Electrickery

Current Location: Anchorage off Falmouth town.

Gilly was ashore waiting for Harry and Sandra and I was busying myself stowing things away and wondering where the mysterious 0.4 amps and now 1.4 amps was draining away to. The usual thing to do in these situations is to turn off the breakers for each circuit one by one until the current disappears. Then you know where to start your hunt. But we had done that and even with them all switched off the current drain remained. Bilge pump had been suggested but we couldn't hear it running.

I opened the space beneath the floor to stow the funnel and outboard oil and there it was - a continual whine.....one of the automatic bilge pumps. Ouch. Never good to hear especially when it tastes salty. Sea water. Where is it coming from? The water's not rising but it's not going down either. Soon I realise the pump is not sucking anything either. Let's try and stop it. I find my way into the battery bank and see a label, "Engine Bilge" on it. Not that one. But there is another thin red cable, maybe that's the one. [The reason the bilge pumps do not run through a breaker switch is because you always want them on, sensing for water]. I switch everything off including the main battery isolator and disconnect the red cable. The bilge pump stops. I switch the main switch back on.....and nothing is working at all. All the 12 volt appliances are dead! This is slightly disturbing especially as a phone call to Gill determines that Harry and Sandra have just arrived and will be coming back to the boat by water taxi any minute. A great way to welcome them. I then realise that although I've switched the main switch back on, the breakers are still off [idiot]. I turn them back on and bit by bit Mehalah comes back to life.

Now it's just a case of getting Harry and Sandra onto the boat together with yet another mountain of gear. Welcome aboard guys.

We've seen the ammeter show 0.1 previously so this is our goal. Disconnecting the bilge pump had bought the drain back down to 0.4 amp but we just can't find the other 0.3. It's not until the following evening as it's getting dark that Gilly shouts "there's a light on in the oven". That's it. Switch off the light and we're back down to 0.1 amp which is just all the warning and indicator lights dotted around the boat. Another small step forward.

There are any number of stories like this to relate at present. Launching the dinghy for the first time from its davits, fixing the seized windlass gypsy, working around the main sheet winch slipping issue, trying to understand how the boom brake works...and..and..and.

Meanwhile we've been exploring The Helford River here with H&S. Two famous gardens, a couple of pubs, the showers at the Boat Club. It's all new to Sandra but Harry spends time on a friend's boat in Majorca each year so he picks things up very quickly. Yesterday we sailed round to here at Falmouth. Two reefs and a small front sail were a good introduction for Sandra especially as we only had 10 knots or so of wind. Today it's up the Fal to Trelissick Gardens where we will all lunch with Dick and Mary. Things are good aboard Mehalah.

[Every morning Harry tells us the weather will be gloomy today. Today he's right. Boo.]

So, MEHALAH it is

Current Location: A Mooring Ball in The Helford River

Registering a boat in your name(s) can be quite a complex business. For us, as British citizens we were sure we wanted to register Mehalah on the UK registry. But which one?

When Jackie owned her she was registered 'Part 3'. This is simple, costs £25 for five years and you can call her what you like. This is how Petronella used to be registered. In practice it is just a nice little laminated A5 certificate that you show to marinas, coastguards etc anywhere in the world as evidence she is yours. The problem is that the MCA (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) who issue the registration document are now requiring you to declare that you will not be out of the UK for more than six months in any year. Hopefully we will not meet that requirement in years to come.

So we have decided to register her 'Part 1' instead. This shows proof there is no outstanding mortgage on the vessel and there is no restriction on the time she can be out of the country. However it does require a special antiquated survey, evidence of previous owners by way of Bills of Sale, a UK residency declaration and the payment of £300. And lots of forms with associated processes. But the big thing is that there can only be one boat on the Part 1 registry with any particular name. And they won't tell you what names are already taken. Crazy or wot? What you have to do is submit up to four names in order of preference and they tell you which one you can have. No silly names [not sure how the Hull registered boat we met called "Wet Dreams' got through that check] and no names that could confuse the emergency bodies. 'Mayday' or 'Maedae' for example would not be permitted. We submitted three names. 'Mehalah' which we thought would probably be gone already, 'Mehalah of Bristol' as a port name near us that most authorities abroad might have heard of, and 'Jaluka', the name of a South African pop group, just because we liked the group and the African name.

