to have missed the 10km loop around Olle’s track but added our own loop.

We had a grand reception by the kind and very patient organisers but I soon realised my hand and shoulder were badly swollen. Svarte kindly drove us to the hospital were the x-rays showed I had fractured my humorous. Now I am dosed up with pain killers, my arm in a sling on my way to Stockholm, having said our sad farewells to Charlotte and Svarte who had been our amazing hosts for the week.

Posted in Skiing, Sweden, Uncategorized | 2 Comments » |

The Ski Club of Great Britain is not going to like this!

February 16th, 2013 Alasdair
0

The Amazing Hut

Excellent Safety Precautions on this Ice Clad Roof!

16th February 2013 Umea Sweden

Our Ski Marathon is tomorrow and I’m exhausted! Charlotte booked us onto the local Umea Ski Marathon using her very best new found Swedish language skills. It seemed to go pretty well until the Swedish gentleman asked her what club we belong to, explaining that we had to be members of a club to enter. Charlotte said we are from England and the quick reply was “Ah, Ski Club England!. Charlotte decided this was probably the best we could do with her current language skills. Soon the “England” became “Great Britain” and the Local Marathon organisers were by now thrilled to have three competitors come all the way from Britain to represent their nation.
Sadly the Ski Club of Britain isn’t going to be too chuffed when they realise that they are being represented by two bungling beginners and Charlotte (who at least has mastered the style of Cross Country Skiing). Furthermore we are not even members. So I would like to get my apology in now for dragging an esteemed organisation into the gutter.
Talking of gutters, that is why I am a bit knackered as I offered to help Svarte clearing snow from the roof. It was good fun but thank goodness the local health and safety team were not around. Svarte seems to be able to stand on an icy 45 degree roof in his boots with no problem but I found it pretty hard. The work was a “bit shoulders and lower back” and probably not what the doctor ordered prior to the big race day.
After clearing the roof we went curling for a couple of hours and now I see bottles of red wine being placed on the dinner table which may well be too tempting.
To show my total confidence in the big race I will be taking a head torch and belay jacket!
Better get downstairs for some carbs!

Posted in Skiing, Sweden | No Comments » |

Cutty Sark Sadolin Ultra Varnish Failure

February 9th, 2013 Alasdair
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Cutty Sark Strake Varnish Failure and Water Ingress Under Stanchion Base

 

Cutty Sark Deck Trim Varnish Failure

 

Cutty Sark Deckhouse Door Varnish Failure

9th February 2013 Greenwich

I was shocked at the poor condition of the varnish on the newly restored Cutty Sark. These pictures are now about a month old (January 2013) but I have noticed the varnish has got even worse since. The ship only opened in the summer and there is varnish failure on almost every surface. Even some vertical surfaces are failing and they generally last a long time. It does seem such a shame that there was an opportunity to do a really thorough job on bare timber and that somehow this simple task has been messed up. Now the whole lot will need stripping off and re-doing at great cost. It will need doing pretty quickly too before more staining and water gets in. It was an apparent lack of maintenance which seemed to cause the Gipsy Moth to rot away in her Greenwich berth. I never saw anyone painting or varnishing the yacht. I can’t understand how every yachtsman knows that boats need annual maintenance and yet these “National Treasures” are left to suffer until they need radical and unneccessarily expensive work. Already water is getting under the varnish and causing black staining around some stanchion posts. Varnishing is not rocket science, it just needs doing in a tried and tested way. Why play around with new varnishes on an old ship when they clearly don’t work.

I found this on the Sadolin website and would be interested hear any comments:

“Craftsmen involved in the meticulous conservation of one the world’s most famous ships, Cutty Sark, are using the Sadolin Ultra Highly Translucent Woodstain system to decorate and protect her teak deckhouses, spectacular wheel, ornate pin rails, decorative panelling and many other wooden fixtures and fittings on deck.

Cutty Sark is an iconic reminder of a bygone age of sail and a symbol of Britain’s long and successful maritime heritage. Built in 1869, she is a shining example of Victorian ingenuity, engineering and craftsmanship, and one of London’s most popular attractions. In November 2006, however, the visitor signs were taken down and The Cutty Sark Conservation Project began: a massive undertaking by The Cutty Sark Trust to give the ship its biggest overhaul in fifty years and to ensure she has a secure and sustainable future.

