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Moffat in the Van
31st January 2023 We can make the journey from London to Oban, and vise versa, in one hit, but only if we leave at 06:00 prompt. I had to go up to the boat in Dunstaffnage (near Oban) to do one specific job. I would have stayed on longer to tinker but after I finished…
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Rudders, Tillers and Self-Steering Gear – Part Three
9th February 2023 Servo Pendulum and other Self-Steering Gear I suppose it must have been the 1995 Earls Court London Boat Show when I bought my Windpilot Self-Steering gear. Those were the days when you could browse amongst the various suppliers and compare and contrast, before getting completely slaughtered at the Guinness stand. Did you…
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Rudders, Tillers and Self-Steering Gear – Part Two
7th February 2023 Trim Tab Self-Steering Last week I had intended to just post a short piece about the repair I have just made to my rudder hangings. Then I got a bit carried away and went on (and on) about rudders in general. That spurred Bruce Morley to drop me a line about his…
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Rudders, Tillers and Self-Steering Gear – Part One
2nd February 2023 Reading Time 10 Minutes Rudders and Tillers in general My Rudder Repair I have always regarded Sumara’s rudder as being pretty bullet-proof. It pivots on a strong bronze fitting with a 3/4″ pintle at its base. It has two sets of heavy bronze castings with a long 3/4″ bronze bolt linking them…
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South Dock Marina Berths Now 100% Residential
26th January 2023 Yesterday I attended a Southwark Council Planning meeting so that I could make use of a three minute slot to voice my objection to the following proposal: TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 (AS AMENDED)Town And Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (as Amended)Our Reference: 22/AP/3036Site address: South Dock Marina…
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Tanks and Containers
6th January 2023 Reading Time: Twelve Minutes On Sumara I need to carry three liquids in bulk – Water, Diesel and Paraffin. These are stored in fixed tanks which are supplemented with portable containers. Over the 32 years that I have owned Sumara I have learned a few lessons and picked up a few tricks.…
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Happy New Year everyone! 2023
December 27th 2022 I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and are now enjoying a well deserved rest. At times like this we often look back on the year that is about to slip away. For a while, I felt like 2022 was a bit of a failure after I decided not to…
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Shorne Woods Country Park – Darnley Trial
21st November 2022 I was going to go for a cold swim in the docks with Jannicke but I got so stressed out trying to book in on the Actio app that I eventually gave up. I had wasted so much time frigging about that I was now too late to join the Military Outdoor…
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Marlow Half Marathon 2022
6th November 2022 This wasn’t going to be an easy race for me. We had been gallivanting in the West Country and then we popped over to Ireland for a few days. No time for running, but we did manage to “Carb Up” the evening before. Not too sure if that counts as training. Grit…
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The Royal Irish Yacht Club – Giving a talk on sailing to Jan Mayen
3rd November 2022 – Dun Laoghaire I was invited to give a talk about my expedition to Jan Mayen to members of the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Any excuse to visit Ireland is very welcome so I grabbed at the chance. I don’t like flying unless it is really essential and as there is a…