Sumara of Weymouth Blog

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

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.

One of the Solent’s Forts

Jet Skis frolicking while the “Strong Wind Warnings” were being issued. Hardly a puff of wind.

The Lovely Brimble off Osbourne Bay

Brawns Restuarant in Cowes with Selma and Grit

The Hovercraft off Ryde

Log ? 6th-7th October 2012
The journey to Cowes from London is rather spoiled by the poor link between the train and the ferry. I get the impression that Southampton would rather you stayed in town instead of spending your money on the Isle of Wight. In theory there is a free bus link between the train and the boat but there is no timetable to be found anywhere and even the bus drivers can’t say if the service is still running. The local taxis milk it for all its worth. It is all a bit of a shame because it adds just that extra hassle which makes leaving the Good Ship at Cowes too much like hard work. Still the boat ride is always fun. The slow boat leaves you in East Cowes, handy for East Cowes Marina, but as it takes about an hour it is only worth it during the daylight when you can enjoy the views. The high speed ferry ends up in West Cowes but costs more, actually it is really expensive. As usual there are a highly complex series of secretive deals to be had. None of which you will find if you use the automatic ticket machines. So to sum up, I left work at 1815LT and got to the rather clinical “Lifeboat” pub by the marina at 1045LT. That is an average speed of 14 miles an hour, about cycling pace.

We had a busy schedule for Saturday. I said I would look over a 38ft Swan with a friend of mine in the morning so the Water Taxi came to pick me up at 10am. A fine Swan she was too with lots of loving care put into her. The only negative bit was the mast step which is so often the case on lots of yachts. I suppose water will inevitably gets down the mast and with a keel stepped mast it is in a rather enclosed area ripe for a bit of corrosion. All repairable I am sure. Otherwise lots of new gizmos and lovely new teak deck and a new engine. My friend is now thinking about buying it!
After seeing the yacht, Grit and I went for a run from Cowes to Newport and back along the cycle path. It is a nice shady run but a bit flat for my liking. The best bit is towards the end when you can divert along a nice dirty trial by the River Medina. Our speed was pretty apalling at 9.33 minutes per mile over 7.57 miles. That would be a very slow half marathon.
We just finished the run in time to spot Brimble on the AIS entering Cowes so we waited to greet them before going for a shower. The East Cowes Marina was packed with Challenger Boats so Brimble had to snuggle in behind them. There is a bit of tide that runs through the marina and one poor yacht really fouled up trying to get into a near impossible guest berth. I felt a bit sorry for them.
Once we were showered, Selma and John and Grit and I headed to the bright lights of Cowes City Centre. As we are doing the Henley Half Marathon next week, in theory we shouldn’t be tanking back the beers but somehow we got a bit carried away and had a fairly boozy night. We had a great tapas/pizza meal in Brawns. Grit and I ate there the week before and would recommend it. John told us of the MayDay they had heard that afternoon. It was text book perfect, very calm with all the details, there was a man overboard in Osbourne Bay. The coastguard couldn’t make contact with them and asked other boats to see if they could help. After a fair while of MayDay Silence etc a yacht called in to say they had seen a training yacht in Osbourne Bay practising Man Overboard! Oh Dear, he must have pushed in the transmit button! All a bit embarrasing.
In the morning Brimble and Sumara left together at 0800LT to catch the east going tide. The sun was out but there wasn’t much wind. However there was enough to move and we weren’t in a hurry. Brimble peeled off North to the Hamble after an hour and we carried on, having to use the motor from time to time. As we ghosted along we listened to the usual strong wind warnings coming from the Met Office. It was like a lovely summer day as we neared Chichester Beacon and headed up the channel over the bar. We eventually moored in a very tight spot on a very very short pontoon in Chichester Yacht Basin at about 1600. It might end up being my last sail of the year. The boat is being lifted on the 23rd November. Awe.

Kerry and Alexander in the Solent

The Team Photo on the Folly Pontoon

Ella definately has not been eating ice cream. Our youngest crew member.