Heery International Ltd, a division of Balfour Beatty Management and the principle contractor responsible for delivering the conservation project for The Cutty Sark Trust, specified Sadolin Ultra for the decoration and protection of woodwork above deck. Construction Manager Kevin Elson explains how the decision was made: “Ultra offered the very high degree of translucency that we were looking for,” said Kevin, “and the system has been formulated to provide exterior joinery with up to seven years decoration and protection before maintenance is required. Unlike yacht varnish it offers flexibility and a high degree of UV protection. And when the time eventually comes to maintain the finish, there’s no need to strip back to bare timber, you can simply clean the surface and apply a maintenance coat to revive the appearance and protective benefits.”

Maldon Painting Company Ltd is responsible for coating the exterior timber fittings. Director Geoff Smith had not used Sadolin Ultra before but is now a firm fan. He explains how it was applied to the deckhouses: “We stripped all the old varnish right back and sanded all the teak back to a perfectly smooth surface, before applying a coat of Ultra Basecoat. We then filled in any pinholes and cracks with Sadolin Exterior Woodfiller and went on to apply two coats of the lightest shade of Ultra. Once the deckhouse is refitted on the ship we’ll apply one last coat of Ultra to offer the maximum level of protection.”

Geoff’s decorating work is just one of a huge list of projects which have to be completed by an army of craftspeople, engineers and conservation experts before Cutty Sark is ready to welcome visitors once more in 2010, by which time the ship will be a much improved visitor attraction. Geoff said; “It’s a once in a life time opportunity to work on Cutty Sark and it’s a job I am really enjoying. It’s always good to be given the opportunity to carry out a project to a full specification using the best products and being able to take the time you need to deliver a really high quality finish.”

I wonder if they will use Sadolin Ultra again? It hardly seems to live up to the statement “up to seven years before maintenance is needed” promise. It didn’t survive seven months since the opening. Maybe there is a reason why it didn’t work. Perhaps it was applied a long time prior to the opening?  It would be good to know what went so wrong. I’m sure the painting company would have done their best, was the product faulty or poorly specified? Is there a decent maintenance regime in place? Whatever the reason, it is a real shame that a National Treasure which has had £50 million pounds lavished on it is in such a disgraceful state so soon after opening.

Posted in Gear, Other Yachts, Sailing | No Comments » |

Cross Country Ski Marathon

February 9th, 2013 Alasdair
0

9th February Greenwich

Charlotte is now well ensconced in North Sweden with Svarte. When she asked Grit and I “How do you fancy a ski marathon?” of course we jumped at the opportunity. It was a few minutes later when I began to think, hang on I can’t do this cross country skiing malarky so maybe a marathon is a little bit ambitous. I mentioned it to my friend Hannah (who is off skiing in Canada all winter!) and she suggested we tried Roller Skiing in Hyde Park – www.rollerski.co.uk . So we did. I have actually been Cross Country skiing once before. That was with Charlotte while she was competing in the Swiss Engingen (that doesn’t look right) Marathon. I must admit I didn’t find it very easy and it was really really hard work.

I couldn’t remember any of the technique so I hoped the Roller Skiing lesson would refesh me. Grit hadn’t tried it at all so she was starting from fresh. More importantly I was hoping that after a two hour session there would be some pain somewhere and we could train to improve our fitness in that area. There are two types of Cross Country Skiing – Classic and Skating. Luckily the Swedish Marathon, that we had now been entered for, is all Classic. Classic is, apparently, quicker to learn the basics although it takes a lifetime to perfect. Skating technique is harder to learn the basics but takes less time to perfect. We arrived at the Rollerski.co.uk van in Hyde Park having pre-booked a Saturday morning session. They have a very organised van and instructors on hand. It was a little bit odd because we had three different teachers in one two hour session and I think, as beginners, it would have been best to stick with one instructor. Nevertheless, they went through everything, firstly without rollerskis then, tentively, with them. The Classic Rollerskis have ratchets in the wheels to simulate the sticky wax on the real skis. There is no real need to force the centre of the ski down to get grip but the instructors were very insistant that we transfered our weight from one leg to the other. After half an hour we were tetering about on the devices. I never felt very balanced and, with tarmac all around, a fall would hurt a bit. As it happened we did not fall at all.

