Destructive Testing of a Nic
Paris
SRBI
Sea Bunny
A Mobile Home in Greece

'Lucrece' is a Nicholson 32 that was built of Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) on a wooden skeleton in 1963 and commissioned in 1964. She is proudly owned and skippered by Alan Waller, the original 'Hansom Cabby'. He and I, 'The Decrepit Mariner' had been enjoying a cruise in the waters between the Channel Islands and the French coast.

11th August 2006. We had relaxed in Dielette for a couple of days, eating giant moules and the weather outside had been a bit rough but we wanted to join 'Sea Holly' in Cherbourg so we did a passage plan for an early start the next day. The harbour master said we would be able to clear the sill at 0730 so that fixed our slip time. The rough conditions had been caused by a low going East up the Channel following several days of high pressure but by morning it should have reached Dover. We were experiencing the highest tide of the year, 12m, and at high tide we could see Cap de la Hague over the harbour wall, a novel experience.

12th August 2006. Engine on and slipped at 0730. Cleared the sill OK and tied up to the refuelling pontoon. Us and the pontoon were lurching about a bit and Alan questioned the wisdom of setting sail. I had sailed in these waters with Janet on 'Knight's Challenge' in much rougher conditions than this so I said it would be fine. Having refuelled we cast off and hoisted the main. The wind was North North West about Force 4 so we would be motor sailing into it until Cap de la Hague. Out of the Harbour and on our way. Alan went below and rustled up some bacon sandwiches.

As we rounded Cap de la Hague we were well into the race and the wave amplitude and frequency increased. With our change of angle to the wind our sail filled and powered us forward. We were doing a good 6 knots through the water. Alan said "What's that?" as a scream broke through the sound of the wind. "Don't worry" I said, "It's the prop racing when it's out of the water". Something to do with the governor on the engine being caught out by the sudden drop in load and still applying power to a prop with nothing better to do than whisk air! A glance at the GPS showed we were doing 14 knots over the ground.

I was gripping the top of the spray-hood with my left hand and the tiller with my right and ducking my head down as we went through the waves. It was at this point that we took off and dived into the trough. We hit the base of the next wave with a horrendous bang and with my head down I could see under the water through the spray-hood. A piece of wood clattered in the cockpit. Actually it was a locker lid that had broken loose but as the helm was very light, with our stern out of the water, I thought the rudder had fallen off! Glancing below I could see that the heavy sliding door between the saloon and the heads had come off and was at a strange angle. Also water was pouring in from all sorts of places. Not really built to do service as a submarine 'Lucrece' shuddered and surfaced. A quick check revealed that Alan was still alive and appeared to be hanging onto a winch. "Do you think the GPS recorded our height?" I asked.

I altered course to port so that we would be at an angle to the waves and found myself closing on a French yacht under full sail. I altered course some more to pass astern of her. "Where are you going now?" Alan demanded. "I'm avoiding this yacht" I replied, nodding in her direction. Alan looked and saw her for the first time. Her helm gave us a cheery wave, we waved back, maybe not so cheerily. We maintained a cautious angle with the sea and, apart from being thrown about quite a bit, had no further serious incidents and actually made it into the Western entrance of Cherbourg ahead of our sailing companion.

I have never seen Alan so pleased to arrive anywhere. I had no sooner got a warp from our mid-deck cleat to the pontoon cleat than he had turned off the engine, filled in the log and limped off in the direction of 'Sea Holly' for a cup of tea. Time: 1200, 32Nm in 4.5 hours. 'Sea Holly' were very welcoming, they transmogrified into a transport café and served a massive fry-up and mugs of tea. Just what we needed.

We spent the next few days clearing up. Glass bottles of wine and beer had been stored beneath the fore-peek bunk on the starboard side, about 12 were broken and glass had gone up the side of the boat and landed on the bunk. About 12 cans of beer had exploded and so had a few cans of soft drinks. The fore-peek floor was broken and Alan's gear was soaked in beer and sea water. Most of Alan's glasses, that he had had as long as the boat, were smashed so the saloon locker was also full of broken glass.

