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Teak Decks
20th July 2014 South Dock, London Sumara’s teak decks are, like the good ship, 24 years old. In general I would say they are doing pretty well but they were beginning to look a little sad and dried out. Each year I replace quite a few plugs with new ones held in with resorcinol glue.…
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Windsor Triathlon
15th June 2014 This was an on/off event for me. My crunchy arm had prevented me from swimming and there was so much going on that it all seemed very doubtful that I would make it to the start line. However, three weeks ago I decided to go for it and booked myself some swimming…
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Arthur Beale Yacht Chandler Shaftesbury Avenue
194 Shaftesbury Avenue, London 11th May 2014 I haven’t updated the Sumara blog for a while because I have been rather busy. Well it is always busy getting Sumara ready to go back in the water but this year something has made it double busy. Gerry and I seem to have bought Arthur Beale Ltd,…
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Pulks
April 2014 Sweden Being in Sweden they should really be called Pulkka (from the Finnish pulkka) but pulks or sledges will do. The one we used was made of wood to a design of one of Svarte’s relatives. The design was so successful that it became part of the Swedish army’s equipment. It was light…
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Kungsleden – a mini Arctic Adventure
March 2014 Sweden Last week we returned from Sweden having spent a week tackling a grand section of the Kungsleden in Arctic Sweden. We managed to miss our flight northwards from Stockholm due to fog delays in London so we arrived to meet Charlotte after a night sitting up on a train from Stockholm to…
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Steyning Stinger – Half Marathon – 2014
2nd March 2014 Grit, Pen, Anthony (Alex), Paul and Alasdair This was the Half Marathon that I had been waiting for. I’ve run it once before and loved it. It is virtually all trials and pretty hilly being based around the South Downs. The first time I ran it, the “Stinger” was pretty dry under…
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Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ-1 Sewing Machine
South Dock 16th February 2014 Proud as Punch having made my first thing using the new Sailrite LSZ 1 Sewing Machine. Not only that, but the bobbin ran out and I managed to re-wind and re-thread it too!The machine has a lovely heavy feel about it, a bit like a paddle steamer engine. It looks…
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Deal Half Marathon 2014
9th February 2014 Deal, Kent This was a bit of an impromptu race. I mentioned to my friend Philip who was up in London last week that I thought there was a half marathon in Deal which could be fun. Philip emailed the next day to say that we were welcome to stay with him…
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More Vertue News! V61 and Vertue 11 V14
2nd February 2014 One day I’ll learn to use this WordPress program properly and then I’ll try to organise all the information regarding Vertues in a nice list with all the sail numbers. In the meantime I’m afraid its all a bit random. Last week I got a nice email from Ben Deveson in Holland who has…
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Vertue Engine and Alternator Sizes
2014 As there seem to be a few Vertue Owners logging in I thought it might be useful to describe Sumara’s engine and the charging arrangement and to open up some thoughts as to the ideal horse power for a Vertue. I seem to remember coming across one Vertue with a 20 hp engine and I…