After the session sadly there was no pain! So we were still unable to predict what was going to hurt first on the real thing. Our suspicions were our stomach muscles because of all the double poling. We booked another session with the same company but this time a full day at Eton Dorney. Eton Dorney is a rowing lake owned by Eton College and used for the Olympic Rowing. As the Thames has been in continuous flood for so long the lake is currently being used by all the local rowing clubs unable to use the river. The place was packed. We were trying to Rollerski while the coaches were cycling along with their loud hailers. There were some heated remarks! This time we had just one instructor called “oh Boff what a rubbish memory I have” and she was excellent. Full of enthusiasm and patience with some nice teaching techniques. I’m still rubbish but it was no fault of her! This time, although still no pain, it became clear that at lot of core muscles were being used as double poling seemed to be the way to get around at speed along the flat.

Our friend Siggi from Isafjordur in Iceland was visiting London so we met up for a drink at The Grapes overlooking the Thames. Siggi runs Borea Adventures, a company specialising in yachting and skiing holidays (combined too!), so I asked him what will hurt first in a marathon and he said “lower back” without a second thought.

Our plane leaves from London City Airport to Stockholm on Monday morning so I had my last British Military Fitness session this morning. It was good, no aches and pains and I felt quite perky. We have been running 11-13 miles each Sunday and will do one last long run tomorrow. Tomorrow we will meet up with Maxime from Russia – more of that later.

We are looking forward to seeing Charlotte and Svarte and even tentitivly looking forward to the Ski Marathon.

 

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Torrington Christmas Caper

December 23rd, 2012 Alasdair
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Liam and John all clean before the muddy race

The posh mansion we rented over Christmas. It even had a washing up machine!

The River Torridge was over its banks

23rd December 2012. For the Christmas period this year a group of 12 of us are staying in a mansion in Torquay. Selma managed to find the place and it is pretty swish with a billiard room, chandeliers and a sweeping staircase. To avoid the usual over indulgence is was decided that the Christmas break would be an active one with runs, walks and a “Military Fitness Style” session on Chrismas Day. We also booked ourselves into the Torrington Christmas Caper held on the Sunday before Christmas. I have been really looking forward to it because it has a reputation for being very hilly and very very muddy. Sadly I damaged my calf muscle doing a fast little run in Greenwich Park on the Friday morning and was worried about entering it. I decided to go ahead with loads of Ibroprufen gel and a compression bandage. I promised myself to run through discomfort but to stop at pain. There were 350 people at the start and it wasn’t raining, although it had rained heavily the day before. The River Torrige was in full flood.  There was a great local atmosphere with most people knowing each other and a lot of runners dressed as fairies. However even in fancy dress they did look like a serious bunch of runners with quite a few people wearing tee shirts from Ultra Races.  The start gun went at about 1111am and we seemed to run downhill for a long way. That obviously means having to run uphill a long way too. It is a bit disheartening running behind a fairy and not being able to overtake! It wasn’t long before the race began to live up to it’s reputation with fairies and Santa’s wading thigh deep through muddy flooded roads. I like these conditions and my left leg was holding up well so we continued and a moderate pace. The race is only 9.5 miles so the half way jelly babies and water came nice and early. My second jelly baby got splashed with mud but in it went in any case. The second half was more hilly and had a little sting in its tail. At a checkpoint about 8 miles in they directed us over a fence and down what I can only describe as a deep muddy gully with a mini torrent in the bottom.Then there was a pretty tough long climb over soft heavy ground. Bizzarely my bad leg was great but by now my good leg was playing up with exactly the same thing. I wasn’t sure if I could run through it but I reduced the pace a bit and carried on. It finally packed up as I crossed the finish line with John. Now I just hope it will recover quickly so I can enjoy the rest of the Christmas activities

I’m not sure what our time was because we forgot to look but around 1hr 35 minutes seems to be the nearest guess. Thanks to all the organisers and marshalls for making it such a fun race.