14th August 2006. 0910 engine on, slipped Cherbourg heading for St Vaast. The wind was a bit variable so although we did sail we kept needing the engine. Arrived at St Vaast OK and Alan took the helm as is his want. We went right in looking for a space and turned heading back and decided to go against an end boat and raft out. The tide was taking us out. Alan said "This will impress you. I will go astern against the tide and ferry glide in". Bang! What I thought Alan said was "I've lost the plot!" What he actually said was "I've lost the prop!" I shouted to some people sitting on a gin palace to take our lines. They put down their books and drinks and came towards us but we drifted past out of reach. They returned to their seats and resumed reading and drinking as they were before they had been so rudely interrupted. Alan shouted to some people on the next pontoon. "We saw you in a pub in Yarmouth" they shouted back, "How have you been getting on?" They took our lines and made us fast before continuing the conversation. 1330 engine off, 23Nm.

A mechanic from the local boat yard came to have a look. Much drawing in of breath through puckered lips and between the teeth! (International mechanics language for very expensive). The aqua drive had exploded. This was because the engine mounts were broken and the engine was out of line! He put all the bits in a plastic bag and he and Alan went off to the workshop where he emptied the bag onto the bench. All the other mechanics gathered round to have a look, this was accompanied by even more drawing in of breath. "Can you fix it?" Enquired Alan. "But of course" they replied.

Over the next few days they built a temporary repair out of what they could salvage from the boat, what they could find in their workshop and other bits they had to buy. Eventually they came and installed their masterpiece and tried it out. It worked. Ce bon. They advised us to use it sparingly!

19th August 2006. 0700 engine on, slipped St Vaast heading for Chichester. Set full sail and turned the engine off as soon as possible. Poled out the Genoa and goose-winged for 7.5hrs which took us 39Nm. The wind dropped so we were forced to use the engine again. We put the auto helm on as well and relaxed a bit for the next three hours which took us another 16Nm. Then the wind picked up and it was engine off and a reef in the headsail. We arrived at the West Pole under sail in the dark at 2200 having covered anointer 25Nm and turned the engine on again. We had put the Bar Beacon in as a waypoint when we left St Vaast so it was good to actually see it. Motor sailed through Chichester harbour in the dark and got the sails down before heading for the lock. I had been on the helm most of the time and left Alan to be sail master and deck hand. He had done a wonderful job poling out genoas, reefing and setting sails and now dropping the main and tidying it away. Having called the lock he took the helm and 'Lucrece' was soon tied up to her home berth. 2345 so 16.45hrs and a total of 88Nm. Alan then cooked some supper and I drank the last bottle of beer. We then turned in and I got Alan to promise not to wake me up too early!

Subsequent examination by the boat yard has so far discovered three broken ribs in the bow, damaged bulkhead where the heads door broke loose and the gear box is shot including a cracked main shaft.

You will be pleased to hear that the insurance company has given the boatyard the nod and that repairs are well underway.

John Frederick Futcher (The Decrepit Mariner) 2006

Paris

We crossed the channel in Whisper to Le Havre in 18 hrs. It then took 4 days (le weekend) to find a yard, prepare the boat, and get the mast lifted. There seems to be only one yard in Le Havre who will lift and store a mast. Time could be saved by pre booking - but don't be late - they may charge for the crane hire.

It is recommended that you make for Rouen on one tide - not many places to stop en route - then you can take your time as we did - we spent 8 days in all (Le Havre to Paris) - you could knock 3 days off of this, but you would miss some interesting places, amd remember the locks are closed on French bank holidays (we didn't).

We then spent a glorious week in Paris - plenty of room, everyone seems to go away in August!. We set off down the Seine- which took 6 days - all with the flow of the river (1-2kn) to Amfreville (the last lock) and then most of the way with tide to Le Havre - if you plan it right! 2 days later our mast was back on and Whisper was restored to a (much more stable) sailing vessel.