Yesterday we heard that our first choice had been accepted. As a result she will still be known as 'Mehalah'. I feel the name is an appropriate one considering the skipper's character. Google tells me that "The unusual name of Mehalah, (is) an old Hebrew word meaning a powerful but tender and affectionate woman". How fitting!!

Mehalah it is then. And here's the proof.

Now we need to get a carving done to attach firmly inside the boat and a sticker saying 'Bristol' in an acceptable colour and font size for the stern and then we are done.

And people ask us how we fill our time on the boat!

Deganwy Marina, North Wales to The Helford River, Cornwall

Current Location: 8th August - The Bristol Channel, 75 miles from Lands End. At present we are travelling at 6.9 knots, course 180° in 11 knots of breeze on a beam reach. Full main, staysail and yankee. The sun is out as we cross the Bristol Channel with a few fluffy clouds. No other boats in sight. It almost feels Caribbean.

Dick and Mary duly arrived in their hire car from Plymouth on Sunday and Gill proceeded to pack 20 cubic metres of stuff into 1 cubic metre of Quasqai and four hours later we were unloading it all again. Mehalah dropped a further inch but she still looks great. Monday saw us busy with last minute jobs and negotiating with Jackie over the location of the promised spinnaker pole and trisail. The former we won, the latter we lost.

An early morning start on Tuesday saw us set off in rain(!) and quite thick mist. Tricky navigating out through the shallows but Gilly's passage plan was spot on and in a few hours we were on Mehalah's own mooring ball looking down at the Menai Bridge.

Mehalah's mooring ball near Bangor

Next morning, encouraged by the previous day's passage plan we set off from the idyllic mooring field through the notorious Swellies. More excellent planning and we were through nicely on slack water before transiting the remains 12 miles of the Menai Straits. At the bottom are the Bellen Narrows which even on a windless day were pretty bouncy and finally we burst out (reasonably) close to the fairway buoy that marks open water.

Early morning under the Menai Bridge

We beat along the Llyn Peninsula and round the top of Wales then set a course for St David's and the south of Wales. Not particularly pleasant but perfectly OK into the wind. Night watches of two hours each offset by an hour, so you shared with two people worked well.

Reefing before dark paid dividends as I completely ballsed up by dropping the main too far and getting a batten temporarily stuck. Then we found a wave had almost washed the liferaft overboard. Luckily it was just still in its cradle and a few random pieces of rope resecured it. All sorted before darkness descended.

Cardigan Bay was attracting us further and further westwards but as we approached the coast the tide and currents and wind all transpired to push us safely past St David's. A series of lighthouses gradually passed by and then were in the Bristol Channel as dawn broke.

I spilt a cup of tea all over the Irish Sea pilot, Gill broke a mug and Dick managed to drop a full cup 50cms into the fish bucket. Ah, the fish bucket. A sadly rather empty bucket. The new paravane caught one very small mackerel, one tiny one and one that 'got away'. The small one was filleted and is awaiting friends in the fridge.

Mary at ease in the cockpit

Meanwhile we've been playing 'what could we improve on M. Ideas range from more non slip mats to replacement hatch seals (oink) and where to position the second blue water trolling rod.

All very civilised at present. Gilly is chopping vegetables for tonight, Mary is reading her kindle in the sunshine in the cockpit with me and Dick is catching a few zzzs on the starboard pilot berth. All is good with the world.

The wind is due to pick up tonight but F6 W to SW should be fine as we round Lands End around midnight. ETA at Helford likely to be around 9am, ahead of more heavy weather. So, on we serenely glide on the soporific Bristol Channel.

Oh yes. lots of dolphins playing including a very large whale like, snub nosed one. Gannets, shearwaters, guillemots abounding but mostly just a beautiful sail on a beautiful boat on a beautiful warm day. Bring it on!

...........................................a few hours later............................

Current Location: 12th August - Blogged from a green mooring ball in The Helford River, South Cornwall.

How the British weather can change! Within an hour we began to spot darker clouds ahead and to our right. With the wind coming from the west they were due to pass across in front of us. Soon they looked like squall clouds some with rain coming from the bottom. We skirted one or two as the atmosphere gradually changed. Then we were through into crisper, fresher air with 18-20 knot westerlies. As evening and Lands End approached the sky to the west became more and more ominous. Mine was the casting vote as we decided to reef the Yankee (front sail) and take in a second reef in the main. We don't yet have the knack of furling the Yankee as we fought with it in ever increasing wind. Sheets were flapping and the sail slapping as bit by bit we wound it in. OK, now for the main. Dick and I clipped onto the safety lines that run along the side of the boat and made our way to the mast. Just as we got there a big squall hit. Now we have waves over the bow, pouring rain and very strong winds. Gill and Mary steering the boat into the wind as we took in the sail recorded 37 knots of wind. Eventually though it was done and we crawled back to the safety of the cockpit. Cold and wet we went below to put on our last set of dry clothes.