Now I know where Terry got his hat idea from – the lovely Lotte!

Rendezvous with the Good Ship Brimble

The Waverley Paddle Steamer off Cowes

Log ?? 22nd September 2012
The forecast was for a delightful Saturday and a beastly Sunday so I decided it may be best to make the most of the good day and give Sunday a complete miss. My nephew, Alexander and his girlfriend, Kerry were to be my crew. Alexander had sailed with me to Scotland in 2010 but had little other yachting experience and it was all new to Kerry. We arrived in Lymington on the Friday evening and ate in the packed restuarant in Lymington Yacht Harbour. The food was great and the atmosphere was like a ski resort cafe, busy and noisy with everyone having fun. In the morning we prepared the boat and went through the safety procedures before heading out to Jack in the Basket where we hoisted the sails. It was a F4 Easterly but the tide was fair and we were in no hurry to cover the ten miles to Cowes. My friend John was sailing on Brimble with some of his work colleagues. We picked them up on our AIS and after a chat on the mobile decided to rendezvous near Portsmouth. This was a good plan because Cowes was getting near and it was only noon. It was good to see the Waverley Paddle Steamer off Cowes, a wonderful sight. We tacked gently across the Solent dodging the other yachts. I wasn’t used to so many boats after my three years up north so it was fun explaining the colision rules to Alexander and Kerry, who were probably suitably bored but there was nowhere for them to escape to. We made our rendezvous with Brimble near Ryde and took a few photos of each others yachts. Eventually we turned down-wind with the tide now ebbing towards Cowes where we would moor together at the Folly Inn. After a few minutes my mobile rang and it was Torsten! He was on the Red Funnel Ferry with Lotte and Ella heading for Cowes and just wondered if we were around. We certainly were! Torsten had been the the Southamton Boat Show with his children but they were getting bored so he took them on a boat ride. We picked them up at East Cowes Marina and all six of us trundled up the Medina to the Folly where we moored next to Brimble. Torsten was just going to stay for an hour but we eventually persauded him that there was ample room on John’s Twister for three more guests. We all went on the river taxi to the Folly Inn for a few beers and a nice meal. The usual dancing on the tables was taking place big time by about 9pm – not by us of course.
In the morning the rain started as per the forecast and there was a stiff breeze from the east. Brimble headed back to the Hamble and we pottered down to East Cowes Marina and caught the ferry home. Next week I think Grit and I will go down to the boat to do some running training on Tennyson Downs.

Terry describes the Jurasic Coast to Nicky

Anchored in Swanage

You can see the narrow calm patch of water if you keep close to the St Aldhelms Head. On Terry’s advice – don’t try it West bound!

We weren’t going to waste our biscuits by tossing them on the beach.

Terry said he would sail much closer to St Aldhelms Head if it was his boat but it felt pretty close to me.

Log ??? 15th September 2012
I took the train to Weymouth with Nicky, a good friend of Grits. Nicky had completed her Competent Crew course in 2010 but hadn’t had much of an opportunity to use it after a planned voyage had fallen through. Terry Newman, who built Sumara and lives in Weymouth, would join us in the morning. I normally leave my almanac on the boat so I hadn’t had a chance to check the bridge opening times whilst in London. It wasn’t until 0900 in the morning when I realised that we needed to catch the 1000am opening or we would have to wait until 1200. It ended up a bit of a rush. Sumara attract a lot of attention and I had some visitors. Sadly I didn’t have much time to chat. Arthur Meech who had a nice wooden ketch called Noella in the harbour called over to say hello. A bit later Mike Patrick, who helped Terry with the building of Sumara, introduced himself.  Mike did the planking and made an excellent job of it. He thanked me for keeping the varnish up to standard! We couldn’t chat for long or we would miss the bridge. The forecast was for a sunny day with light westerlies. As usual the actual shipping forecast was for stronger winds.
The tide was not going to start to run around St Aldhelms Head until 1700 LT so we had plenty of time to slowly sail along the Jurasic Coast with Terry giving us a fascinating commentry. Nicky and Terry did all the helming and I made all the tea. We saw a couple of groups “Coasteering”. This was a new phrase to me until Alexander, my newphew, told me of his exploits. He has sent me a link to his very professional video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OVXsgXUdr0&feature=results_video .