The whole trip took us 31 days - we covered 663nm from/to Chichester. It is approx 240nm from Le Havre to Paris. Crew - David Norris, Gerry Roper and Jenny Newman - all agree it was different but well worth doing.
Gerry Roper, 2006

The two-handed Shetland Round Britain and Ireland race is described as one of the most demanding courses for a yachtsman, a more varied test of seamanship than its transatlantic counterpart. The 2000 mile course starts at Plymouth, leaving all land to starboard, the Scillies, Ireland, Outer Hebrides, St.Kilda, Shetland Isles and I.O.W. and back to

Plymouth, with 4 compulsory stops at Kinsale, Castlebay on Barra, Lerwick on Scotland and Lowestoft, of 48 hours each. Carole and I had a fair idea of what we might be up against, but I think it did shock her a bit when I said we could not leave the tinned food in unlockable cupboards, in case we turned over, and they did us some damage! I will leave out the first leg in which we were just finding our feet, (and the spinnaker) in really light airs, and arrived last in Kinsale for a very pleasant R&R. But being last in also meant being last out and this put us still on passage to Barra when the storm hit, Apparently they have one of these every four years when the SRBI fleet comes in.

We set off from Kinsale at 19.30 on the 16th June in about 2Okt of breeze and high pressure of 1028, going well for about 12 hours till the wind died and then changed direction, we then flew the spinnaker for about an hour. Over the next 24 hours the wind gradually strengthened again and the barometer dropped to 1005 and then started climbing again.. Two incidents happened during this time. A pigeon came on board for a rest overnight and in the morning I tried to catch him to send him up and on his way, but he ran down towards the companion way, and as he perched on the lee rail, Carole gave him a push. It was Bye Bye Birdie! Do pigeons carry the same curse as an albatross? If so we are in trouble! Later that day Carole slipped down the steps onto her back which was very painful, and we wondered whether she had cracked a rib.

We carried on with our two hours sleep rota's with quite a bit of reefing as the wind went up and down. By the evening of the 19th the wind died again and the swung round behind us (S.W.) and we had a full main and the jib.. I had to jibe off a bit to keep up speed, later jibed back again rather close to a fishing boat. Around that time, 22.00, I tried to contact the coast-guard to give our position (for race control) . During the night we had 6-7 knots ground speed, but were surfing down the waves at 10.6kt. I was loving it but kept falling asleep at the helm so at about 5 a.m., I called Carole up. No sooner I got my head down, the wind got up and I put in a reef, 10 minutes later a second reef, and by 6.30 am, Carole called me up to put in the 3rd reef. With 26kt apparent wind speed from behind, and our boat speed we had a force 7 and I took down the foresail.

After that I have no log records. The wind got stronger and stronger, I managed to get the storm jib on, the main down and tied to the boom as best I could, with big waves all around and lots of spray, the wind and waves coming over our starboard quarter. We were doing 6kt ground speed and the wind never went below 40kt, mostly about 46kt, which I reckon, with our speed added, made about F11. I saw 50kt for a while and still doing over 6 knots ourselves. I had been calling the coastguard on and off for some hours, but by the time we got to Barra Head, passing along a lee shore which we could not see for mist and spray I decided to make it a Pan-Pan and at last a fisherman called Stornaway to say he thought he had heard a faint call. We had contact! He relayed our Pan-Pan, and when I told the C.G. who we were, where we were and what the wind was, although we were perfectly safe and all in one piece, but I was worried about getting into Castlebay, they said they would launch the lifeboat to escort us in. Presumably they knew the weather was worsening still more, plus the chart states that area is very dangerous in south east gales and we had just that! .