We ended up in the Black Horse Torrington for a well earned lunch. Little Anna (3 years) entertained the whole pub by confidently, calmly and clearly explaining that she wants a pink tortoise for Christmas. They wished her luck.

The actual result  was1hr 31min 26 seconds. There seemed to be 215 finishers so I doubt my 350 starter figure was correct.

The full results for the Torrington Christmas Caper are below:

http://files.pitchero.com/clubs/16415/TAACChristmasCaper2012RESULTS.pdf

Posted in Running, South Coast of England | 3 Comments » |

Brantho Kurrox 3 in 1

December 18th, 2012 Alasdair
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My Christmas Preparations – de-rusting the engine block!

As Christmas looms closer and most people are finishing their Christmas shopping or decorating the tree I seem to have decided it is the ideal time to tackle the rust on Sumara’s Kubota engine. Sometimes the saying “If a jobs worth doing it’s worth doing properly” just has to be put aside. There was no way that I was going to take the engine out and get it on a bench so I would have to do the best I could with the engine in situ. In this respect it is not a proper test for this wonder paint – Brantho Kurrox 3 in 1 but it is a realistic one. I normally touch up any rust with some convertor, a bit of metal primer and some Hammerite but I haven’t had the time for the last few years because the boat has been left in Scotland over winter and certain tasks did not happen. The result was a pretty sad looking engine block – cared for internally but a rusty lump externally. This paint looked ideal. It needs no primer or top coat. Just one, two or three coats depending on the harshness of the environment. They recommend it for painting road gritters and give it a 15 year life expectancy with three coats! Furthermore there is no sanding between coats and it goes on like a dream with total obliteration in one coat. I prepped the engine by cleaning with Awlgrip T0340 cleaner and a stiff nylon brush. Wiped down with Blue Roll. Followed by a heavy stainless steel wire brush and some chipping away with an old screwdriver. Then a bit more cleaning and more wire brushing until I got bored. Too be honest I could have carried on for a day or two but actually I spent five hours cleaning and brushing before applying the paint with throw away budget brushes. I found one small corner where I had failed to clean out properly so I will tackle that in the New Year when she will get a second coat. The paint had a great feeling about it, lovely adhesion and good flow out. It can be applied in -10C apparently. The soft sheen is fine with me and means no sanding between coats. There is a gloss additive that you can buy but the joy of this paint is you only need one product so there is less waste. 750 ml cost £17.50 but with VAT and delivery it came to £32.40. I bought it from www.ipcsltd.co.uk but it is made in Germany. We will have to wait until next year to see if it lasts (with my slightly sub-standard preparation) but I am very hopeful. And a Merry Christmas was had by all!

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Visiting Iceland for Christmas?

December 11th, 2012 Alasdair
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Snaefel from Sumara leaving Reykjavik for the Westman Isles

Sadly I’m not spending Christmas in Iceland this year but quite a few of my friends are, so I asked Gudrun if she had any tips. Well Gudrun has come up Trumps with a huge list of sugestions and advice which I have attached below.
Thank you so much for this I’m sure everyone will have a really great time.

“First of all – do not assume “things” will be open from around midday on the 24th until midday 26th – less than 5 years ago there were no or very few restaurants and shops open and the public transport didnt run at all! this is changing, but I dont quite know to what extent, so worth a warning!

As I dont know your interests or timings im just going to brainstorm!!!!

you have probably found these already, but :

www.visitreykjavik.is
http://www.straeto.is/english – these are the busses – maps times etc.
www.reykjavik.is – this is the official reykjavik sight, with all services etc – but allso events (probably the same set as on visitreykjavik.com