I think you get the idea- it looks great fun.
Interestingly we were a bit early to round the headland but the tide turned about one hour before prediction so our timing was fine. There is a nasty race off St Aldhelm’s but Terry assured me that GOING EASTWARDS it is fine to sail a biscuits toss from the beach and avoid the bad water. We were nearing springs so it could have been a bit nasty to get it wrong. Terry is 81 years old now and has sailed and canoed along the coast all his life so there is a very reassuring feeling as we are whisked past the cliffs at close range. I normally go the long way round!
We rounded Durlston Point and then left the buoy marking Peveril Point on the port and turned up into the wind to head for Swanage Bay. The yacht heeled right over at this point and Nicky was calmly reassured by Terry that this was a normal sailing angle! Sumara does heel rather easily but it is so normal to me that I foget to warn new crew. We rounded up, dropped the sails and pottered over to a nice space to drop the massive Rocna anchor in 4m of water. For some reason I have never anchored in Swanage before even though I used to come on holiday here every year of my childhood. After a nice supper Nicky and I pumped up the Avon dighy and rowed ashore. We wandered out to the fishermans cottages that I used to stay in as a child and then had a pint before rowing back to the boat in total darkness.
The tidal gateway for Sunday was, of course, the Needles Channel. On spring tides this gate is firmly shut if you get there late. We aimed to arrive at Hurst Castle at 0900 LT to give us one hour to spare. It meant an early start. The shipping forecast was giving a F5-7 westerly but it never happened and we needed the motor to assist us most of the way in order to arrive on time. The tide is truly fierce at Hurst Castle and we were swepted past at about 8 kn. Soon all settled down and we headed for Jack in the Basket beacon before mouching up the river to Lymingtom Marina. (about £27.00 per night).
It is really nice that when we arrived a kind man came over to help with the ropes, as it happened all went smoothly and we didn’t need the assistance but I liked the gesture. Futhermore a few minutes later a very kind lady called Fiona and offered to drive Terry to the station! In fact she ended up driving Nicky and me to the station which was a fantastic help. Meeting helpful and generous people like this make sailing so worthwhile.
I hope our little trip refreshed Nicky’s training. I’m sure she must of learned a lot from Terry – I always do!
We arrived back in London early in the evening after a lovely weekend.

28th August 2012 Log 8773

We sat on the boat on Monday evening in Dartmouth wondering if the weather would improve. It was wet and squally, well very wet and squally. The forecast was poor, SW 4-5 but 5-7 later, although the grib files showed a good chance of a pleasant sail in mainly force 4 SW to S until at least 2100 GMT. We decided to get up at 0330 GMT to give the weather a final check and then set off in the dark. It all looked good when we woke so we donned our gear and thought how to extricate ourselves from a 27ft long mooring in a 26ft long boat with a running tide. With a big push we set off quietly down river with a fair tide beneath us. The sky was star lit and the sea relatively calm. We hoisted the main, stay and yankee and got underway. The wind was mainly behind us so we dropped the stay and poled out the Yankee to achieve the desired 4kn in order to catch the tide at Portland at 1500. It is always good to see dawn and after an our or so we were once again the only yacht to be enjoying the day. Actually quite a few yachts eventually took the opportunity to head east while they could and about five yachts overhauled us across Lyme Bay. Amazingly three of the yachts were under power, two with tightly hauled mainsails and one with no sail at all. If you are not sailing with a force four up your stern what exactly are you waiting for?!
Sadly no dolphins or whales but just a cracking good sail across the bay. We hoisted the genoa (which needed drying in anycase) and were making 5-6 kn for a good while. As we approached the Bill, bang on time, the wind picked up a bit so I unhanked the genoa and put the Yankee back up, this time without the pole as the wind had backed 20 degrees. I had decided to take the cautionary approach and go outside the race and the Shambles. With a good tide this was a good ploy as when we turned into Weymouth we once again had the wind on the beam and maintained 5 kn. I tucked away the mainsail 15 minutes before getting to the harbour mouth and continued under Yankee eventually arriving in perfect time for the 1800 LT bridge opening.

