Walton Backwaters and new tent, 19-20 July 2026

 

Walton Backwaters, 4/5 July

I met up with some sailing chums for an overnighter, based at Titchmarsh Marina.  The boat was still on her trailer following the Coniston event in June, and also some further mid-season maintenance.  And I had Kizzy with me.  Otherwise, I would have sailed round.  But it was fun to trailer sail once more.  Fresh from a temporary repair to her keelband (see previous entry), we launched on the Saturday morning at thus ever welcoming Marina.

Herewith some video of the event.

Again, my failed electrics meant that I was unable to record my tracks from this event.  Again, for the ship's log, I have entered an estimated trip length of around 10nm.

Coniston Water

 

We attended the Coniston rally, 22-25 May.  Unfortunately, the electrics on the boat had failed, so I wasn’t able to record tracks.  My estimate (from previous visits) is that, over the two days, we went about 10nm.

As seems to have been the way with this season, this trip resulted in some damage, this time to the stainless steel keelband. When launching, unbeknown to me until hauling out at the end of the trip, I managed to catch to keelband between a fissure in the slipway, which resulted in the keelband peeling off at the stern and doubling back on itself.  Consequently, we spent the entire trip dragging water around with us rather than slipping through it with more grace.

Initially, I managed to bend it back to this position, since it had been bent back on itself, pointing forward.  
I haven’t pictured the final repair, but it is now more or less attached to the hull, thanks to two longer screws and lashings of Sikalflex…

On our return, I managed to bend it almost back into position and applied sealant to hopefully plug any holes.  Alex, at Anglia Yacht Brokerage, said that the best solution is to pull it off altogether since he'd come to the conclusion that steel capping on the keel was more trouble than it’s worth.  That might be a close season task.  Hopefully for the remainder of the season, my repair will hold, but I shall have to return to this issue at some future point…