My favourite spots in town are
Perlan – nice 180 degree view – self serv caffe where you can get ice-cream – restaurant in the glass “pearl” , which is said to be quite good, dont know about the cost www.perlan.is – then there is a wee “forest” around the building, with paths and short walk down to the sea.
Nauthólsvík – is by the sea beneath the Perlan – there is a this is Reykjavik´s beach and people do go swimming there all year round and there is a special christmas/New Year mega swimming event. there is also a small pool which has an aditional hot spring source . there is also a nice new caffe/restaurant nearby
Harpan – nessesery to view and visit – caffe which im told is fine, and a restaurant, which is grand both food and price!
Hallgrímskirkja – you can go up to the top of the tower – great view and a bit more of the Reykjavik rooftop view than the Perlan.
Grasagardurin, Laugardal ( plus the Zoo) http://www.reykjavik.is/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-4392 – its a bit of a botanic garden and next door is a Zoo (I think a small collection of Icelandic animals rather than a traditional Zoo!!!) but a nice area to walk around, Cafe Flora http://cafeflora.is/?page_id=17 )sorry cant find enlish but this is the location) is an excellent café and do great food and close to one of the large swimming pools and ice-skating ring . a bus ride from the centre.
The National Museum is quite new and nice, with a caffe – its very good on the early history, but:
Árbæjarsafn – the open air museum is better on how Icelanders used to live – got a couple of “mud”-houses and a -church where i got married once up on the time
If you like walking – one can walk from Árbæjarsafn down to Perlan without crossing a road (took me about 2 hours) and then on the coastal path, round the peninsular , past villas and a golf curse, Grótta light house, which you can walk upto on low tide and need to be careful not to get stranded, then along the north coast , all the way to the harbour – or of course you can get the bus to any of those places and do a smaller part of the path.
SwimingPools are I think all good and all heated with geothermal water – most of them are outside
Its lovely to walk around the lake in the centre – surrounded with old houses and some of the older “public art” – and one of the art Galleries
On the eve of the 23rd – Þolláksmessa – all the shops are open til midnight and Laugavegur – the old shopping street is closed to traffic and heaving with people, walking, singing, shopping, playing instruments, possibly giving away hot chocolate. there is usually “classical concert” on the balcony of “Sólon Íslandus” ( a caffé close to the town centre end of the street)

restaurants – caffes http://www.restaurants.is

Sægreifinn – www.saegreifinn.is by the harbour – definitely worth a visit! got a great story to it
http://www.forrettabarinn.is/ – these seam like icelandic sushi – small tasty tasters – easy going surrounding
www.vegamot.is has been suggested to me as a fun/good bistro
Cafe Paris in the centre is one of the older ones and is steady good
Grandakaffi – Grandavegi 10 on the harbour – this one is one of my old favourites – it has not changed since the 70´s 80´s – uesd to open at 5 in the morning and only fishermen and eccentrics go there, but it has a great view of the fishing boats and more active part of the harbour – do old fashioned cakes and “kleinur” – also open sandwiches
Mokka kaffi – http://www.mokka.is/Mokka.html is also one of the old favourites – tiny – usually full of old eccentrics form the art scene – the nations favourite for “hot chocolate and waffles with jam and cream”
Laundromat Cafe | Austurstræti 9, 101 Reykjavík – a bit trendy, arty – based on a Danish concept and has a laundrette and a children’s playground in the basement
Geysi- http://www.geysirbistrobar.is/ this is in one of the old houses in the old centre and I think very popular and reasonably prised – there are lots in thos old houses but I dont know them – some are quite expensive, but probably good – one is opposite where I am staying and I have only been in for a glas of wine called :
Fjalarkötturinn www.fjalakotturinn.is – nice bar area atmos
Fiskfélagið – www.fiskfelagid.is has been suggested to me, but I havent been – “the fishing association”
Þrír Frakkar – http://3frakkar.com – “three overcoats” – this is one of the steady good ones – set up by one of our Jamy Olivers and has been at the top for a long while, but i am told quite reasonably prised

food:
hangikjöt – smoked lamb – must
Icelandic lamb is usually very very nice
Kjötsúpa ö is the traditional lamb stew – not easy to come by in restaurants, but worth a try if you do
fish is usually good and cooked well, but probably just as expensive as meat
a lot of places do really good substantial soups – like seafood soups, with nice bread,
Sigin Skata – Skate – this refers to a dish which is nowadays pretty much only cooked on the 23rd of Dec and stinks like ammoniac – definitely acquired taste, but an absolut must yearly experience for a lot of Icelanders.
Shark – this is at the top of the things that might stretch your tolerance! – i would say worth a try!!!
Soured whale – less smelly and not a very strong taste – more of a texture
Dry fish – I like it just with a bit of butter – very dry and a bit blunt first, but gets tastier as you chew!
then there are Haggis and Black pudding type of things called Lifrapylsa and Blóðmör
Svið – Sheap heads – these are my favoured, but I have not been able to get any of my english friends to even try.