Were we glad to see them! Like an orange ray of sunshine through the mist, they checked us out then kept between us and the shore till we crossed the finish line and they told us we would then do a 90 degree turn, bringing the wind on the other quarter and Carole saw for the first time the full extent of the seas. She could barely see the lifeboat to follow it. She had been on the helm for 9 hours apart from a 10 minute loo break. Knight's Challenge behaved beautifully, no problem to helm in those conditions. As we came in we saw a boat leaving, and I said should I warn him how bad it is out there, but we were busy seeing our way in, and theirs is another story. Our lifeboat then had to leave us to dash in to pull one of the other yachts off the rocks where they had been blown, dragging their anchor. Luckily they reached them in 7 minutes and got them off with only a bent rudder, so they were very grateful.

All in all we were very lucky, the wind was in just the right direction, and I think we did everything correctly. The local women told Carole we did the right thing to call the coastguard early, as they hate it when people ask for help too late, and put their men's lives at risk.

Next day, the boat that went out pitch-poled while hove to, and was badly damaged and the lifeboat which went out to them capsized. Apparently Pete Goss who went out with the lifeboat is quoted in one of the papers, saying the conditions were worse than the southern ocean. And people keep trying to tell me it was only a summer gale!

Janet Salisbury, 2006 - to be continued!

SEA BUNNY, our yacht since 1998, left from Chichester in the UK in March 2001 on the first stage of her potential circumnavigation.

Since then she visited the Channel Islands, France, Spain and Portugal before leaving Gibraltar at the end of October 2001 with the Blue Water Rally, taking the tradewinds route through the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and the Pacific Islands to Fiji, where we left the rally in July 2002 and went on to New Zealand.

In 2003 we visited Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia, returning to New Zealand and in 2005 we returned to the South Pacific, visiting all four archipelagos of Tonga then Samoa, Wallis, Fiji and Vanuatu before reaching Australia in November 2005.

For the summer of 2005-6 we cruised down to Sydney, arriving just before Christmas. The weather was too boisterous to continue to Tasmania and the boat developed problems so we spent the summer in Sydney, returning to Scarborough Marina near Brisbane in May. We are have spent most of the winter there returning in November from a six-week trip to the UK, our first in two years.

Much more on our web site - http://www.seabunny.net/

Richard & Susan Kidd, 2006

In 2002 shortly after my mother died, Margaret and I decided that we were now able to look for a BOAT. We had been flotilla sailing many times and had found Greece to be the most pleasant sailing ground. So much warmer that UK waters, picturesque harbours, wonderful bays in which to anchor, friendly people, food acceptable (fantastic vegetables if one is to eat on board) and, in the Ionian, comfortable sailing with little wind in the morning but a good blow in the afternoon calming at dusk so that your gin and tonic is not spilt when at anchor for the night.

How does one find your boat in Greece? We decided the only sensible course of action was to contact as many brokers as we could and ask them to find the type we required. In our case a motor sailer of about 40 feet with good "live aboard" accommodation and within our budget. After about a month we had a selection of seven to consider.

After looking at 2 boats on Corfu, one a Nauticat, nice boat but I could not have done business with the owner.

The other a steel boat made by the owners yard to his own design and rather like a 'tank. Neither of which were to our liking. (The third boat, which we had planned to inspect, was away cruising.)

We caught the ferry back to the mainland and rode to Athens…..on the way getting separated and both spending some time and miles riding around Athens and Piraeus, but both ending up at the same Hotel…which was full!!

In the marinas around Athens we saw 4 more vessels, none were exactly what we really wanted so we decided to cross the Corinth Canal and go sightseeing instead of getting more and more confused trying to agree on which boat to buy.

Once over Corinth Canal onto the Peloponese the motorbike riding was superb, with reasonable roads and very very little traffic. We visited Olympia,Epidavros, Mycenae and Sparta

Then back to the mainland in order to return to Corfu as one of the brokers had called to say that another motor sailer was available and that he felt that this would suit us.

She was a Faenoe 42, built in Denmark in 1982, called "BALIMENA"

We fell in love with her as soon as we went on board. After a few weeks she became "OUR MOBILE HOME IN GREECE"

Richard and Margaret Laker