Log 8826

This morning it is raining very heavily and Terry rang to say he wouldn’t make our meet up for tea. I had forgotten Terry is no longer driving and the weather was hopeless for a long wait for a bus. We made up for it with a good long chat on the phone and he kindly offered to give the boat a good air while I leave it here for a couple of weeks.

Next week, of course, is the famous Cholsey Classics, where up to three highly tuned clinker 8ft dinghies compete for the reknowned Cholsey Cup.

The approach to Dartmouth from the castle

Another appalling day of constant rain and strong winds so we decided to go for a walk out around the headland. We visited the very highly recommended Alf Resco cafe but it was packed with queues on the street so we had to give it a miss.

Dartmouth’s Alf Resco Cafe

We stopped off to look at the church en route to the castle with some fine stain glass.

Stain Glass in the Church near Dartmouth Castle

As it was still bucketing down we went to look around Dartmouth Castle  too (£4.80). A chain used to be rigged from here to stretch across the harbour mouth to prevent enemy ships entering the harbour. Then we pushed on around the cliff path to Little Dartmouth. A great two hour hill walk but a little muddy on this occassion. Once we returned to Dartmouth we treated ourselves to a massive cream tea in the Sloping Deck Cafe. It is our intention to sail in the morning when we are hoping for a short weather break so we bought some nosh and tried to get a river taxi back to Sumara. Alas they were not to be found. After a soaking wait of three quaters an hour the boat eventually arrived and dropped us off with a big wood cracking broadside ram! Just a little slower with the mooring would have been so much better. Oh well, better get ready for the early morning sail.

The Very Impressive TR2 Workshops

TR2 Paint Frame

As we were in Plymouth Grit and I thought it would be really nice to visit the TR2 centre which is the impressive workshop base for the Theatre Royal Plymouth. We phoned Julie Perrin who is actually a freelance scenic artist who leases the large paint frame. TR2 was immediately very impressive, new, and on a grand scale. To cover the obviously high overheads of the centre, they take on outside contracts. The wardrobe department were working on a show in Copenhagen. Many of Cameron Mackintosh’s shows are built or part built here and the Theatre Royal often opens shows prior to them moving to the West End. Julie Perrin is one of the country’s most skillfull scenic artists and is kept very busy. Curently she is working on Mathew Bournes new Sleeping Beauty designed by Les Brotherston. This show will open in Plymouth prior to moving to Sadlers Wells. TR2 centre looks like a brilliant place to work with large spacious workshops and some really nice quality work. I was very impressed by the quality of a plywood cove piece built with great prescision. Well done to whoever had the vision to create this valuable asset to British technical theatre.

Beautiful Lines!
A large ship manoeuvres amongst the yachts in Falmouth

Log 8710. Distance approximately 40nm.

Again the forecast was slightly uncertain. The shipping forecast said SW force 6-7 later but I could see no sign of it troubling our trip. The grib files showed light winds for at least 24 hours. So we decided to leave at 0645 GMT. Baro 1004. There wasn’t enough wind to sail to begin with but by 0900 we hoisted the mainsail and it began to fill. By 1000 we were gently sailing along on a calm sea with hazy sunshine. Soon the wind grew to to a nice southerly F3 and we were making 4 kn. The barometer is gently falling but by now we were rounding Rame Head ready for a goosewinged sail up to Plymouth. We decided to head for Plymouth because Grit needed to get back to work in London and Gudrun was to join the good ship. The train links are good from Plymouth although it was a shame to sail past the Fowey regatta week! We moored up in Plymouth Yacht Haven at 1733 GMT. Cost £48.00 for three nights – not too bad. Log 8744