But seriously – Generally I think the food here is excellent quality, a cuisine that has been developed from lots of different cuisines – probably a bit of a “fusion” – there are Italian, Chines, Indian, Thai, Argentinian, etc. but you might not just stumble upon one – might need to ask.

Kolaportid – is a flee market in the centre, by the harbour – only open on weekends and i dont know how its open over the
Also by the harbour is a “hot-dog bar” called “Bæjarinns bestu” “the best in town” – pilgrimage !

the art Galleries are all good an worth a visit if you are interested.

For icelandic wool or knitting there are lots of shops for that, but Handprjónasambandið – Skólavörðustígur 19 is the one Icelanders use most – “the association of hand knitters” and is in a way the most old fashioned, but always has all the colours that are produced and I think the most compatible prise, and all knitted in Iceland, still have the sort of “home-made” stamp on them – some of the other shops are selling machine knitted stuff from eastern Europe and China!!!

there are some day tours from Reykjavík, but you as the daylight is a bit limited at this time of the year, one needs to make sure they fit within that time as driving in the dark is not of much interest at all.

the northern lights have been quite jolly here in the autumn, but I dont know what the expectations for the christmas periods are, there is a site that is a bit like weather report – but i cant find it just now.

Blue Lagoon is really rather special, quite expensive, but unique and would go well with a set of northern lights”

From Gudrun x

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Sumara Laid up for the Winter

December 1st, 2012 Alasdair
0

Laid up at Chichester 2012-2013

Sumara was lifted out at Chichester Marina on 23rd November. It was my intention to get her back to London and haul out at South Dock Marina but sadly they said it was full. Strangely when I cycle past there seems to be loads of space.
My mast was accidently taken out a week too early to my surprise. I always like to be around during any lifting operation but it seemed to have taken place without mishap. The boat lift was smooth and professional and Sumara was lowered gently into a really solid cradle. The staff sometimes lift 16 boats a day which seems incredible. I was surprised to see the amount of masts left standing. That doesn’t happened in Scotland! I have to varnish my mast each year but I really believe all masts should come down each year. I remove all the rigging and inspect it from end to end. All the split pins are replaced with new ones and all the running rigging is washed. The mast is then placed on my own trestles and coved in a heavy canvas cover. You can see it just behind the boat. In effect no wear and tear takes place for four months of the year and everything is checked. That’s got to be a good thing.
The engine oil has been changed and I have run antifreeze through the block in a closed loop. I have forgotten to top up the diesel tank but I will when I go down next week. The engine block has got rather rusty mainly due to a constantly leaking water pump. It is a Johnson pump and the engineers tried out four new pumps and eventually gave up. It cools the engine fine but drips constantly. If anyone knows how to solve this I would be very grateful to hear. In the meantime I will give the engine a good going over with a wire brush and some rust proof paint. I’ve looked at POR15 but it looks over the top. I may try Brantho-Korrux “3 in 1″ and see how I get on.
The inside of the boat has been cleaned with a mixture of processes starting with fresh water, then Dettox and finally Ambercleanse Foam Cleaner. I like to have a large roll of Blue Roll to hand. The bilge is completely dry now but may get grubby after the engine clean and repaint. The aft bilges will be repainted in the spring. The whole boat is covered with a heavy cotton canvas cover. It amazes me how people buy rubbish sweaty plastic dross from BandQ and tie it over their pride and joy. In the first breeze the eyelets pull out and they flap like mad. My cover does need renewing now but it is 15 years old and has saved the boat so much wear and tear that it has been a very good investment. I use an aluminium scaffolding ridge pole as the weight of heavy snow is too much for timber sandwhich battens. Key Clamps and plastic end stops make up the support posts. It is a very tough frame and capable if withstanding storm force winds.
I will off load my wonderful Aqua 70 chain chain onto a pallet. It looks as good as new with no rust signs.
I have special winter wash board with extra ventilation holes. It means I can varnish the other ones at home and the boat is well aired. I will put a small tube heater with a thermostat on board just to keep the worst of the cold away.
Snug as a bug.

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