A New Tack

Well, the snow came back! When the spring finally comes it will be with a rush. Last week saw a visit to the Pirate's Cave. Some more anchor chain was purchased and a Fisherman anchor ordered, the better to deal with kelpy bottoms in the Scottish anchorages.


Whilst web browsing on the subject of circumnavigations like this one being planned, I came across an account by Mike Fellowes about his trip round the UK in his cutter "Kes" in aid of the RNLI. What a good idea! See sailtales.co.uk/ So I decided to link this cruise to a fundraise for this excellent cause. A letter to the area fundraising manager has resulted in some very good advice and help. I have opened a page on http//www.justgiving.com/UKCruise and am looking forward to receiving forms and advertising material from the RNLI.

After the Snow

The snow has gone, so over to the boat, not seen for a month. The tarpaulin is doing its job. On checking the mast lights, it seems that the problem with the steaming light is not the wiring, but a dud bulb, which simplifies things.

The Admiralty chart folio for the East Coast of Ireland has come, and I have been genning up on ports and creating waypoints. There are some interesting websites with plenty of information, so I'm making up my own pilot book. Better than shovelling snow!

Now I'm thinking of moving directly from Scilly to the Wexford area, avoiding what could be a problematic Bristol Channel sector. The Irish coast is a richer and less challenging environment than the eastern side of the Irish Sea. The likelihood of westerlies is high, and therefore one should avoid a lee shore where possible. It opens up Dublin as a possible crewchange location, with its good rail, sea and air links.

Early preparations.

As usual the boat is on the hard, wrapped up for the winter. This time the mast is down in order to carry out some rewiring. No serious work is planned apart from that.

At home charts have been procured, mostly Admiralty Leisure Folios, and various websites scoured for ideas and information. The usual suspects have been apprised of the plan. A spare 120AH battery is sitting under the desk, powering the Garmin plotter. In due course it will be carried as a spare on board. Some time ago I came across a Cruising Association Handbook, and more recently, the latest edition of the Forth Yacht Club's Handbook, both in charity shops. They are both a mine of info. I intend to get hold of similar pilot book(s) for the Scottish West Coast. Other useful sources of information are http://ports.org.uk/ and http://marinas.com/ .

The Garmin GPSMAP 555 is a fine tool. Combining Google Earth with the plotter and charts gives one a very fair idea of the coastal topography, and is great fun. All potential stopover ports and anchorages are on my little list.

We carry Navtex and of course VHF. Next spring there will be a laptop, so the internet will be available for weather forecasts wherever we can find WIFI coverage, as well as the usual marina offerings.

Starting up.

This is the start of what I hope will be an informative log of next year's cruise round Britain. I have long wanted to sail the west coast of Scotland, and had the ambition to go throught he Caledonian Canal. This year, after an enjoyable cruise along the South Coast to Brixham and back it occurred to me that that was roughly a third of the distance we would need to cover in a trip round the UK. Having digested that, it then became clear that if I wished to do just that, it would have to be done fairly soon at my age. So now I'm at the stage of having decided to do it and am gathering information and setting the broad outline of the plan. The idea is to set out in early May and travel leisurely, spending time in interesting places and taking perhaps three months.

Pepsand is in good order, and needs little work to bring her up to scratch. Charts have been obtained and a preliminary survey of UK ports carried out. The idea is to sail clockwise, but the detail has to be decided in view of conditions at the time. As for crew, it is comfortable with three, and ok with four, and there are plenty of joining points. A preliminary list would include Portsmouth, Weymouth, Plymouth, Falmouth, Fishguard, Holyhead, Belfast, Oban, Inverness, Edinburgh, and Scarborough. Crew are lined up for the Belfast - Oban leg, and for the canal.



This is Pepsand tied up to the new harbour wall beside the Brixham Y C last July.