The wind was now a consistent 20 knots and Mehalah flew along at 7, 8, 9 knots with tide beneath her. The propeller which we would normally have put in reverse to stop it rotating wasn't playing for some reason so the rotating prop shaft as we passed through the water began to whine and vibrate quite alarmingly. Something's not right there. We'll have to investigate later

Next up, Lands End. None of us had been round before and by now it's pitch black, we're wet and tired with a second night ahead. Up comes Gill's third passage plan. Ahead of us a mass of lights, some flashing fast, some slow and some steady. Somewhere there's a way through. It's cold and tense as we start to line up the lights and work our way through. This time I'm in total control as I marry the lights to the plan. A couple of hours later we are round and we bear away downwind, still in 20 knots.

Passage Planning at its best. Well done Gilly.

The fun's not over though as we roll downwind there is now loads of other traffic to navigate in this busy area. Tankers, freighters, cruise liners and a few other yachts pass by from all directions but gradually we approach The Lizard. The watch system has gone to pot but everyone is working really well together as we storm along.

A bleak, cold dawn breaks as Gill and Mary are on watch. We head towards the entrance to the Helford River where our booked mooring ball awaits. It's gusting 20 knots and picking up the ball is a bit tricky. Finally we're sorted and we go to sleep. For a long, long time.

A great shakedown cruise. Lots of things to think about. But Mehalah is a lovely boat. We simply flew along hard on the wind with two reefs and a staysail as we approached The Helford.

More later.

The Deed is Done

Current Location: Ebley, Gloucestershire: tomorrow Deganwy, North Wales

On Monday 30th July two momentous events occured. Firstly we paid for Mehalah and secondly my PSA reading was found to be 0.1, or basically undetectable. For a prostate cancer sufferer such as myself this is GOOD NEWS. It means the cancer no longer has much of a foothold and just might be on its way out. A great day all round!

Anyway, the following day we arrived in Deganwy in the early afternoon to find Jackie waiting for us in the Club House of the marina. Bills of Sale were signed, the waiting life raft was loaded into a trolley and we made our way down the steep slipway (tides here remember!) and onto Mehalah. She is indeed a lovely boat. But....we couldn't get aboard. The key was nowhere to be seen. A quick call to Jackie revealed it was stored in the yellow rubber glove in the cockpit. Of course. Why didn't we look there?

Now we had to lug all the stuff from the car, down the slope and aboard. This took a while and in the end it was near impossible to step around inside the boat. "Where will it all go?" I asked. Never fear, Gilly's here; and the impossible task commenced. By the following morning everything was stowed and there was even spare space for more. That's a good job because more there, is due to arrive with us tomorrow and then with Harry & Sandra later in the month.

Jackie had taken a few things we had expected to be left but this was mostly not a problem. We did though ask her for the anchoring ball and motoring cone back...which duly arrived.

It's a pretty area up around Conwy and we found time for my daily three mile walks each evening. We heard very little Welsh but plenty of Scouse. The next day was spent identifying and double clipping the sea cock hoses as required by the insurance company and other interesting boatie tasks.

The next morning it was back to Ebley to drop off the car and to see my consultant. Unfortunately he is moving to the UAE so he wasn't there. A stand in lady told me what we already knew. It's good news and "all the treatment they have given me has paid off". That's all well and good but maybe the lifestyle changes have made a difference too. But talking about that usually gets us nowhere, so I didn't.

And now it's the evening before we return to Deganwy this time with Dick and Mary our friends from the Caribbean, now returned for summer in the UK in Plymouth. The hire car is booked [will it be big enough??] and we'll be off.

Departure from the marina is planned for early on the morning of 7th with a passage down to Cornwall over the next few days. The forecast has been great - north westeries and westerlies but tonight it is looking considerably less good with stronger south westerlies and even southerlies creeping in later in the week. We shall see. Maybe it'll end up with a big tack over to Ireland and then back to the south west.